2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 15: JJ McCarthy, Jayden Higgins Top Picks

Oh. Baby. It’s here. Fantasy football playoffs. Nothing up til this point matters. Are you 13-1? Great. Are you 7-7 and snuck in with the last playoff spot? Great. You’re in the tournament. Anyone can win. That’s what makes this game so much fun.

That said, to maximize your fun, you actually need to win. And that’s what we’re here to help you with. Not only are we breaking down the waiver wire options for Week 14, but I’ve been doing my best to help you settle the trickiest position in football all year - tight end.

We’re done with Yin & Yang tight end at this stage, but at the bottom, you’ll find my Rest of Season rankings with color-coded matchups moving forward. The rankings will HEAVILY skew towards this upcoming week since it’s must-win season. But, if you are lucky enough to have a bye week, feel free to look ahead!

2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 15 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! 

Also, now more than ever, is the time to take advantage of our League Sync Tool to directly connect YOUR league to our systems for customized waiver wire/free agent advice based on YOUR league! Can’t take any chances now that playoffs are here!

NFL Week 15 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

JJ McCarthy - Minnesota Vikings Yahoo: 30% | ESPN: 28% | Sleeper: 23% 

If you need a quarterback at this stage in the season, it’s most likely that you need upside. Maybe you did lose Daniel Jones and are just looking for the safe but boring answer. If that’s the case, then maybe you do go with Sam Darnold. He has arguably the best WR in football. But he also has a pretty rough schedule here. If you are looking for upside, either on the bench or in the lineup, we are looking elsewhere.

JJ McCarthy is a scary player, no doubt. But his weapons in Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, and Aaron Jones are undeniably good. And his schedule is also pretty darn good. He gets the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, and Detroit Lions in fantasy playoffs. He’s also shown that he’s willing to go out there and run a little bit, running six times this week. If we are looking for upside, McCarthy is the first place we are looking.

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

Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 6% | Sleeper: 16% 

We recommended Tyler Shough last week. And that’s because we have seen enough progression lately to understand what he’s capable of. We’ve seen him throw for ~250 yards on a couple of occasions. We’ve seen him throw for multiple TDs on a couple of occasions. And we’ve now seen him run 6 or more times in three straight games. We aren’t banking on him to score two rushing touchdowns every week. But we know that he’s capable of all these things. And, at the bottom of the barrel, there’s a number of guys that simply aren’t.

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Marcus Mariota, Shedeur Sanders, Riley Leonard

NFL Week 15 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Chris Rodriguez - Washington Commanders Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 31% | Sleeper: 60%

I’m always a little surprised when this happens. Maybe it’s just because we are late in the season and some of the teams have already given up. But there is a starting NFL running back just sitting on the waiver wire in a big chunk of leagues out there. We’ve been saying to pick him up for a couple of weeks now - and we know we aren’t the only ones. So add him. Jeremy McNichols does get the pass work, but C-Rod starts and gets the goal line work, which at least gives you a shot at upside in any given week. The folks who play on Sleeper seem to have figured it out, but he’s oddly available on Yahoo and ESPN.

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

Bam Knight - Arizona Cardinals Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 15% | Sleeper: 55%

This one isn’t so cut and dry. But there is a chance that Bam Knight ends up locked in as the Cardinals' starter for the rest of the season. The Cardinals opened the 21-day practice window for Trey Benson to come off IR, and that window is coming to a close. If they don’t activate him by Wednesday, he will revert to season-ending IR. So Bam needs to be held at least until Wednesday. 

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

Blake Corum - Los Angeles Rams Yahoo: 33% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 49%

Blake Corum continues to be the best “handcuff plus” in all of fantasy. Not only does he have big upside if Kyren Williams goes down, but he’s routinely playing 30% of the snaps. And, when he’s in the game, he’s often getting carries, making that 30% honestly feel more like 40-50% at times. They have even mentioned that they want to use Corum more to keep Kyren healthy for the playoffs. This setup is kind of like if Tyler Allgeier was actually in a great offense. 

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

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Devin Singletary, Jaylen Wright, Samaje Perine

NFL Week 15 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Jayden Higgins - Houston Texans Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 40% | Sleeper: 47%

We have not changed our stance much from one week to the next here on who we are looking at for wide receivers. Jayden Higgins still remains the WR2 for this Texans team. And we are still hoping that his role can grow just a little more down the stretch here. But he was once again the second target to Nico Collins. And he continues to play in two WR sets opposite Collins, which includes a lot of redzone action. That gives him weekly upside to spot start where needed. 

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

Pat Bryant - Denver Broncos Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 3% | Sleeper: 9%

Here’s what we wrote about Bryant last week.

