RADIO
Week 2 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Jonnu Smith, Harold Fannin Jr., and Juwan Johnson in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
With position scarcity in mind, there's almost always an undrafted gem at the tight end position. There's one on this list who led fantasy managers to championships in 2024.
With George Kittle managing a hamstring injury, there is at least one fantasy manager in every league on the prowl for a replacement tight end, and there are some intriguing options widely available.
Are Jonnu Smith, Harold Fannin Jr., or Juwan Johnson worth adding off the waiver wire in Week 2? Here are the latest fantasy football outlooks for each tight end.
Editor's Note: The FFPC Baby Gorilla Tournament is now open, featuring a $100,000 grand prize and a $675,450 total prize pool! This 12-team, Tight End Premium contest uses a 20-round draft format, with the overall winners determined by total points scored during Weeks 15–17. Get $25 to use toward your first entry by signing up through our link. Grab your team now! Sign Up Now!
Jonnu Smith Week Waiver Wire Outlook
Rostered: 30% of leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
Find someone who loves you like Arthur Smith loves Jonnu Smith.
Now in their third city together, the Pittsburgh offensive coordinator has made it a point, sometimes to the detriment of developing young talent (see: Pitts, Kyle), to carve out a role for the journeyman tight end. That was still apparent in their Pittsburgh debut.
It's not that Smith played an overwhelming amount of snaps compared to his teammates, Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, but he was the target favorite and had a jet sweep designed for him near the goal line.
Jonnu Smith takes the jet touch pass for a @Steelers TD
PITvsNYJ on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/NKk2ReODKB
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025
Smith led the tight end room in snaps (37) and targets (six), but Freiermuth ran the same number of routes and led the position in yards. Washington was on the field for a little less than half of Pittsburgh's offensive snaps. You've heard of a running back committee. Pittsburgh has a tight end committee.
Of the trio, Smith is the Pittsburgh tight end to roster, if you're forced to roster any. He is the best red zone threat of the group, and, because the Steelers have a weak wide receiver corps outside of DK Metcalf, multiple tight ends are on the field more often than not. Smith, when all is said and done, may be nothing more than a touchdown-or-bust option at the position.
Harold Fannin Jr. Waiver Wire Outlook
Rostered: 2% of leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
In a juicy Week 1 matchup against a bottom-dweller Cincinnati defense, it wasn't Jerry Jeudy or David Njoku who led the Browns in receptions. The rookies, running back Dylan Sampson (eight) and Fannin (seven), converted the most of their opportunities. Fannin led the team with nine targets.
Fannin was a record-breaking consensus All-American while playing for the MAC's Bowling Green Falcons. His fantasy football outlook took a ding when the Browns selected him in the third round of the NFL Draft, because Njoku had already established himself as a top-10 tight end. As it turns out, they may be able to coexist.
Njoku was on the field for 84 percent of Cleveland's snaps on Sunday, but the rookie wasn't too far behind at 72 percent. While Njoku mostly lined up as the traditional inline tight end, Fannin, on the other hand, was in the slot, out wide, and even in the backfield for a handful of snaps.
NFL Research notes on Browns standout rookies:
-TE Harold Fannin’s seven receptions are the most by a rookie TE in Week 1 in NFL history
-RB Dylan Sampson’s eight receptions tied with Tarik Cohen for the most by a rookie RB in their first career game since 1990
— Nick Shook (@TheNickShook) September 7, 2025
It makes more sense that the pair can play together because the Browns don't have a reliable wide receiver past Jeudy and Cedric Tillman. Fannin is going to see a lot of slot snaps, and the coaching staff should continue to scheme plays in his direction. While I wouldn't slot him in starting lineups just yet, he's worth an add to see if anything changes going forward. Of course, a benching of Joe Flacco could change the entire dynamic for the worse.
Juwan Johnson Waiver Wire Outlook
Rostered: 2% of leagues
Baller Move: Add in 12+ Team Leagues
You can't score fantasy points if you're on the sideline. Good thing Johnson was seldom a spectator in Week 1.
The veteran played 98.7% of the Saints' snaps (he missed just one play) en route to a career day. He tied his best mark for receptions (8), saw his second-most targets (11), and third-most yards (76). That usage puts him squarely on the fantasy football radar.
The fantasy managers have to decide if they want to plunge face-first into the New Orleans offense. Kellen Moore's offense is designed to get his weapons in place to make a play. Unfortunately, it's up to Spencer Rattler to put the football in the right place, and the result Sunday was a mixed bag, although he and Johnson barely missed on what would have been a game-tying touchdown.
Juwan Johnson’s near-game-tying TD catch in the frantic final seconds of the Saints’ 20-13 loss to the Cardinals. The 📸 images by @davidgrunfeldtp are as spectacular as Johnson’s effort. pic.twitter.com/jJ9TTqRzLS
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) September 7, 2025
Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau are on the PUP list and will be inactive for at least four games. As long as that remains the case, Johnson is going to see almost all of the tight end snaps. The Saints may not be favored to win any game this season, so Rattler's 46 pass attempts on Sunday may become more of a trend than an anomaly.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
Trying to decide who to pick up off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool here:
Compare up to four players and we'll tell you who to pickup...
Who Should I Pickup? Some common 2025 fantasy football waiver wire decisions are regarding players like Jonnu Smith, Harold Fannin Jr., Juwan Johnson. But not to worry, we are here to help make these waiver wire decisions and build winning teams in 2025. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups in 2025. Our free Who Should I Pickup? tool will help make your fantasy football waiver wire decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to pick up... all free! Make the right decisions.
2025 Player Decisions. Today's focus is on specific players - Jonnu Smith, Harold Fannin Jr., Juwan Johnson. 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.
Recent 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 Jonnu Smith, Harold Fannin Jr., Juwan Johnson:
No matching players.More Waiver Wire Analysis
Download Our Free News & Alerts Mobile App
Like what you see? Download our updated fantasy football app for iPhone and Android with 24x7 player news, injury alerts, rankings, starts/sits & more. All free!
Check out RotoBaller's famous fantasy football draft sleepers and waiver wire pickups list, updated regularly!
