10 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes Ahead of Week 6 (2025)

Week 5 is upon us and that means it’s now time to start thinking about Week 6. While your leaguemates concentrate on the immediate fixtures, you can gain an edge by looking to next week’s fixtures and seeing which players might be worth picking up ahead of time to gain an advantage. Instead of fighting things out on the waiver wire, these players could join your roster for free, now. We use rostership levels from Yahoo, which provides a large sample size and tends to be fairly reliable. We understand that you’ll be dying to say ‘he’s not available in my league’ to every suggestion, even those under 10%, but by selecting players typically under 50% rostered, we should have a good range of players available in many leagues.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes Ahead of Week 5

Week 6 Bye Weeks

Houston Texans

Minnesota Vikings

Jaxson Dart (QB – NYG) | 38% Rostered

Once again, we’re in a situation where a rookie quarterback was widely held up as needing to sit, only for them to start a game and actually look much better than a vast majority of people thought they would. Much like Drake Maye a year ago, Jaxson Dart did a lot of his best work with his legs, putting up 54 rushing yards and a touchdown on ten rush attempts, but he also looked calm and despite facing a tough Chargers defense. Dart totaled up almost 20 points in his first action, but could easily surpass that this weekend against the Saints and their poor defense. If that happens, Dart will be very popular on waivers in Week 6, and it could be best to stash him now, given the injuries and impending bye weeks.

Michael Penix Jr. (QB – ATL) | 24% Rostered

The Falcons are on a bye week which has led to Penix seeing a drop in how many leagues have him rostered. Penix had two stinkers in Weeks 2 and 3, scoring less than six points in both games, managing more interceptions (2) than touchdowns (0). Penix though, has also had two top-10 QB performances this season, against the Bucs and the Commanders and he’ll likely continue to have solid performances going forward. The change against Washington could be in part because Drake London saw a 44% slot rate, a massive jump from the 17% he had in Week 3. This is likely down to the coaching changes the Falcons made after the Week 3 shutout against Carolina, and if London continues to be played in the slot it should help Penix’s production plenty. In Week 6 the Falcons face a potential shootout with the Bills.

Rico Dowdle (RB – CAR) | 41% Rostered

Chuba Hubbard has already been ruled out for Week 5 and the Panthers are calling him week-to-week, which implies there’s at least a chance Hubbard misses Week 6 as well. This week the Panthers play a Dolphins defense that’s been awful, allowing the seventh-most RB fantasy points through four games. Dowdle had a respectable 2024, rushing for the fifth-most rushing yards from Week 10 onwards and finishing as a top-24 RB in half of his games across the entire season. We’ve seen him do it before and with cupcake matchups against the Dolphins this week and a revenge game against a weak Cowboys defense in Week 6, he’s a must-roster.

Tyler Allgeier (RB – ATL) | 32% Rostered

The best backup running back in the league will appear in this column until he reaches the 50% mark or higher. Tyler Allgeier had 26 carries across the first two weeks of the season, more than James Conner, Omarion Hampton, Jahmyr Gibbs and Kenneth Walker, yet people still see him only as a backup. Allgeier snuck in a touchdown to help his value in Week 2 and it shouldn’t surprise people to see him stay involved. Week 3 was disappointing for Allgeier, but it was for most players on the Falcons. In 2024, Allgeier ranked tenth in explosive run rate and seventh in juke rate and the Falcons appreciate that. If you’re looking for bye week cover, Allgeier isn’t a sure thing, but he does offer standalone value and after this week will be past his bye week.

Kendre Miller (RB – NO) | 31% Rostered

Against the Bills, Kendre Miller was very impressive, carrying the ball 11 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. Miller also got his first two carries inside the 10-yard line and there were occasions around the red zone when he was subbing in for Alvin Kamara. That usage is noteworthy.

On the season, Miller has more yards per carry, more yards after contact per carry, twice as many avoided tackles per carry, a higher touchdown rate and a higher rate of gaining at least 10 yards on his runs. That’s not to mention that should Alvin Kamara be sick of playing on a 0-4 team, and perhaps want to be traded, things could really open up for Miller.

Brashard Smith (RB -KC) | 13% Rostered

The Chiefs are getting lackluster results from Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, leaving the Chiefs ranked 25th in explosive run rate, ranking fourth-lowest yards before contact per attempt and having the third-fewest missed tackles forced (7). Brashard Smith has continuously gotten good reviews from the team, including offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, who said this week the team will look to get him more involved. Smith had three catches for 27 yards against the Ravens and it shouldn’t be surprising to see him get more involved here, having converted to running back from wide receiver in college. Three-headed backfields aren’t ideal for fantasy football, but neither Hunt nor Pacheco is doing much to stop Smith from earning a bigger role.

Christian Kirk (WR – HOU) | 31% Rostered

Firstly, Christian Kirk is very startable this week with the Ravens being an awful defense and loaded with injuries. They also allow a league-high QBR (QB Rating) to slot passes, where Kirk makes his money. If Kirk has a big week then it’s likely he’ll pop on waivers in the coming days. Last week in the blow out win over Tennessee the rookies, Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel combined for two targets, even with a huge amount of garbage time. Kirk meanwhile has solidified his role as the second receiving option behind Nico Collins.

Malik Washington (WR – MIA) | 25% Rostered

With Tyreek Hill out for the year, and potentially finished with the Dolphins, it makes sense that Malik Washington would become more involved. Washington has 15 targets on the season as well as eight rushing attempts. Nick Westbrook-Ihkine did see a jump from 23% of snaps to 48% in Week 4, but the designed work Washington sees keeps him as a higher priority than other options.

Colston Loveland (TE – CHI) | 29% Rostered

It’s fair to be disappointed that the Bears haven’t found ways to help Colston Loveland hit the ground running, given that they spent the tenth overall pick on him, but it’s also worth pointing out that the Bears have taken a moment to heat up this season. Loveland ranks 36th in route participation among tight ends and when the ball has been sent his way, it’s typically been downfield with his average depth of target (aDOT) being the highest among all tight ends to see five or more targets (13.7). That tells us two things. First, the Bears believe he can win downfield and secondly, when things start clicking, the work he’s getting will be high value. People are dropping Loveland after a combined 8.8 PPR points in three games, but the Bears are coming off their bye week and typically rookie production picks up after their bye weeks. This wouldn’t be surprising for Loveland, as the Bears play the Commanders and Saints in Weeks 6 & 7, two teams that rank top-12 in fantasy points allowed to the position.

Mason Taylor (TE – NYJ) | 9% Rostered

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