College Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire & Transfer Targets
Week 4 gave us a little bit of everything: established names finally breaking out, young players forcing their way into bigger roles, and a few performances that should immediately send fantasy managers to the waiver wire.
As always, we’re trying to look beyond one big box score. Opportunity matters. Targets matter. Carries matter. And sometimes the most useful waiver pickup isn’t the guy who just scored 30 points, but the player whose role suggests those points are coming.
Here are some of our favorite college fantasy football waiver wire and CollegeFFB transfer targets heading into Week 5. Make sure to check out our full week 5 rankings as well.
Quarterbacks
Gio Lopez, Wake Forest
At some point, Gio Lopez probably needs to graduate from “waiver target” to simply being recognized as a very good college fantasy quarterback.
Lopez helped Wake Forest knock off No. 16 Louisville in Week 4, completing 12 of 19 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown. Through four games, he’s now thrown for 1,112 yards, eight touchdowns and just one interception. He’s also already scored twice on the ground.
That rushing ability is important. We saw the ceiling against Purdue earlier this season when Lopez added 59 rushing yards and two touchdowns to 225 yards and a score through the air. He doesn't need a 300-yard passing game to put together a big fantasy week.
Wake Forest gets Stanford next, making Lopez one of the more interesting quarterback options for Week 5.
Aaron Philo, Florida
Aaron Philo didn't need to do much in the second half against Ole Miss because Florida's running game completely took over. He still finished 16-of-23 for 196 yards and a touchdown while adding another score on the ground in Florida's 52-28 win.
The bigger story is how efficient Philo has been all season. He's completing 72.4% of his passes with 917 yards and seven touchdowns through four games, averaging 10.5 yards per attempt.
The concern for fantasy is obvious: Jadan Baugh and this Florida rushing attack can steal a lot of touchdowns. But Philo has been too efficient to ignore, especially if you need another quarterback option.
Florida travels to Missouri in Week 5.
Maddux Madsen, Boise State
Maddux Madsen quietly keeps putting up useful fantasy performances.
He completed 16 of 23 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns against Western Michigan in Week 4 while adding 29 yards on the ground. More importantly, Madsen now has nine passing touchdowns and zero interceptions through four games.
He hasn't posted a huge passing-yardage game yet, but he's thrown multiple touchdowns in three of four games and has contributed a little more with his legs recently.
Boise State opens conference play at home against Utah State in Week 5. Madsen might not have the same ceiling as some of the elite fantasy quarterbacks, but the consistency makes him a very usable option.
Aidan Chiles, Northwestern
The Northwestern version of Aidan Chiles is starting to get interesting.
Chiles went into Bloomington against No. 5 Indiana and completed 22 of 29 passes for 293 yards and two touchdowns, then added a rushing touchdown. Even more encouraging was what happened after halftime: 17-of-21 passing for 237 yards and all three of his touchdowns came in the second half.
He's now opened his Northwestern career with three straight games of at least 225 passing yards.
Penn State comes to Evanston in Week 5, so this isn't necessarily the week to force Chiles into your lineup. But if you're looking beyond one matchup, he's becoming a quarterback worth rostering.
Running Backs
Matt Fuller, South Carolina
If Matt Fuller is somehow still available in your league, that probably needs to change.
Even in a 49-18 loss at Alabama, Fuller handled 19 carries for 112 yards and a touchdown while catching five of six targets for another 20 yards. That's 24 opportunities against Alabama. One week earlier, he had 17 carries and seven receptions against Mississippi State.
Through four games, Fuller has 384 rushing yards at 6.7 yards per carry, 113 receiving yards and five total touchdowns.
The receiving usage is what really grabs our attention for PPR formats. He's not simply dependent on breaking a long run or finding the end zone.
South Carolina gets Kentucky at home in Week 5.
Jeffrey Overton Jr., Virginia Tech
This one isn't complicated.
25 carries. 209 rushing yards. Three catches. 19 receiving yards.
That's 28 touches and 228 yards from scrimmage against Boston College. Overton's 76-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter also ended up being the game winner.
