Taylor Gabriel (WR, CHI) - Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Chicago Bears wide receiver Taylor Gabriel was an off-season favorite of mine before heading into the 2017 season, but he just didn’t put together the performance I had anticipated. When he signed with the Chicago Bears, it seemed like a perfect situation as a safety blanket playing in the slot to help a growing Mitchell Trubisky. That was until the Bears drafted Anthony Miller who won the slot job in the pre-season. Now that Miller is out with a shoulder injury, Gabriel gets a nice bump in value and it showed on Sunday.

Gabriel caught all seven of his targets for 104 yards and two touchdowns. The Bears won’t play the Buccaneers, who have given up the fifth most points to opposing receivers this season, every week so I wouldn’t expect performances like this very often. Gabriel still has sneaky value in PPR leagues even when he doesn’t have a monster performance and there is a chance you could add him after waivers process. If you are thin at wide receiver and have several guys on the same bye, you can grab Gabriel and stash him.