RADIO
Week 7 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson, Tre Tucker in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
Wide receiver continues to be a position of some serious attrition this season, with multiple big names going down with injuries each week. Week 6 was sadly no exception, with Puka Nacua (ankle), Emeka Egbuka (hamstring), Garrett Wilson (knee), Calvin Ridley (hamstring), and Marvin Harrison Jr. (concussion) all now battling injuries and uncertain for Week 7. Don't worry, though, there are also some potential places to find help.
With several starting options going down with injuries or underperforming, many backup options are stepping into more work and could be good fantasy options in the next few weeks.
So, should you pick up Shepard, Johnson, or Rucker in your fantasy football leagues for Week 7 of 2025? Let's dive in.
Holiday Special! Save 30% on any Premium Pass using discount code NEW. Win more with our DFS, Betting and Season-Long Pass, get expert tools and advice from proven winners! GAIN ACCESS
Sterling Shepard Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 5% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in deep PPR leagues
The Buccaneers bring us the top two receiver options in this post as their receiver room continues to deal with multiple injury issues. The Buccaneers were already missing Mike Evans (hamstring), Chris Godwin Jr. (fibula), and Jalen McMillan (neck) coming into Sunday's game, and they lost rookie standout Emeka Egbuka to a hamstring injury as well. Evans has a chance to return soon, but he'll likely be eased back into action to avoid re-injury.
Especially if Egbuka, Evans, and Godwin are all out, there will be plenty of targets available for Shepard and the rest of the receiver room. Shepard will be the most proven option of the rest of the receivers. He's been playing about 50% of the snaps this season, despite the youth movement around him. Shepard is in his 10th year out of Oklahoma, playing the first eight seasons of his career with the Giants.
This year, he has 19 catches for 247 yards and a touchdown. He hauled in two of his three targets against the 49ers in the game in which Egbuka was injured, and even though he may not have the blinding speed or elusiveness of the other Bucs' options, he showed he still has play-making ability.
Slippery Sterling Shepard
SFvsTB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/Ed9gTnlWB0
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
He had his touchdown in Week 5 against the Seahawks, and he has multiple catches in every single game this season. He doesn't have the highest ceiling of the options on your waiver wire, and maybe not even on his own team (see below), but he does bring a high level of consistency and reliability for Baker Mayfield and has the trust of his QB heading into Monday night's matchup with the Lions.
Shepard's role will be largely determined by who else is available, but he makes sense to snag from the waiver wire if you're in a deep league or you have Evans or Godwin and want him as a backup plan.
Tez Johnson Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 1% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues as a flier
Another Buccaneers receiver to consider, who has a much higher ceiling but also comes with much more risk, is seventh-round rookie Tez Johnson. Johnson caught his first NFL touchdown on a great play over the middle against the Niners.
TEZ JOHNSON 🙌
📺: #SFvsTB on CBS pic.twitter.com/VjxU6BYRxC
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 12, 2025
While that was the only catch he had on Sunday, that should help keep his waiver wire buzz in check. He did have three targets, though, and the previous week, he had four catches on four targets for 59 yards against the Seahawks. Even though he didn't hit for huge plays all the time, the potential is there, and with a week to work him into the game plan as a primary option, he could be even busier this week against the Lions.
Johnson doesn't have the physical size to be a prototypical No. 1 receiver, but his speed and big-play upside make him a risk worth taking in deep leagues if he does end up starting and playing a large role for Mayfield and the Bucs in Week 7.
Tre Tucker Week 7 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 48% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in standard formats
If you can't grab either of the Bucs or if you're looking for more of a long-term solution than just a short-term injury stop-gap, check out Raiders receiver Tre Tucker.
Tucker burst onto the scene with a huge, three-touchdown game in Week 3 against the Commanders. He was the leading scorer for the entire week in PPR formats and is still in the top 10 at the position from that monster output.
The next week, he only had two catches for 13 yards, and he was dropped back on many leagues' waiver wires right away.
In the two games since then, he has picked things back up with four catches for 62 yards and five catches for 70 yards. Last week against the Titans, he caught all five of his targets for 70 yards, including a couple of big gains like this one:
Take off then Tre 🚀#TENvsLV | 📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/WViw71GUYM
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) October 12, 2025
Tucker has the second-most targets and the second-most receptions on the team while leading the team in receiving yards. Since he has so much big-play potential, he will likely remain a boom-or-bust player from week to week.
At his best, he can be a WR2 or even a WR1, as he showed with his huge game against Washington, but he'll remain a very volatile play. If you need a one-week lottery ticket, he's not the worst option on the waiver wire, especially if you need help after the Raiders' Week 8 bye week. He has some tasty matchups later in the year, headlined by a Monday Night Football matchup with the Cowboys in Week 11.
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 Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson, and Tre Tucker. 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 - Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson, and Tre Tucker. 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 Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson, Tre Tucker:
[wr_player_list names="Sterling Shepard, Tez Johnson, Tre Tucker" sport="nfl_pickup" limit="100" type="" pos=""]
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!