And this wasn't completely out of nowhere. Overton had 112 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns the previous week against Maryland. He's now averaging more than 100 rushing yards per game and has five total touchdowns through four games.
Virginia Tech hosts Pitt on Friday night. After what we've seen over the last two weeks, Overton has moved well beyond speculative-add territory.
Jayden Scott, NC State
Here’s another workload we love seeing.
Jayden Scott carried the ball 25 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns against Appalachian State in Week 4, adding two receptions for eight yards.
He now has 346 rushing yards and four touchdowns through four games while averaging just over six yards per carry. The underlying rushing numbers are interesting too, with 5.16 yards after contact per attempt and 20 forced missed tackles through Week 4.
The jump from 16 carries in Week 3 to 25 in Week 4 is exactly the kind of usage change we're looking for on the waiver wire.
NC State hosts Louisville next.
AJ Newberry, Oregon State
AJ Newberry is a little more speculative, but his role is trending in the right direction.
After opening the season with seven, five and seven carries, Newberry received 11 carries against UTEP and turned them into 111 yards and a touchdown.
There's also some receiving upside here. Newberry already has 12 receptions for 133 yards through four games, including games of five catches for 43 yards and four catches for 55.
That combination gives him multiple ways to score fantasy points if the rushing workload continues to increase.
Oregon State travels to Colorado State in Week 5.
Wide Receivers
Chris Marshall, Arkansas
Chris Marshall might be the easiest recommendation in this entire article.
He followed a seven-catch, 136-yard performance against Georgia with nine receptions for 195 yards and a touchdown against Tulsa. Through four games, Marshall already has 473 receiving yards, averaging 118.3 per game.
And that's exactly why this isn't simply chasing the Tulsa game.
Marshall produced against Georgia too, and Arkansas clearly wants to feed him. He has 331 receiving yards over his last two games alone.
Arkansas travels to Texas A&M in Week 5. At this point, Marshall shouldn't be sitting on many waiver wires.
Cayden Lee, Missouri
Speaking of players who probably shouldn't still be available...
Cayden Lee erupted for 11 receptions, 156 yards and two touchdowns against Mississippi State. He's now sitting at 27 receptions, 412 yards and four touchdowns through four games.
Perhaps more importantly, there hasn't really been a bad game. Lee has at least five catches in every game this season and has already topped 100 receiving yards twice.
Missouri hosts Florida this week, but we're not particularly concerned about chasing matchups here anymore. The volume has established Lee as a weekly fantasy option.
Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, USC
The freshman is arriving quickly.
Kayden Dixon-Wyatt caught seven passes for 114 yards and a touchdown against Oregon, giving him 25 receptions for 372 yards and three touchdowns through five games. He's recorded at least three catches in every game and has already produced two 100-yard performances.
That's impressive enough on its own. Doing it as a true freshman makes it even more interesting.
With Trent Mosley sidelined, Dixon-Wyatt has taken advantage of the additional opportunity and is rapidly becoming one of the more important pieces of USC's passing game.
USC hosts Washington in Week 5. If you're looking for a receiver who could continue gaining value as the season progresses, Dixon-Wyatt is near the top of the list.
Yamir Knight, SMU
Yamir Knight turned 11 targets into 11 catches, 164 yards and a touchdown.
Kevin Jennings threw for 464 yards against Missouri State, and Knight was his biggest beneficiary. But this wasn't Knight's first productive game. He caught seven passes for 70 yards and a touchdown against Louisville the week before and has now accumulated 27 catches for 345 yards through four games.
The target volume is especially encouraging: Knight has drawn 20 targets over the last two games.
SMU gets Boston College at home this week.
Sanfrisco Magee, Mississippi State
We're going to keep this one simple.
Sanfrisco Magee has played four games this season.
He has scored a touchdown in all four of them.
Magee caught three passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns in Mississippi State's win over Missouri, bringing him to 13 catches, 208 yards and five touchdowns on the season.
Now for the warning: five touchdowns on only 13 receptions obviously isn't sustainable. He's averaging just 3.3 receptions per game, so this isn't the same type of volume play as Marshall, Lee or Knight.
