Dynasty Waivers of the Future: Week 5

My colleague Josh Fahlsing and I gaze into our crystal footballs each week to find players who may become popular waiver targets in the future so that you can pick them up now for next to nothing. We'll start with our priority pickups for the week, then gaze deeper for lightly rostered gems who have been largely ignored by dynasty managers so far. We're a quarter of the way through the season, which means we're starting to see whether some of our past recommendations have caught fire, metaphorically, of course. 

Josh: I wanted to start this thing off by revisiting a couple of players, so you read my mind there. 

Jeff: Let's start with two of our past picks who have evolved from deep darts into dynasty waiver priorities.

Dynasty Waiver Priority Pickups

Josh: First, Jeff, great call on that Tonges guy from San Francisco. We're supposed to use both first and last names on the initial mention of a player in an article, but the clock is ticking here, and I honestly don't remember it, so I'll just leave it at "I am assured you did not, in fact, make him up." Oh, and also, "nice job." 

TE Jake Tonges, San Francisco 49ers (39% Rostered)

Jeff: There are still seats available on the Tonges Train. Thank you for finally accepting that I did not make him up several weeks ago, when his roster share in Sleeper dynasty leagues was hovering around zero percent. He's still available in about three out of every five leagues, which keeps him a priority pickup for me. Well, not for me, personally, because I've already picked him up where I could, but he should be a priority pickup for other dynasty managers. 

Tonges continues to be the primary tight end in place of the injured George Kittle, achieving a career-high 58 receiving yards this week. Tonges averaged 2.23 yards per route run, which was third among all tight ends who ran at least 20 routes. He also scored his second touchdown of the season. He's averaging four targets a game, making him more touchdown-dependent than I prefer my tight ends to be. Nonetheless, he has been a mid-tier TE2 for fantasy, which makes him flexworthy in deeper leagues with tight-end premium scoring and worth a bench spot otherwise.

Josh, is there a blast from the past you'd like to re-recommend as a dynasty waiver priority pickup?

RB Emanuel Wilson, Green Bay Packers (40% Rostered)

Josh: It's Wilson for me. Through four weeks, Green Bay is fifth overall in the NFL in rushing attempts, and Josh Jacobs is second among all flex players with 23.5 opportunities per game. As frustrating as this offense can be for dynasty managers trying to figure out the wide receivers, it is fruitful for those who tapped into this backfield. Jacobs will lead the way while he's healthy; he has 80 carries to Wilson's 15, and he has run 64 routes to Wilson's 18. However, against the Cowboys Sunday night, in a close game that saw Jacobs tote the ball 22 times and run 19 (!!) routes, a national television audience also saw Wilson chip in with eight carries for 44 yards and three catches on 12 routes run. 

None of this is to say that this backfield will become a timeshare. It won't be. But if Wilson has taken control of the backup running back spot, he is on his way to becoming a high-value handcuff in a friendly offense that will be playing for keeps deep into the season. Wilson has actually declined from 49 percent rostered in Week 1 to 40 percent rostered today, but I expect that number to return above 50 percent soon. The time to add Wilson for free is running out.

Jeff: Wilson has clearly pushed Chris Brooks, one of my deep dart selections back in Week 1, out of the way. Brooks, who played a season-low five snaps in Week 4, is now a distant RB3 in that offense. He remains a dynasty waiver deep dart. Speaking of which, who's your first deep dart for this week?

Dynasty Waiver Deep Darts