2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 12: Jacoby Brissett, Chris Rodriguez Top Picks

Now is my favorite time of year to remind folks about rookie year Amon-Ra St. Brown. We all remember him being a league winner. But what we often forget is just how late in the season it was before he truly broke it. We are talking about Week 13, before he became the double-digit target Sun God that we now know him to be. Seriously - here are his breakout weeks highlighted per Pro Football Reference.

So, yes, we are deep in the season now. But the final piece to your team that puts you over the top could still be lurking out there. And it’s our job to find them. So let’s dig back into the waiver wire for Week 12 and see if we can find some league winners. Or at least some spot starts.  

2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 12 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 12 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Jacoby Brissett  - Arizona Cardinals Yahoo: 34% | ESPN: 24% | Sleeper: 22% 

Brissett was our top add in the article last Tuesday. Of course, his top wide receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr, had his appendix out on Wednesday, which put a bit of a damper on things. We did end up moving him down a couple of spots in our rankings, but if your situation was anything like mine, you might have just had to start him anyway. And you were rewarded in a big way.

Jacoby registered his fifth straight game with at least 250 passing yards and two touchdowns, which is every game he’s started this year. This one happened to be 452 yards and 2 passing touchdowns. Yes, he has been putting his team in a hole with turnovers. But turnovers really don’t matter a whole lot to us in fantasy football land. In fact, they often just mean more throwing is on the way. So Jacoby Brissett is absolutely on the streaming radar for us. And hopefully MHJ gets back soon. 

There’s really no one else below the 50% rostered threshold right now that is much more than a steamer or a stash, so if you are looking for someone to be your QB the rest of the way, you might need to spend up on Brissett. 

• Waiver Priority: Low to Medium Priority
• FAAB: 10-15% (more if he starts for you right away)

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Joe Flacco, Marcus Mariota

NFL Week 12 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Chris Rodriguez, Washington Commanders Yahoo: 12% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 30%

If news drops that the injuries to either Josh Jacobs or Jaylen Warren are IR-worthy, then Emmanuel Wilson and Kenneth Gainwell would move ahead of Rodriguez. But right now, it seems like those are short-term issues, meaning those are only spot-start guys. Chris Rodriguez is the one guy on the wire that actually has a chance of grabbing a starting job - and keeping it.

In fact, Rodriguez has quietly started the last couple of games. And, not so quietly, on national TV in Spain, Chris Rodriguez got virtually all the touches for the first two drives this past week. Starting running backs simply cannot be left on the wire in this fantasy football economy. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority
• FAAB: 5-10% 

Emanuel Wilson - Green Bay Packers Yahoo: 9% | ESPN: 6% | Sleeper: 13%

Emanuel Wilson has been one of our top stashes for weeks now, so hopefully you already have him on the bench in your deep leagues. If not, it’s sounding like Josh Jacobs could miss some time even if his injury doesn’t require surgery. Emanuel Wilson has been the preferred guy over Chris Brooks, so he could potentially be a spot start for you right away - especially if you lost Josh Jacobs. 

As we mentioned above, if it turns out after further testing that this injury to Jacobs is season-ending, we’d be willing to spend the rest of our FAAB on him. It’s a good run offense. Early reports are that they have no plans to place him on IR, and we don’t even know if he will be out this week, so don’t go crazy. But Wilson was already a priority handcuff for us, so we might as well try to stash him. 

• Waiver Priority: Low Priority
• FAAB: 0-5% 

Kenneth Gainwell - Pittsburgh Steelers, Yahoo: 33% | ESPN: 42% | Sleeper: 17%

The situation for Gainwell is very similar to the one for Emmanuel Wilson. But he ranks below as Jaylen Warren told reporters that his ankle injury is minor and he could have gone back out there if not for the team doctors. Now, we’ve heard guys say that, and then testing reveals they do need to miss time. And Gainwell has looked very good in his limited stints without Jaylen Warren. So we’ll try to sneak Gainwell onto some benches, but not at a high cost. 

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

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Bhayshul Tuten, Brian Robinson Jr, Devin Singletary, Tyjae Spears, Sean Tucker

NFL Week 12 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Alec Pierce - Indianapolis Colts Yahoo: 49% | ESPN: 41% | Sleeper: 58%

Here’s what we wrote about Alec Pierce last week - and, since he didn’t get picked up in a big chunk of leagues during his bye, it still applies. So go get him.

We’ve been spoiled by Alec Pierce. He’s been in our Streamers & Stashes article virtually every week as a guy who has been floating around on the wire that we could plug in for some boom/bust upside. Every week, he gets a chance at a big play, and he’s recently been converting on them more often than not. In fact, there are only two players with more than four receptions of 35+ yards this year per Pro Football Reference. Those players are Jaxon Smith-Njigbe and Alec Pierce.

