Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 5 (2023)

October 3, 2023 Bill Mustafa
Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 5 (2023) | Fantasy In Frames

Welcome to our fifth Waiver Wire article at Fantasy In Frames for the 2023 fantasy football season!

Here are my recommendations for you in my Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 5 (2023) posting!

Some players are more suitable as streaming options, while others will have more season-long potential. All recommendations are for players who, according to Sleeper HQ, are rostered in under 50% of leagues.

  1. Mitchell Trubisky
    • Kenny Pickett is very likely to miss time with a knee injury. Mitch is the next man up. 
  2. Zach Wilson
    • Impressive performance in the controversial loss to Kansas City. His 19.20 fantasy points in that game was the fourth-highest of his career, and he gets a Denver defense, which ranks dead last in fantasy points allowed to the QB position through 4 weeks. 
  3. Sam Howell
    • Bounced back from an awful performance in week 3 with a 290-yard, 1TD game vs. the Eagles. Good for 19.6 points. Week 5 against the winless Bears, who allow the second-most fantasy points to the QB position. 
    • He still has an elite cast of pass-catchers around him in Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, and Curtis Samuel. Those three should overwhelm and overmatch the Bears’ secondary. Howell ranks inside the top 10 for both pass attempts and completions and 11th in passing yards.

  1. Chuba Hubbard
  • Out-carried a banged-up Miles Sanders in week 4 and could be a worthwhile stash considering Sanders’ history of being banged up. There isn’t much behind the Sanders / Hubbard 1-2 punch in the Carolina backfield, so an inactive Sanders could see a workhorse role for Hubbard down the line. 
  • Hubbard’s 4.6 yards per carry this season leads the Panthers, and Miles Sanders is carrying the rock for a paltry 2.9 YPC. Hubbard also ranks in the top 10 amongst RBs in PFF’s running grade category, scoring 80.6. Miles Sanders score? 49.9. 
  1. Jaleel McLaughlin
  • The rookie RB had over 100 yards of offensive and a score in an impressive performance against the Chicago Bears. 
  • The Jets’ defense should pose a tougher challenge, but if Javonte Williams can’t go then we should see an expanded role for a player who already has 2 TDs this season as the third-string RB. 
  1. Latavius Murray
  • The oldest RB in the league has seemingly found a perfect situation in Buffalo. Playing between 23 – 33 percent of offensive snaps a game should help to keep him fresh all season. His size makes him a good goal-line option for the Bills, and his two TDs this season have already helped him produce one RB2 (RB23 Week 2) and a high-end RB3 (RB26 Week 3) finish this season. 
  • Murray’s 2TDs lead the Bills at the position.
  1. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine
  • The Titans WR has put up double-digit fantasy points in 2 of 4 games this season and faces a Colts defense, who ranks 26th in fantasy points allowed to opposition WRs
  • NWI has played 81 or more percent of offensive snaps in 3 of 4 games this season. 
  1. Braxton Berrios
  • Has cemented himself as the WR3 in Miami’s high-scoring offense. Over 64% of his snaps are in the slot.
  • His presence as the underneath receiver could be important against a Giants defense called by Don “Wink” Martindale, who likes to blitz. Look for Tua to replace the blitz with the ball and use his underneath passing options. 
  1. Michael Wilson
  • Back-to-back weeks with double-digit fantasy scores, including a huge 7/76/2 performance in week 4 vs. San Francisco, banked him over 25 points. 
  • His 82.4 reception percentage for the season blows away teammates Hollywood Brown & Rondale Moore, both of which are sub-67%. If Dobbs can trust Wilson to haul in his targets… he’ll get more targets!
  1. Josiah Deguara
  • Starting TE Luke Musgrave suffered a concussion in Week 4. Deguara caught all 4 of his targets against the Lions and could be in for a heavier workload if Musgrave can’t go. 
  • Raiders are bottom 10 in the NFL in fantasy points allowed to the TE position.
  1. Jonnu Smith
  • Fresh off of a six-catch / 95-yard outing in London. Jonnu has had at least 6 targets in the last 3 games. 
  • In the battle of the Falcons TEs – Jonnu leads Pitts in receptions (15/11), reception percentage (75/55), yards (179/121) & yards per route run (1.99/0.95)
  1. Andrew Ogletree
  • He finished as the TE3 overall in Week 4 (pending MNF), and his snap percentage more than doubled from week 1 (21%) to week 4 (44%) 
  • None of Indy’s TEs have separated themselves thus far, but if Richardson’s connection with Ogletree continues to grow, he could become the safety blanket TE all rookie QBs love.
  1. Detroit Lions
  • Lions defense has posted back-to-back double-digit fantasy hauls and have held three of their four opponents this season to 20 or fewer points.
  • They’ll have a rest advantage heading into Week 5 and play a Panthers side who are winless and have only scored more than 20 points once this season. 2 / 4 defenses playing the Panthers offense have scored double-digit points this season. Three of the four have posted top-12 defense performances in the week they played Carolina.