Week 5 was much quieter on the injury front, but nonetheless, we may need to be hitting the waiver wire to help add some quality depth as bye weeks are underway. When I look at the waiver wires of the major redraft platforms (Yahoo, ESPN, and NFL.com, respectively), these are players at each position that I think need to be rostered!
Week 6 Waiver Wire Picks for 2025 Fantasy Football
Quarterbacks
QB#1 Jaxson Dart, New York Giants: This week’s performance against New Orleans wasn’t his best work, but he’s producing well for fantasy football, and proving he could do it without Nabers should prove that he’s a solid QB2 choice for your fantasy team.
QB#2 Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers: Now that we’re past Pittsburgh’s bye week, the schedule looks pretty solid for Rodgers, and he’s another solid QB2 choice with the firepower he has at his disposal. He’s still developing his chemistry with his pass-catchers, and as long as he’s healthy, he should continue to produce at a QB2 level, with QB1 upside based on the matchups.
Running backs
RB#1 Michael Carter, Arizona Cardinals (Honorable Mention: Emari Demarcado): Benson and Conner’s stay on the IR should open up the chance for both Carter and Demarcado to get a fairly even split of touches in this offense, with Carter appearing to be the #1.
RB#2 Tyjae Spears, Tennessee Titans: He didn’t see a ton of touches in his return to action, but that’s expected for players coming off injury and being in their first action of the season. He looked just fine with his limited touches, so I’d expect them to get him more involved as the season goes on.
Wide Receivers
WR#1 Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans: I’m not saying this was a get-right game for a young Tennessee Titans team, but in terms of fantasy value, Ayomanor is still seeing a solid share of targets (I’d expect 4-7 a game at this point), so he should give you WR3/4 value on a weekly basis for now.
WR#2 Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos: He’s not the safest if you’re looking for weekly TD upside with only one so far this season, but he’s getting consistently targeted (another player in the 4-7 or 8 range). He should give you a weekly WR3/4 value with limited TD upside, similar to Ayomanor.
Tight Ends
TE#1 Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Otton had one week with zero targets, but otherwise is seeing 4-5 targets a game and is a low-end TE2 for the foreseeable future.
TE#2 Chig Okonkwo, Tennessee Titans (Honorable Mention: Gunnar Helm): For a team that will be playing behind most weeks, you’ll want to target Chig if you need a TE2. With potentially 4-6 targets a week, Okonkwo is the tight end to target, and Helm is really only for deeper leagues and in case of emergency.
NOTE: In terms of how much of your budget to spend on these players, I tend to lean into the smaller percentages this time of year (so probably 4-8% of your overall budget). With injuries being inevitable, I want to ensure I have some to be able to cover the rest of the season if need be. In terms of whom to target, it really depends on what your team’s needs are. Just know if you are targeting the Cardinals RBs, remember that Benson could come back off of IR in a few weeks, so be prepared to handle that potentially.
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