Russell Gage (WR, ATL) - Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickups

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ANALYSIS: Back from their bye, the Falcons beat the Saints in Week 10 with Russell Gage again featuring prominently in Atlanta’s attack. Even in a middling game by Matt Ryan, Gage was able to see five targets and catch four of the passes thrown his way. He could only finish the day with 23 receiving yards and no scores, but at least his usage kept up and that bodes well for him going forward.

Gage had his best game of the season in Week 8 when he was targeted nine times and hauled in seven passes for 58 yards. Other than that, and because of the three receivers ahead of him in the pecking order, he had not amounted to much. From weeks 1 to 7 Gage had been targeted eight times combined and had caught just four passes for 44 yards. One week of good usage was enough for him to best all of those numbers. Although he couldn’t reach such level this past weekend he at least kept his numbers up in terms of chances.

Playing alongside Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley obviously limits Gage upside, as those two are primed to be heavily targeted by veteran Matt Ryan weekly. Gage offers an alternative on offense and will draw better matchups from worse cornerbacks, though, and Atlanta is also experiencing some trouble in its backfield with multiple players down. Gage will keep having chances in the future and the Falcons schedule looks good for the upcoming four weeks with games against defenses ranked 20th or worst in defense against WRs. Consider Gage a good flex option in deeper leagues with the potential to score up to 15 fantasy points if he’s targeted inside the red zone and scores. If it is not his day, though, he should have a floor of around five or six fantasy points.