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John's favorite rookie waiver wire pickups, fantasy football breakout candidates heading into Week 3 of 2025. Which NFL rookies have league-winning fantasy upside?
With Week 3 of the 2025 NFL season approaching, we have just a bit more information on which rookies are getting usage for their teams, and how much they're each being used. That's valuable data to have in a league where rookies often have big impacts for fantasy football.
Players like running back Tyrone Tracy Jr., wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., and tight end Brock Bowers all had big seasons last year, or at least stretches of great production, and hunting for players like that on the waiver wire, if they're there, is often a great move.
Of course, many of the great rookies end up being drafted in most leagues, but Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua proved to us that you can reasonably get amazing talent for free. And sometimes those players break out a bit later in the season, so let's dive into the best rookie waiver wire pickups and stashes for Week 3 of 2025.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
- Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
- Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
- Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
- Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
- FLEX fantasy football rankings
- Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
- Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
- Dynasty fantasy football rankings
Dont'e Thornton Jr., WR, Las Vegas Raiders
Thornton is still a great stash to make. As of the time of writing this piece, he hasn't yet played in his Monday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers. I expect him to have at least one or two big catches, though, and the moment one of them goes for a long touchdown, Thornton could become fantasy gold.
He has an incredibly rare athletic profile -- he's 6-foot-5 and ran a 4.30-second 40-yard dash. This gives him an immediate advantage against even the most athletic cornerbacks, as none in the NFL have his combination of size and speed, and few can keep up with him at that.
Dont’e Thornton has otherworldly long speed and acceleration for a 6’5” WR.
He just straight up runs away from guys… the 4.30 40 isn’t surprising if you watched him this year. pic.twitter.com/UHZ1M53x5n
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) March 1, 2025
There's potential for massive yards after the catch if he can find a hole in the defense that gives him enough space to run. Even if he's tightly covered to start many of his routes, he's capable of blowing past most defenders and getting crucial downfield vertical separation.
Dont'e Thornton's first target (top of the screen)
Blows past his defender against single high coverage. If Geno Smith throws this on time, it's an 87-yard touchdown.
Clear vertical separation, but he has to slow down because it's underthrown. But they'll get on the same page pic.twitter.com/sGYrr0uXVv
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 10, 2025
It only takes Thornton one of these plays, connecting with quarterback Geno Smith for a long touchdown, for him to immediately move into the fantasy starting conversation as a flex player. In best ball leagues, Thornton should be an urgent priority pickup. But in redraft leagues, he has major upside, too.
My analysis indicates we're on the verge of a Thornton breakout.
Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants
In just the second week of the season, Skattebo appears to have taken the reins of the RB1 job from RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. In the shootout win against the Dallas Cowboys, Skattebo rushed 11 times for 45 yards and a touchdown and caught two of his three targets for 14 yards.
Meanwhile, Tracy carried the ball just five times for 15 yards and caught four of his five targets for 36 yards without scoring. Skattebo thus had 14 opportunities to Tracy's 10, and that discrepancy could continue to widen as the season goes on.
Cam Skattebo with a big 24 YD gain and then scores it at the goal line for his first NFL touchdown.
11 carries for 45 yards. Skattebo having his coming out party in the same stadium where he won a Big 12 championship.
— Justin LaCertosa (@LaCertosaSports) September 14, 2025
Obviously, the RB1 of all teams, or the player that's most likely the RB1 moving forward, should be rostered in almost all leagues. The big question is how Skattebo's efficiency will be in future games. Though the rushing score boosted his production in Week 2, his Week 1 performance was abysmal.
He scored just 2.9 PPR fantasy points in his season opener, rushing two times for negative three yards and catching two passes for 12 yards. The Giants don't have a great offensive line, and their game against a Cowboys defense reeling from the loss of their best player, linebacker Micah Parsons, might have been an outlier.
Still, he should be a priority pickup and stash. If his workload increases further, he'll be more startable, as even inefficient running backs can often produce fantasy value by overwhelming their inefficiency with volume and PPR points from receptions.
Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Tuten finally got a solid workload in the absence of RB Tank Bigsby, who was traded from the Jacksonville Jaguars to the Philadelphia Eagles after Week 1. And while Tuten wasn't started in many leagues, he rewarded the fantasy managers who trusted putting him in starting lineups.
Bhayshul Tuten in Week 2 on a per-touch basis, per @FantasyPtsData:
+ Yards per touch: 7.44 (5th among 33 RBs)
+ MTF per touch: 0.40 (4th)
+ Explosives per touch: 10% (6th)— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) September 15, 2025
The underlying data suggests that Tuten has elite upside. He's forcing a very high rate of missed tackles, creating a ton of explosive plays, and gaining nearly 7.5 yards of offense every time he touches the ball. This efficiency likely drove the Jaguars to trade away Bigsby in the first place.
