Fantasy Football 2025 Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickup Advice

Is your fantasy team in need of new blood? It’s fantasy playoffs time, so the list is shortened, and all the adds are players who can be played immediately. All the players I list will be rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the roster percentages coming from Yahoo.com.

Immediately Useful

Colston Loveland, TE, Bears (43% Rostered): Loveland remains on the radar as a dependable TE option who is showing us week after week that he’s reliable for at least a few points. If you’ve made it this far streaming TEs, it’s likely he’s been on your team at some point. The crazy blowup game where he put up 118 yards and two scores is a distant memory by now, but we should all remember that it did happen, and he was a first round pick who was taken ahead of Tyler Warren. The ceiling is high, and he’s established a start-worthy floor.

Michael Carter, RB, Cardinals (42% Rostered): Carter operated as the lead back for the second straight week, turning 11 carries into a respectable 65 yards. He had no receptions in this one, but the previous week had churned out 94 yards from scrimmage. No one is going to be enthralled by the idea of running Carter out there, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe you’ve been surviving with a WR dud like Xavier Worthy or Brian Thomas Jr. in a FLEX spot and you’re just sick of it. Carter is the kind of player who is offering a high floor right now, and maybe a little ceiling too if he can find the end zone.

Blake Corum, RB, Rams (41% Rostered): Corum’s usage continues to suffice even as a clear RB2 behind Kyren Williams, as the Rams wagon chugs along. Corum has seen double-digit carries for three straight weeks, and scored four touchdowns in that span while also putting up a 128-yard game. Corum is talented enough to be a high-end RB1 in this league, and particularly for this team. We’re in championship week, so there’s no more waiting to see if Kyren gets hurt, but even with Kyren Williams playing great you can feel safe knowing Corum will see enough volume to score points.

Emanuel Wilson, RB, Packers (37% Rostered): Josh Jacobs should be commended for his game effort to play through injury, but he cost fantasy managers dearly with his toughness. Wilson is not Josh Jacos by any stretch of the imagination, but he’s a very good RB who can be played without a though if Jacobs is inactive for Week 17. When Jacobs is not in the lineup, and Wilson has the backfield, he produces. Based on the workload and the multiple exits from Saturday night’s game, it would seem wise to have Jacobs sit out at least one game. We likely won’t know whether or not Jacobs is playing until well beyond the waivers running, so if you do need a RB I think spending your FAAB on Wilson will be worth your while.

Chris Rodriguez, RB, Commanders (29% Rostered): Rodriguez has proven to be a quality back this season. Since Week 9, Rodriguez has handled double-digit carries in five of six games, and he’s scored a touchdown in four of them. He’s rushed for 50+ yards in four of those games, and he’s done this despite still only being on the field for even half the snaps just once, which was on Saturday against the Eagles! Rodriguez is a stout back without breakaway speed, and therefore he doesn’t dazzle us or allow our imagination to run free as to what he could do with a bigger workload. That’s all an exercise for the offseason anyway. Right now, we’re looking at a Commanders team just limping to the finish line, potentially with Josh Johnson at QB. That means ground and pound, and likely a bunch of work for Rodriguez who is efficient almost every time he touches the rock.

Tyjae Spears, RB, Titans (25% Rostered): Spears scored his second TD of the season and eclipsed 100 yards from scrimmage for the first time this year, finally validating my repeated reminders of his explosiveness. The Titans have found a bit of an identity down the stretch here, relying heavily on Tony Pollard and Spears and actually moving the ball with a modicum of success. It’s not much, but it’s something. Spears would be a truly desperate floor play for a team vying for a fantasy title, but we try to give the entire range of usefulness here. He’s at the low end of usable, but he is usable.

Parker Washington, WR, Jaguars (23% Rostered): It’s far bleaker right now for widely available WRs than it is RBs, but Washington has flashed enough ceiling at times this season to make it here. He exploded for six catches, 145 yards and a touchdown in a must-win vs. the Broncos Sunday, and while this is obviously not the norm, it’s well within the range of possibilities. We’ve seen him have these games and revert to three target duds, and that could easily happen again. But if you’re casting for upside, he meets a bunch of the criteria. He’s on a team that’s still playing for something. He has a good quarterback and a locked in role in an offense that scores points. Would I feel comfortable rolling with Washington? Absolutely not, but there are players who will be started over him in leagues, and it’ll be because of their name value and perceived talent, not because they’ve been better than Parker Washington in 2025.

Sean Tucker, RB, Buccaneers (20% Rostered): We’re a long way off from when Tucker looked like an emerging RB1/RB2, but he’s left zero doubt that he’s Tampa Bay’s goal line back. Tucker has rushed for 39 yards combined in the last three games, and he’s scored a touchdown in each of them. The return of Mike Evans makes playing Tucker even more frightening, because Evans is just as good a bet at the goal line, but if you’re totally desperate for someone to play then shooting your shot with a guy whose current role is limited to scoring touchdowns makes sense.

Adonai Mitchell, WR, Jets (19% Rostered): Mitchell’s talent jumps off the screen, and his volume in this admittedly disgusting offense is secure. If you have an iron stomach, his potential for a long play or two is above the typical range for players available at this rate. With that said, it seems like the Jets are playing out the string and seeing if Brady Cook has anything that makes him a part of the team’s future, and the early returns are not promising. Still, a team’s WR1 always has a chance to do something, so if you are truly hurting at WR or FLEX he’s someone to consider.

Tyler Shough, QB, Saints (13% Rostered): I wanted to have at least one QB on here, and with the injuries at the position the waiver is as gross as I can ever remember. Shough has piloted New Orleans to three straight wins though, looks competent, and even runs a little bit sometimes. He’s closing out the fantasy season vs. the Titans, who stink, so he can be played.