By Kyle Showalter
All statistics are provided via the Fantasy Points Data Suite, the best tool in fantasy football, unless otherwise stated.
What a brutal Sunday. James Conner had his season ended by a brutal lower leg injury, Ceedee Lamb is possibly facing an IR stint after going down in the first quarter with a high ankle sprain, Mike Evans suffered what looks like a multi-week hamstring injury and Terry McLaurin was forced out of the game after hurting his quad. Whether you have any of these guys on your teams or not, we’re at that point in the fantasy season where you need to be evaluating and making moves, whether that’s shaking up your roster in a big way or improving on the margins.
All players that I have listed as an add are available in over 50% of ESPN leagues. A quick aside before we begin, Trey Benson barely missed that 50% cutoff (rostered in 54.8% of leagues), but is easily the biggest waiver wire prize of the season so far. I know, I know, “Not in my league!”, but he’s worthy of a 100% FAAB dump if he is.
Alright, let’s get started. Here’s 9 transactions for week 4:
Add Troy Franklin (49.4% rostered)
Franklin is coming off of a mediocre rookie season where he recorded just 263 yards on 28 receptions. The blame for this doesn’t fall solely on Franklin, as he only received a 42.1% route participation in Sean Payton’s offense. How the Broncos would choose to deploy their WR’s outside of Courtland Sutton was a bit of a mystery coming into 2025, as Payton’s use of his pass catchers has been unpredictable since he arrived in Denver. While there wasn’t a lot of optimism for Franklin after only managing a 55.8% route participation in week 1, things have been vastly different the last two weeks. His route participation has shot up to 85.9%, resulting in a large bump in his involvement in the offense. This has led to Franklin posting team highs in target share (23.6%) and first read target share (28.6%). These marks are in large part a result of his 6 designed targets, a number that’s tied with Ja’Marr Chase for the most in the NFL over the last two weeks. He only scored 2.8 fantasy points in week 3 but scored 24 the week prior. If he’s able to keep this role in a Sean Payton led offense, there should be much better days ahead.
FAAB recommendation: 15%
Add Elic Ayomanor (21.1%)
Ayomanor has continued to impress as a rookie. I wrote about his hot start to the season last week and talked about how he already looks to be Cam Ward’s favorite target. That trend continued in week 3, as he led all Titans WR’s in TPRR (tied with Calvin Ridley), receiving yards and was on the receiving end of Ward’s only touchdown pass. On the season he’s earned 18 targets to Ridley’s 20 despite running 20 less routes and leads all Titans’ pass catchers in XFP/G. The Titans are about to hit a soft stretch in their schedule, facing the Texans (10th ranked defense in FP allowed to opposing WR’s, however star corner Derek Stingley left their week 3 game with injury and didn’t return), Cardinals (16th), Raiders (22nd) and Patriots (18th) the next four weeks.
FAAB recommendation: 20%
Add Woody Marks (8.9%)
Pass catching is a cheat code for running backs in fantasy football. Woody Marks has a profile that lends itself to doing a lot of it. His route participation climbed from 8.8% in week 1 to 20% in week 2 and took another leap to 37.2% in week 3. The Texans have been rewarded with elite production from Marks in his limited opportunities. His 1.84 YPRR ranks 8th amongst all RB’s with at least 25 routes on the year and his 15.33 YPT and 8.9 YPTOE both rank 1st. This is a skillset that Marks showed off plenty in college, tallying 261 receptions over 5 seasons, including an 83 catch season as a sophomore. The Texans look like they’re going to be awful this season. This should lead itself to a lot of gamescripts that force the Texans to throw for four quarters. No one on the Texans has emerged as a reliable second option behind Nico Collins, leaving the door open for Marks to rack up targets if he can continue to increase his route participation.
FAAB recommendation: 10%
Buy Tetairoa McMillan
There’s a chance that the McMillan manager in your league doesn’t realize what they have here. His 153 target pace as a rookie isn’t just impressive, it’s historic. Only three rookies have crossed the 150 target threshold since 2000. All three finished inside the top 6 at the position in fantasy scoring. It isn’t just the volume with McMillan, it’s backed up by the eye test. Even his non-catches are highlight worthy:
There’s enormous spike week potential with McMillan. He’s already earned 3 EZ targets in three games to go along with his fantastic overall volume. There’s also no target competition to speak of in Carolina, as McMillan is battling for targets with Hunter Renfrow and Xavier Legette, the latter of which has 8 total receiving yards on 12 targets. The Panthers are currently underdogs in 12 of their remaining 14 games in the fantasy season (only favored in their two matchups against the Saints), meaning they’re going to be chucking it for four quarters more often than not. This is a buy low, buy high, buy whatever. I need Tetairoa McMillan on all of my teams.
