Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings - Fantasy Football Pickups Include Brashard Smith, Chris Moore, Bam Knight, Xavier Legette, Darnell Mooney, Sean Tucker

October 21, 2025

Fantasy football waiver wire rankings for Week 8 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 fly by as Week 8 is officially here. On top of injuries, fantasy managers will have to deal with the bye gauntlet as the Cardinals, Lions, Jaguars, Raiders, Rams, and Seahawks are off this week. At RotoBaller HQ, we are back with more fantasy football advice with our updated Week 8 fantasy football waiver wire rankings for Week 8 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. Chicago Bears running back D'Andre Swift continues to break out, but rookie Kyle Monangai earn him self more touches after rushing for 81 yards on 13 attempts and a score against the Saints? Where does Oronde Gadsden rank on our list after catching seven of nine targets for 164 yards and a touchdown versus the Colts? Is Xavier Legette Carolina's No. 2 option in the passing game after being targeted 11 times against the Jets on Sunday?

We have answers to these questions and will guide you with our top 85 fantasy football waiver wire pickups list for Week 8. 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 8?

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 Woody Marks, Kyle Monangai, Oronde Gadsden, Brashard Smith, Xavier Legette, Jayden Higgins, Bam Knight, and more.  We recap why these players rostered under 55% in Yahoo! leagues should be on your waiver wire radar for Week 8.

Oronde Gadsden, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings: 5

Los Angeles Chargers rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden caught seven of his nine targets for 164 yards and a touchdown during Sunday's loss to the Indianapolis Colts. The highlight of his game was a 53-yard catch on the second play of the third quarter, but his 15-yard touchdown was impressive, too. The rookie has broken out recently, catching 14 passes for 232 yards and a touchdown over his last two contests.

He is the overall TE1 in PPR leagues over the last two weeks. Although that's a relatively small sample size to assess, Sunday's big game showed that Gadsden's sudden success is no fluke. He should continue to operate as a primary target for Justin Herbert, giving him high-end TE2 appeal with TE1 upside.

Xavier Legette, WR, Carolina Panthers
Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings: 24

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette had the best game of his career in Sunday's 13-6 win over the hosting New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, catching nine of his 11 targets for 92 yards and his second touchdown of the year. Legette surprisingly led the team in targets, catches, and yards on a day where quarterback Bryce Young left with an ankle injury and didn't return. The 24-year-old former first-rounder in 2024 only had eight grabs on 20 targets for 50 yards and a touchdown in four games coming into Sunday's game versus New York.

While Sunday was encouraging for the second-year wideout, fantasy managers in 12-team leagues will want to see more of this from Legette before seriously considering him off the waiver wire. Fellow receiver Jalen Coker made his season debut in this one after recovering from a quad injury, but he didn't have a catch on two targets. Coker should be more involved in the game plan moving forward, though, and could challenge Legette for WR2 duties behind rookie first-rounder Tetairoa McMillan.

Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings: 5

Chicago Bears rookie running back Kyle Monangai rushed for 81 yards on 13 attempts while catching two passes for 13 yards and a score in Sunday's 26-14 win over the New Orleans Saints. It was his first career rushing touchdown and the first time he's received more than eight rushing attempts in a game.

D'Andre Swift has been dealing with a groin injury, but was active on Sunday, and the Bears were up double digits most of the game, giving Monangai more opportunities. The 23-year-old is averaging 4.6 yards per carry and has proved he can handle a decent workload if given the opportunity. Monangai is worth stashing for fantasy managers looking for RB help or Swift managers, as he comes in at five in the latest RotoBaller waiver wire rankings.

Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants
Week 8 QB Waiver Wire Rankings: 1

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart completed 15 of his 33 pass attempts for 283 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception during Sunday's loss against the Denver Broncos. He also rushed for 11 yards and an additional touchdown on the ground. This was Dart's first career four-touchdown game -- he had previously never scored more than twice -- but it wasn't enough as the Broncos scored 33 points in the fourth quarter alone, taking down New York with a field goal as time expired.

Dart, a rookie, played solidly in the defeat, especially considering how effective Denver's defense has been this year. The loss was unfortunate, but from a fantasy perspective, 283 passing yards and four total touchdowns are nothing to complain about. He'll remain in the low-end QB1 conversation for Week 8 against the Philadelphia Eagles. In his last outing against Philly, he had 195 passing yards, 58 rushing yards, two total touchdowns, and zero turnovers.

Woody Marks, RB, Houston Texans
Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings: 1

Houston Texans running back Woody Marks had a breakthrough game earlier in the season, dominating the Titans for 69 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, and a pair of touchdowns. He looked every bit the part of an every-down feature back, but then against the Ravens the following week, he only had 24 yards on seven carries and no catches, while Nick Chubb took back over the lead role.

After the team's bye week, Marks has the potential to emerge as the top option this week against the Seahawks in Seattle for Monday Night Football's late game. He has shown a very high ceiling, but he remains a risky flex or RB3 option since his workload is uncertain from week to week. He's high-risk but also brings a very high ceiling against Seattle on Monday night. Before Monday night's double header, Mark comes is the top-ranked waiver wire player to add heading into Week 8.

Running Backs - Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Wide Receivers - Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Tight Ends- Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order:

Quarterbacks - Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order, with emphasis on Week 8:

Defenses (D/ST) - Week 8 Waiver Wire Rankings

Pickups are in priority order, with emphasis on Week 8:

More Waiver Wire Articles

After diving into the Week 8 rankings, read about some other free waiver wire resources available at RotoBaller:

• Week 8 waiver wire pickups (all positions)
• Week 8 running back waiver wire pickups
• Week 8 wide receiver waiver wire pickups
• Week 8 tight end waiver wire pickups
• Week 8 quarterback waiver wire pickups
• Week 8 defense (D/ST) streamers and pickups
• Week 8 kicker streamers and pickups
• Week 8 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:

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2025 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Woody Marks, Kyle Monangai, Brashard Smith, Chris Moore, Bam Knight, Xavier Legette, Darnell Mooney, Sean Tucker. 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 Woody Marks, Kyle Monangai, Brashard Smith, Chris Moore, Bam Knight, Xavier Legette, Darnell Mooney, Sean Tucker:

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