Teddy Bridgewater, Cole Beasley among top last-minute pickups for Week 5

Looking to make a trade but not sure where to start? New in the ESPN App, the Trade Assistant is a matchmaking tool which assesses your team needs and depth versus every other team in your league and suggests trades for fantasy managers to either propose or dismiss.

Most Traded Player: Joe Mixon (14,070 accepted trades)
Mixon is a very good player, but now is the time to exit the Mixon business. Yes, he posted a career high in fantasy points last week, but game script isn’t always going to be that favorable. In addition to his value peaking, the Bengals’ schedule profiles as pass-heavy game plans and that’s not how Mixon figures to pay the fantasy bills.

Highest Rejection Rate (among 100 most common players in trades): Alvin Kamara (97.2%)
Kamara’s value is going nowhere when Michael Thomas returns and it seems that managers are wise to his stable role. His third season with 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns seems likely and his December schedule is all sorts of friendly.

Trade Success: Mike Gesicki (9.4%)
Gesicki has one catch in each of the past two weeks and managers are getting antsy. Hang in there. Gesicki leads the position in air yards this season and over the past three weeks, the Dolphins (27.3 PPG) rank between the Chiefs and Falcons in scoring.

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While you may notice some overlap with Field Yates’ pickup column that publishes on Mondays, an important distinction to make between that column and this one is that the options mentioned in this column are focused solely on this week’s matchup and not the players’ value for the remainder of the season.

Do you need replacement options for injured players? Or are you merely dealing with depth issues? A roundtable of fantasy analysts and NFL Nation reporters will join me to identify some choice names to consider each week.

Here are some of our favorites for Week 5:

Quarterback

Teddy Bridgewater, Carolina Panthers (37.6% rostered; at Falcons)

In deeper leagues, such as 12 to 14 teams, Bridgewater fits as a matchup-dependent quarterback in this week’s game versus the Falcons. Bridgewater was efficient as a thrower last week, completing 70.3% of his passes for 276 yards with two TDs in the win over Arizona. And now he gets a Falcons defense that has really struggled with alignment, assignment and communication in the secondary. Look for Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Brady to scheme-up Atlanta’s single-high coverages, which will create catch-and-run opportunities for Bridgewater’s targets in the route tree. -Matt Bowen, NFL writer and analyst

Derek Carr, Las Vegas Raiders (15.9% rostered; at Chiefs)

Eighth in QBR and second in completion rate among qualified arms this season, Carr heads into Arrowhead with real fantasy helium given the Chiefs were ceding 19.1 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks before dismantling New England’s duo of backup signal-callers on Monday night. Carr serves as a high-floor streaming option in a game that has Kansas City favored by more than a dozen points with a total of at least 56 across most books, which means Las Vegas could spend much of the game simply trying to keep pace with the Chiefs’ elite offense. Essentially, a blend of volume and efficiency aids Carr’s case as a solid streamer this Sunday. -Jim McCormick

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (29.6% rostered; at Saints)

Herbert is coming off his best game as a pro and now gets to face the worst red zone defense in the league through four weeks. He has shown no reservations about weighing down Keenan Allen with as many looks as he can handle, and without Austin Ekeler in the mix, Herbert’s rushing potential takes a mini step forward. He’s a versatile option and viable for those with Aaron Rodgers or Matthew Stafford on bye. -Kyle Soppe, ESPN Fantasy researcher.

Running back

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