Fantasy football waiver wire: Best wide receivers available in Week 5

In some ways, Week 4 felt like the turning point of the fantasy football season. A handful of major injuries could have season-altering ramifications, and it’s also the last week every team played before the bye weeks start. The challenges are just starting for fantasy owners, and the waiver wire will be more important than ever during this middle stretch of the year.

Injuries wrecked the quarterback and running back positions, and there are still a few names to monitor at wide receiver. The major concern is Julio Jones, who left the game with a hip flexor, but he has fortunate timing with the Falcons’ bye coming up and should be back for Week 6. Jordan Matthews is getting surgery on his thumb and will be out for at least a month. Davante Adams will also be out for a while, but he thankfully avoided a worst-case scenario after that scary helmet-to-helmet hit on Thursday night. Odell Beckham Jr. missed time with a dislocated finger, but finished the game and appears to be fine.

On top of the injuries, fantasy owners also have to deal with bye teams (Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Washington). Jones, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Michael Thomas, Ted Ginn, Jamison Crowder, and Terrelle Pryor won’t be available this week, so now’s the time to test your bench depth and waiver wire savvy.

With so much turnover at the position, here are the top wide receivers on the wire, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.

The Patriots are surprisingly just 2-2, thanks in large part to a defense that’s fallen off the cliff. There are few concerns with the offense, however, with Tom Brady still playing at a high level and guys like Amendola coming back healthy. Amendola only had 42 yards Sunday, but he caught six passes and played a part in the Pats’ near-comeback effort against the Carolina Panthers. He still takes too many big hits and is a perpetual injury risk, but when he’s on the field Amendola is worth using in PPR leagues.

Kupp’s been as inconsistent as you’d expect from a rookie slot receiver, scoring a touchdown in Week 1 before going quiet in Weeks 2 and 3. He found the end zone against the Dallas Cowboys and appears to be Jared Goff’s go-to man whenever Sammy Watkins is blanketed by coverage. He’s not quite at every-week-starter level yet, but is worth considering in PPR leagues. The Seattle Seahawks are always a tough matchup, but their slot cornerbacks are vulnerable, so look for Kupp to soak up underneath targets while Watkins and Robert Woods are occupied on the outside.

Brown returned from a hamstring injury that cost him two games, and even though he played just 53 of 86 snaps, he overtook J.J. Nelson as the Cardinals’ No. 3 receiver behind Larry Fitzgerald and Jaron Brown. He saw seven targets against the San Francisco 49ers, turning them into three catches for 47 yards. With Carson Palmer still playing pretty well, the Cardinals’ passing game is trending up with his weapons getting healthy. Brown will be on the WR4 radar against the Philadelphia Eagles in a potential shootout.

Making his season debut after a broken collarbone cost him most of training camp, Fuller showed instant chemistry with Deshaun Watson, scoring two touchdowns and getting 35 yards on four catches. We’re not quite ready to crown Fuller yet — his drop problems are well-documented and he had similar blowup games last year before falling off. DeAndre Hopkins is still the unquestioned top receiver in Houston, but Fuller finally gives Watson a legitimate No. 2 option and is worth considering as a boom-or-bust type streamer.

Scoring two touchdowns against the Patriots is, frankly, not that impressive. That’s how bad the Patriots defense has been in 2017. But at least Funchess finally rose to the occasion after teasing his potential and never delivering the past two years. He needs to step up with Greg Olsen on injured reserve, and do it on a more consistent basis. The Panthers play the Detroit Lions next, and Funchess will be an extremely risky option against Detroit’s much-improved defense.