For a player to be listed, he must be owned in 50 percent (or less) of Yahoo! leagues. The goal is to provide recommendations of players that have a greater chance of being available on your league's waiver wire. Of course, your league's size and settings could significantly impact whether these players (or better options) are available in your particular league(s).
With that said, here are some running back waiver-wire options that I like heading into Week 6 (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):
[Note: Players listed below are sorted by my preference to add.]
1. Alfred Morris, San Francisco 49ers (42 percent)
With Matt Breida (ankle) leaving Sunday's game early, Morris carried the ball 18 times for 61 yards and added three catches for 30 yards on five targets. Assuming that Breida misses Week 6 even though he did not sustain a high-ankle sprain, Alf could approach the 20-touch mark again this week. Morris is only averaging 3.68 yards per carry, but he'll be a volume-based RB2/flex option against the Packers.
2. Ronald Jones, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (25 percent)
Not entirely his fault, but Peyton Barber and the Buccaneers ground game have struggled this season. Playing in the first game of his career, Jones had 10 carries for 29 yards, both of which were team highs in Week 4. Neither the total (29 yards) nor the per-carry average (2.9) was impressive, but it's good that he had three more touches than Barber. Coming out of their Week 5 bye, the second-round back out of USC could continue to get the larger share of the workload as the season progresses.
3. Mike Davis, Seattle Seahawks (19 percent)
A Seahawks running back has now rushed for 100-plus yards in three consecutive games even though it hasn't always been the same player. Going into the season, one would have expected first-round rookie Rashaad Penny to be one of them. Not only was he not one of them, but Penny played zero snaps in Week 5.
Chris Carson, who has a pair of 100-yard rushing games over the past three weeks, is the clearly the team's best option at running back. That said, Davis was highly productive in a complementary role this week with 12 carries for 68 yards and a score. And we have seen the upside (21/101/2 in Week 4) when/if Carson misses times.
4. Wendell Smallwood, Philadelphia Eagles (4 percent)
With two touchdowns in his past three games, Smallwood has finished as the weekly RB10, RB33 and RB16 (through Sunday's games) in Weeks 3 to 5, respectively. In those games, he has 18 carries for 122 yards (6.78 YPC) and a touchdown plus nine catches for 94 yards (10.44 Y/R) and another score.
The Eagles backfield has been decimated by injuries this season and the latest news is that lead back Jay Ajayi is out for the season with a torn ACL. In addition, both Corey Clement and Darren Sproles have missed multiple games recently. Playing Thursday night on a short week, Smallwood could dominate Week 6 backfield touches.
5. Jalen Richard, Oakland Raiders (5 percent)
Richard had five carries in Week 1 and only four carries over his past four games combined. Considering he's on this list, it would then seem fairly obvious that he's a better add in PPR formats. Through Sunday's games, Richard is the RB32 in PPR formats (and RB52 in standard scoring) with six-plus catches and 50-plus yards in three of five games this season.
6. Frank Gore, Miami Dolphins (10 percent)
Although he wasn't targeted in the passing game, Gore led the team in both carries (12) and rushing yards (63) on Sunday. And while Kenyan Drake led the team in receiving (7/69/1 on 11 targets), Gore had twice as many carries as Drake (six). The lack of involvement in the passing game and the team's uninspiring offense in general could limit his upside, but Gore (41) has more touches than Drake (39) over the past four games. At a minimum, Gore should be rostered in more than one out of every 10 leagues.
- More Fantasy Football Waiver-Wire Advice Heading Into Week 6
Check out more of our content:
- Weekly Fantasy Football Rankings
- ROS Fantasy Football Rankings
- Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule
- DFS Fantasy Football Cheat Sheets
- 2019 NFL Mock Draft
