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Week 5 waiver wire: players whose role grew in Week 4

AI-assisted. Written automatically from our model's own numbers with fixed templates; nothing is invented, and no language model adds facts. How this works.

These are the Week 5 waiver targets our data supports: players whose role grew in Week 4, ranked by position. Every line comes from usage we can count (targets, carries and pass attempts as a share of the team's total) and from our own model's projections; we have no roster-percentage source, so this is a list of risers, not an ownership screen. Players already projected as weekly starters in our Week 4 ranks are left out because they are unlikely to be on waivers.

Early edition. 14 of 16 Week 4 games are final; still to come: ATL at NO, DET at CAR. This page is rebuilt automatically after Monday night's game.

QB pickups

PlayerUsage share (latest week)Usage share (prior weeks)Projection (week played)Our rank
Jalon Daniels TB100% of pass att3%11.8QB32
Tyson Bagent CHI100% of pass att9%14.1QB26
Sam Darnold SEA100% of pass att35%15.1QB23

Usage share: the player's share of his team's pass attempts in Week 4 vs. his Weeks 1-3 average. Projection and rank: our pre-game Week 4 half-PPR mean and positional rank.

RB pickups

PlayerUsage share (latest week)Usage share (prior weeks)Projection (week played)Our rank
Braelon Allen NYJ100% of carries22%9.0RB27
Tank Bigsby PHI52% of carries15%2.3RB64
Ollie Gordon II MIA50% of carries22%6.4RB36
RJ Harvey DEN32% of carries9%7.1RB32
Kyle Monangai CHI56% of carries29%7.3RB34
Mike Washington Jr. LV35% of carries16%2.4RB63

Usage share: the player's share of his team's carries in Week 4 vs. his Weeks 1-3 average. Projection and rank: our pre-game Week 4 half-PPR mean and positional rank.

WR pickups

PlayerUsage share (latest week)Usage share (prior weeks)Projection (week played)Our rank
Darius Cooper PHI28% of targets3%1.8WR103
Tyquan Thornton KC30% of targets7%3.8WR75
Ashton Dulin IND21% of targets1%1.5WR111
Carnell Tate TEN43% of targets26%6.7WR43
Laquon Treadwell IND21% of targets5%5.1WR62
Chris Godwin Jr. TB27% of targets12%3.9WR72

Usage share: the player's share of his team's targets in Week 4 vs. his Weeks 1-3 average. Projection and rank: our pre-game Week 4 half-PPR mean and positional rank.

TE pickups

PlayerUsage share (latest week)Usage share (prior weeks)Projection (week played)Our rank
Brenton Strange JAC35% of targets13%6.5TE17
Colston Loveland CHI29% of targets10%5.4TE23
Oronde Gadsden II LAC26% of targets8%5.6TE22
Isaiah Likely NYG41% of targets28%4.9TE24

Usage share: the player's share of his team's targets in Week 4 vs. his Weeks 1-3 average. Projection and rank: our pre-game Week 4 half-PPR mean and positional rank.

How this list is built

Usage shares are each player's targets, carries or pass attempts divided by his team's total in that game. Week 4 usage comes from: ESPN final box score, nflverse; Weeks 1-3 from nflverse player stats. A player makes the list when his Week 4 share rose clearly over his Weeks 1-3 average (receivers: +8 points of target share and at least 15% for WR, 12% for TE; backs: +12 points of carry share to 30%+, or +8 points of target share; quarterbacks: a new starter with 60%+ of the team's attempts) or when our re-simulation moved a ruled-out teammate's work to him. Projections are our pre-game Week 4 half-PPR means and ranks; Week 5 projections appear here once that model run is published. Rest-of-season projections are not shown: our model simulates one week at a time. One game is a small sample; treat a single-week jump as a lead to check, not a fact.

See the rankings and the start/sit tool for every player, and the news feed for injury-driven changes.

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Model opinion, not advice. For entertainment and informational purposes only. 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Methodology · Track record