Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Beat the Waiver Wire! MUST-STASH Players Before Week 5 (09/25 Fantasy Football Podcast)
Episode Date: September 25, 2025Adam Aizer and Dave Richard go position by position to highlight the BEST fantasy football stash players you need to grab BEFORE waivers run. Don’t wait until everyone else is fighting for them — ...stash these guys now! Players include: Oronde Gadsden, Bryce Young, Woody Marks, Elic Ayomanor & Others! 1:30 Intro 1:50 Teams on Bye Weeks 2:10 Players to Drop 3:03 Defenses to Add 4:20 Waiver Wire Headliner + Tight Ends 7:20 Quarterbacks 8:50 Running Backs 11:50 Wide Receivers 📌 Which stash are YOU targeting before Week 5? Drop your pick in the comments! Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
All right, everyone, got to beat your fantasy opponent, and you got to beat the waiver wire right now on FFT Express.
Welcome, everybody. It is time to beat the waiver wire.
Hey, all right. Yeah, keep you going.
You actually did it.
Keep going for Dave Richard, folks. All right, Dave, bye week start next week.
Oh, no. It's the Falcons. It's the big.
It's the Packers. It's the Steelers. They're all on by.
So there are some players that you can actually cut now if you're not using them.
I look to see who was rostered in a decent amount of leagues.
Michael Pennix and Aaron Rogers at quarterback.
Kyle Menungi at running back.
A lot of receivers at him.
Romeo Dobbs, Jaden Reed, Calvin Austin, Luther Burton, and shallow leagues,
Darnell Mooney.
These are all players that you can cut.
Here's a couple of tight ends.
Colson Loveland, Janu Smith, and even in the Shelf.
Alois of Leagues, Kyle Pitts.
I'm not saying you have to cut these guys.
But if you want to try and use that roster spot for someone who might break out in
week four or week five, these are the types of players you can move on from.
You could always double back and get them before week five because no one's going to pick
them up because they're not playing in week five.
That's true.
Would you pick up Tyler Al Jir if someone dropped him?
Probably not unless I had Bejan Robinson.
I would make that move.
And we'll talk about those types of handcuffs later.
It's really like a sentence for later in the video.
We should probably also mention a couple of DSTs.
Obviously, if the Falcons and the Packer or the Steelers and the Packers aren't playing,
you can't use them in week five.
Falcon Steelers cut them.
I don't think you're cutting the Packers.
I wouldn't want to cut the Packers.
And that means it's time to go get one for that following week.
The Colts are 75% available.
they're against Las Vegas.
Vegas through the first three weeks of the season
has allowed at least 10 fantasy points to each DST that they faced.
And then they play Arizona after that.
So you might be able to use the Colts for two weeks.
The Cardinals' defense, we can go back to them.
Don't use them.
You're going to have to pick them up before Thursday.
But the Cardinals' DST, they've got Tennessee in week number five.
Tennessee's allowed 13 fantasy points to each of the first three defenses that they face.
The Giants, the Jets.
Not sure I'm really in love with picking them up,
but those are more desperation options.
if you want those alternatives.
And one more DST you can cut.
And this is kind of bold, but the Texans,
I don't think you should do it
because they've got a great matchup in week four,
but week five,
they're against Baltimore.
I don't think you're going to use them then,
and then week six,
they're on by.
Interesting point.
Okay.
All right,
so how about quarterbacks
or if you want to maybe just start
with one headliner for beating the waiver wire
and then transition to the quarterbacks,
but what do we got?
Sure.
Well, why don't we start with tight ends
because the headliner for me is Orronda Gads
in the second.
with the Chargers.
95% available.
We know he's going to play more.
I don't mind his matchup this week against the Giants.
Then he's got the commanders in week five.
The Dolphins in week six.
It's a three-week runway for Gadsden,
who could certainly see more.
He could certainly see more routes.
I could talk one of these days.
See more routes.
Get more targets.
This is a great offense in L.A.
Gadsden's a name that I'm interested in.
And I'm much less interested in Darren
Waller, but he's expected to
play sooner or later. He's got the Jets
in week four. That's a tough matchup.
Week five, the dolphins are at the Panthers.
That's a matchup that could be good if
Waller's good. In week number four,
those are two names to look at. Other ones
with week four matchups that you might consider.
There's really only one. It's Harold Fanon.
46% available. He's against
the Lions. Okay.
