2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 17: Tyler Shough, Michael Carter Top Picks

If you are here right now, congratulations - you have a shot. You’re in the championship. Is it a true 50/50 shot? Hard to say. Not all teams are created equal. And anyone who has played fantasy football for any amount of time knows that the “better” teams don’t always win. The better team doesn’t always win in real football, as a matter of fact.

One thing we can do to keep our odds high is win the waiver wire one last time. All year, our goal has been to add the best possible players to our roster with hopes that they can crack our lineup. In the fantasy championship, we have another goal - making sure our direct, singular opponent doesn’t get those players either. So, let’s jump into the waiver wire for the biggest week of fantasy football!

2025 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 17 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 17 Waiver Wire Quarterbacks

Tyler Shough - New Orleans Saints Yahoo: 13% | ESPN: 5% | Sleeper: 21% 

We’ve gone through a lot of names in this article this season. Daniel Jones, Jaxson Dart, Jacoby Brissett, Trevor Lawrence. It’s been a weird season where a lot of quarterbacks have been picked up in leagues, with very few of them going back to the wire. Most recently, we got to the point of streaming Marcus Mariota, though he recently suffered hand and quad injuries. 

Tyler Shough is a name that’s been mentioned a few times in this series. He’s shown that he’s capable of throwing 275-300 yards. He’s shown that he’s capable of throwing multiple touchdown passes. And, even more importantly, he’s shown that he’s willing to run 6-8 times when it calls for it. He’s even shown that he’s capable of winning games, though we don’t really care about that in fantasy. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Kirk Cousins, Philip Rivers, Bryce Young

NFL Week 17 Waiver Wire Running Backs

Michael Carter, Arizona Cardinals Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 39% | Sleeper: 51%

We never quite got “the big one” in terms of injury/handcuff plays. There were some solid adds, don’t get me wrong, but no major running back injury leading to a breakout from the backup. Given backfield splits, we just don’t see that as often as we did in the early 2000s. 

And that’s why we need to add anyone who has a shot at getting a decent workload - especially at this stage. We said last week to drop 50% or more of the budget on Michael Carter, so hopefully you already have him. But he’s still out there in a big chunk of leagues, so you can make up for it now. Carter got double-digit carries here, and a couple of targets, and that’s worth going after. 

• Waiver Priority: High Priority
• FAAB: 50%+ 

Dylan Sampson, Cleveland Browns, Yahoo: 11% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 14%

This would be the top add for us but it comes with a caveat. We don't know if he's going to play. The most recent comment from Kevin Stefanski was that he's “improving daily”. I don't think I'd last long as a beat writer because my next question would have been whether Stefanski thinks the over/under on that daily improvement is five days or not. Because that's how long we have for him to play.

If he can't go then Raheim “Rocket” Sanders will likely start with Trayveon Williams on pass downs. I'm putting in FAAB bid/claims for both Sampson and Sanders to see if I can get both. But, at the very least, that should prevent my opponent from getting both. 

• Waiver Priority: High Priority
• FAAB: 50%+

Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams, Yahoo: 41% | ESPN: 30% | Sleeper: 59%

Corum took a step back in usage this week. That’s disappointing given that he and Kyren Williams rotated drive for drive in Week 15. But Corum still got some carries despite going back to his ~30% snap share. And he’s basically gotten 7 touches in every game so far. In a good offense, that puts him on the streaming radar. 

• Waiver Priority: Low to Medium Priority
• FAAB: 15-20% 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Jawhar Jordan (monitor Woody Marks news), Chris Rodriguez

NFL Week 17 Waiver Wire Wide Receivers

Adonai Mitchell - New York Jets Yahoo: 19% | ESPN: 33% | Sleeper: 43%

Look, I’m going to be real with you guys. There’s no must-add, slam-dunk wide receiver. There are some guys out there with okay floors but mediocre ceilings. Then there are some options with sketchy floors but high ceilings. This is the second option, but that’s the kind of option we prefer.

The story of Adonai Mitchell isn’t really complicated either. We know the deal. He’s the top wide receiver on his team and the top target. Unfortunately, that team is the Jets. And the quarterback is Brady Cook. So he’s gotten at least six targets in six straight weeks. And the results have been mixed from week to week. But there are just not many guys on the wire that get those looks or have his kind of upside for a one-week spot start. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium to low Priority
• FAAB: 25-50%

Parker Washington - Jacksonville Jaguars, Yahoo: 24% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 33%

If you are looking for something a little safer but perhaps not with as much upside, you can go Parker Washington. What caps his upside is that he’s not a full-time player. He only ran 69% of the routes this week. Brian Thomas Jr remains the split end with Jakobi Meyers as the flanker, then Parker Washington comes in to play slot in three WR sets. But the slot role for Liam Coen’s offense is good enough that Washington is generally involved. So he’s a pretty safe play, especially in full PPR.

