Check out our top waiver wire targets for Week 5 of the 2022 fantasy football season.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Targets

George Pickens (WR – PIT): 39% rostered

• Next opponents: @BUF, TB, @MIA
• True value: $10
• Desperate need: $17
• Budget-minded: $5

Analysis: Pickens is increasingly looking like a star. He runs crisp routes, his hands are like flypaper, and he seems very comfortable with the physicality of the NFL. Pickens had 6-102-0 against the Jets on Sunday for the first 100-yard game of his career, and it looks as if there will be many more to come. The hope is that the QB change from Mitchell Trubisky to rookie Kenny Pickett will help unlock Pickens, since his talents as a deep-ball artist didn’t pair especially well with Trubisky, an inaccurate deep passer. This is talent worth paying for.

Isaiah McKenzie (WR – BUF): 45% rostered

• Next opponents: PIT, @KC, BYE
• True value: $4
• Desperate need: $8
• Budget-minded: $2

Analysis: Before you bid on him, realize that McKenzie sustained a concussion on Sunday and could potentially miss Week 5. McKenzie has compiled 11-97-2 on 15 targets over his last two games. If he keeps getting targets, he’s going to be a worthwhile fantasy asset, because those targets are coming from Josh Allen. Gabriel Davis still hasn’t shown the ability to consistently draw a steady diet of targets, and that bodes well for McKenzie’s involvement.

Michael Gallup (WR – DAL): 41% rostered

• Next opponents: @LAR, @PHI, DET
• True value: $4
• Desperate need: $8
• Budget-minded: $2

Analysis: Returning from a knee injury, Gallup made his season debut on Sunday and finished with 2-24-1 on three against Washington. CeeDee Lamb is the alpha receiver in Dallas, but Gallup figures to be the No. 2, and that can be a valuable role once Dak Precott returns from injury. Get him somewhat inexpensively now and keep him on ice until his juicy matchup against Detroit in Week 7, by which time Dak has a good chance to be back.

Jakobi Meyers (WR – NE): 42% rostered

• Next opponents: DET, @CLE, CHI
• True value: $4
• Desperate need: $7
• Budget-minded: $1

Analysis: Meyers missed Week 4 with a knee injury. If you know before you make your waiver claims that he’s going to be back for Week 5, spend an extra buck or two and use him this week against the Lions, who turn every game they play into a display of offensive pyrotechnics. Meyer has never made a lot of big plays, and very rarely does he score touchdowns, but he catches plenty of passes and can pile up those PPR points.

Zay Jones (WR – JAC): 29% rostered

• Next opponents: HOU, @IND, NYG
• True value: $3
• Desperate need: $5
• Budget-minded: $1

Analysis: Zay Jones missed Week 4 with an ankle injury but led the Jaguars with 19 receptions after three weeks. He’s a solid possession receiver in an ascendant offense.

Corey Davis (WR – NYJ): 25% rostered

• Next opponents: MIA, @GB, @DEN
• True value: $2
• Desperate need: $5
• Budget-minded: $1

Analysis: Young Jets QB Zach Wilson seems to have an affinity for Corey Davis. Sure enough, when Wilson made his 2022 debut after missing the first three games of the season with a knee injury, Davis had a team-high seven targets and finished with 5-74-1, catching a 5-yard TD pass from Wilson midway through the fourth quarter. There is other noteworthy talent in this WR corps. Elijah Moore and Garrett Wilson are both exciting young players. But don’t discount the chemistry that Wilson and Davis have.

Mack Hollins (WR – LV): 31% rostered

• Next opponents: @KC, BYE, HOU
• True value: $2
• Desperate need: $5
• Budget-minded: $1

Analysis: Hollins will lose some of his appeal once Hunter Renfrow returns from his concussion but even when Renfrow is back, Hollins will still get plenty of snaps. He’s been playing in three-receiver sets all year and has played at least 87% of the Raiders’ offensive snaps in every game. Over his last three games, Hollins has 16-257-1 on 24 targets.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling (WR – KC): 29% rostered

• Next opponents: LV. BUF, @SF
• True value: $2
• Desperate need: $3
• Budget-minded: $1

Analysis: The Chiefs’ investment in Valdes-Scantling has not yet paid dividends. MVS has 13-168-0 so far on 23 targets. It’s possible that he and QB Patrick Mahomes just need time to sync up. We certainly want pieces of the Kansas City offense, and this is a piece that can be had cheaply.

Stash candidates: Jameson Williams, Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney

The Lions are playing the long game with first-round draft pick Jameson Williams, playing it cautiously in his return from a torn ACL. It’s possible (but by no means assured) that we could see Williams back in action by the end of the month. He’s a little firecracker, and if you want to get him, better to spend a modest amount of FAAB money now rather than pay Fourth of July prices in a few weeks.

Skyy Moore is starting to get an uptick in snaps, though not enough of an uptick to put him on the fantasy radar … yet.

Kadarius Toney is a freakish athlete, and the Giants are in desperate need of talent at wide receiver. Toney and new Giants HC Brian Daboll seem to not be on the same page. But if Toney can get healthy, stay healthy and stay on Daboll’s good side, he offers abundant upside.