AllenWeek 4 Sleepers, Potential-Emergent Players, and Opportunistic Plays
This article is contributed by Brad Kruse
This column is NOT intended to provide week 4 waiver claims lists. Instead, the purpose is to look at young players whose opportunities could be emerging and should be monitored. These are the Week 4 Sleepers and Emerging players to monitor moving forward.
My goal is to help look around corners for the season which might give some ideas for pre-emptive adds to your roster.
Young Running Backs and Their Opportunity Status
Braelon Allen: Allen didn’t match his week 2 output, but his usage was again strong. Allen played 23 of the 73 snaps in the game and got 11 carries and 3 targets. He averaged 5.0 yards per carry to lead the team with 55 rushing yards. Also, Allen added three receptions for 13 yards and demonstrated his premium handcuff appeal if Breece Hall were to go down plus a playable emergency RB2 or flex alternative in leagues.
Bucky Irving: The story with Irving continued into week 3. He is outperforming Rachaad White on the ground as he received nine carries to White’s six and gained 78 yards (7.8 yards/carry) to White’s 17 (2.8 yards/carry). White plays a lot more snaps and garners more targets. But the Bucs have to get Irving into the action more. His time is near.
Roschon Johnson: A new edition to this list is the Bears 2nd year RB. Swift has disappointed fantasy managers. With Travis Homer’s injury, Johnson regained his third-down back role from last year and earned eight carries and five targets for the Bears. He also led Chicago’s backfield with 30 yards rushing and 32 yards receiving on 4 receptions. I wouldn’t look for Swift to disappear, but you have to like the passing game usage for Johnson. For him to be startable, however, the Bears will need to increase the output of the offense.
Jaylen Wright: Another week without Raheem Mostert and another ho-hum day for Wright. This entire offense looks like a disaster until Tua Tagovailoa returns (likely after his 4-week IR stint). Tua is reportedly symptom-free, so I’d lean toward him returning when eligible. However, that’s still three weeks where the Dolphins will look to be run-heavy. But they need to figure out a way to be more efficient with the run. Wright’s looking like a disappointment so far as he’s had a few opportunities in the last two weeks but hasn’t flashed yet.
Blake Corum: Corum has devolved into strictly a handcuff. He’s had no action and it’s somewhat inexplicable that they drafted him for someone who they could trust to relieve Kyren Williams and so as not to wear Williams down. Williams is handling a monster workload just like last year. He’s tough to hold in leagues right now, but the appeal of playing for the Rams’ fantasy juicy offense will probably keep fantasy managers loyal to their draft pick another week.
Tank Bigsby: Bigsby played in week 3 on a questionable tag, but only received nine snaps, two carries and no targets in the blowout loss to the Bills. D’Ernest Johnson out-snapped Bigsby. Bigsby still appeared to be the primary backup before garbage time, but he’ll need better matchups or an injury to Étienne who is dominating snaps right now.
Ray Davis: Davis chopped up the snaps behind James Cook with Ty Johnson then picked up the garbage time carries which yielded a TD. However, Davis doesn’t appear to be trusted on third downs, yet which is a disappointment that if Cook were to go down, Davis would likely be the between-the-tackles runner and Ty Johnson would get 3rd downs.
Marshawn Lloyd: Lloyd is on IR, but the role behind Josh Jacobs is fruitful and Emanuel Wilson showed in Week 3. Wilson is playing well, and Lloyd may be able to secure the backup job if he can stay healthy when he returns. Lloyd is a player to keep in mind for a fresh-legged runner down the stretch but don’t sleep on Wilson in the meantime.
Carson Steele: We didn’t get a lot of clarity this week on Steele. He did get the start and was used a bit in the passing game, however Samaje Perine was used more in the passing situations (3rd down and 2-minute drill). Plus, we might see Kareem Hunt enter the scene next week, so this is a fragile situation. Right now, Steele is probably the RB to own, but as soon as it sorts itself out, Pacheco could return.
Breakout Wide Receivers
Jalen McMillan: McMillan was quiet again, but the skillset is there. He’s behind solid veterans in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. He’s out there consistently running routes. Hopefully, it won’t take an injury for him to get involved more.
Adonai Mitchell: With Josh Down’s return, Mitchell’s snap share plummeted. For now, he seems behind Pierce, but Ashton Dulin also played twice as many snaps (14:7) as Mitchell. Mitchell is back in wait-and-see mode.
Malik Washington: Washington’s opportunity will have to wait until Tua’s healthy. He’s likely on the waiver wire and should stay there until this offense gets on track.
Alec Pierce: The Bears have a strong secondary and they essentially shut down the passing attack for the Colts, who relied on the running game to bulldoze the Bears in Week 3. Pierce’s one reception on two targets did lead the Colts with 44 receiving yards demonstrating his deep-threat role on the team. But this time he didn’t get in the end zone. Regardless, his skill set seems to match Richardson’s strong arm. He’s flexible against lesser secondaries and games that figure to be negative game scripts for the Colts.
Ja’Lynn Polk: Polk’s role seemed to shrink in week 3 after getting only 26 snaps and was outtargeted by DeMario Douglas (9:2). Polk will likely be a fine wide receiver, but he’ll need this offense to perform better and open up. That might not happen until Drake Maye takes over.
Jordan Whittington: Whittington still looks buried on the receiver rotation even without Kupp and Nacua active for week 3. None of the receivers are target hogs so any of them could evolve, but fantasy managers should look elsewhere for now.
Dontayvion Wicks: The biggest plus for Wicks in Week 3 is that it could be the last week that Jordan Love misses. Love was a game-time decision, and signs seem to point toward a Week 4 return. Wicks is in the receiver rotation (they rotated six receivers). He’s still fourth on the snap count for the receivers but ran 13 routes to Watson’s 15 and he, Watson, and Doubs each garnered two targets. The offense was run-heavy with Malik Willis in at QB. But it should open up when Love returns and Wicks could re-produce the efficiency he had last year with, hopefully, a bigger piece of the receiving pie.
Young Tight Ends
Brock Bowers: Bowers disappeared in Week 3 and his snap share isn’t as strong as you’d like to see (roughly 67% of the snaps). There are better days ahead for this elite prospect.
Tucker Kraft: Like most Green Bay receiving weapons, Kraft will have to wait until Love returns before he is unlocked. He seems to have locked down the TE1 role in Green Bay. The good news is that may be in Week 4.
Eric All: All is in a three-TE rotation with Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample. All received 4 of the 9 targets to TE (Gesicki received the other 5). The Bengals seem to like All. He looks like he’s the better receiving option in 12 personnel alongside Sample. He’s a player to watch right now.
