2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 13: Jayden Higgins, Chris Rodriguez Top Picks

Playoffs are right around the corner. Or, if you play in leagues like the Scott Fish Bowl, they’re already here. Either way, our mindset is changing. The time for stashing guys with no standalone value is mostly over. We need to lock down these rosters, focus on the matchups, and gear up for the tournament. So let’s comb the wire to see what might be out there to help us take home a championship!

2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 13 Top Targets

As always, our waiver wire discussion will be split into two articles. This is the main article, which covers the top players to add at each position as well as an update to our Yin & Yang Tight End strategy. The second article, found here, is our Streamers and Stashes article that covers the deeper, more nuanced plays for Fantasy Alarm Members!

NFL Week 13 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Trevor Lawrence  - Jacksonville Jaguars Yahoo: 49% | ESPN: 29% | Sleeper: 43% 

We’ve hit on a lot of great waiver wire QBs throughout this article. Daniel Jones, before the season even started, Jaxson Dart, and, most recently, Jacoby Brissett. But the well has run fairly dry as injuries and bye weeks have hit, with more and more players getting picked up. Trevor Lawrence is at least a competent player who has also been running five or so times a game as of late. And that’s more than can be said for a lot of these guys. So, if he’s out there, he’s your best bet with his matchup vs. Tennessee this week. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority
• FAAB: 0-5% (more if he starts for you right away)

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Marcus Mariota, Bryce Young

NFL Week 13 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Chris Rodriguez, Washington Commanders Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 9% | Sleeper: 29%

Chris Rodriguez was our top running back add last week, and that hasn’t changed for us. Because he had his bye week, he was not added in as many leagues as you’d expect. And that works just fine for us. He’s essentially taken over the Commanders' running back role without needing an injury as a catalyst, which has more staying power in the grand scheme of things - his promotion has been based on merit. He also gets a great playoff schedule against the Giants, Eagles, and Cowboys for fantasy, which makes him a great bench piece if you need it. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority
• FAAB: 10-20% 

Devin Neal - New Orleans Saints Yahoo: 4% | ESPN: 2% | Sleeper: 10%

Alvin Kamara suffered a knee injury this week that caused him to leave the game. Early reports are of an MCL sprain, which can range from 1-2 games missed to possibly the rest of the fantasy season, given how late it is. Now, Neal is set to become the starting running back for one of the league’s worst teams here. And it’s also one that has Taysom Hill waiting to vulture touchdowns. But every starting running back needs to be added in virtually all fantasy football leagues. If Alvin Kamara were to go on the IR, Devin Neal would be our top add - and we’ll update this article. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium Priority
• FAAB: 10-20% (more if Kamara goes on IR)

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Bhayshul Tuten, Devin Singletary, Dylan Sampson, Raheem Mostert, Zamir White

NFL Week 13 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Jayden Higgins - Houston Texans Yahoo: 22% | ESPN: 23% | Sleeper: 23%

We had been encouraging folks to stash Higgins for weeks in our Streamers & Stashes article. For the last two weeks, he’s been included in this main article. Hopefully, you already have him, but if you’ve been dragging your feet, there is luckily still a chance to get him, as he’s still out there in a big chunk of leagues, depending on platform. 

Rookies often take time to learn the plays and carve out a big role, but the role for Higgins has slowly been growing from just two WR sets to now some three WR sets. He’s also gotten at least seven targets in three straight games, and he’s scored in three of his last five (would have been four of five but he was mere inches short against Tennessee). This is the exact kind of guy we make a priority for the stretch run of our fantasy seasons. Now that the cat is out of the bag after he got nine targets on Thursday Night Football, you may need to spend up.

• Waiver Priority: Top Waiver Add
• FAAB: 25-50%

Kayshon Boutte - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 35% | Sleeper: 53%

Boutte was dropped in a lot of leagues while he was banged up. And he still has his bye week in Week 14, so not everyone is going to have the space to hang onto him. But he returned this week to play a big snap share for the team with the league’s best record. Mack Hollins actually also played a big snap share as Stefon Diggs continued to play his sporadic role he’s played all year. A guy like Boutte needs to be rostered in any sort of deep league, as guys playing bit snap shares and running high aDot routes for good offenses are about as good as you are going to get for a one-week start. 

• Waiver Priority: Top Waiver Add
• FAAB: 5-10%

Luther Burden - Chicago Bears, Yahoo: 11% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 21%

Not much has changed for us with Burden one way or another. We still believe in the talent (and his high yards per route run, despite a limited role, supports that). Like with Jayden Higgins, we’ve been trying to stash him wherever we can to see if maybe he can break out into a full-time player down the stretch.