So Pierce has the upside in any given week, but as of late, he’s had a pretty decent floor as well. He and Michael Pittman are the full-time WRs in this offense, with Josh Downs in the slot and Tyler Warren operating underneath. This is one of the best offenses in football so, if you want Alec Pierce available as an option moving forward, you have to add him as a permanent part of your roster. Don’t worry, though - we’ll find some deeper options to stream. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium to Late Priority
• FAAB: 5-10% 

Jayden Higgins - Houston Texans Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 20%

Jayden Higgins is not a full-time player - yet. But his role has slowly grown over the last couple of weeks. He initially only learned a specific package of plays, as rookies often do. So he was operating as a part-time guy, primarily in two WR sets. But, over the last two weeks, his role has grown to include more three-WR sets. And that’s seen him get seven targets in each of the last two games. We want to be ahead of ascending assets, especially rookies. So we’re grabbing Higgins now where we can. 

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

Luther Burden - Chicago Bears, Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 6% | Sleeper: 19%

Luther Burden has also seen his role grow lately for the Chicago Bears. He’s finally playing over Olamide Zaccheaus, which has seen him play a season high 33 snaps in back-to-back weeks. He’s still behind both Rome Odunze and DJ Moore, so he might need an injury to truly have monster upside. But he’s looked better than them at times, and Ben Johnson, as a first-time head coach, doesn’t have loyalty to the incumbent guys. So maybe they do unleash Burden at some point. There are likely better streamers, as we will discuss in the Streamers & Stashes article, but we just don’t want to miss out if this explosive rookie does get a bigger role down the stretch. 

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

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Michael Wilson, Christian Watson, Cedric Tillman, Adonai Mitchell 

NFL Week 12 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Juwan Johnson - New Orleans Saints Yahoo: 47% | ESPN: 35% | Sleeper: 58%

Juwan Johnson is an interesting case. He clearly hurt his ankle in the Bills game. If he just missed those games instead of playing through those games (and playing poorly), would we view him differently? He basically had three down games during that stretch, but outside of that, he has been pretty darn good in fantasy. We are talking about double-digit PPR points in all of the other seven games besides those three. He was dropped in some leagues during his bye week, so he’d be our top priority at TE if he’s out there. 

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

Darren Waller - Miami Dolphins Yahoo: 21% | ESPN: 19% | Sleeper: 30%

This is obviously a pure stash move here for now. Waller is eligible to be activated off the IR as early as this week, but we have no update on whether that would happen. I’d personally like to see at least one game of Waller following the injury before starting him in lineups as well. That said, there’s a chance he goes back to being what he was before, which was a super impactful player. He has some premium matchups coming up with the Saints, Jets, Steelers, and Bengals, so the sooner the better. No one on the wire offers anywhere near the kind of upside that he does. 

• 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 12 Waiver DST

Las Vegas Raiders DST Yahoo: 5% | ESPN: 6% | Sleeper: 4%

If the Browns are out there, then maybe go with them as they are actually a good defense. But they are rostered in 50% or more of most platforms. The Raiders, on the other hand, are widely available everywhere. They aren’t a great defense but the bet here is for Shedeur Sanders to have a tough time in his first game as the starter. I bet Maxx Crosby finds a way to get to him once or twice here. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers DST, Yahoo: 25% | ESPN: 23% | Sleeper: 24%

So we have one more week with a terrible matchup for the Bucs defense. We weren’t starting them vs. the Pats and Bills. And we aren’t starting them vs. the Rams. But, if you can sneak them on your bench, they have a great schedule the rest of the way. Cardinals, Saints, Falcons, Panthers, and Dolphins. So they are our top stash for a DST. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Jacksonville DST vs. ARI, San Francisco DST vs. CAR

NFL Week 12 Waiver K

Jake Elliott K, Philadelphia Eagles Yahoo: 31% | ESPN: 59% | Sleeper: 54%

Jake Elliott was our add last week, and it paid off for us with a three-field goal night. The Philadelphia Eagles still have the risk of the Tush Push hurting field goal opportunities, but this year, the Eagles offense hasn’t been as successful in general at scoring touchdowns. The next few weeks against the Cowboys, Bears, Chargers, Raiders, and Commanders should bring plenty of opportunities to get into scoring range, which will hopefully result in some points for Elliott. 

Cam Little - Jacksonville Jaguars, Yahoo: 31% | ESPN: 27% | Sleeper: 43%

Cam Little is still our recommendation for leagues with scoring that has bonuses for long kicks. I mean, as we all now know, this guy has a monster leg as he kicked the longest field goal in NFL history earlier this year. He also plays in Arizona this week, which becomes more and more important this time of year as the weather starts to get nasty. 

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.