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Week 3 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Brashard Smith, Ollie Gordon II, Kendre Miller in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
The 2025 NFL rookie running back class was lauded as one of the best in the history of the league, so it makes sense that hunting the waiver wire for rookie RBs could pay off in a big way this year.
We've seen a few players, like Jacksonville Jaguars RB Bhayshul Tuten, get off to a strong start to their seasons. But many other first-year players haven't hit their stride yet.
Still, there's plenty of time left in the 2025 season, and plenty of chances for new names to have big games. Let's break down waiver wire pickup options for three potential sleeper rookie RBs for 2025!
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
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Brashard Smith Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 6% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in All Leagues
Kansas City Chiefs running back Brashard Smith wasn't involved much in Week 2, but the massive potential remains. He's an elite athlete and a converted wide receiver who plays on an offense that loves to throw screen passes and has a high success rate when doing so. Smith would be perfect for a pass-catching role.
The problem is that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid tends to wait for an extended period of time to start giving significant touches to his rookie players. The same happened with WR Rashee Rice in 2023, and he broke out in a big way late in the season.
Smith's pass-catching upside was teased a bit in the preseason. We've only seen him gather one target so far, but these things take time. Running back is also a position that gets swiped up in fantasy drafts, with most teams' RB1 and RB2 rostered heavily. The potential upside is massive.
While I think Smith might take until past midseason to have his first big game, I'm not willing to leave him on waivers, so I have him stashed everywhere. I recommend you do the same. Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, the current RB1 and RB2, have been massively underwhelming through two weeks.
There's room for another RB to get nice volume in this offense, and potentially eventually take over a significant workload.
Ollie Gordon II Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 63% of Leagues
Baller Move: Handcuff / stash only
Through two weeks, Miami Dolphins running back Ollie Gordon has amassed a total of 12 rushing yards on three carries and four receiving yards on two catches. Meanwhile, Miami's RB1, De'Von Achane, has carried the ball 18 times for 85 yards and caught 11 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
Achane is a highly efficient back with incredible acceleration and speed. He's also arguably the best receiving running back in the NFL, rivaling Bijan Robinson and Christian McCaffrey in effectiveness as a pass-catcher. There's thus not much reason for the Dolphins to give Gordon many touches.
Devon Achane WILLED the Dolphins for a TD
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) September 14, 2025
Gordon is just a handcuff at this point, and on an ineffective offense at that. It's hard to know if Gordon would even be startable if Achane were to get injured, so he can be dropped in most leagues and stashed in the deeper ones.
Kendre Miller Week 3 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 7% of Leagues
Baller Move:Handcuff / stash only
While New Orleans Saints running back Kendre Miller, a third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been viewed by many as the eventual successor to lead back Alvin Kamara, Miller's injury issues and ineffectiveness as a rusher have made it difficult for him to carve out much of a role in the offense yet.
Miller totaled 2.4 PPR fantasy points in Week 1 and just 2.0 in Week 2, playing 15 percent of the offensive snaps each time and taking 10 carries for 32 yards. He has one catch for two yards in that span. There's not much of a role, and not much production yet, for the third-year pro.
Neither was an explosive run, but Kendre Miller's contact balance is impressive. Somehow managed to gain positive yards on each run pic.twitter.com/SjFU6cWqb3
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 18, 2025
Even though some of his advanced metrics are impressive, the Swiss army knife Kamara is a much better RB, and the Saints are continuing to use him heavily as the feature back. Miller is a handcuff to Kamara in fantasy, and shouldn't be stashed except in deep leagues. He can be left on waivers.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
Trying to decide who to pickup off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool here:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to pickup...
Who Should I Pickup? Some common 2025 fantasy football waiver wire decisions are regarding players like Brashard Smith, Ollie Gordon II, Kendre Miller. But not to worry, we are here to help make these waiver wire decisions and build winning teams in 2025. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups in 2025. Our free Who Should I Pickup? tool will help make your fantasy football waiver wire decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to pickup... all free! Make the right decisions.
2025 Player Decisions. Today's focus in on specific players - Brashard Smith, Ollie Gordon II, Kendre Miller. These are some common searches for 2025 fantasy football waiver wire pickups.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player name. In the second box, search for the second player name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Pickup? button to see who the recommended waiver wire pickups are based on fantasy football rankings, projections and more.
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How It Works. Our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football waiver wire rankings and projections based on their research, and update it constantly throughout the week. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players that are ranked.
Popular Player Comparison Searches - Who To Pickup
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Pickup tool for 2025 for Brashard Smith, Ollie Gordon, Kendre Miller:
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