For much of the year, Troy Franklin has been the WR2. He’s played over 150 more snaps than Bryant on the year. But, quietly, Pat Bryant has played 123 run block snaps to 119 for Franklin, indicating that they may view him as the better blocker. This week, Troy Franklin was only trusted with two designed RB runs and, on one of them, his assignment made the tackle. Overall, this week we saw Pat Bryant play more snaps, run more routes, and be more productive. We may have seen the changing of the guard for the rookie Pat Bryant coming out of the bye week. We’d rather not throw him right into lineups if we can avoid it, but I want him on my bench at least.  

And guess what? In Week 14, the trend continued with Bryant playing the second-most snaps behind Courtland Sutton. In fact, Troy Franklin fell to the point that five different players on the Broncos all ran more routes than him. With Sean Payton, if you make mistakes like missing your block or dropping the ball, you get punished. And Pat Bryant seems to be the beneficiary of that. Troy Franklin can no longer be trusted. 

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

Luther Burden - New York Jets Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 37%

It would be different if Rome Odunze were out for the year. Then we could assume Luther Burden could be locked and loaded in a bigger role for the rest of the way. But that’s, unfortunately, not the case.

Also, this idea that they should just completely replace DJ Moore with Luther Burden might not yield the results that folks think. Right now, DJ Moore is still operating as the top wide receiver on the outside. And he’s being treated as such by defenses. This week, Luther Burden did the bulk of his damage against linebacker Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper out of the slot. If you were to change how Burden is used and have him face the top outside corners the way Moore does, it might not yield the immediate results folks are hoping for. That’s the double-edged sword of the situation. 

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

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Devaughn Vele, Chimere Dike, Adonai Mitchell, Jack Bech

NFL Week 15 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Darren Waller - Miami Dolphins Yahoo: 38% | ESPN: 22% | Sleeper: 42%

If Harold Fannin Jr is somehow still out there, he needs to be made your top priority. But he's rostered in 65% of leagues on Sleeper which breaks our rules for who to include in the article. I just felt it was important to mention that (you'll see in the table at the bottom of this article how highly we value him).

After that we are sticking with our man Waller here. But you need to have a little faith. He’s getting ramped back up after the pectoral injury, so he’s not on a full workload yet. The split this week with Greg Dulcich was a little concerning, but Waller did run more routes by one. But the thought process overall has not changed.

The role Waller had earlier this year was the same one that Jonnu Smith had last year. He was basically playing WR, lining up there for over 60% of his snaps. That “big slot” tight end role is how we get the high aDot routes that separate tight ends with upside from the rest of the pack. And Waller's schedule with the Steelers and Bengals up next is about as good as it gets. It’s a little scary, but there’s just not that kind of upside there on the wire. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium to Low Add
• FAAB: 5-10%

Isaiah Likely - Cincinnati Bengals Yahoo: 6% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 13%

If you are looking for a one-week spot start, Isaiah Likely is on the table. It’s no secret at this stage that the Cincinnati Bengals are one of the worst defenses against the tight end in the history of this game. Everyone knows it. And they still can’t stop it.

Last time these teams played, both Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely were heavily involved. Just this past week, both Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid were both heavily involved. There’s really nothing that the Bengals can do about it to fix things now. So why wouldn’t the Ravens take advantage of that again? 

• Waiver Priority: Medium to Low Add
• FAAB: 5-10%

**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 15 Waiver DST

Jacksonville Jaguars DST - Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 41% | Sleeper: 43%

The Jaguars are in first place in their division. They are a good football team. And their DST has been pretty solid in fantasy as of late, scoring double-digit points in four of the last five weeks. Even better, they get a premium matchup this week with the New York Jets. We might not start them against the Broncos next week, but they are very likely facing a sub-par quarterback in Week 17 when they face the Colts again. 

San Francisco 49ers DST - Yahoo: 25% | ESPN: 23% | Sleeper: 35%

Hopefully, you stashed the Buccaneers as we’ve been saying for multiple weeks. If not, we can potentially just use a tried and true technique we’ve been utilizing all year - start whoever is playing the Titans. The 49ers were dropped in a lot of leagues going into their bye week, so they should be pretty widely available for you to scoop up.

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Chicago Bears DST vs. CLE, Carolina Panthers DST vs. NO
 

NFL Week 15 Waiver Kickers

Eddy Pineiro - San Francisco 49ers, Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 8%

Talk about the perfect storm of kicker availability. Eddy Pineiro was a rock-solid fantasy option before he got hurt. After missing two weeks and having his bye, he’s now available in virtually every league. He’s expected to rejoin the team this week for a matchup with the Tennessee Titans. If you need a kicker, this is where I’m looking. 

Harrison Mevis - Los Angeles Rams Yahoo: 16% | ESPN: 36% | Sleeper: 6%

Sometimes you just have to look around at who the good teams are and grab their kicker. We need some kind of points from this position, even if it’s going to come in the form of extra points. Well, the Rams face the Lions at home this week, where they are 5.5-point favorites with a whopping 55-point over/under. So there are going to be some points scored in that game and, hopefully, some of them are Rams field goals. 

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.