Week 4 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes: 5 Players to Grab Before They Break Out (Ep. 2239)

0:00 Yes, we are back to help make you a smarter fantasy football manager, the manager that is staying two to three moves ahead of their league mates, the manager that is beating the waiver wire so that you have a better chance of beating your league mates this year. I'm Lucas Wenzel here with Fantasy Pros, bringing you my top five waiver wire stashes ahead of week four and next week's waiver run as well. So without further ado, let's dive on into our list of players. Starting off our list this week is Miami Dolphins running back Jalen Wright, who is rostered in 27% of leagues. Aldi Gordon was the player everyone sprinted to the waiver wire to pick up this week, and appropriately so. Wright has been dealing

0:38 with a foot injury that held him out of week three, although reports did say he was, quote, very close to playing last week. So here's the deal. The majority of managers right now are operating as if they have the Miami Dolphins lead back, but let's be honest with ourselves for a minute. There is no one-for-one replacement for Devon Achan in this offense. This is going to be a committee backfield approach, and Jalen Wright will be involved once he's fully healthy. I don't want to put too much stock into the glimpse that we got last year under a different regime, but in week 14 last season, Devon Achan did exit early after only playing 34% of the snaps.

1:13 It was Jalen Wright then. who was given 24 carries and racked up 107 yards and a touchdown. Now, this was against the New York Jets, who they absolutely walloped 34-10, so by no means do I want to promise you Rich is here with Jalen Wright. But there is a world out there where Jalen Wright returns... is back on the field and overtakes all the Gordon as the, like the facto primary back in this offense. Will that happen in the next two weeks? I'm going to guess probably not.

1:41 Cause you get Brian Flores is sick of Vikings defense here in week four. And then you get an improved Bengals front seven and week five was sexy Dexy up front. Uh, and then the dolphins are on by in week six, uh, But with Devon Achan done for the season, we can play the long con here. There is plenty of time for this backfield to shift, especially when the schedule lightens up over the back half of the season. Again, I'm not promising you riches here with Jalen Wright, but the discrepancy in roster percentage between Ollie Gordon and Jalen Wright just simply shouldn't exist right now, and there's still a window for you to stash Jalen Warren and squeeze some fantasy value out of him. The second player on our

2:15 list this week is Miami Dolphins wide receiver Chris Bell, who is rostered in 15% of leagues. Starting our list off with two Miami Dolphins players this week, what could possibly go wrong? Look, I was initially shocked when the Dolphins made Chris Bell available to start the season after coming off a November ACL tear in his final season at Louisville, but we're actively watching the ramp up happen and we're getting pretty close to being it too late to stash Chris Bell on your bench before your league mates actually catch on to what's happening here. Bell played 52% of the snaps in week one, went down to 41% in week two. But in week three, he shot up to 71% of snaps, which turned into four catches for

2:52 67 yards. And I have to imagine that level of participation is here to stay now, now that the Dolphins have lost their biggest playmaker in Devon Achan. Bell ran a very healthy 2.48 yards per route last week. That was 19th. He earned a target on 26% of his routes, and he racked up 36 yards after the catch, which was top 10 in the league last week. None of this should honestly be overly surprising because the other factor with Chris Bell is that he was in talks to be a first-round receiver in the NFL draft this year if it wasn't for his ACL tear. In just 11 games in his senior year, He posted 72 catches for 917 yards and six scores while racking up three straight games of 135 plus yards in mid-October. That earned him

3:32 semifinal honors for the Bolitnikoff Award given out to the nation's most outstanding receiver. The dude's built like a fullback. He's dangerous in space. He's fearless on contested catches and over the middle of the field. Yet he also has this deep ball tracking and makes these difficult catches look extremely easy. Malik Washington might be the most experienced wide receiver on this team, but I guess they don't want to keep rolling him out into wide receiver sets if they don't have to. This team got Caleb Douglas involved almost immediately right away in week one. And I imagine the duo of Chris Bell and Caleb Douglas is actually who they want out on the field. So, again, you're running out of time here before your league mates realize

4:08 this has all been a ramp up period for Chris Bell. And he could have some flex appeal after the Dolphins week six by when we typically see rookies start to take the leap in the league. Third up on our list is Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Trey Harris, who is rostered in 12% of leagues. Obviously, most people's sky-high expectations for the Chargers have fallen completely flat so far, but that's opened the door for a player like Trey Harris to take advantage and outshine a player like Quentin Johnston, who's been on the absolute struggle bus to start the season.

4:39 Even while playing a season-low 58% of the snaps in Week 3, Trey Harris still ran 3.18 yards per route. That was 10th in the league last week. He drew a target on 29% of his route, so that was 20th, and he gained a first down on 12.5% of his route, which was, once again, a top-20 mark. There is a greater than 0% chance here that Trey Harris starts to chip away at Quinton Johnson's role in this offense because there is a long game to play here, too, with Trey Harris. Quinton Johnson is in a contract year, and with how things have been going, I'm not positive the Chargers actually want to bring him back for next season.

