Waiver Favors™: 2025 Week 5 Fantasy Football Pickups

October 5, 2025

By Ha Kung Wong Week 5 Fantasy Football Pickups

As I do every year over the last 13 years, I’m here to help with waiver wire adds via my weekly Waiver Favors™ article! And I’m assuming if you’re reader right now, you’re in your fantasy football playoffs, so congratulations!

I’ll make a couple suggestions for after Week 5 of the 2025 fantasy football season that hopefully will keep your team running. You’re welcome. Again.

As usual, all pickups are available in at least 50% of Yahoo standard fantasy football leagues (with some minor exceptions) as of Sunday evening.

Sam Darnold

QB – Seattle Seahawks – 31% Owned

Sam Darnold had a day in Week 5 completing 28 of 34 pass attempts for 341 yards, 4 TDs and an interception. It was definitely his best start of the season, but with Jaxson Smith-Njigba breaking out in a big way, it’s no wonder. He’s now thrown multiple TDs in 3 of his last 4 and is well worth your attention in 12 team leagues or deeper.

Sam Darnold Game Log
				Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Pass	Rush	Rush
Date	Team	Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Lng	Rate	Sk	Att	Yds
2025-10-05	SEA	TAM	L, 35-38	28	34	82.4	341	4	1	53	135.4	0	0	0
2025-09-25	SEA	ARI	W, 23-20	18	26	69.2	242	1	0	36	111.4	3	1	24
2025-09-21	SEA	NOR	W, 44-13	14	18	77.8	218	2	0	45	154.2	0	0	0
2025-09-14	SEA	PIT	W, 31-17	22	33	66.7	295	2	2	43	89.8	2	0	0
2025-09-07	SEA	SFO	L, 13-17	16	23	69.6	150	0	0	40	87.2	1	2	14

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table

Dillon Gabriel

QB – Cleveland Browns – 4% Owned

The Browns QB controversy is starting to sort itself out as Joe Flacco got benched in favor of 3rd round draft pick, Dillon Gabriel in Week 5. Gabriel didn’t manage a win, but performed well completing 19 of 33 passes for 190 yards, 2 TDs and no interceptions, adding two scrambles for 5 yards. Seeing as how he was up against the relatively solid Vikings defense and had to go overseas to London for the start, I’d say it was pretty encouraging, and he’s likely to get a long leash going forward. If you need a backup QB in 14-team leagues or deeper, or any two QB league, feel free to gamble on him.

Rico Dowdle

RB – Carolina Panthers – 58% Owned

Wow. Where the heck did this come from? With Chuba Hubbard out, Rico Dowdle exploded for 206 yards and a TD on 23 carries and snagged 3 of 4 targets for 28 receiving yards in Week 5, helping the Panthers get a shocking come-from-behind win against the Dolphins. Hubbard looms large as the Panthers did sign him to be their lead back, but Dowdle should have earned himself a solid share of the committee with this performance. Go get him in all 10-team leagues or deeper.

Kendrick Bourne

WR – San Francisco 49ers – 4% Owned

Kendrick Bourne broke out in a big way in Week 5 catching 10 of 11 targets for 142 yards, perhaps largely due to the fact that every starter in the receiving game was out. There’s no guarantee he’ll have consistent targets once everyone becomes healthy, but if not all of them come back for Week 6, Bourne may make a sneaky good play for those needing a buy week replacement in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Ryan Flournoy

WR – Dallas Cowboys – 0% Owned

Don’t get too excited, but with CeeDee Lamb and KaVontae Turpin out, it’s always notable when another WR hits paydirt in Dallas, and in Week 5, that was Ryan Flournoy. Flournoy caught 6 of 9 targets for 114 yards and added 10 rushing yards on 2 carries, leading the Cowboys in receiving yards. This has all the signs of a “one-off”, but if Lamb and Turpin remain out, you could do worse if you need a WR3/Flex bye week replacement in 14-team leagues or deeper.

Mason Taylor

TE – New York Jets – 13% Owned

The Jets are abysmal, now starting the season 0 and 5. But there are a free bright spots for the future, such as rookie Mason Taylor. Taylor caught 9 of a whopping 12 targets for 67 yards and a 2-point conversion in Week 5, leading the Jets in catches and targets, only trailing Garrett Wilson in yards. He’s received 15 total targets in he previous two games, so it’s pretty clear he’s a big part of this offense moving forward and just getting bigger. If you need a TE, which many of us do, go get him in 12-team leagues or deeper.

Jake Tonges

TE – San Francisco 49ers – 4% Owned

With Jauan Jennings, Ricky Pearsall, Brandon Aiyuk and George Kittle all out, it was anyone’s guess who would get all the targets. The answer was the above mentioned Kendrick Bourne, but of note was also Jake Tonges. Tonges caught 7 of a whopping 11 targets for 41 yards and a TD in Week 5, building on 3 of 5 for 58 yards and a TD in Week 4. It’s possible Kittle returns next week, but Tonges is playing well enough that the 49ers are likely to be cautious with Kittle’s recovery, and Tonges has likely earned his share of snaps even with Kittle back. Feel free to grab him in all 14-team leagues or deeper.

AJ Barner

TE – Seattle Seahawks – 2% Owned

This all again feels like rolling the dice, but AJ Barner managed to catch all 7 of his targets for 53 yards and 2 TDs in Week 5 after also catching a TD in Week 4. He’s not typically getting tons of targets outside of the Week 5 blip, but it sure looks like Sam Darnold likes looking for him in the endzone, so there’s probably some upside, although probably inconsistent upside. Feel free to stash him off waivers in 14-team leagues or deeper if you’d like to speculate on a TE.

UPDATE for Monday Night Football

Hassan Haskins & Kimani Vidal

RB – Los Angeles Chargers – 2% Owned & 1% Owned

The Chargers are just cursed when it comes to running backs. First it was Najee Harris and now it’s Omarion Hampton on IR with an ankle injury. This wasn’t a MNF thing, but the news came in earlier on Monday. It’s unclear who takes his place, but Hassan Haskins was on the field for 14 of 67 snaps in Week 5 having 5 carries for 13 yards and catching his only target for 2 yards. Kimani Vidal also logged 14 snaps to similar effect, but Haskins has been on the active roster longer as Vidal went back to the practice squad. Vidal is likely to be elevated again in Week 6, but it’s anyone’s guess who will get the lion’s share of carries. I’d favor Haskins, but Vidal is decent pickup as well.

Here’s we liked as pickups in previous weeks: