Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 wide receivers to target for Week 7

The worst news Antonio Brown fantasy owners got this week wasn’t an injury to Brown -- it was Ben Roethlisberger going down with a torn meniscus. Roethlisberger already had surgery and has a shot at returning after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 8 bye, but Landry Jones is making the start this week.

This is a huge downgrade to Brown’s fantasy ceiling. Jones failed to get the ball to him when filling in last season and is in a terrible spot going against the New England Patriots. In addition to Brown losing some value, Sammie Coates (already nursing a broken finger) becomes nearly useless.

Other than that, there wasn’t much injury news to report at receiver this week. Only two teams are on bye (Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys) so unless you own Kelvin Benjamin, or were thinking about streaming Cole Beasley, it’s a fairly standard week on the waiver wire. Let’s take a look at the top five options for Week 7, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.

Note: At the time of this writing, Cameron Meredith was owned in 52 percent of leagues, so he barely misses the cut on this list. However, you should absolutely pick him up if he’s still available in your league.

With Jordan Reed in the concussion protocol, Crowder got more targets than he’s been seeing the past few weeks. He made the most of his opportunity, going for three catches, 52 yards, and a touchdown. Crowder doesn’t get enough targets to be a consistent fantasy producer, but if Reed misses another week he’ll be in the WR3 mix against the Detroit Lions.

Colin Kaepernick’s return to the starting lineup may have saved Smith’s season after Blaine Gabbert totally ignored him. Smith got seven targets last Sunday, turning them into three catches, 79 yards, and a touchdown. We shouldn’t go too crazy about elevating Smith -- the 49ers still have a bad offense, and Smith has always been a volatile, boom-or-bust fantasy player. That said, he’s back in the WR4 conversation, which is way more than we’ve been able to say when Gabbert was starting. Smith has a tasty matchup in a potential shootout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Woods’ catch numbers in the four games since Sammy Watkins went down: six, seven, two, five. His yardage totals? 51, 89, 26, 44. You pretty much know what you’re getting from Woods, which is that of a solid possession receiver who doesn’t get yards after the catch. He’s still a useful PPR asset, though, and will get to face the Miami Dolphins this week. You could do worse at your flex spot.

Case Keenum is defying the odds and playing actual good football. One of the biggest reasons for that is Britt, who’s re-emerged as a legitimate No. 1 receiver after several lost seasons. He has 30 catches for 492 yards and two touchdowns in six games, which is already close to his entire season total from 2015 (36/681/3). Britt’s numbers will undoutedly come down if/when Keenum turns back into a pumpkin, but for now he’s made his case to be a starter in 12-team leagues. He’ll do battle with the New York Giants this week.

Finally healthy after a preseason hamstring injury lingered into the regular season, Wright had his best game yet with eight catches for 133 yards and a touchdown against the Cleveland Browns. However, there are reasons for skepticism -- Wright played only 22 snaps, far behind Tajae Sharpe (47), Andre Johnson (34), and Rishard Matthews (23). He’s still low on the totem pole, in a passing offense that’s been bad for long stretches this year. Wright is worth a speculative bench stash in standard leagues, but fantasy owners should avoid trying to chase last week’s stats. Wait until he proves it’s not a fluke before plugging him into your lineups.