RADIO
Week 8 fantasy football waiver wire pickups for Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, Taysom Hill in 2025. Read their waiver wire outlooks for fantasy football.
The seventh week of the 2025 NFL season is now behind us, and fantasy managers are looking to add valuable contributors to their rosters heading into Week 8, especially at the tight end position.
In this article, we will focus on Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, and Taysom Hill. Freiermuth had the performance of a lifetime, finishing as the standard format TE1, while his teammate Jonnu Smith has been a constant presence in Arthur Smith's offense, as he currently has the second-most targets on the Steelers. Hill had a week to forget, but he still managed to record his first couple of catches of the year.
Are Freiermuth, Smith, and Hill worth adding off the waiver wire in Week 8? Here are the latest outlooks on each for fantasy football.
Featured Promo: New Novig users get a $25 purchase match (50% discount up to $25) on your first Novig deposit, and a free month of RotoBaller's "Big-4" Premium Pass (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) which includes exclusive tools for Betting, Props, DFS and more! CLAIM IT NOW
Pat Freiermuth Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 7% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14+ Team PPR Leagues
Despite finishing as the PPR TE9 last season, the Steelers went out of their way to trade for Jonnu Smith, the former tight end of their offensive coordinator, Arthur Smith.
MUUUUUTH FOR SIX‼️ @pat_fry5
📺: #PITvsCIN on @NFLonPrime pic.twitter.com/N4pMqsweYZ
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 17, 2025
They eventually acquired him in the Minkah Fitzpatrick/Jalen Ramsey trade, which was disastrous for Freiermuth's initial fantasy production.
Freiermuth recorded just 7.6 total standard fantasy points in the first six weeks of the season, but he had arguably the best performance of his career in Week 7. Freiermuth put up 28.1 PPR points, 111 yards, and scored two touchdowns in Pittsburgh's loss against Cincinnati.
Prior to that explosion, HC Mike Tomlin praised the former Penn State product. "He's certainly capable," Tomlin said. "He knows his time is going to come to ante up and kick in. He'd better be ready. I'm sure he will be."
Jonnu Smith Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 19% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
Sticking with the Steelers, Jonnu Smith will always be Arthur Smith's favorite tight end. Arthur was Jonnu's TE coach and future offensive coordinator in Tennessee before the pair reunited in Atlanta and Pittsburgh.
Rodgers extends the play and throws a TD. Seen that before!
PITvsCIN on Prime Video
Also streaming on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/0UsxXQE0VF— NFL (@NFL) October 17, 2025
While Jonnu Smith has a limited ceiling in Arthur Smith's offense (out of 83 games with Arthur Smith, the tight end has only recorded four games with over 70 yards), he is constantly involved.
He currently ranks second on the Steelers in terms of targets (26) and is third in receptions (20). Per PFF, Aaron Rodgers has had a passer rating of 110.6 when targeting the 2024 Pro Bowl TE.
He also hasn't recorded a drop this season, which makes him one of the six TEs with over 25 targets who have achieved this feat.
Taysom Hill Week 8 Waiver Wire Pickups
Rostered: 6% of Leagues
Baller Move: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
The Saints' offense is in need of some firepower, especially after Kendre Miller's recent injury. Luckily, they still have Taysom Hill. The Swiss Army Knife finished as the standard TE15 in 2024, despite missing nine games due to injury. He averaged 10.0 standard points per game, second only to George Kittle (10.6).
Taysom Hill is back scoring TDs!
NEvsNO on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/pLWTcEt9lI
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
Hill caught his first passes of the season in Week 7, recording two receptions for 12 yards against the Bears. He also had a five-yard run, which was unfortunately negated by a huge nine-yard loss on his first rush of the game.
With players such as Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara in trade rumors ahead of the trade deadline, the Saints could turn to their cult hero to help them make some highlight-worthy plays as a QB/RB/TE in an otherwise lost season.
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 Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, and Taysom Hill. 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 - Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, and Taysom Hill. 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 Pat Freiermuth, Jonnu Smith, and Taysom Hill:
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!