Yeah, Gadsden is so
intriguing because, man,
if they start throwing to him,
then it's going to be like,
the better version of the browns right or it's just so spread out and sure you may not have enough
right i mean we we can't have that but i'm sorry dave we cannot have that it's too many mouths to feed
well it's just more people taking targets away from lad macaque and as long as we're okay with that
then everything will be just fine but no i've i've been watching a lot of chargers film today
gadston does stand out as somebody who can win one-on-one matchups against linebackers and could be a
good short area option, could be a guy that Herbert leans on when he's pressured.
And his offensive line, especially against Denver, did allow a lot of pressure.
But enough about Gadsden.
He's somebody that I absolutely would try and stash.
Let's talk quarterbacks.
And you can't use Caleb Williams or Jordan Love in week five.
Or if you want an alternative to Drake May, who's got the Bills, Baker Mayfield,
who's got the Seahawks, Bo Nicks, who's got the Eagles, or Brock Purdy, who's against
the Rams, he's only had one good career game against the Rams.
take a look at Bryce Young, 69% available, taking on the Dolphins.
Dolphins have allowed the second most fantasy points to quarterbacks through the
young seasons, and it's at least 28 fantasy points that they have allowed.
It's a pretty good reason to start a Jets quarterback this week as well.
And then Jackson Dart is worth stashing.
He's got the Saints in week number five.
They've allowed at least 20 fantasy points to every quarterback that they've taken on,
and he's available in 55% of leagues.
Those are the two quarterbacks that I would target first and foremost.
Sam Darnold, Matthew Stafford,
two other ones that you could go after.
Okay, yeah, Bryce Young.
That Jackson, that Saints' Giants game
is just kind of an interesting one
for beat the waiver wire purposes.
Could you maybe think about a DST in that game?
Would you go so far as Spencer Rattler?
I hope not.
I hope not for Rattler
and the Giants would be my preferred option.
But you still have guys like Rashid Shaheed
and Wondell Robinson who have a little bit of availability,
you know, two receiver leagues.
you could probably get one of those guys,
so they're not the worst options.
We're going to take some breaks, just one break, actually.
Let's take six breaks,
six breaks starting now.
We're going to take a break,
and we're going to talk about running back
some wide receivers to add right now
before it's too late on FFT Express.
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okay that was the worst transition into a break ever we have really been tripping over our words
on this show yeah but we're just having so much fun dave we i love it i love doing this and here's the
thing there aren't a lot of people who think about beating the waiver wire they're just playing
fantasy and going through the motions it's the people like you me and whoever's watching
we're a step ahead.
We're those chess masters here.
Yeah, I got one league where I have Jordan Love
and I'm actually looking at the waiver wire right now.
If you're on CBS, you can sort by week five projections.
And I want to badly pick up Bryce Young,
but I don't really want to drop anyone.
So I don't think I'm going to do it now
because you also have to look at are there other quarterbacks
that are halfway decent on the waiver wire.
And I think I could probably get by if I don't get Price Young next week.
But, all right, anyway, back to all of you.
So I'm just saying that's another thing,
is you just have to, if you're going to have to drop someone to beat the waiver wire,
take a look at the waiver wire at quarterback especially and see if there are other options.
And if there are other options, then you don't have to be so desperate.
Okay.
Sure.
Dave, running backs.
Yeah, yeah.
Running backs, what do you got?
Woody marks is the headliner there.
He's available in 50% of leagues.
It's starting to feel like it's just a matter of time before he overtakes Nick Chub
is the better running back in Houston.
I don't know if that necessarily means that he's going to be great for fantasy.
Texans have a lot of pressure.
problems, and it starts with their offensive line.
But at least he's a younger running back, versatile, can catch the ball a little bit.
They're running out of options there, and they need some wins.
So I wonder if Woody Marks ends up getting some opportunities.
And then we've been banging the drum for Taije Spears pretty much since he went on IR
because we've told people, you could take him with your last pick, shove him in an IR locker,
and just wait for him to come back.
The latest report out of Tennessee is that he's been spotted without his walking boot
and without a scooter.
So maybe he's getting closer.
And it's just like Houston,
Tennessee's offense isn't anything to write home about,
but Tony Pollard hasn't been amazing.
I do think that offensive line does have potential to be good.
And Tai J. Spears is a versatile running back.
So kind of like Woody Marks in that regard,
he's somebody that you can go and stash,
especially if you can put him in an IR spot for one more week.