Unlike Higgins, Burden has some obstacles that seemingly could cap just how high his usage can go. And those obstacles are DJ Moore and Rome Odunze. It takes a lot for a veteran to leapfrog incumbent veterans, so Burden could need an injury or some other catalyst to get there. Still, he remains a good stash and even a spot start in his current capacity. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority or Free Add
• FAAB: 0-5%

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Christian Watson, Andrei Iosivas, Chimere Dike

NFL Week 13 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Darren Waller - Miami Dolphins Yahoo: 21% | ESPN: 17% | Sleeper: 28%

As we approach playoffs, we focus on upside. More and more teams are getting eliminated, and those teams, in most leagues, are unlikely to be making major moves. That makes it easier than ever to stream positions like tight ends, if you need a boring option. So we are focusing on high-risk, high-reward plays with our bench. And that’s Darren Waller. Earlier this year, he quickly became a focal point of this Dolphins offense. Then he got hurt. Coming out of the bye, he has a great schedule, so if he can get back from the pec injury, he could provide you a boost down the stretch. Simple as that. He's been designated to return but that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to play this week. But it means we are adding him.

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority or Free Add
• FAAB: 10-15%

Colston Loveland - Chicago Bears Yahoo: 43% | ESPN: 35% | Sleeper: 56%

Check to see if somehow Juwan Johnson got added or not in your leagues last week. If not, add him over both Waller and Loveland. But he’s probably rostered. After him, Loveland represents the best mix of startability plus upside (considering Waller might not actually be startable yet). Loveland doesn’t quite get the snap share we like, but this Bears team is finding itself in shootouts often, which keeps the volume high even if they spread the ball around. As we know, rookies can take some time to learn the plays and earn the trust, so we want to invest in them down the stretch. He’s already clearly well ahead of Cole Kmet as the pass-catching tight end. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority or Free Add
• FAAB: 0-5%

**Check the bottom of the article for free rest of season half PPR tight end rankings with our Yin & Yang tight end chart!**

NFL Week 13 Waiver DST

Los Angeles Chargers DST Yahoo: 40% | ESPN: 29% | Sleeper: 17%

Folks simply don’t have the bench space or the patience to hold onto defenses through their bye week. And that’s fine with us, as it can give us valuable options on the wire that we might not otherwise have. Like the Los Angeles Chargers DST against the Las Vegas Raiders, who just lost to Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns. This is about as good an option as we’re going to get off the wire. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers DST, Yahoo: 22% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 22%

We have finally emerged on the other side of the brutal short-term schedule for the Buccaneers. Bye week, Patriots, Bills, Rams is rough, to say the least. But there’s a reason we’ve been stashing them. Their schedule now goes Cardinals, Saints, Falcons, Panthers, and Dolphins to wrap the fantasy season. And those have been quite favorable for opposing defenses. For as much as a guy like Jacoby Brissett has done in fantasy, he’s still turning the ball over at times, which can lead to big upside. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Indianapolis Colts DST vs. HOU, Miami Dolphins DST vs. NO

NFL Week 13 Waiver K

Evan McPherson K, Cincinnati Bengals Yahoo: 38% | ESPN: 12% | Sleeper: 26%

Joe Burrow could be back this week for the Thanksgiving matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, which could provide a pretty fun setup for points. But Joe Flacco has quietly put McPherson in a position to kick a couple of field goals in each of these games as is. So this isn’t necessarily a play that just revolves around Burrow being back; we’re on board with McPherson regardless. The Bengals have some shootout potential matchups coming up here and some easy ones to wrap things up. 

Andy Borregales - New England Patriots, Yahoo: 31% | ESPN: 71% | Sleeper: 17%

It’s just a one-week stream because he’s on bye for Week 14, but Borregales has been a pretty decent fantasy option as of late. The Patriots' schedule is easy, and their offense has scored at least 20 points in nine straight games, which has provided for a pretty decent floor. I expect the Patriots to once again score plenty of points against the New York Giants this week, which puts Borregales on the streaming radar. 

NFL Yin & Yang Tight End Rankings

As promised, here are our Yin & Yang tight end rankings. This has been our bread and butter the last few years and how we find breakout tight ends. Here is how the chart works.

If you have someone in the “standalone” section, then great - you don’t need to roster another tight end outside of injury and bye week. Outside of that, we are rostering two. We are looking for someone “safe” to start while stashing the most high-risk, high-reward option, trying to find a breakout. 

The tight ends in red are injured and at risk of missing time. If you can put them in an IR spot, great. If not, you may have to prioritize either a Yin or Yang tight end ranked above them to start for you.