Week 5 Waiver Wire: Jacoby Jones Won't Be Solid Replacement for Andre Johnson

Andre Johnson is hurt. Round up the usual suspects.

In this case, those would be wide receivers that you can pick up to replace Johnson on your fantasy team. The Houston Texans' superstar receiver is one of the best fantasy producers at his position, but it sounds like he's going to be out for a while. He hurt his right hamstring on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the word from the Houston Chronicle is that Johnson could be out as long as three weeks.

At this point in the season, productive wide receivers aren't exactly lying around begging to be plucked off the waiver wire. Owners who need to replace Johnson's production are therefore forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

One of the players that has been suggested as a good replacement for Johnson is fellow Texans wide receiver Jacoby Jones. He's only caught seven passes for 91 yards on the season, but the bright side is that he can definitely be had.

My advice: Don't waste your time.

While I obviously have nothing against Jones personally, I'm just not entirely sure he's going to seamlessly step into Johnson's shoes and pick up where he left off. We are not talking about Eric Decker taking over for Brandon Lloyd circa Week 2.

The reason I say this is because I think the Texans offense is going to be able to get by without Johnson or his production. With Arian Foster seemingly back at full health, you can expect them to make good use of their rushing attack in Johnson's absence. This will be particularly true this weekend against the Oakland Raiders, who are dreadful against the run.

When the Texans do take to the air, I can see Matt Schaub distributing the bulk of his passes to his tight ends. Owen Daniels has emerged as a reliable go-to guy, and so has James Casey.

Sure, there will be passes for Jones, too. However, Schaub was targeting Johnson roughly 10 times a game in the first four weeks, and I for one would be shocked if he paid Jones that much attention. He'll be lucky if Schaub targets him five times a game, which of course won't necessarily translate to five receptions a game.

If you can do better than Jones, I'd advise you to leave him be. Nobody you pick up is going to replace Johnson's fantasy production, but you're going to have better luck in that regard if you remove Jones from consideration.