Week 4 Waiver Wire: The Receivers and Tight Ends Worth a Claim After the Backfields

Week 3 produced a brutal Sunday of running back injuries, and the waiver wire reflects it. De'Von Achane's knee sent Ollie Gordon II to the top of the board. Breece Hall's thigh pushed Braelon Allen right behind him. Every league in America will spend most of its budget on those two names, which is exactly why the rest of this list matters.

The managers who win leagues in September are not the ones who pay the most for the obvious back. They are the ones who get the obvious back and still have budget in Week 9.

The running backs, briefly

Gordon is the priority. He handled 17 carries and a three-yard touchdown after Achane exited against Kansas City, and Miami's other back, Jaylen Wright, was already out with a foot injury. Gordon is a potential three-down back for a team that will be throwing from behind frequently. Bid accordingly.

Allen is the second claim. He took every backup touch after Hall left and gets a Chicago defense in Week 4 that has not stopped anyone on the ground. His value is contingent on Hall sitting, which the Jets have not announced, so the bid should be meaningfully smaller than the Gordon bid.

Everything below is where the value is.

Tre Harris is the receiver add

Harris led the Chargers in receiving on Sunday with six catches on seven targets for 76 yards. Seven targets on a team with an established top option is a real role, and the efficiency, six of seven caught, indicates he is being used on high-percentage throws rather than as a low-volume deep threat.

Los Angeles also had injury attrition on Sunday, and a receiver who is already earning targets in a functional passing offense is the profile that turns into a WR3 by Week 6. He is a flex play in Week 4 and a rest-of-season hold.

Roman Wilson is the Pittsburgh version of the same story. He saw six targets, caught three including a touchdown, and finished with 15 fantasy points. Pittsburgh draws Cleveland on Thursday night in a game with one of the week's lowest totals, so the immediate matchup is unattractive. Add him anyway and start him later.

Keenan Allen remains available in a surprising number of leagues and should not be. Whatever the age curve says, target volume is target volume.

Kenyon Sadiq is the tight end add

Sadiq caught seven passes for 105 yards and a touchdown against Detroit, roughly 20 fantasy points, and it was his second career score. Tight end production is the most volatile category in fantasy football, and single-game breakouts frequently mean nothing. This one is worth chasing because the volume was the story, not the touchdown.

Seven receptions from a tight end is a signal about route participation and about a play-caller's willingness to target the position. That does not evaporate in a week.

Mike Gesicki is the safer, lower-ceiling version. He put up 16.3 fantasy points in Week 1 and added 37 yards and a touchdown in Week 3. He is a streaming tight end with a defined red-zone role, which is enough to beat the replacement-level tight end on most rosters.

Zach Ertz belongs on this list too. With Dallas Goedert ruled out with a knee injury, Ertz is back in Philadelphia and elevated into the starting role for Monday night. A veteran tight end with red-zone equity in a favored offense is a one-week streaming play at minimum.

Marcus Mariota is the quarterback stream

Mariota threw for 183 yards and three touchdowns in Week 3, good for just over 20 fantasy points, and he draws a home matchup against Indianapolis in Week 4. He is available in most leagues.

Streaming quarterbacks is a skill that fantasy managers consistently undervalue. The gap between the QB12 and the QB20 in a given week is smaller than the gap between the RB12 and the RB20, which means the roster spot spent on a backup quarterback is almost always better spent on a running back lottery ticket. Mariota is the exception this week because the matchup is genuinely good and because the quarterback carnage of Week 3, Caleb Williams's hamstring, Baker Mayfield's dislocated thumb, has thinned the pool.

The Verdexed model take

The model's waiver framework values three things in order: projected touches, projected touches in the red zone, and role stability. Gordon leads on the first two. Allen leads on the third only if Hall is ruled out.

Among the non-backfield adds, Harris grades out highest because his target share is earned rather than injury-inherited. Injury-driven roles revert. Earned roles compound. That distinction is the single most useful filter for separating a September waiver claim that matters from one that occupies a roster spot for three weeks.

Sadiq is the highest-variance name on the board with the best ceiling. The model projects him as a low-end TE1 rest of season with a wide error band, which in a position as shallow as tight end is worth more than it sounds.

What to do in your league

Spend big on Gordon, moderately on Allen, and small on everyone else. If you lose the Gordon bid, do not chase Allen at a premium out of frustration. Take Harris and Sadiq for single-digit percentages of your budget and keep the rest.

The single most common FAAB mistake in Week 4 is spending 60 percent of a budget on a replacement running back and then having nothing left when a genuine league-winner comes free in October. The injuries of Week 3 were severe, but they were not the last injuries of the season.

What's next

Waivers process Wednesday morning in most leagues. Before you submit, check Wednesday's practice reports if your league allows a late deadline, because Hall's participation level changes Allen's value more than any other single data point on the board.