For fantasy football owners everywhere, picking up players mid-week off of the waiver wire or free agency can make or break your team.

After four weeks of the NFL (and only one week of solid refereeing), the team you drafted should not look the same with the amount of pickups or trades. If you’re in a league like me, then trading is next to impossible when your friends refuse to give up their key players.

So here are the top three pick-ups for week five:

Brian Hartline – Miami Dolphins, WR:

He picked up 12 catches and 253 yards receiving along with one touchdown from his rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill last weekend. After racking up 455 yards and one touchdown this season, he is becoming the favorite target from his quarterback. In deep leagues, he is available in 75 percent of Yahoo! Sports leagues, so pick him up.

Ryan Fitzpatrick – Buffalo Bills, QB:

I’ve been skeptical of Fitzpatrick for a while now, but it seems like he is the backbone of his team’s offense thus far. With nearly 950 yards throwing and 12 (yes, 12) touchdowns in the first four games, he has proven he can air it out. He should be your backup this week as he will face the tough San Francisco 49er defense, so you should grab him now while he is still available.

Jackie Battle – San Diego Chargers, RB:

The Chargers backfield is a mess. Ryan Matthews was supposed to be the main squeeze for the running game, but every year he seems to lose out on short touchdown runs to his backup (see Mike Tolbert, 2011). Enter Battle, who ran for one more carry than Matthews last week, gaining 81 total yards and two of the team’s touchdowns. Pick him up – running backs are hard to come by in free agency.

Russell Preston can be reached at [email protected].