Week 6 is upon us, and that means it’s now time to start thinking about Week 7. While your leaguemates concentrate on the immediate fixtures, you can gain an edge by looking to next week’s fixtures and seeing which fantasy football players might be worth picking up off the waiver wire 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.
Instead of fighting things out on the waiver wire next week, these players could join your roster for free, now. We use rostership data from Yahoo, which provides a large sample size and tends to be fairly reliable. We understand you’ll be dying to say ‘he’s not available in my league’ to every suggestion, even regarding players available in fewer than 10% of leagues. However, by selecting players typically rostered in 50% or fewer of leagues, we should have a good range of players available in many leagues.
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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Stashes Ahead of Week 7
Week 7 Bye Weeks
- Baltimore Ravens
- Buffalo Bills
Bryce Young (QB – CAR) | 20% Rostered
It’s not been pretty for Bryce Young so far this season, but the flashes are still there and the Panthers’ come-from-behind win against the Cardinals could be the kind of momentum builder the team and Young need to build on things going forward.
Young has only two games over 14 fantasy points so far, but in Week 7, he faces a Jets defense looking far from impressive right now, ranking 32nd in expected points added (EPA) allowed per dropback, and they’ve given up the eighth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks.
The Jets will also be returning to America from London and forgoing their bye week, which may or may not be a good decision. Young isn’t a great fantasy option right now, but he’s a fine streamer for bye week coverage in a good matchup.
Aaron Rodgers (QB – PIT) | 18% Rostered
Speaking of not very good fantasy football quarterbacks in prime matchups… Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers have a real chance to stake a lead in the AFC North by winning this weekend against the Browns and then going into Cincinnati and winning there in Week 7.
The Bengals rank ninth in passing EPA allowed per dropback, and they’ve given up the ninth-most fantasy points to quarterbacks so far. Rodgers has only one 20-point game so far, but he should be able to take advantage of a Bengals side allowing the third-most fantasy points to the passing game.
Hassan Haskins (RB – LAC) | 52% Rostered
We’ll break the 50% rostership rule for Hassan Haskins. It’s important to state his case for being the best option in the Chargers’ backfield ahead of Kimani Vidal, who had all the opportunity in the world when J.K. Dobbins went down in 2024 and had only a miserable Gus Edwards to contend with.
Vidal turned his opportunity into a rotten 48 touches in his rookie campaign for 217 total yards. After an “incredible” debut, where he caught a touchdown on his first touch, he never again scored more than 4.2 PPR points. Not to mention, the Chargers cut him this offseason and brought him back via the practice squad.
Sure, Vidal could get home this weekend against this Miami defense, but who couldn’t? Instead, let’s take Haskins, who has a history with Jim Harbaugh all the way back to Michigan and has been the primary backup behind Omarion Hampton in recent weeks.
Kendre Miller (RB – NO) | 32% Rostered
In New Orleans, we’re slowly seeing a changing of the guard in the backfield with Kendre Miller outrushing Alvin Kamara last week. Miller’s usage has been trending up for weeks, and it appears new head coach Kellen Moore prefers what he brings in certain aspects, which led to Kamara playing a season-low 56% of the snaps in Week 5. Miller also took all the short-yardage work that week.
Miller, for his part, hasn’t blown us away in fantasy, with only one 10+ point game so far, but he does rank eighth in percentage of runs going for 10+ yards. Sooner or later, he’ll find his way into the end zone for the second time this year. That could come against the Bears in Week 7, who have given up the fourth-most fantasy points to running backs.
Kendre Miller was the best tackle-breaker in the NCAA (led all NCAA RB’s with 5.06 YAC/attempt in 2021).
He’s now the best tackle-breaker in the NFL (leads all RB’s with .34 MTF/attempt). pic.twitter.com/JlJhYkM4Vs
— David J. Gautieri (@GuruFantasyWrld) October 7, 2025
Jaydon Blue (RB – DAL) | 13% Rostered
With the news that Miles Sanders will be out for the year on injured reserve (IR), Jaydon Blue might finally have a chance to prove he wasn’t a complete waste of a pick this offseason. Blue has done little to prove he deserved the hype he received so far, being inactive for the first four games of his career before amassing a whopping 0.7 points in Week 5.
Blue rushed four times for seven yards in his career debut, which is hardly inspiring, and much of the argument for him this offseason revolved around assuming that Javonte Williams was washed, which isn’t the case. Still, Blue should be active every week now, and the team has talked positively about him this week. At the very least, he’s the clear handcuff to Williams, who has seen the ninth-highest rate of running back snaps in the league. This is a move best kept for deeper leagues.
Brashard Smith (RB – KC) | 9% Rostered
Staying with rookie running backs, Brashard Smith has steadily found a role within the Chiefs’ offense and truly looks like it could grow over the course of the season. Smith recorded 11 touches in his last two games and scored 14.65 PPR points in those two games.