Buy Chris Olave
Is this finally the Chris Olave year? There’s a lot of signs hinting that it could be. Olave currently leads all WR’s in XFP/G with 21.6, nearly a full point above second-place Malik Nabers. This comes on the back of some incredible volume. Olave and Puka Nacua’s 11.7 targets per game lead the NFL through three weeks and are a full 2 targets above the next closest receiver. Olave is also the only player with double digit targets in all three games this season. New Saints head coach Kellen Moore is a huge factor in this kind of target output for Olave. He’s sending him in motion, lining him up in the slot for 40.5% of his routes and getting him involved in the screen game with 5 designed targets (T-3rd most in the NFL). Something Moore has been known for as a playcaller is the fast pace with which he runs his offense. 2025 has been no different, as the Saints are tied for the league lead in plays per game with 68.7. Pair all of this with the Saints not being favored in a game until week 17 and there’s plenty of reason to believe that this kind of volume can stick around. Spencer Rattler is the one limiting factor for Olave as a fantasy asset, and while he probably won’t allow Olave to approach consistent WR1 production, this many targets will give Olave a very high floor with legit spike week potential.
Buy Josh Jacobs
How many running backs are even playing 75+% of snaps nowadays? The answer is 9. Josh Jacobs is one of them. He’s currently tied for the 2nd most carries (58) in the NFL this season. His 4 i5 carries lead the team by… well, 4. This monopoly of the goal line touches is a continuation from his ownership of the role last year, when he had 22 of the team’s 28 i5 carries. This role on a Packers’ offense that looks to be one of the best in the league is going to make him a strong play on a weekly basis. But what happens when the gamescript doesn’t lend itself to turning around and handing the ball to Jacobs 20 times per game? We got our answer to that question on Sunday when the Browns stunned the Packers and won the game on a last second field goal. Jacobs (who still had 16 carries) caught 5 passes on 9 targets. In his three games, he’s racked up 20, 23, and 25 opportunities. Jacobs looks to be a gamescript-proof three down back on one of the best offenses in the NFL. Only Christian McCaffrey (who’s 34.4 XFP/G is equally as hilarious as it is ridiculous) tops Jacobs’ 24.1 XFP/G. Don’t let his 12.4 FP/G scare you off of buying low on one of the best workloads at the RB position.
Sell Jacory Croskey-Merritt
After Austin Ekeler’s season was prematurely ended by an achilles injury, the Bill hive from August has been reawakened. If you’re a bag holder, now is the time to cash out. This Commanders backfield is a mess. Jeremy McNichols mixed in for 4 carries, Bill had 8, and Chris Rodriguez led the team with 11. None of the three managed a 25% route participation (Bill did lead the way with 21.7%, the 44th highest mark amongst RB’s on the week). Deebo Samuel is also going to be involved in the run game and Jayden Daniels will make up a solid chunk of the Commanders rushing attempts every week. There just isn’t a lot of room for Bill to emerge as an every week fantasy starter with four other players factoring into the run game, especially when he doesn’t look like he’ll ever be super involved as a pass catcher. Capitalize on whatever post-Ekeler injury hype may be left.
Sell A.J. Brown
Now’s your chance to get out. Friendly reminder that A.J. Brown had just 35 receiving yards through the first 10 quarters of the season. The Eagles managed an incredible comeback to beat the Rams on Sunday largely on the back of Brown’s heroic 6/109/1 receiving line in the second half after getting blanked in the first. That doesn’t change that the team posted their lowest PROE of the season in week 3. The Eagles are perfectly content with controlling the ball and simply doing enough to win games in a way that’s similar to what we’ve seen out of the Chiefs the last few years. Brown’s weekly upside is obviously massive, but the floor is what we saw through the first 2.5 games. If you can flip him for a piece with similar upside that doesn’t have a week-killing type of floor, I think now is the time to make that move. I was extremely bullish on Brown coming into the season, but I think we need to believe the team when they’ve made it obvious that they don’t want to win in a way that’s conducive to the pass catchers being fantasy stars every week. Don’t hear what I’m not saying, this isn’t a “punt Brown off your team” take. Find solid value (Rome Odunze, Tetairoa McMillan and Rashee Rice stick out as targets) and don’t be afraid to pull the trigger.
Sell Jaylen Waddle
Touchdowns in back to back games have salvaged some pretty mediocre performances from Jaylen Waddle. He has yet to top 6 targets in any game and has finished with less than 40 receiving yards in 2 out of 3 games this season. Waddle is unquestionably the third option in Miami’s passing game, trailing both De’Von Achane and Tyreek Hill in targets, receptions, and YPRR. Hill has monopolized the downfield role (53.7% AY share) and De’Von Achane owns the underneath area of the field. This leaves Waddle with the scraps left over by both. Waddle is currently the WR24 in FP/G, however George Pickens is the only other WR in the top 24 with a lower target share than Waddle’s 17.5%. This lackluster volume has resulted in a 10.8 XFP/G, a mark that’s 49th at the position. The offense as a whole is extremely disappointing and Waddle’s volume leaves a lot to be desired, making him expendable while his value is being propped up by touchdowns.
