RADIO
Week 6 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Tyquan Thornton, Brashard Smith, Kareem Hunt in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
The Kansas City Chiefs have mostly been a frustrating team to have fantasy players rostered from. In the absence of the team's top wide receiver, Rashee Rice, the other players have mostly been highly inconsistent.
While some have had big games at times, like wide receiver Hollywood Brown in Week 1, and tight end Travis Kelce has actually been pretty consistent, none of the team's WRs have been weekly starters in fantasy, especially because of the shoulder injury to Xavier Worthy.
But things change throughout the season, and it could be worth using waiver pickups on some of their players. So should you add Tyquan Thornton, Brashard Smith, or Kareem Hunt on waivers or in free agency for Week 6?
Featured Promo: New Novig users get a $25 purchase match (50% discount up to $25) on your first Novig deposit, and a free month of RotoBaller's "Big-4" Premium Pass (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) which includes exclusive tools for Betting, Props, DFS and more! CLAIM IT NOW
Tyquan Thornton Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 25% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
Thornton had a 12.0 PPR fantasy point performance in Week 5. He now has three contests in which he's reached double-digit PPR fantasy points -- in Week 2 and Week 3, he scored 13.9 and 18.1 points, respectively. Though his snap share has declined with the return of Worthy, he played pretty well as a deep threat on Monday.
Thornton's speed is the driving factor in him playing well in that role. Worthy is the fastest player on the team, but Thornton actually picked up 90 receiving yards while Worthy has just 42. Worthy and quarterback Patrick Mahomes II struggled to connect on deep passes last season.
Tyquan Thornton has passed his career high in yards and TD in 5 games with the Chiefs he leads all WR in yards per reception (20.92) with a minimum of 25 targets.
An incredible move by Brett Veach to target and develop him.. #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/qAPVWgvgYU
— Price Carter (@priceacarter) October 8, 2025
Thornton has one more game before the return of Rice. After that happens, he could have a minimal snap share and not get many more opportunities, as long as Rice, Worthy, and Kelce stay healthy. So he's worth adding in deeper leagues if you need a spot start or are dealing with injuries.
Brashard Smith Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 17% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
Rookies in Chiefs head coach Andy Reid's offensive system tend to take plenty of time to break out. While Smith had just four touches, and hardly played any snaps, in his team's loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 5, it's par for the course.
Smith has displayed explosiveness in the open field and a lot of competence as a pass-catcher. But Reid, who didn't give Rice consistent targets until Week 12 of his rookie season, isn't going to rush Smith into more action. They're letting him develop his skills slowly.
Some Brashard Smith thoughts from Week 4-5 and his role may look like moving forward.
Chiefs' offense looks MUCH better and Smith is having an impact, but he may not be the answer to the RB spot we all want. pic.twitter.com/MbvNhO3UTa
— Matt Lane (@Matty_KCSN) October 7, 2025
Smith converted to a running back in his final year of college, and doesn't even weigh 200 pounds, so a workhorse role for him probably doesn't make a ton of sense this year. But later in the year, around Week 10-12, we could see a big increase in his role.
Both the Chiefs other running backs, Isaiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, have struggled with efficiency issues and haven't functioned well as pass-catchers. Smith has a clear advantage over this. A Jerick McKinnon epic fantasy run toward the end of the season isn't out of the realm of possibility.
Smith should be rostered in all 12-team leagues for the potential upside. And if Pacheco or Hunt gets injured, we could see a bigger role for him immediately. But make sure to be patient.
Kareem Hunt Week 6 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 54% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
With three touchdowns in the past three games, including two rushing touchdowns in Week 5, Hunt's fantasy value is clearly on the rise. Without TDs, though, he's not a very relevant fantasy option. He's in an ugly timeshare with Pacheco, and that's unlikely to change.
Hunt's only saving grace is that he gets to handle most of the goal-line work. He has better vision and is a bigger RB than Pacheco, so it makes sense. But his minimal overall involvement -- which amounted to just seven carries and one reception on Monday -- makes him a risky fantasy asset to have in starting lineups.
30 yard rip for Kareem Hunt.
KC is going with zone right. Great base block by Noah Gray and good work by Taylor to open up the hole. Trey Smith remains patient, helping Humphrey overtake the DT before creating a pile to cut off the backside. Perfect execution. pic.twitter.com/0yV59oODzA
— Caleb James (@CJScoobs) October 7, 2025
Hunt averaged seven yards per carry, but most of it came on one huge run. He's tied to a good offense, but it's hard to trust starting him except in an emergency. He played just 33 percent of his team's offensive snaps against the Jaguars. It's fine to pick him up in leagues with 12 or fewer teams, though.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
Trying to decide who to pick up 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 Tyquan Thornton, Brashard Smith, Kareem Hunt. 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 pick up... all free! Make the right decisions.
2025 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Tyquan Thornton, Brashard Smith, Kareem Hunt. 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's name. In the second box, search for the second player's 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.
Recent Improvements For Who Should I Pickup? You may have noticed, our Who Should I Pickup? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win on the waiver wire in 2025. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, stats, projections, strength of schedule, enhanced search results with data to compare, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football waiver wire rankings and projections based on their research, and updates them 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 who 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 Tyquan Thornton, Brashard Smith, Kareem Hunt:
More Waiver Wire Analysis
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!
Check out RotoBaller's famous fantasy football draft sleepers and waiver wire pickups list, updated regularly!
