Cole Beasley (WR, BUF) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

October 1, 2019

Buffalo Bills wide receiver (WR) Cole Beasley is a fantasy football waiver wire pickup to target as a free agent addition for Week 5 of the 2019 NFL season.

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team PPR Leagues

OWNED IN: 12% of Leagues

ANALYSIS: Cole Beasley has yet to score a touchdown. He has scored two or more from 2013 on, missing on the feat just in his 2012 rookie season. That's bad, right? Wrong. Beasly hasn't scored yet, but all the rest of his numbers (if prorated to a 16-game season) put him on the path to finish the year with a career-best season. And he's barely owned in a tenth of the leagues!

We all knew before this season's start that Beasley will be one of Josh Allen's go-to guys during the latter's sophomore year. That is indeed the case for Allen, and for the whole Bills offense given the number of snaps Beasley is playing mainly from the slot. So far, Beasly has played in 60% of Buffalo's offensive plays, only bested by John Brown (85%). Through four weeks, Beasly leads the Bills in targets (36) and receptions (24) and is second in receiving yards (246). No Bill has more than one receiving touchdown (just three in total among all WR/TE/RB), so the fact that Beasley has yet to score his first isn't worrying.

It is worth noting how in the toughest game Buffalo has played this season, against New England in Week 4, Beasley had his best performance of the year. He was targeted a season-high 13 times and hauled in seven passes for 75 yards to finish at 7.5 fantasy points. Keep in mind the Patriots came as the no. 1 defense against WR, having yet to allow a TD entering the contest.

Beasley slot-deployment and short-by-nature routes make his yardage fall a little bit short of what others could accomplish with his volume, but he is a sure-play every week with a solid floor. His 73.9 catch rate allows him to score easy points in PPR leagues, with the upside of getting in for a touchdown. If you play in a deep league who values receptions, or the roster structure has more slots than the average one, Beasley should be a good option to put in your lineup as an easy-point getter in the Flex position.