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Week 5 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Theo Johnson, A.J. Barner, Jake Tonges in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
Week 5 starts the bye week portion for the 2025 NFL regular season, meaning it will be time for fantasy football managers to flex their depth and successfully navigate regular starters getting a week off. Depending on the size and structure of your league, you may not be able to carry a second tight end on your roster, or you may need to find a replacement starter if your draft plan has gone sideways.
In this piece, we'll take a look at three tight ends who have been putting up solid numbers lately and are getting solid playing time. They could be nice pickups to get you through bye weeks or as an alternative to a struggling starter in some formats.
Are Theo Johnson, A.J. Barner, or Jake Tonges worth adding off the waiver wire in Week 5? Here are the latest outlooks on each for fantasy football.
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Theo Johnson Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 5% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add for Depth or Fill-In/Streamer
Johnson had a strong rookie year after the Giants snagged him in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Penn State. He only played 12 games before a foot injury, but finished with 29 catches for 331 yards and a touchdown. While those totals aren't overwhelming, he started slow before catching at least three passes in each of his last five games and totaling 18 catches for 216 yards and a touchdown in just those five games.
This year, with Russell Wilson starting, Johnson had six catches for 49 yards and no touchdowns through three games. In Week 4, though, the Giants went to rookie Jaxson Dart, who threw the first touchdown of his career to Johnson on this designed shovel pass.
DART TO THEOOO 🙌
📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/iXR6g7t5uf
— New York Giants (@Giants) September 28, 2025
Johnson finished the game with three catches for 17 yards and that touchdown, and he tied for the team lead with five targets.
With Malik Nabers (knee) sadly done for the year, there will be plenty of targets available in Dart's offense. This week, the Giants face the Saints in a great matchup, which is enough to make Johnson an excellent pickup for this week and for depth purposes going forward.
Based on his previous numbers in Brian Daboll's offense, even though he may not draw deep targets down the field, he'll get enough short and medium-depth throws to be a strong option, especially in PPR formats.
A.J. Barner Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 1% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in Deeper Leagues
Another second-year player, Barner, has been the Seahawks' primary tight end this year after Noah Fant headed to Cincinnati. Seattle drafted Barner at No. 121 last year, just 14 picks after the Giants snagged Johnson.
Barner played behind Fant most of his rookie year, but he did catch three touchdowns in his last six games of the season and finished with a career-high five catches on five targets for 34 yards in the team's Week 18 finale against the Rams.
This year, Barner has played at least 85% of snaps in three of his four games, even though the Seahawks also have rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo in the mix. Barner started the season slowly but did have a good game on Thursday night against the Cardinals, catching all three of his targets for 32 yards and a touchdown.
That's six. Just like that ‼️
📺: @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/eUgwVMKM3Q
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 26, 2025
Barner isn't likely to be an extremely high-volume target with Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp in the system. However, he has proven to be reliable, especially near the end zone. In his past stops, Sam Darnold has done a good job getting his tight end involved, and he could continue to get Barner a few targets on a regular basis.
Since his volume potential isn't quite as high as Johnson's with Nabers now out, I'd prefer Johnson over Barner. However, if you're in a deep league, Barner has enough touchdown-dependent upside to be worth a speculative add.
Jake Tonges Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 2% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add as Short-Term Streamer
Tonges has stepped up for the 49ers with George Kittle (hamstring) on the IR, and he'll get at least one more game before Kittle is eligible to return. The 49ers have found ways to keep players involved, though, and with all their injury issues at receiver, Tonges could stay involved even after Kittle gets back.
Tonges is an undrafted free agent out of Cal, who played four games in 2022 with the Bears but hadn't played in the NFL since. He made the 49ers roster as depth behind Kittle and stepped up with three catches and a game-winning touchdown in Week 1 when Kittle went down injured.
He had two catches for 21 yards in Week 2 and four catches for 31 yards in Week 3, before getting back into the end zone with three catches for 15 yards in Week 4.
From Los Gatos to the end zone 🏡
📺: FOX
NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4nCVJ pic.twitter.com/Xh1gV1IldN— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) September 28, 2025
In his four games, he has totaled 12 catches for 125 receiving yards and two scores while drawing 16 targets. He'll be a solid depth option for as long as Kittle is out, but that may not be much longer. If you need a fill-in for Week 5, Tonges is definitely viable, though.
With Jauan Jennings (ankle/shoulder) and Ricky Pearsall (knee) battling injuries, he could stay involved since he's showing the ability to make plays and also earning the trust of Brock Purdy and the coaches.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
Trying to decide who to pick up off the waiver wire? Check the Who Should I Pickup tool here:
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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.
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Popular Player Comparison Searches - Who To Pickup
Below are some popular searches and comparisons from our Who To Pickup tool for 2025 for Theo Johnson, A.J. Barner, and Jake Tonges:
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