And then once he's out off of IR,
you can go ahead and potentially use him as a bi-week replacement,
as a flex, and maybe his role grows a little bit.
and he starts to kind of nail that ceiling that we thought he's had ever since he came into the league.
Two more running backs and then just kind of like a PSA at the position.
The commander's running backs.
Chris Rodriguez, Jeremy McNiggles, both available largely, 70% of leagues.
They're out there.
They're not amazing.
McNichols is the third down guy.
Rodriguez will work on first and second down.
Cross game merit is not at 100%.
I believe he practiced on Thursday, but we know that it's a three-way split at bare minimum.
you could have a running back who could fall into a decent role sooner than later just because of how things are going in Washington.
It's not like Kroski Merritt is setting the world on fire.
And then Blake Corum is the fifth name, 44% available.
And he's the poster boy to remind everybody that it's okay to grab your best running back's handcuff as long as that handcuff is good.
Corum behind Kyron Williams.
We've seen him already do some nice things.
If Kyron Williams goes down, Blake Corum will see more work.
Tyler Alger, you brought him up earlier in this video.
If he were available and you've got Bijon Robinson,
of course you'd want to have him there
because he has not been bad
when Bajon Robinson either hasn't played
or wasn't a falcon.
We saw that from Tyler Algeria a couple of years ago.
So you can do that now before your backup
becomes the next Trey Benson
and everybody's running to the waiver wire to pick him up
and it's not you who gets him.
Two more names that Dave has said previously,
but not today.
Devin Singletary 4% rostered as the RB2.
And then if you're looking at a team
that has gotten nothing out of their run,
running backs and has a young, speedy guy that they might want to get in there,
Breschard Smith, for the chiefs.
The one thing I'll say about Breschard Smith is Chris Collinsworth mentioned on the broadcast
last Sunday night that he tried to get Andy Reed to talk about Breschard Smith in their production
meetings.
And Reed really seemed to caution that they didn't want to overuse him.
So I'd be surprised if he ended up becoming a 60% of the snap guy for Kansas City.
All right.
Let's talk about wide receivers to stash.
I've got some interesting names here, too.
Obviously, the favorite is going to be Ellick Iow Manor.
He's available in 53% of leagues.
Tough matchup this week against Houston.
He's got Arizona and Las Vegas in the weeks that follow.
Could end up being the best receiver for the Titans this season.
Don't hate the idea of grabbing him, putting him on your bench.
You're going to need them to be a bi-week replacement along the way.
And I like Tori Horton's future in Seattle.
We know that JSN's going to be the main guy, but it looks like Cooper Cup is just over the hill at this point.
There isn't a tight end that really looks good.
I think Tori Horton could end up being number two.
that team in targets.
And I like what we've gotten from him, 71% route rate in weeks one and three.
And he's not just a deep threat at him.
His ADD was seven and a half yards last week.
And he's shown flashes of speed and good hands since the preseason, available in 76%
of leagues.
That's Tori Horton.
Other wide receivers.
I mentioned him last week, Troy Franklin.
He is very good.
Available in 52% of leagues, 88% route rate each of the last two games for Denver.
I wonder if he starts to see a little bit more of an opportunity.
I think that he's someone, if you picked him up last week and he's still on your team,
hang on to him for at least one more week.
Parker Washington and Jacksonville, 97% available.
He might be the only wide receiver that you can grab off the waiver wire from this list.
11 targets last week, season high, 74% route rate.
That number can go up.
I think that he could end up being a very good complimentary option for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
And then last but not least, we've talked about him a bunch.
Here we go again, the Taijay Spears of wide receivers, Jalen Coker,
38% available. He's an IR stash. It doesn't sound promising that he's going to rush right back to
the lineup for the Panthers. As soon as he's available, that would be week five. But we'll see.
And as long as he's sidelined and he's on IR, you can just keep him in IR and just let him sit on the bench and then when he's available to play,
I think he's going to have a good role for the Carolina Panthers. Thank you, Dave, Richard.
Thank you everybody for watching, listening to Fantasy Football Today Express. In case you didn't see the news,
big news today. Brandon Ayuk is not close to returning. So that's not someone you need to
especially if you don't have an ira spot whatever but he's not going to be back anytime soon so take him cross him off then we'll be back tomorrow with fantasy football today start or sit for the nfc home game see ya