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Dan's quarterback (QB) fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Week 1 of 2025. His top QB fantasy football pickups, free agents to add, quarterback streamers.
Week 1 of the NFL season is finally here. After spending months strategizing and preparing for the season, it is now time to start the journey towards winning a fantasy championship.
The 2025 season hasn’t even started yet, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t scour the waiver wire to try and find ways to upgrade your lineup already. If you decided on a late-round quarterback strategy, identifying streamers is a way to maximize your lineup's scoring ability.
In this article, I will focus on players under 65% rostered in fantasy leagues while adding a couple of deep sleepers for two-quarterback leagues (less than 25% rostered). Let’s look at who you should consider picking up for Week 2 below. All rostership percentages will be from Yahoo fantasy leagues.
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Single-QB Waiver Wire Pickups and Stashes
Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars - 51% rostered
Expectations are high for Trevor Lawrence in 2025. The Jaguars hired Liam Coen as their head coach, traded up for Travis Hunter in the first round, and spent free agency and the draft trying to upgrade the talent around the former first overall pick.
Fantasy managers are seemingly taking a “wait-and-see” approach with Lawrence, evidenced by his 51% roster rate on Yahoo. However, you won’t find many matchups that can be exploited quite like his Week 1 opponent, the Carolina Panthers.
Last season, Carolina had the third-lowest expected points added (EPA) against opposing quarterbacks (83.62). They also allowed the fourth-highest success rate (77.3%) and the seventh-highest explosive pass rate (9.6%). The Panthers allowed a league-high 35 passing touchdowns.
Carolina didn’t make many sweeping changes to their defense this offseason, instead opting to do some minor upgrades in free agency with some bigger swings in the draft (second-round pick Nic Scourton and third-round pick Princely Umanmielen).
On paper, this is a defense that can still be taken advantage of in the passing attack, even with new safeties on the backend of the defense. Lawrence and Coen will be looking to get off on the right foot, which could lead to a big fantasy output in Week 1.
Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons - 33% rostered
Michael Penix Jr. made the final three starts of the 2024 regular season as a rookie with mixed results (58% completion rate with 737 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions). Penix was able to show off his strong arm and a connection with Drake London.
Michael Penix Jr. was comfortable in the pocket, threw out breakers on time, and was able to work over the middle of the field
Penix Jr. also didn't take a sack despite being pressured 14 times pic.twitter.com/sdPmB0sSJO
— Shawn Syed (@SyedSchemes) December 22, 2024
He enters 2025 as the unquestioned starter in Atlanta, poised to take the next step in his second season. There is hope that Penix can start the season off strong with London and Bijan Robinson in the passing attack. It also appears that Darnell Mooney will be ready for Week 1 after missing most of the preseason with a shoulder injury.
Penix will have an excellent matchup in Week 1 against a Buccaneers defense that didn’t make many significant upgrades despite struggling in 2024.
Tampa Bay posted bottom-12 marks last season in yards per attempt (7.1), EPA against opposing quarterbacks (24.68), yards after the catch (2,089), and success rate (49.7%). They allowed the fourth most fantasy points per game to quarterbacks (19.8).
This game features two teams with subpar passing defenses, which is a recipe for a high-scoring affair. Penix has more than enough weapons at his disposal to post a big fantasy week in shootout conditions for his fourth career start.
Two-QB Waiver Wire Pickups and Stashes
Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders - 22% rostered
2024 was a disappointing year for Geno Smith in fantasy, but the Seattle offensive environment didn’t do him any favors. The Seahawks had one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL and a stagnant play caller who didn’t utilize motion or play action to help the quarterback out.
Statistically, the results were better than most would think. Smith threw for the fourth-most yards in the NFL (4,320) with 21 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. According to FTN Fantasy, he was third in accuracy rate (79.4%) and 10th in explosive passing plays (50).
Geno Smith from a clean pocket in 2024:
-81.4% adjusted completion (5th)
-13 highlight throws (4th)
-59.1% success rate (5th)
-76.1% completion rate (2nd) pic.twitter.com/ndum9vSroq— Adam Pfeifer (@APfeifer24) June 30, 2025
The veteran quarterback did his best work under pressure. According to PFF, Smith led all quarterbacks in pressured drop-backs (251). He was fourth in completion percentage (56.1%), second in passing yards (1,243), and eighth in touchdowns (eight) in those scenarios.
Smith will have a better offensive line in Las Vegas with arguably better pass catchers in Brock Bowers, Jakobi Meyers, and Ashton Jeanty. He also has Tre Tucker and rookie Dont’e Thornton Jr. as deep threats to take advantage of his excellent deep accuracy.
The veteran quarterback is worth targeting in two-quarterback leagues since we have seen him have success with head coach Pete Carroll in the past. He may not have another top-10 scoring quarterback season like he did with Carroll in 2022, but he can still be a high-end QB2 in fantasy.
Joe Flacco, Cleveland Browns - 4% rostered
Few will be excited to roster Joe Flacco in 2025, but he is a starting quarterback with a positive matchup.
We saw Flacco get extended playing time in seven games with Indianapolis in 2024. In those contests, he completed 65.3% of his passes for 1,761 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. More importantly, he averaged 35.4 passing attempts per game.
Flacco posted six top 20 finishes in his seven starts and had four games with at least 340 air yards. The veteran quarterback isn’t afraid to push the ball down the field to make big plays, even if his pure arm talent has taken a step back.
On paper, the Browns don’t have an especially strong run game and have questions along the offensive line. But Flacco has several weapons in the passing attack (Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, David Njoku, and Harold Fannin Jr.) that can help him score fantasy points. His Week 1 opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, has the kind of offense that can push Cleveland into a shootout environment.
More Waiver Wire Pickups and Advice
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