Fantasy Football Week 6 Waiver Wire: Deeper League Pickups (QB, RB, WR, TE)

Dan's top fantasy football Week 6 waiver wire pickups, sleepers, stashes for deeper leagues for 2025. His waiver targets include Mac Jones, Isaiah Bond, Mason Taylor and others.

The 2025 NFL season is flying by. If your fantasy league’s playoffs begin in Week 15, the season is a third of the way over. At this point, we have a good feel for the different teams and players we have drafted and can make moves accordingly.

Unfortunately, bye weeks and usage changes are the only reasons to hit the waiver wire. Injuries have had a major impact on the 2025 NFL season, causing fantasy managers to stay locked in on the waiver wire.

This article will focus on fantasy football players who are at or below a 40% roster rate on Yahoo! -- and can be considered deeper league waiver wire options. We'll cover a few players from the QB, RB, WR, and TE positions. Let's get to it!

Quarterback Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All QBs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks - 31% rostered

Sam Darnold is proving that his 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings wasn’t a fluke. Through five games, Darnold is completing a career-high 73.1% of his passes for 1,246 yards, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions. The veteran quarterback was fantastic in a shootout against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5, throwing for 341 yards and four touchdowns.

Sam Darnold has 16 starts (out of 22) with a 100+ passer rating since 2024, tied for most in the NFL 👀@Seahawks | #GoHawks pic.twitter.com/MRJXv0ydb6

— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) October 5, 2025

The results haven’t been stellar in fantasy, but Darnold is proving to be a dependable QB2 that can provide a QB1 scoring week in the right game script. Darnold has four straight games with at least 15 fantasy points scored despite having just two games with more than 30 passing attempts on the season. He has three top 20 finishes, two top 10 finishes, and was the QB2 in Week 5.

Mac Jones, San Francisco 49ers - 4% rostered

Mac Jones may have saved his career by signing with the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Jones has made three starts in 2025, completing 66.7% of his passes for 905 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception. Jones has at least 39 pass attempts and 279 passing yards in all three of his starts.

Jones also has at least 22 fantasy points in two of his three starts this season. He has been fantasy-relevant despite being without George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and Ricky Pearsall for most of his time on the field.

More importantly, he will continue to get opportunities now that Brock Purdy is considered week-to-week after re-aggravating his toe injury in his Week 4 start against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jones got banged up in Week 5 against the Rams, but should be good to go in a great game in Week 6.

Running Back Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All RBs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Michael Carter, Arizona Cardinals - 39% rostered

It was only a one-game sample size, but Michael Carter appears to be the running back to roster in the Arizona Cardinals’ backfield. Carter handled a 59% snap share in Arizona’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, racking up 18 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown while adding five receptions for 22 yards. Carter finished as the RB9 in PPR scoring with 18.3 points in Week 5.

Michael Carter - Week 5

Every touch https://t.co/taEySKskuT pic.twitter.com/312qW6VwQa

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 6, 2025

The combination of Bam Knight and Emari Demercado had just seven carries and one reception. Demercado could have had a big fantasy day, but he dropped the ball running into the end zone for a touchback, costing the Cardinals a much-needed touchdown in a last-second loss. Time will tell if that will have an impact on Demercado's ability to earn touches going forward.

Carter benefited from a positive game script for most of Week 5, which could have skewed his usage. Still, he dominated touches in the backfield so thoroughly that it is hard to imagine a situation where he isn’t the primary running back while Trey Benson is on the injured reserve.

Kendre Miller, New Orleans Saints - 31% rostered

Kendre Miller’s role in the Saints’ backfield continues to grow. Miller has seen his snap share increase in all five games this season, culminating in a season-high 39.4% in the Saints' Week 5 win over the New York Giants.

Miller has now had back-to-back games with double-digit rushing attempts and 40+ rushing yards. The veteran running back’s expanded role hasn’t yielded much upside for fantasy production (except for an RB25 finish in Week 4 with 12.5 points), but the usage suggests he could function as a bellcow running back if Alvin Kamara ever gets injured.

Miller is healthy and has earned a consistent role in New Orleans this season. His steady workload hasn’t yielded much fantasy production yet, but he can have FLEX-level production if he falls into the end zone.

Hassan Haskins and Kimani Vidal, Los Angeles Chargers - 1% rostered

Omarion Hampton officially hit the injured reserve on Monday, leaving the Chargers with another significant injury in their backfield. Los Angeles will now need to piece together their running back room for at least four weeks.