Smith is becoming particularly useful for the Chiefs in the receiving game, where he’s caught six passes for 59 yards. This is an area we can probably expect to see more from him, given that he converted to running back from wide receiver. The Chiefs’ running game has been fine with Isiah Pacheco and Kareem Hunt, if a little uninspiring. They currently rank 14th in explosive run rate. If they decide they could do with more juice there, Smith is potentially the adrenaline shot they need.
Every Brashard Smith breakaway run (15+yards) from 2024 #NFLDraft2025 pic.twitter.com/UAjbx36rBX
— Ray G (@RayGQue) March 21, 2025
Kyle Monangai (RB – CHI) | 4% Rostered
Our last rookie running back is Kyle Monangai, who is a slightly risky pick as he’s dealing with a hamstring issue coming out of the Bears’ bye week, but he’s still worth considering in deeper leagues. Monangai has 23 touches in the Bears’ last three games and has rushed for over four yards per carry in two of those three games.
D’Andre Swift has a single game above four yards per carry this year and has been held below 2.75 in each of the last two games. Ben Johnson is unlikely to want an inefficient run game, having been used to the crème de la crème in Detroit. Monangai is miles ahead of Roschon Johnson on this depth chart, with him yet to touch the ball this season. The Bears have a cupcake schedule ahead against the Commanders, Saints, Ravens, Bengals and Giants, with four of those five teams in the top 12 for fantasy points allowed to running backs.
Kendrick Bourne (WR – SF) | 32% Rostered
Moving away from rookies, let’s touch on a player in his ninth season in the NFL. Kendrick Bourne has long been a player Kyle Shanahan has loved, and that love was rewarded in Week 5, with Bourne catching 10 of his 11 targets for 142 yards against the Rams.
The upcoming games against the Buccaneers and the Falcons aren’t particularly great matchups, but if Jauan Jennings continues to be banged up, along with Ricky Pearsall, the Niners will have little option but to go back to Bourne as their best choice at wide receiver.
Troy Franklin (WR – DEN) | 26% Rostered
If you’re looking for wide receiver depth, you could do a lot worse than Troy Franklin, who has scored 9.5+ PPR points in four of his five games. Franklin is consistently the second-most utilized wide receiver behind Courtland Sutton and plays in both 2-WR and 3-WR sets.
It seems wild that a player averaging seven targets per game isn’t rostered more. The Broncos play the Jets in London this weekend before home games against the Giants and Cowboys, who both rank in the top three in fantasy points allowed to wide receivers.
Jalen Coker (WR – CAR) | 11% Rostered
It hasn’t been the start to the season many people hoped for with Jalen Coker, but it sounds like he could return from IR as soon as this weekend and give the Panthers’ passing game a much-needed boost. The Panthers were willing to trade Adam Thielen because of how confident they felt in Coker, only to be struck by an unfortunate injury that stung them badly.
Coker had four games in 2024 with a target share over 17%. He also recorded the 12th-highest catch rate on passes 15+ yards downfield among receivers with 10+ targets and had a better yards per route run than Xavier Legette, separating better and turning targets into production at a better rate. Coker can be the No. 2 WR in this offense as soon as he steps onto the field.
Mason Taylor (TE – NYJ) | 35% Rostered
According to Fantasy Points Data, over the past three weeks, Mason Taylor ranks third in target share among tight ends, fifth in targets per route run, fifth in first-read target share and eighth in receiving yards per game. The Jets have found their second option in the passing game, and it’s narrowed everything they’re doing down.
Over the last two weeks, Garrett Wilson and Taylor have combined for a 47% target share. Aside from Breece Hall‘s 22% target share in Week 4, nobody else outside of these three has gone over 8.7% in any game. In Week 7, Taylor faces a Carolina defense allowing the second-most tight end fantasy points. He’s worth stashing just for that game.
Colston Loveland | 26% Rostered
Rounding out a very rookie-heavy week, Colston Loveland is heavily worth considering right now. We often see increased workloads for rookies emerging from their bye weeks, and it’s worth remembering that Loveland missed a good chunk of the offseason due to shoulder surgery.
The bye week, though, gives both a good chance to get healthier and for the coaches to remember they spent the 10th overall pick on an incredible prospect. Loveland is an excellent pass-catcher as well as a run-blocker, and Cole Kmet has done nothing to hold onto his job so far. With a run of games against the Commanders, Saints, Ravens, Bengals and Giants, it’s hard not to be intrigued about whether Loveland can get going.
With Cole Kmet looking horrible, I hope that Colston Loveland is featured coming out of the bye week.
He was drafted #10 for a reason. The talent is insane. ????⬇️pic.twitter.com/NVg3hi9DQZ
— Caleb Williams Fan Club (@CalebFC18) October 2, 2025
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