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Week 5 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Rashod Bateman in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
The waiver wire carousel never stops. From fake breakouts to the actual coming into their own of star players, to others that are talented but struggle in a few games for whatever reason, there's never a dull moment in the NFL.
Of course, the most important thing is to make sure you snag the right players. If you didn't grab Houston Texans running back Woody Marks before Week 4, you probably weren't too happy. It's not always easy to predict players having unexpected huge games, though.
That doesn't mean you should at least try. And it's not just rookies that break out -- sometimes players in the later part of their careers can have very nice stretches. So let's dive into waiver wire pickup decisions for three wide receivers ahead of Week 5!
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Tyquan Thornton Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 47% of Leagues
Baller Move: Leave On Waivers Except Deeper Leagues
It was a nice run for Thornton. But he seemed to be little more than a replacement for Kansas City Chiefs receiver Xavier Worthy. Upon Worthy's return in Week 4, Thornton logged a season-low 34 percent of offensive snaps and was only targeted two times in the team's blowout win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Thornton is basically the backup player that serves in a role that Worthy handles quite a lot of -- getting down the field with speed, getting open, and making deep downfield catches. And Thornton has been an overall good addition to the team. That doesn't mean he deserves playing time over the second-year Worthy.
Tyquan Thornton going from "guy who couldn't find the field as a Patriot" to doing stuff like this is almost as funny as a single finger rising from the muck to signal he has the ball pic.twitter.com/zxHIoPHs77
— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) September 22, 2025
Worthy made a few deep downfield catches in his return, and though Thornton caught a touchdown pass, it was on his only reception of the game. He was targeted just two times, while Worthy saw eight targets. Thornton's playing time, routes run, target volume, and production thus all took big hits.
And when suspended wideout Rashee Rice returns to the lineup in Week 7, it could be difficult for Thornton to do much at all. Rice was a massive target hog last season before his season-ending MCL tear. He and Worthy will be the primary weapons in the passing offense. Even running back Brashard Smith had more playing time in Week 4.
The passing offense has two targets clearly ahead of Thornton, tight end Travis Kelce, who's still getting a decent number of looks, and a running back that has big receiving upside that could see more work down the road. So Thornton probably isn't worth an add in the leagues he's not rostered in.
Kayshon Boutte Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 22% of Leagues
Baller Move:Leave On Waivers Except Deeper Leagues
Week 1 is always a strange set of games in the NFL. It does a good job at leading you in the wrong direction -- such is the case with New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte's performance in the season opener. He caught six of his eight targets for 103 yards.
In the three games since then, he's caught four of his seven targets for a total of 62 yards and a receiving score. If you count just yards and receptions, he's scored fewer PPR points combined in the last three games than in the first one. And it looks like the true WR1 for the Patriots will be Stefon Diggs.
Drake Maye & Kayshon Boutte extend the Patriots lead!
NEvsMIA on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/R9tXMsK5jL
— NFL (@NFL) September 14, 2025
Boutte's touchdown was his only catch of Week 2, and he has just one on the season. This is despite quarterback Drake Maye playing excellent football -- in many advanced efficiency metrics, he's near the top of the league, even though he has one of its worst offensive lines.
Maye spreads the ball around pretty evenly to his receivers, but in recent weeks, even tight end Hunter Henry has a big advantage in targets and PPR fantasy points. Boutte was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft, but he hasn't been playing like one, and has been mostly an afterthought in recent weeks.
Diggs and Henry are the guys you want from this passing offense. The prospects of any of the others being reliable fantasy options are bleak.
Rashod Bateman Week 5 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 32% of Leagues
Baller Move:Leave On Waivers Except Deeper Leagues
Raise your hand if you got pranked by Bateman again, or at least if it feels like that. The Baltimore Ravens passing offense is incredibly fickle, and Bateman is one of its least consistent fantasy options. He only earned two targets, catching one of them for 24 yards, in Week 4. That's just 3.4 PPR fantasy points.
He once again fell behind both fellow WR Zay Flowers and tight end Mark Andrews in the pecking order. Both Flowers and Andrews didn't have bad games. The Ravens are a low-volume passing offense -- quarterback Lamar Jackson (hamstring) completed just 14 passes in his three quarters of play.
Rashod Bateman leaping catch picks up 24 yards and Zay Flowers adds 14 yards on the following play. #RavensFlock
— Carita Parks (@CaritaCParks) September 28, 2025
Bateman is often a nice big-play threat, but he's the clear WR2 of the team and often it's third-most targeted option in the passing game. That's not sufficient for fantasy purposes. In redraft leagues, it's better to just leave him on waivers for now.
Who Should I Pickup Tool
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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 Tyquan Thornton, Kayshon Boutte, Rashod Bateman:
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