Jaylen Waddle Fantasy Football Outlook (2025)

By Derek Brown (FantasyPros), Thu, Aug 14th 2025, 1:02pm EDT

Jaylen Waddle's 2024 season was a huge disappointment, but all hope is not lost. The talent is still there, and Waddle is primed for a big bounceback season. Last year, in the 14 games he played at least 70% of the snaps, his numbers don't look amazing, but they were solid as he had a 16.3% target share, 1.79 yards per route run, 53.1 receiving yards per game, and 0.092 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Let's examine the numbers he accrued with Tua Tagovailoa under center and Waddle as a full-time player. We get a clearer picture of Waddle's talent through the context-distorting muck. In that sample of games, Waddle had 2.14 yards per route run, 64.6 receiving yards per game, and 0.114 first downs per route run. Last year, among wide receivers with at least 200 routes run, those numbers would have ranked 27th, 23rd, and 13th. If Tagovailoa can stay healthy this year, Waddle can revert to the strong WR2 with WR1 upside that we have loved in previous seasons (WR21, WR12, & WR15 in his previous three seasons). The departure of Jonnu Smith also opens up the possibility that Waddle could revisit the slot-heavy usage that he enjoyed in his rookie season. Last year, among 112 qualifying wide receivers, he ranked 30th in separation from the slot. There are multiple outs for Waddle to return to his previous glory in 2025.