Both Hassan Haskins (five carries for 13 yards, one reception for two yards) and Kimani Vidal (four carries for 18 yards, one reception for one yard) saw the field when Hampton left the game due to injury. It is worth noting that Haskins worked with the starting group, and Vidal came in with the backups when the game was out of reach.

Haskins is the player to prioritize on waivers, but both running backs will have value in the coming weeks. The Chargers' offensive line is also decimated by injury, so there is a real risk that neither player can get much going on the ground unless they get a significant amount of volume.

That said, Week 6 is an excellent opportunity for both players. The Chargers will face off against a Dolphins defense that just allowed Rico Dowdle to produce 23 carries for 206 yards and a touchdown.

Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All WRs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Isaiah Bond, Cleveland Browns- 6% rostered

Isaiah Bond saw a significant usage increase in his first game without Cedric Tillman. Bond posted his third straight game with at least 55% of the team’s snaps on offense. The rookie was second on the team in targets against the Vikings (eight), which was his highest mark this season.

Bond will go under the radar because of the production (two receptions for 29 yards), but he earned a 15.2% target share while running a route on 72.2% of Cleveland’s dropbacks. Bond has at least four targets in three straight weeks. It was encouraging that Bond was able to earn that many targets in Dillon Gabriel’s first start.

Tillman will miss at least three more games since he is on injured reserve, which means we can continue to count on Bond to be on the field. That gives him weekly appeal in fantasy, especially if he and Gabriel can connect down the field.

Tory Horton, Seattle Seahawks- 6% rostered

Tory Horton isn’t putting up massive production, but he is making the most of the limited workload that he receives weekly. Horton is the clear third receiver in Seattle’s pecking order, running routes on 50.3% of the team’s dropbacks and earning a target on just 10.2% of the team’s targets. On the surface, Horton’s 8.9 PPR points per game are nothing special.

That said, Horton has shown that he has Darnold’s trust as the team’s deep threat option (13.9 average depth of target) and in the red zone (team-leading three end zone targets). Horton has had four targets, 30 receiving yards, and a touchdown in three of the last four games. That has helped him score at least 11 PPR fantasy points three times despite being in a lower-volume passing attack.

Sam Darnold (9) to Tory Horton (4)
Seattle Seahawks
21 yards
pic.twitter.com/6ToKOh5TLx

— NFL Touchdown Videos (@NFLTDsVideos) October 5, 2025

There is a very clear boom-or-bust nature to Horton’s game as long as he is running routes behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp. But the areas where he is being used are good for fantasy, which gives him the ability to be fantasy-relevant week in and week out.

Tight End Fantasy Football Waiver Wire

All TEs are rostered in 40% of leagues or less

Mason Taylor, New York Jets- 13% rostered

It is time to start taking Mason Taylor seriously in fantasy. Taylor has emerged as the secondary target in the Jets' passing attack as a complement to Garrett Wilson over the last three weeks.

During that time, Taylor has averaged 8.3 targets, six receptions, and 50 receiving yards per game. He has failed to find the end zone (so he hasn’t had a real “breakout” fantasy performance), but he is still the TE12 in fantasy scoring (11.7) based on volume.

Since Week 3, Taylor is third among all tight ends in target share (22.9%). Among tight ends with 25 routes run, he ranks as the TE6 in targets per route run (0.25) and the TE8 in first read targets (13).

The Jets don’t have anybody in their wide receiver room who can push him for targets, giving him the pathway to being a top two target in a team’s passing attack. He should be rostered in all formats going forward.

Theo Johnson, New York Giants- 11% rostered

Theo Johnson has been the biggest beneficiary of Malik Nabers' injury over the last two weeks. During that time, Johnson has been targeted 12 times, catching nine passes for 50 yards and three touchdowns.

Jaxson Dart touchdown pass to Theo Johnson #2!!!!! pic.twitter.com/P34uMoFcV5

— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) October 5, 2025

Johnson now has double-digit fantasy points in back-to-back weeks thanks to his ability to produce touchdowns. The Giants have a massive need for playmakers in the wake of Nabers' ACL tear, and Johnson is a big target that is serving as a security blanket for Dart in his first two starts. He needs to be rostered in all formats and could continue to provide top 12 positional value for the remainder of the year.

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