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

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Luther Burden, Mack Hollins, Jalen Coker

NFL Week 17 Waiver and Yin & Yang Tight End

Colston Loveland - Chicago Bears Yahoo: 43% | ESPN: 44% | Sleeper: 57%

The theory last week with Colston Loveland was that, with Rome Odunze and Luther Burden out, he would run more routes than usual. He has been more of a part-time guy, but with multiple pass-catchers down, his usage would improve. And it did - he ran 81% of the routes, which was the highest all year. The next closest he had was Week 9, where he caught 6 of 7 targets for 118 yards and 2 TDs.

Unfortunately, despite more work, he only caught 3 of 4 targets for 30 yards. Six PPR points is his second-worst game over the last nine, with his worst game being 5.8. And that’s why we’re still willing to use him despite the bad outcome. His floor has quietly been pretty good for the second half of the year here. And his upside could once again be higher if Odunze and/or Burden are out. The matchup is better this time around as well. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium Priority
• FAAB: 15-20%

AJ Barner - Seattle Seahawks Yahoo: 12% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 27%

Barner is another player who didn’t have the best usage for the majority of the season. And that’s because he was rotating with rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo. He wasn’t even cracking a 60% route participation on many occasions. But that changed when Arroyo suffered a knee injury in Week 14.

Since then, Barner has played a lot more, including a 94% snap share and 87% route participation this week. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is obviously a target machine, but guys like Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed aren’t necessarily insurmountable in any given week. Barner has gotten six targets in back-to-back weeks and has a pretty solid matchup here against Carolina. 

• Waiver Priority: Medium Priority
• FAAB: 15-20%

**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 17 Waiver DST

New England Patriots DST Yahoo: 50% | ESPN: 71% | Sleeper: 60%

The first thing we need to do here is check to see if the Patriots are available. In many leagues, they’ve been held onto, but in some, they’ve been dropped. I know the Patriots aren’t at 100% here without Milton Williams and Robert Spillane. But the New York Jets offense is just in shambles right now. Brady Cook has 1 TD pass and 6 interceptions since taking over. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers DST, Yahoo: 40% | ESPN: 32% | Sleeper: 56%

Quinn Ewers didn’t look completely terrible. But he’s now appeared in two games. In that first game, he only played 12 snaps, and he put the ball on the ground twice. In this past game, he threw two interceptions, no touchdowns. And that was against a Bengals defense that is flat-out bad. So that’s really the bet we are making here. That a rookie quarterback in his second start makes some mistakes. 

Honorable Mention or Deep League Options: Tennessee Titans DST vs. NO, New York Giants DST vs. LV

NFL Week 17 Waiver K

Andy Borregales K, New England Patriots Yahoo: 14% | ESPN: 38% | Sleeper: 8%

Borregales being on the waiver wire in a lot of leagues is mostly based on timing. The Patriots had a Week 14 bye and, when they came back, half of the fantasy football teams were eliminated. He’s been rock solid this whole second half of the year and has a solid floor against the Jets, so get him in there if you can.

Eddy Pineiro - San Francisco, Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 13% | Sleeper: 15%

Eddy Pineiro is actually a very similar story to Borregales. Week 14 bye, hit the wire, was never really picked back up. This past week, he missed his very first field goal of the year, and not by much, as it was a 64-yarder that just hit the crossbar. Pineiro has been as solid as they come and should once again be a nice start in fantasy. 

NFL Yin & Yang Tight End Rankings

Starting with fantasy playoffs, we’ve switched over from the Yin & Yang ranking system, where we stash an upside player, to a more matchup-based approach. I did include the Week 18 matchups for you sickos that play that week for some reason, but these rankings are focused almost exclusively on Week 17, as that is the standard setup these days. 

Make sure you check for my Weekly Tight End Rankings article, which will be posted Christmas morning by noon and updated again on Sunday shortly after noon. These rankings below are how you should prioritize your roster for waivers. Those finalized weekly rankings, which will have far more injury information and analysis, are how you should set your lineup.