As always, we have our main fantasy football waiver wire article that covers every position at the surface level. But Fantasy Alarm members often play in deep leagues that require additional levels of research and nuance. That’s where this article comes in. We take things a step further to look at those deep fantasy football streamers you might need to keep your team afloat. As we are nearing the end of the season, you will notice that the time for long-term fantasy football stashes is over in favor of more matchup-based plays, though.

 

 

 

Fantasy Football Streamers For 2025 NFL Week 16

What is a Streamer?

A streamer is a player that you can actually start in your lineup currently. They might not be the flashiest players, but they won’t get you a zero. In deeper leagues with a lot of starting spots, you may need to call on them from time to time - especially when bye weeks and injuries come around.

What is a Stash?

The stashes are players that have appealing upside for one reason or another, but aren’t reliable guys you can start now. Maybe they are injured, and you can put them in an IR spot. Maybe they are handcuffs that could have a big upside if the starter gets hurt. Maybe they are rookies who need time to develop and carve out a role. Whatever it is, we want to keep an eye on them. And stash them on deep benches. 

 

 

 

Week 16 QB Streamers To Target

Marcus Mariota, Washington Commanders 

Yahoo: 10% | ESPN: 19% | Sleeper: 22% 

As we mentioned in the main article, first check for Jacoby Brissett and/or Trevor Lawrence. But they are rostered in over 60% of Yahoo leagues already. Marcus Mariota isn’t a bad play this week, and he’s also our top stash for next week. 

Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints 

Yahoo: 9% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 18% 

It’s still kind of tough to trust Tyler Shough. But he’s running a decent amount, and he has some decent passing games on his resume, including this past week. He also has a pretty darn good matchup against the New York Jets this week. 

  • Honorable Mentions or Deep League Options: Aaron Rodgers vs. DET, Tua Tagoavailos vs. CIN

 

NFL Week 16 Quarterback Stashes

Marcus Mariota, Washington Commanders 

Yahoo: 10% | ESPN: 19% | Sleeper: 22% 

If you are nervous about your starting quarterback’s matchup for championship week, stash Marcus Mariota. He’s been running a ton, and he gets the Dallas Cowboys, who have been a shootout factory all year. It might be smart to add him just to make sure he can’t be used against you. 

J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings 

Yahoo: 8% | ESPN: 7% | Sleeper: 18%   

McCarthy hasn’t been super impressive. He has another confidence-building matchup this week against the Giants, followed by a matchup with Detroit that should require heavy throwing. I’m still a little nervous to start him, but I’m willing to stash him to keep these kinds of matchups in my back pocket. 

 

 

 

Top RB Streamers For Week 16

Michael Carter, Arizona Cardinals 

Yahoo: 6% | ESPN: 9% | Sleeper: 10%

As we mentioned in the main article, Bam Knight was carted off with an ankle issue. When the cart comes out, it usually doesn’t bode well for the next week. Emari Demercado could return to take some pass work, but Carter could be in line to start this week with a nice matchup vs the Falcons. And he could also start for another good matchup against the Bengals if things pan out right. 

Jaleel McLaughlin, Denver Broncos

Yahoo: 1% | ESPN: 1% | Sleeper: 4%

We are still waiting for some more info on the injury to RJ Harvey. But the Broncos pretty quickly added another running back, Cody Schrader, to their practice squad. That raises a red flag about the availability for Harvey. It’s not the best matchup against Jacksonville here, but McLaughlin would be the stream if he can’t go. The other streaming options, if Harvey is a go, are our usual suspects in the honorable mentions below. 

 

NFL Week 16 Running Back Stashes

Blake Corum, Los Angeles Rams

Yahoo: 41% | ESPN: 30% | Sleeper: 59%

Blake Corum has fully graduated to “handcuff plus” now that he’s rotating with Kyren Williams from drive to drive. You can obviously start him if need be, but if anything were to happen to Kyren, he would shoot up the rankings. 

Brian Robinson, San Francisco 49ers

Yahoo: 22% | ESPN: 19% | Sleeper: 30%

As far as “pure handcuffs" go, Brian Robinson reigns supreme. Not only is the role great and the player actually pretty decent, but Christian McCaffrey hasn’t always been the bastion of health. He popped up on the injury report with some sort of back ailment, so we continue to play this handcuff game. 

 

 

 

Best Wide Receiver Streamers for Week 16

Jayden Reed, Green Bay Packers 

Yahoo: 41% | ESPN: 46% | Sleeper: 46%

Jayden Reed has to be the number one streaming option, whether or not Christian Watson misses this week. A lot of our other usual suspects, like Luther Burden or Devaughn Vele, are dealing with injuries that make them uncertain adds on a Tuesday night. 

Adonai Mitchell, New York Jets 

Yahoo: 16% | ESPN: 29% | Sleeper: 37%

He’s the top wide receiver for his team. And his team faces the Saints. That’s good enough right there. We can pretty much guarantee that he will get some targets, as he has been the Saints' top WR for five weeks now. We just can’t guarantee that he catches them. That’s been the scary part. 

Darius Slayton, New York Giants

Yahoo: 19% | ESPN: 8% | Sleeper: 44%

You aren’t going to get a much better matchup than Washington. And Minnesota isn’t a perfect one here. So we can’t expect last week. But Slayton did get a bunch of targets from Jaxson Dart. And he does run the high aDot routes needed to break off chunk plays. So Slayton is on the streaming radar here. 

 

NFL Week 16 Wide Receiver Stashes

Jayden Higgins, Houston Texans 

Yahoo: 42% | ESPN: 40% | Sleeper: 47%

For the first time in a while, Jayden Higgins didn’t offer us any kind of floor. And that is scary. We would like to hold onto him to see if he can bounce back this week. It’s a good matchup if you absolutely need to spot start him as well. 

Pat Bryant, Denver Broncos

Yahoo: 3% | ESPN: 3% | Sleeper: 9%

Pat Bryant earned the WR2 role for the Denver Broncos. Then he promptly got hurt and missed Week 15. A tale as old as time. We have to assume he gets his job back if he can play, but we are a little hesitant to start him in Week 16. So he’s more of a stash. 

Luther Burden, Chicago Bears 

Yahoo: 17% | ESPN: 16% | Sleeper: 37%

Luther Burden got banged up here. So the stash move is basically hoping that he returns before Rome Odunze. The explosive rookie has looked good when healthy, but he’s nowhere near a full-time guy. So it’s hard to trust him already, even harder when he’s banged up.

 

 

 

Week 16 TE Streamers You Can Trust

Darren Waller, Miami Dolphins 

Yahoo: 37% | ESPN: 20% | Sleeper: 38%

The main article has the full breakdown here. But Waller ran 67% of the routes last week, and he gets the Bengals this week. That’s good enough for us. 

Colby Parkinson, Los Angeles Rams 

Yahoo: 5% | ESPN: 11% | Sleeper: 8%

Another one we discussed in the main article. It does not seem likely for Davante Adams or Tyler Higbee to play this Thursday. That has Parkinson on the streaming radar. 

 

NFL Week 16 Tight End Stashes

Ben Sinnott, Washington Commanders

Yahoo: 0% | ESPN: 0% | Sleeper: 2%

Our top two streamers are also our top two stashes. It’s really late here to be trying to stash upside at this particular position. Ben Sinnott got a huge boost in routes run, but he only got two targets this week. Can’t trust him to start for us this week on that. If he does something this week, though, maybe you can use him against the Cowboys.