And Tuten shares a backfield with RB Travis Etienne Jr. Etienne had another solid fantasy game, but he still struggles to force missed tackles and isn't as explosive as Tuten. This uptick in Tuten's volume is huge for his potential down the road, and could lead to him taking over the RB1 role by midseason.
Bhayshul Tuten is so damn smooth man. He's gonna get a lot of snaps moving forward pic.twitter.com/tUYrBui2pp
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) September 15, 2025
Tuten is the one player I've been absolutely pounding the table for the most throughout the offseason. I had him ranked as my RB1 from the 2025 class, despite plenty of ridicule, after the combine, and was singing his praises as a league-winner as far back as March and April.
I haven't wavered in my assessment. He's unbelievably talented, and a remarkably gifted athlete. If he's still on waivers in your league, you should use your priority pickup to try to get him or blow plenty of FAAB. He's my favorite pick for this year's waiver wire hero at RB.
Jarquez Hunter, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Hunter was active for his Week 2 game against the Tennessee Titans after being a healthy scratch for Week 1. We could be closer to seeing Hunter get actual volume. While Rams' RB2 Blake Corum did get a bit of playing time this week, and scored a touchdown, he wasn't more heavily involved than he was last season.
RB1 Kyren Williams still handled the bulk of the workload, but he managed just 66 yards on 17 carries, once again failing to average more than 4.0 yards per rush attempt, and caught two passes for just 14 yards. Williams' value in fantasy is shaky the moment his workload starts decreasing, and in games he doesn't score touchdowns.
Blake Corum with 32% snaps and just had a goal-line TD, obviously coming at the expense of Kyren Williams.
This happening in Week 2 is notable.
— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) September 14, 2025
Corum was notably more efficient, but on a sample size of just five carries. It seems like just a matter of time before Hunter is worked into the rushing game, and that could really spell trouble for Williams' incredibly volume-dependent fantasy value.
Jarquez Hunter college splits inside/outside the tackles with Kyren Williams and Blake Corum pic.twitter.com/3lAqYYAAvo
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) May 26, 2025
And with Hunter likely heavily impressing the Rams coaching staff with his efficiency in college, which was notably much better than both that of Williams and Corum, there could soon be motivation for the coaching staff to give Hunter opportunities. And there's a real chance he could break off multiple explosive plays.
That could help propel him above Corum in the depth chart quickly, making him a good player to stash.
Brashard Smith, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Smith finally got some action in his team's Week 2 loss against the Philadelphia Eagles. He was targeted once, but failed to haul in that target, and rushed one time for two yards. It's encouraging to see him get some playing time and a few opportunities, and it's a sign of good things to come.
Smith was trusted to return kickoffs, which gives him some utility in leagues that score return yardage. The more relevant information here is that he's also leapfrogged RB Elijah Mitchell, who was a healthy scratch, and Kansas City's running back room outside of Smith continues to disappoint even when given meaningful chances to make plays.
Isiah Pacheco has to be more patient or only run him between the tackles. He doesn't have the burst to outrun angles against most defenses, and here, he has to follow Creed pic.twitter.com/lr36QCTHKD
— Daniel Harms (@InHarmsWay19) September 15, 2025
Isiah Pacheco's lack of vision and patience is hurting him greatly. He took 10 carries for just 22 yards in Week 2, and caught one of his targets for seven yards. Backup RB Kareem Hunt carried eight times for 31 yards, caught one target for three yards, and fumbled one of his touches.
The Chiefs have a virtually nonexistent run game, and don't have much pass-catching ability from their backs. Smith could help quite a bit with that, given his elite athleticism, shiftiness with the ball in his hands, and high-end receiving ability. But Chiefs head coach Andy Reid takes it very slow with his rookies.
Smith is still an excellent stash, and he'll continue to be until he truly breaks out.
Elic Ayomanor, WR, Tennessee Titans
Ayomanor grabbed his first touchdown catch of the season on a wild cross-field throw from his rookie quarterback, Cam Ward. In his second game as a pro, Ayomanor scored 15.6 PPR fantasy points, catching four of his six targets for 56 yards and the aforementioned score.
It was the only touchdown Ward threw, though, and through two weeks of play, Ward has yet to eclipse 200 passing yards. Even against the Rams' extremely vulnerable pass defense, Ward completed just 19 of his 33 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown. It's hard to support weekly fantasy starting receivers with that low volume.
ELIC AYOMANOR WITH ONE HAND OH MY GOD 😱 😱 😱
(via @NFL)
pic.twitter.com/ihWZfTB3CI— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 14, 2025
As is customary, the Rams secondary gave up a few highlight-reel catches to multiple Titans receivers. While Ayomanor didn't excel as a separator, he made a handful of quality concentration catches that he should be credited for nonetheless.
Stashing him on the end of your bench and hoping Ward improves his play isn't a terrible idea, but there are a ton of holes in Ward's game that need patching, and it's questionable if that ever happens. It's hard to know if Ayomanor can be trusted in starting lineups yet. Best to leave him on your bench for now.
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