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Waiver Wire Rankings - Fantasy Football Week 5

dawson knox fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy football waiver wire rankings for Week 5 of the NFL season. These are free agent options to add off waivers, and our rankings will help you prioritize.

Each week at RotoBaller we provide you with various fantasy football waiver wire articles to help you decide which free agent players to pickup off waivers. Our amazing team of analysts here whip them up as early in the week as possible, and update them as more news is announced.

To kick things off each week, we have our overall waiver wire article and waiver wire express lightning round, both dropping very early in the week -- usually by the time the Sunday Night Football game ends. We have our FAAB waiver wire article from Nick Mariano, for those of you with salary cap waivers, which discusses how much of your free agent budget to spend on players when trying to add them off the waiver wire. And then we also have articles for each position, to take a deeper dive on each: running backswide receiverstight endsquarterbacksdefenseskickers, IDP leagues and players to consider dropping.

This article is final piece of the weekly series, and its goal is to show you our weekly ranking for the relevant waiver wire pickup options including how to prioritize them for your league (depending on the league size). So below you will find the overall rankings list, and below that each individual position in priority order. Hopefully this helps you win your waiver wire this week and bolster your roster for Week 5! Let's get to it.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:

 

Week 5 Waiver Wire Rankings

Rank Player Name Position % Owned Baller Move
1 Latavius Murray RB 47 Add in All Leagues
2 Damien Williams RB 7 Add in All Leagues
3 Samaje Perine RB 2 Add in 10+ Team Leagues
4 Laviska Shenault Jr. WR 58 Add in 10+ Team Leagues
5 Kenneth Gainwell RB 29 Add in 10+ Team Leagues
6 Michael Carter Jr. RB 51 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
7 Malcolm Brown RB 6 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
8 Emmanuel Sanders WR 58 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
9 Henry Ruggs III WR 56 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
10 Bryan Edwards WR 18 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
11 Dalton Schultz TE 33 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
12 Maxx Williams TE 1 Add in 12+ Team Leagues
13 Khalil Herbert RB 0 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
14 Van Jefferson Jr. WR 5 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
15 Mecole Hardman WR 50 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
16 Hunter Renfrow WR 25 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
17 Jamison Crowder WR 19 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
18 J.D. McKissic RB 39 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
19 Josh Gordon WR 32 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
20 Curtis Samuel WR 41 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
21 Dawson Knox TE 47 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
22 Tim Patrick WR 44 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
23 A.J. Green WR 23 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
24 Darnell Mooney WR 38 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
25 Marquez Callaway WR 35 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
26 Jalen Reagor WR 21 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
27 Nelson Agholor WR 38 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
28 Randall Cobb WR 6 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
29 DeVante Parker WR 38 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
30 Rashod Bateman WR 25 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
31 C.J. Uzomah TE 2 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
32 Quintez Cephus WR 16 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
33 Zach Pascal WR 23 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
34 Amon-Ra St. Brown WR 3 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
35 K.J. Osborn WR 18 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
36 Kadarius Toney WR 3 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
37 Quez Watkins WR 2 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
38 Hunter Henry TE 42 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
39 Darrel Williams RB 9 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
40 Alex Collins RB 1 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
41 Jeremy McNichols RB 1 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
42 Kalif Raymond WR 1 Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
43 Daniel Jones QB 31 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
44 Sam Darnold QB 37 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
45 Trey Lance QB 30 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
46 Matt Ryan QB 53 Add in 14+ Team Leagues
47 Taylor Heinicke QB 10 Add in 2QB Leagues
48 Justin Fields QB 42 Add in 2QB Leagues
49 Zach Wilson QB 9 Add in 2QB Leagues
50 Jacoby Brissett QB 3 Add in 2QB Leagues

 

Running Backs (Priority Order):

Latavius Murray
Damien Williams
Samaje Perine
Kenneth Gainwell
Michael Carter
Malcolm Brown
Khalil Herbert
J.D. McKissic
Peyton Barber
Darrel Williams
Alex Collins
Jeremy McNichols

 

Wide Receivers (Priority Order):

Laviska Shenault Jr.
Emmanuel Sanders
Henry Ruggs III
Bryan Edwards
Van Jefferson
Mecole Hardman
Hunter Renfrow
Jamison Crowder
Josh Gordon
Curtis Samuel
Tim Patrick
A.J. Green
Darnell Mooney
Marquez Callaway
Jalen Reagor
Nelson Agholor
Randall Cobb
DeVante Parker
Rashod Bateman
Quintez Cephus
Zach Pascal
Amon-Ra St. Brown
K.J. Osborn
Kadarius Toney
Quez Watkins
DeSean Jackson
Kalif Raymond

 

Tight Ends (Priority Order):

Dalton Schultz
Maxx Williams
Dawson Knox
C.J. Uzomah
Hunter Henry
Zach Ertz
Evan Engram
Juwan Johnson
Ricky Seals-Jones
Mo Alie-Cox

 

Quarterbacks (Priority Order):

Daniel Jones
Sam Darnold
Trey Lance
Matt Ryan
Taylor Heinicke
Justin Fields
Zach Wilson
Jacoby Brissett



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