Fantasy Football Week 5 Waiver Wire: Pump the Brakes on Jarius Wright
By Brad Berreman
@bradberreman24
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Teddy Bridgewater’s first start was the start of a new era for the Minnesota Vikings, and no player benefited more than wide receiver Jarius Wright. Most of his production came in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, but Wright finished with a career-high eight receptions and 132 yards on a team-high 10 targets. His previous career-best in a game was seven catches (Nov. 25, 2012 against the Chicago Bears) and Sunday marked the first 100-yard game of his career.
Wright had just three receptions for 37 yards over the first three games of the season, with Matt Cassel playing two full games and part of the third, so he may now immediately be on the radar of fantasy football owners with Bridgewater starting. The ankle injury that prevented Bridgewater from finishing Sunday’s game is a concern with a short week coming ahead of a Thursday night game against the Green Bay Packers, but Wright has had some fairly productive games with Christian Ponder under center over the past two seasons.
Wright was not a widely familiar name prior to Sunday, outside of Vikings’ fans and followers, and he showed what his potential is when a bigger role and an imaginative offensive coordinator come together. Cordarrelle Patterson and Greg Jennings are still the most fantasy-worthy wide receivers on Minnesota’s roster, but with tight end Kyle Rudolph (groin) out for awhile Wright has made a case for a consistent role going forward.
Wright is available in basically all fantasy leagues right now (one percent ownership in Yahoo! leagues), which should be expected, and I don’t expect that to change a lot in the near-term. But only one of the Vikings’ next five opponents (Detroit Lions in Week 6) entered Week 4 in the top half of the league against wide receivers (ESPN scoring), so if Wright can maintain a prominent role he may become worthy of a roster spot in deep leagues fairly soon.
Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter or connect on Google +.
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