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John's favorite rookie waiver wire pickups, fantasy football breakout candidates heading into Week 8 of 2025. Which NFL rookies have league-winning fantasy upside?
Rookie players have increasingly proven in recent years that they can be massively valuable contributors to fantasy football success. Both last season and the season before, there were multiple rookie league-winners in fantasy.
This year is shaping up to be much the same. Luckily for fantasy managers who are paying attention to who they should pick up off waivers, partly by reading this article, many of these rookies aren't heavily rostered.
Waiver wire heroes can be hard to come by, but sometimes, you can get in on the action a bit earlier if you note a player that might be primed for a breakout. Other times, you're late, but you can use your priority or FAAB to snag one. So let's dive into the best rookie waiver wire pickups for Week 8!
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Oronde Gadsden, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
If you didn't snag Gadsden off waivers or as a free agent pickup after Week 6, you probably regret not doing so at least a little bit. Gadsden had logged a few nice games at that point, but his massive detonation in Week 7 was wholly unexpected.
The rookie tight end snagged seven of his nine targets for a ridiculous 164 yards and one touchdown, scoring 27.9 PPR fantasy points. The Chargers lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the game, but it was a shootout from start to finish, which is always fantastic for fantasy production.
oronde gadsden.
📺 | @nfloncbs pic.twitter.com/zRyZnhEqsv
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) October 19, 2025
Situation is a massive driver of fantasy production -- though it's obvious that the first-year pro is talented, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert also threw the ball 55 times, and multiple other Chargers pass-catchers had excellent fantasy days.
Herbert totaled 420 passing yards and three touchdowns. That's unlikely to happen every week, but so far, Los Angeles' defense hasn't played well, leading to the team needing to pass the ball at a much higher rate than they did last season.
The TE1 on a high-powered offense generally has plenty of upside, so you should snag Gadsden everywhere you can. He has a tough matchup next week, but he has intriguing season-long potential.
Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants
Somehow, even after the hot start to his playing career, Dart was rostered in just 54% of leagues heading into Week 7. That's likely to change. Dart posted his highest fantasy football score of the season, racking up over 29.4 PPR fantasy points in his team's loss to the Denver Broncos.
Dart doesn't have his WR1, Malik Nabers (knee), who tore his ACL earlier in the year and is out for the season. But that didn't stop him from going off against one of the NFL's toughest defenses and passing for 283 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception, and rushing for 11 yards and another score.
All of Jaxson Dart's 10 TD's in 4 games pic.twitter.com/WBo2iqRlBJ
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) October 21, 2025
Dart is fantasy dynamite. A gunslinger that's not afraid of a turnover here and there, that makes up for it with plenty of touchdowns, has his best games against the toughest defenses, and is a major rushing talent at his position, with the athleticism and size to be used at the goal line.
Dart's 10 touchdowns through his first four career starts are likely more than what the team's original starter, Russell Wilson, would have had in his first eight games, given that he threw three touchdowns against a flailing Dallas Cowboys defense in one game and zero in any of the others.
Dart is a set-and-forget QB moving forward, though his extremely reckless play style could lead to injuries moving forward. Perhaps if you roster him, it's best to have another QB on your bench.
Jaylin Noel, WR, Houston Texans
Noel finally got some usage in Week 7, after the injury to the Texans' starting slot receiver, Christian Kirk (hamstring). Kirk has done virtually nothing this year except catch a few passes in a blowout win over the heavily injured Ravens.
As a Noel truther, I was perplexed by the Kirk signing. Noel is an extremely athletic, strong, and quick receiver with excellent long speed who would excel in a slot role. Kirk is an aging player who can't stay healthy and doesn't bring a lot of juice to a passing game that desperately needs it.
Stroud finds his rookie Jaylin Noel downfield to get in scoring position before the half
HOUvsSEA on ESPN
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/UHtaceOlcb— NFL (@NFL) October 21, 2025
Noel's college tape was truly ridiculous. He's fantastic after the catch and running routes out of the slot downfield, and has ridiculous acceleration. He attacks the ball at the catch point and has excellent strength to bring in difficult passes.
Having gone to Iowa State University and shared the field with WR Jayden Higgins, who also performed well, made his draft stock fall. As did his apparent physical limitations, as he's under six feet tall. But Higgins didn't log a single catch in Week 7.
It looks like Noel might be the better rookie WR the Texans drafted, and the offense should get him into the lineup more if they want to win. Of course, they'll waste more time trying to make Kirk work, as he is a pretty sound route-runner, but Houston desperately needs explosive plays, and Noel can provide them.
Tez Johnson, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Johnson was the highest-scoring Buccaneers wide receiver in his team's loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 7. He was targeted nine times, easily a season-high, and caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. It looks like he might be knocking on the door of even more opportunity.
Mike Evans (concussion, clavicle) suffered a major concussion and broke his collarbone in the loss as he fell to the ground trying to make a deep catch. He'll be out for most of the rest of the regular season, if not all of it, meaning that Tampa Bay is running thin at pass-catcher.
TEZMANIA with the hurdle & TD 🙌
📺: #TBvsDET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/ylCAU8SLdR
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 21, 2025
Johnson fell very far in the draft, all the way to the seventh round, due to NFL teams being concerned about his diminutive size, but he has excellent change-of-direction skills and genuinely is a good route-runner. He might not have great strength, but it's the offensive coordinator's job to put him in a position to best utilize his strengths.
He caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was sailing passes left and right, constantly overthrowing his receivers, so the offense struggled in general, but once he gets back on track, Johnson should have even better games.
With WR Chris Godwin (fibula) struggling this season in the games he does play and dealing with another leg injury, we could see a lot more Johnson work going forward, making him a priority waiver add for WR-needy teams.
Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
With Bears quarterback Caleb Williams still struggling massively in his second season, posting some of the poorest accuracy metrics in the NFL and constantly missing reads and open receivers, it seems that the Bears are shifting to a more run-heavy approach.
In Week 7, the rookie Monangai easily posted career-best numbers, carrying the ball 13 times for 81 yards and scoring a touchdown and catching two passes for 13 yards in the 26-14 beatdown of the New Orleans Saints. We've seen Bears head coach Ben Johnson help two running backs be productive on the same team before.
Kyle Monangai scores his first NFL TD!
NOvsCHI on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/tlabBDz5Mb
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
Monangai had a lot of red flags in his draft profile -- he's a slower, lumbering type of back -- but Chicago has one of the league's best offensive lines, both in pass-blocking and run-blocking. That helps the offense out massively and opens up big holes for Monangai to run through.
We could see him take on a bigger goal-line role moving forward. The Bears' lead running back, D'Andre Swift, has struggled in such situations throughout his career and is better off in space, where he can use his athleticism to succeed. Perhaps this backfield will become more split as time goes on.
I'm still skeptical Monangai will get a lot of usage in closer games against tougher teams, but he's worth a stash for now.
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