At various points during the fantasy football season, injuries, bye weeks and breaking news can cause you to need reinforcements for your fantasy lineup. Every Friday throughout the 2025 NFL season, Matt Bowen will offer some late-week pickup options to help fill those holes, with an emphasis on deeper leagues.
Because of that, this column will focus mostly on players rostered in fewer than 50% of ESPN leagues, with occasional exceptions.
With Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Joe Flacco on byes this week, plus Jayden Daniels now down because of an elbow injury, we’ll start at the quarterback position. And I have three targets who can be played this week in deeper formats. There’s a wide receiver group to look at in here, plus multiple tight ends, including one coming off a career day in Week 9. And we’ll end with some running back fliers and a defense that has a very positive matchup Sunday.
J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings (42.6% rostered; vs. Ravens)
McCarthy scored 18.92 points in last Sunday’s win over the Lions, his first game since Week 2 (ankle). He completed only 14 passes for 143 yards, but he tossed two touchdown passes and was more than willing to run the ball. McCarthy rushed for a score, and the Vikings will continue to use designed carries for him in the game plan. For deeper formats only, McCarthy brings some dual-threat upside to the lineup, and he will be forced to move against a Ravens defense that owns a blitz rate of 29.6% (11th highest in the league).
Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals (15.5% rostered; at Seahawks)
Brissett had 24.84 points in Week 9 against the low-level Cowboys’ defense. I get it. But he has scored 19 or more points in each of his past three games, with multiple touchdown throws in each. In addition, Brissett has at least five carries in each of past two. Sure, it’s a tougher matchup this week on the road against Seattle, but we can all see this Cardinals passing game is operating at a higher rate with Brissett running the show. He’s worth a shot in deeper formats.
Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks (50.4% rostered; vs. Cardinals)
Darnold is just north of the 50% roster cutoff, but we’re going to keep writing about him in this space until that number really jumps. In the Week 9 win over Washington, Darnold had 27.2 fantasy points. He was surgical with the ball, completing 87.5% of his passes and throwing for four touchdowns. Darnold has 20 or more points — and multiple touchdown throws — in three of his past four games, and I’ve yet to see a defense lock down his No. 1 target, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The addition of wide receiver Rashid Shaheed at the trade deadline provides Darnold with a bump here on third-level throws.
Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears (40.2% rostered; vs. Giants)
Loveland’s 29.8 points in the Week 9 win over Cincinnati were a career high, but I’m more interested in his route deployment — because this is what we anticipated when he was drafted by the Bears. Loveland ran 11 routes from tight alignments, 10 out wide, seven in the slot and one from a backfield set. With that type of versatility, the Bears can create matchups with their rookie tight end, and that gives fantasy managers more upside in the lineup. Let’s roll with Loveland as a deeper-league start Sunday.
Luke Musgrave, Green Bay Packers (12.2% rostered; vs. Eagles)
With Tucker Kraft (knee) now down for the season, Musgrave will take over the top spot at tight end in Green Bay. After Kraft exited the game last week against Carolina, Musgrave caught all three of his targets for 34 yards. Though he doesn’t bring the same rugged, catch-and-run ability as Kraft, he’s a capable route runner in a system that creates production at tight end. He’s a deeper-league fit against the Eagles on Monday night.
Olamide Zaccheaus, Bears (4.9% rostered; vs. Giants)
The motion/movement player in coach Ben Johnson’s offense, Zaccheaus had 17.8 points in the Week 9 win over the Bengals, scoring a touchdown on a fly sweep in the red zone. Zaccheaus has at least seven targets and 10 points in two straight games, and his deployment in this offense does create catch-and-run opportunities. He’s a deeper-league WR3 for Sunday’s home game against the Giants.