5:13 If QJ doesn't hop off the struggle bus soon, I don't think it's unrealistic to think that the Chargers could deal him at the trade deadline to at least get something in return. That, of course, would then boost the stock of Trey Harris and immediately slot him into the wide receiver two role in this Chargers offense. And Harris could step into that role with ease, actually. He's strong at the catch point. He has great field awareness and can work downfield and in the red zone as a big threat for this team. I don't want to sit here and promise you the world of a wide receiver in this Chargers offense. That's absolutely struggling right now. But the tea leaves are showing us that Trey Harris is

5:47 on the rise and QJ is on the decline, which generates some intrigue in Harris, especially if this Chargers offense starts to figure it out by midseason. Now, before we move on to the final two players here, if you want to give your fantasy league the ultimate championship upgrade, courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your shot. We're giving away a 26 to 36 inch custom fantasy football trophy. It's a massive centerpiece built to make your league championship feel like a big deal. And the best part, you can make it your own. Choose your topper, personalize the center and front plaques, customize the columns and create a trophy that represents your league. To enter,

6:27 all you need to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football YouTube channel right now and drop a comment below on any of our videos. That's it. That is all you have to do. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so be sure to turn on notifications as well so you don't miss your chance to claim your big prize. Next up on our list is Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Ted Hurst, who is rostered in 8% of leagues. Look, man, I love me some Ted Hurst. He's my first frequent flyer on my waiver stashes video for this year, appearing for the third time already. But I will admit this may be the last week, depending on how things go in week four. Obviously, you have undrafted rookie Jalen Daniels out of Kansas starting

7:06 for the next three plus weeks, while Baker Mayfield recovers from a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand. If I'm being honest with y'all, I'm actually curious to see if things get better in this offense with Daniels at QB. Baker Mayfield has just been very, very bad to start the season. A 43.8% success rate. That is 23rd in the league. He has a negative. 256 EPA per dropback.

7:30 That is 31st of all qualifying quarterbacks. Only to Jameis Winston, who has a worse EPA per dropback. He also has an 11% sack rate that is 2% higher than anybody else in the league. Now, I'm not promising you that Jalen Daniels comes in and immediately find success, fixes everything, and makes everything better. All I'm saying is that there's a pretty low bar that's been set here by Baker Mayfield. Plus, Ted Hurst pretty much feels locked into his role as the X receiver in this offense. Jalen McMillan continues to deal with injury, and unfortunately, that might just be the reality for his career. Hurst has logged a third straight game of playing at least 74% of the snaps. And we saw what we knew he was good at come

8:08 to fruition in week three with his 40-yard touchdown down the seam of the defense. From what we've seen from Jalen Daniels in preseason, to get a little foretaste of what we have to look forward to, we know he's willing to stand in the pocket, we know he's willing and actually wants to push the ball downfield, and he's willing to attack the middle of the defense too. All those could benefit Ted Hurst in the long shot scenario that Jalen Daniels becomes the next irrelevant quarterback in the NFL draft that turned competent pro. So I'm curious enough to see if anything comes out of Daniels' first start and what it actually means for Ted Hurst moving forward.

8:42 The upside he's already shown is there. I'm willing to stash him at the end of my bench still. And the last player on our list this week is New York Jets running back Isaiah Davis, who was rostered in 5% of leagues. Yes, I am telling you to stash the guy who has yet to play a snap on offense this year, but we should see that change here in week four. As of this recording, Brees Hall is labeled week to week with a quadriceps injury and isn't expected to play this week against the Bears. Obviously, your league mates already sprinted to the waiver wire and picked up Braylon Allen, but again, I don't expect this to be the Braylon Allen show. This is pretty clearly going to be a committee approach in this backfield. During his first

9:17 two seasons in New York, Isaiah Davis has averaged 5.6 yards per carry on 73 totes, and he's also caught 30 of 40 targets thrown his way, too. I think you're probably going to see Braylon Allen on the early downs with some Isaiah Davis rotated in, but then Isaiah Davis getting the majority of the passing down and receiving work in this offense. I get why this might seem like a short-term stash just to help give your roster some immediate relief at running back, but I could see this being a long-term stash too. Brees can miss anywhere from two to four weeks, and what happens then if this injury continues to bother him throughout the season, or he re-injures it again at some point? We're not rooting

9:53 for this, obviously, but Brees hasn't been without injury concern for portions of his career. All of a sudden, people see that this Jets backfield is a committee without Brees, and they not only go re-hunt for Braylon Allen on the waiver wire if anybody dropped him, but... They go looking for Isaiah Davis this time then too. This is one where I want to make sure I just want to have all my bases covered for potential options and outcomes.

10:14 And worst comes to worst, you know, Isaiah Davis is an expendable piece for the next new hotness that comes along in one of these videos. But before we sign off here, remember, if you want a chance to give your fantasy league the ultimate championship upgrade, courtesy of our good friends at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your shot. We're giving away a 26 to 36 inch custom football trophy.

10:37 It's a massive centerpiece built to make your league championship feel like a big deal. And the best part, you can make it your own. Choose your topper, personalize the center and front plaques, customize the columns and create a trophy that represents your league. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to the Fantasy Pro's Fantasy Football YouTube channel right now and drop a comment below on any of our videos. That is it. That is all you have to do. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so be sure to turn on those notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim your big prize. And there you have it, my top five waiver wire stashes ahead of week four. Go sprint to your waiver wire right now just to make sure

11:13 that none of these guys are still sitting there and available in your leagues. They're all rostered in less than 30% of leagues, so there's a good chance they still might be on your waiver wire. Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Football Podcast. If you love the show, the best free way to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts at fantasypros.com slash review or on Spotify. Follow us on X, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros and subscribe to our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash fantasypros.