Best fantasy football D/ST waiver wire pickups for Week 5

Welcome to the Week 5 waiver wire watch!

Another weekend of action is in the books as we’re officially through the first month of the 2025 NFL season. Whether you won your fantasy league matchup or got absolutely smoked, you’re probably looking for ways to fortify your rosters ahead of next week. That’s where we come in.

Defense/special teams is the biggest week-to-week streamer position in fantasy and you’re most likely looking into which available unit you should deploy for Week 5. We’ll go over some D/ST options that you should consider scooping off the waiver wire and we’ll classify a waiver add as a unit that is rostered in roughly 40% of leagues at maximum.

Week 5 byes: Atlanta Falcons, Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers

Jacksonville has been the most disruptive defense in the NFL through the first month of the season and it gave San Francisco fits in the team’s 26-21 road victory on Sunday. The unit earned 15 fantasy points for the week by picking off a returning Brock Purdy twice in the contest, also recovering two fumbles to help the team improve to 3-1 on the year.

The Jags’ defense leads the league with 13 takeaways and the team’s +9 turnover differential is a huge reason why things are beginning to turn around quickly under first-year head coach Liam Coen. The turnovers are a byproduct of a unit that has been overall elite, ranking in the top five in both defensive DVOA and total EPA. Them being rostered in roughly 5% of leagues means that you could be picking up a defense that could potentially hold it down for your lineup for the rest of the season.

L.A.’s defense poured cold water on the Daniel Jones renaissance right out the gate on Sunday, recording a sack and an interception within the first four plays of their game against the Indianapolis. They’d pick Jones off again with one minute left in the ballgame, helping the Rams pick up a 27-20 victory while turning in seven fantasy points for managers who picked them up for the week.

The Rams’ defense have been solid through the first month of the regular season and will enter October ranked in the top 10 in fantasy football. They will be matched up against the aforementioned 49ers for Thursday night football this week and considering what the Jaguars were able to do against them, L.A’s unit wouldn’t be a bad choice to stream in Week 5.

The Cardinals’ D didn’t necessarily have a dominant day in its 23-20 loss to the Seattle Seahawks last Thursday night, giving up nearly 400 yards of offense while recording just one turnover. The unit from a fantasy football perspective has still been mostly serviceable, averaging 7.3 points per game while being just one of two defenses to record both a defensive touchdown and a safety this season.

Arizona’s fantasy viability this week is driven by its matchup against the lowly Tennessee Titans, who opposing defenses have averaged 12.75 fantasy points against through four weeks. It’s becoming a safe bet to pick up whoever gets matched up against the Titans and the Cards will get that benefit this week.