But five touchdowns aren't something we can completely dismiss either. Kamario Taylor clearly trusts Magee in scoring situations, and his 16.0 yards per reception gives him legitimate big-play upside.
The test gets considerably tougher with Alabama coming to Starkville in Week 5. Consider Magee a desperation flex play where you're banking on a 50-yard TD at some point.
Talyn Taylor, Georgia
This is the upside swing of the group.
Talyn Taylor entered Week 4 with only five receptions on the season, then broke out against Oklahoma with four catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Taylor has now scored three touchdowns on only nine receptions this year while averaging 18.8 yards per catch. He also has a 31-yard rushing attempt on his résumé.
The obvious question is volume. He had zero catches against Arkansas one week before exploding against Oklahoma, so we're not pretending the floor is suddenly safe.
But this is exactly the type of player worth getting ahead of. Taylor is a talented sophomore who may have just played his way into a larger role in Georgia's offense.
Georgia hosts Vanderbilt this week.
Ryan Coleman-Williams, Alabama
Remember Ryan Williams?
Well, now Ryan Coleman-Williams, and Week 4 looked a lot more like the player college football fans became accustomed to watching as a freshman.
Coleman-Williams caught five of six targets for 98 yards and two touchdowns against South Carolina, including scores from 32 and 42 yards out.
The early season hasn't been quite as explosive as many expected, but Alabama's passing game is rolling behind Keelon Russell, and performances like this are a reminder of the ceiling Coleman-Williams possesses.
Alabama travels to Mississippi State for one of the more interesting games on the Week 5 slate.
And we know he's not available in your draft league, but in CollegeFFB he's worth transferring in with one of your free weekly transfers.
Tight Ends
Matt Wagner, Boise State
Welcome to the wonderful world of college fantasy tight ends, where one legitimately productive game is enough to make us pay attention.
Matt Wagner did a lot more than that against Western Michigan.
He caught seven passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns, accounting for nearly half of Maddux Madsen's 204 passing yards. Both of Madsen's touchdown passes to Wagner came from very different areas of the field too, including a 34-yard score.
Wagner now has 14 receptions for 157 yards and three touchdowns through four games. That's already comfortably ahead of the receiving pace he established last season.
At a position where consistent production can be extremely difficult to find, that's enough to make Wagner one of our favorite tight end pickups.
Boise State hosts Utah State in Week 5.
Luke Dehnicke, Northwestern
And then there's Luke Dehnicke.
Dehnicke entered the Indiana game with four catches for 68 yards on the season.
He left Bloomington after catching seven passes for 140 yards.
That's not a typo. A Northwestern tight end just went for 140 yards against the No. 5 team in the country. It was the most receiving yards by a Northwestern tight end against a power-conference opponent since at least 1995.
He didn't find the end zone, but we're actually fine with that from a waiver perspective. This wasn't a two-catch, two-touchdown performance creating a misleading fantasy score. Chiles repeatedly looked Dehnicke's way and the result was seven receptions at 20 yards per catch.
We don't expect 140 yards every week, obviously. But if this game represents a change in how Northwestern plans to use him, Dehnicke suddenly becomes extremely interesting at a thin fantasy position.
Penn State comes to Evanston in Week 5.
Final Thoughts
The Week 5 waiver wire has an unusually good mix of immediate production and longer-term upside.
At receiver, Chris Marshall, Cayden Lee and Yamir Knight have enough sustained volume that we're not treating their Week 4 performances as flukes. Kayden Dixon-Wyatt looks increasingly difficult to ignore, while Talyn Taylor is more of a bet on what his role could become.
At running back, Jeffrey Overton and Matt Fuller stand out because the workloads are becoming impossible to ignore. Jayden Scott's 25-carry Week 4 is another usage spike worth chasing.
And if you've been cycling through tight ends hoping somebody sticks, Matt Wagner and Luke Dehnicke finally give us two genuinely interesting options.
As always, don't make your waiver decisions based solely on last week's fantasy points. Look at how those points happened. Targets, touches and changing roles usually tell us much more about what's coming next.