Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings - Fantasy Football Pickups Include Kimani Vidal, Kendrick Bourne, Nick Chubb, Kendre Miller, Romeo Doubs, Xavier Legette

October 7, 2025

Fantasy football waiver wire rankings for Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season. Top free agent options to add off waivers, and our rankings will help you prioritize.

The NFL season continues to roll on as we head into Week 6. After a Sunday of action-packed football, it's time to scour the waiver wire to help get through injuries and bye weeks. Fantasy managers will be without the Vikings and Texans in Week 6, with both teams on the bye. At RotoBaller HQ, we are back with more fantasy football advice with our updated Week 6 fantasy football waiver wire rankings for Week 6 of the 2025 NFL season. Nick Mariano has ranked the top 80 free agent options to help you prioritize who to add off the waiver wire.

Several players still have low roster percentages and could have an immediate impact on fantasy teams in 2025. Even when Chuba Hubbard returns from injury, did Rico Dowdle earn more playing time after rushing for 206 yards against the Dolphins on Sunday? With Trey Benson and James Conner sidelined, is Michael Carter Arizona's primary back after logging 18 carries and a touchdown in Sunday's loss to the Titans? After another productive outing, has Darren Waller turned back the clock and will become a steady starting fantasy TE option this season?

We have answers to these questions and will guide you with our top 85 fantasy football waiver wire pickups list for Week 6. Time to go make some moves, tweak your fantasy teams, and grab some waiver wire stashes. Good luck, RotoBallers!

Who To Pickup for Fantasy Football Week 6?

Waiver wire pickup options, including how to prioritize them for your league - depending on the league size. Quarterbacks and Defenses (D/ST) are grouped together at the bottom of the list:

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Outlooks

Some of the top names include Rico Dowdle, Michael Carter, Darren Waller, Kendrick Bourne, Brashard Smith, Xavier Hutchinson, and more.  We recap why these players rostered under 55% in Yahoo! leagues should be on your waiver wire radar for Week 6.

Rico Dowdle, RB, Carolina Panthers
Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings: 1

Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle carried the ball 23 times for 206 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown during Sunday's win over the Miami Dolphins. He also caught three of four targets for an additional 28 receiving yards. Dowdle filled in for the injured Chuba Hubbard (calf) and turned in one of the best individual fantasy performances we've seen through five weeks this season.

He proved to be a terrific waiver wire addition for many fantasy managers who inserted him into their lineups on Sunday. Even if Hubbard returns next week, Dowdle has done more than enough to carve out a significant role on offense. He's worth deploying as an RB3/flex with RB2 upside going forward, including next week in a revenge game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Michael Carter, RB, Arizona Cardinals
Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings: 2

Arizona Cardinals running back Michael Carter rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries during Sunday's loss to the Tennessee Titans. He also caught all five of his targets for an additional 22 receiving yards. After plenty of speculation about the backfield roles in Arizona, Carter handled early-down work, Emari Demercado played third downs, and Bam Knight rotated in occasionally.

Carter easily saw the bulk of the workload, totaling 23 touches while staying involved both on the ground and through the air. His lack of yardage efficiency could leave the backfield in a by-committee state ahead of Week 6, but Carter has the early advantage in the competition. He'll continue to rank as a high-end RB3/flex for next week's clash in Indianapolis.

Darren Waller, TE, Miami Dolphins
Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings: 3

Miami Dolphins tight end Darren Waller caught all five of his targets for 78 yards and one touchdown during Sunday's loss to the Carolina Panthers. The veteran pass catcher was primarily involved in the first half, as all five catches came within the first 20 minutes of the contest. We'd like to see him contribute steadily throughout the whole game, but we also know that fantasy managers won't complain about a 78-yard, one-touchdown showing from a tight end, regardless of the timestamps when he caught each pass.

Waller has scored at least 17.7 fantasy points (PPR) in each of his first two games back from retirement, ranking as the overall TE2 in fantasy football over the last two weeks. His volume and scoring ability instantly make him a top streaming option for Week 6, as he should rank as a top-12 fantasy tight end in his matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Kendrick Bourne, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings: 22

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kendrick Bourne caught 10 of his 11 targets for 142 yards during Thursday's win over the Los Angeles Rams in overtime. The 30-year-old took on a massive role with Jauan Jennings (ankle, ribs) and Ricky Pearsall (knee) sidelined, and he showed that he was up for the task as his reception total jumped from one last week to 10 this week. Meanwhile, the veteran's 24.2 fantasy points (PPR) were the most he has scored in a single game since Week 1 of the 2023 season, when he was with the New England Patriots.

Some managers in deeper leagues started Bourne on Thursday, so while his big game was a surprise, it still impacted plenty of fantasy football matchups. Bourne will head back to a depth role once Jennings and Pearsall are healthy again. For now, he's not a reliable fantasy option for Week 6 against the Ravens, but his fantasy outlook will gain some more clarity when the 49ers post their injury report next Wednesday.

Running Backs - Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Wide Receivers - Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Tight Ends- Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Quarterbacks - Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order, with emphasis on Week 6:

Defenses (D/ST) - Week 6 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order, with emphasis on Week 6:

More Waiver Wire Articles

After diving into the Week 6 rankings, read about some other free waiver wire resources available at RotoBaller:

• Week 6 waiver wire pickups (all positions)
• Week 6 running back waiver wire pickups
• Week 6 wide receiver waiver wire pickups
• Week 6 tight end waiver wire pickups
• Week 6 quarterback waiver wire pickups
• Week 6 defense (D/ST) streamers and pickups
• Week 6 kicker streamers and pickups
• Week 6 FAAB waiver wire bids

Each week, our NFL team puts out a complete array of fantasy football waiver wire articles to compliment our slick Who Should I Pickup? Waiver wire player comparison tool. Bookmark it!

In addition, be on the lookout for our other waiver wire articles all season long. We will be releasing weekly waiver wire articles for each position, FAAB bidding recommendations, streamers and more throughout the week.

Who Should I Pickup Tool

Trying to decide who to pick up off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool:

Who Should I Pickup for Week 6?

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2025 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Kimani Vidal, Kendrick Bourne, Nick Chubb, Kendre Miller, Romeo Doubs, Xavier Legette. 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's name. In the second box, search for the second player's 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.

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 updates them 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 who 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 Kimani Vidal, Kendrick Bourne, Nick Chubb, Kendre Miller, Romeo Doubs, Xavier Legette:

More Waiver Wire Analysis