The halfway point of the fantasy football regular season is rapidly approaching. How is your team looking through five weeks of action? Hopefully, you are at or near the top of your league and well on your way to the playoffs. If you aren’t, you must stay relentless. If you’re struggling and in need of a boost, this fantasy football waiver wire pickups article is a great place to start!
In addition to injuries, bye weeks represent another obstacle that must be navigated over the next two months. As always, managers are advised to prioritize situations, snap counts, workload and target shares over a one-week scoring output when deciding on which players to claim. These are the stats and trends that will better predict sustainable success. Here are our top fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 6.
Note: Players must be owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues to be included in the best fantasy football waiver wire pickups column. Ownership percentages will reflect their status on Tuesday mornings ahead of standard waiver processing.
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Best Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 6
QB Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Jared Goff, Detroit Lions (45.2%)
With the Detroit Lions on bye this past week, Jared Goff was dropped in several leagues. As a result, his availability is great enough to be included in our Week 6 fantasy football waiver wire pickups column. Goff will certainly return with momentum after his perfect 18/18 passing game that sent the Lions into their open date. His stats haven’t been incredibly gaudy in the first four games, but managers can expect more moving forward. As the bye week QB shuffle continues, Goff carries the added value of now having already passed his open date.
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars (33.2%)
I feel so dirty for having Trevor Lawrence among this week’s selections. The dude is not great, but had by far his best game of the 2024 campaign to date in Week 5. Passing for 371 yards is great and all, but it may not carry that much weight when done so at home against the sieve that is the Indianapolis Colts defense. At any rate, Lawrence is an option as a bye-week fill-in for Week 6 as the Jacksonville Jaguars make their annual trip to London. The Chicago Bears will pose a tougher defensive matchup, but Lawrence and the Jags have tended to fare well across the pond.
MORE: NFL Power Rankings Week 6 – Chiefs, Vikings Remain Unbeaten
Five weeks of NFL football are in the books, and underdogs continue to thrive! Click through our NFL Power Rankings to see where your team stands heading into Week 6!
RB Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Tyrone Tracy Jr., New York Giants (18.4%)
It remains to be seen whether or not Devin Singletary misses more time beyond Week 5. Even if he returns immediately, one could make the case that Tyrone Tracy Jr. earned himself more touches in the New York Giants offense going forward. Drawing the start this past Sunday in Singlletary’s absence, Tracy rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries. His 7.17 yards per carry was incredibly efficient and impressive. At the very least, he makes for a solid depth piece in fantasy and is the RB handcuff for Singletary owners.
Tank Bigsby, Jacksonville, Jaguars (9.6%)
On the surface, Tank Bigsby looks like a must-add for fantasy football this week. After all, he did finish as the RB1 in fantasy scoring in Week 5. However, it took a 65-yard run and a pair of touchdowns for him to do so. One has to believe that such production is not sustainable given that he has played no more than 40% of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ offensive snaps in any game this season. That said, Bigsby had more carries than Travis Etienne on Sunday. The latter now has a shoulder injury that could lead to a similar timeshare outlook for this backfield in Week 6.
WR Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Jalen Tolbert, Dallas Cowboys (7.6%)
If there was any debate as to where Jalen Tolbert stood in the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver pecking order, it was erased this past week. The first domino to fall was Brandin Cooks being placed on IR following a minor knee procedure. Tolbert was already outplaying the veteran, but this development has given him an unimpeded path to being the team’s second option at WR. He made good on the opportunity in Week 5, playing a season-high 89% of the team’s offensive snaps and catching seven of ten targets for 87 yards and a score.
Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts (34.9%)
Indianapolis Colts wideout Josh Downs is appearing in our fantasy football waiver wire pickups column for the second straight week. While there admittedly is concern about what happens to his production once Anthony Richardson returns from injury, Downs has been living right with Joe Flacco under center. He was the veteran QB’s favorite target this past week and now has 21 targets in the past two games combined. The 12 he saw in Week 5 were more than both Michael Pittman Jr. (8) and Alec Pierce (3). Downs is clearly the WR2 in this offense moving forward.
TE Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups
Tyler Conklin, New York Jets (37.1%)
Not sure how I am able to include Tyler Conklin in this column once again, but, as Jim Rome would say, “Here we are. Here the *bleep* we are!”. Thanks for making my job easier, I guess? Conklin is still readily available in over 60% of ESPN leagues. The New York Jets’ passing attack has major issues right now when it comes to pushing the ball down the field. This suits Conklin perfectly, and he has become a preferred target of Aaron Rodgers. He has seen six, eight and nine targets in the last three games, respectively. He will remain a viable TE in fantasy on that kind of volume.
Theo Johnson, New York Giants (1.4%)
Apologies for the “New York bias” being displayed in this week’s fantasy football waiver wire pickups column. Look, it’s truly only a matter of trying to serve you with the best recommendations. Rookie Theo Johnson hasn’t had a super splashy game thus far, but he put himself on the fantasy radar in Week 5. His five targets were a season-high and he caught all of them. Johnson may not see stable volume week-to-week, especially once Malik Nabers returns to the lineup. However, he is the New York Giants’ starting TE and, at a minimum, could be a sneaky bye-week fill-in at the position.
