RADIO
Week 9 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Josh Downs, Darnell Mooney, Cooper Kupp in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
The wide receiver position sees a lot of variability in scoring week-to-week, meaning there's a ton of waiver activity as fantasy managers pick up and drop wideouts in anticipation of them being fantasy-relevant assets.
Indianapolis Colts WR Josh Downs, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Darnell Mooney, and Seattle Seahawks wideout Cooper Kupp have all had fantasy-relevant stretches when looking at this season and last.
But are they worth adding to your fantasy rosters as waiver pickups? Let's dive into fantasy outlooks for Downs, Mooney, and Kupp for Week 9.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
- Running back (RB) rankings
- Wide receiver (WR) rankings
- Quarterback (QB) rankings
- Tight end (TE) rankings
- Defense (D/ST) rankings
- Kicker (K) rankings
- FLEX rankings
- Dynasty rankings
Josh Downs Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 56% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
Downs caught all three of his targets for 39 yards and a touchdown in a Week 8 blowout over the Tennessee Titans. Indianapolis has the league's best offense right now -- they're the most efficient in both the pass and run game, and they've been dominating opponents so far.
QB Daniel Jones is having a huge career resurgence, which is nice. But the passing volume is very spread out -- Downs is a slot receiver that really only plays in 3WR sets, and has to split work with tight end Tyler Warren and fellow receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Alec Pierce.
Teams need to learn to stop putting linebackers on Josh downs pic.twitter.com/Be9b1STHVX
— jp (@1kDowns) October 27, 2025
Downs is an excellent separator in the middle of the field and on short routes. His smaller size affords him more ability to make sharp cuts and change direction on a dime. But the passing volume simply isn't there for him to have good, consistent upside. He's a deeper league stash with contingent upside.
Darnell Mooney Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 60 % of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14-team leagues
Well that wasn't fun. In a game where WR Drake London (hip) was a surprise inactive after picking up a hip injury in practice late in the week, Mooney was expected to have a nice game against the floundering Miami Dolphins, who had just been stomped by the Cleveland Browns 31-6 the week before.
There was even some optimism that the injury to QB Michael Penix Jr. (knee) would help the team's offense, as quarterback Kirk Cousins made the start. Instead, Atlanta was thoroughly thrashed by the Dolphins, losing 34-10 in a shocker.
Yeah I think Kirk Cousins is cooked pic.twitter.com/gHj0yLzw0B
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) October 27, 2025
I guess it wasn't totally a shocker, as we saw the dirty birds get spanked by the Carolina Panthers 30-0 in Week 3. They're simply not a well-coached team right now, but it's also clear that they're suffering from bad quarterback play. Both Penix and Cousins have looked miserable this year.
Given that the floor for this offense is ridiculously low, Mooney isn't quite the waiver pickup he was. He was targeted four times and caught just one pass for 11 yards in the huge loss, and he should only be added in deep leagues now.
Cooper Kupp Week 9 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 71% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
The Seahawks had their bye in Week 8, and are ready to return for a Week 9 showdown against the Washington Commanders. Kupp hasn't been much of a fantasy asset this season. He's a 32-year-old WR with a long injury history and a ton of time missed due to various aliments.
And he's already rostered in over 70 percent of leagues, so chances are you won't be able to snag him. But if he's available for some reason, it's probably worth taking a shot on him. He likely has massive contingent upside in case Seattle's WR1, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, gets injured.
Cooper Kupp still got it 👀 pic.twitter.com/SQcHhvaKd3
— ᴅᴏxx ⚡️ (@new_era72) October 15, 2025
And while he's a decent spot starter in your flex spot during bye weeks, his floor is very low. In Week 7, he was targeted only one time, catching that pass for 32 yards. The week before, he had two catches for 40 yards and a touchdown. He has just one game this season with more than 50 receiving yards.
In very deep leagues, he's a starter, but outside of that, he doesn't have a lot of value except as an emergency fill-in.
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 Josh Downs, Darnell Mooney, Cooper Kupp. 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 - Josh Downs, Darnell Mooney, Cooper Kupp. 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.
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 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 Josh Downs, Darnell Mooney, Cooper Kupp:
No matching players.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!
