Best fantasy football D/ST waiver wire pickups for Week 8

Welcome to the Week 8 waiver wire watch!

Another weekend of NFL action is mostly in the books and we’re quickly approaching the midway point of the 2025 regular season. There were a handful of notable defensive performances over the weekend as we saw multiple teams get held to 10 points or less.

We’ll go over some Week 7 units that you should consider scooping off the waiver wire ahead of Week 8 and as always, we’ll classify a waiver add as someone who is rostered in 50% of leagues at the max. Something to note is that six teams are on byes this week, so you’ll really have to be attentive to which matchups are on deck.

Week 8 byes: Arizona Cardinals, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks

Atlanta’s defense has been a middle of the road fantasy unit through the first month and a half of the regular season and that was the case in its 20-10 road loss at San Francisco on Sunday night. The group wasn’t specular or anything, but it did cause a modicum of havoc throughout the night with two passes defensed, one sack, and one interception in a loss that had more to do with the offense sputtering in the second half.

Let’s cut to the chase. The Falcons’ defense is appealing for Week 8 because they’re going up against a dead-in-the-water Dolphins team that at least as of now, won’t make any staff changes. Tua Tagovailoa has been a turnover machine and his abysmal showing in their 31-6 loss to the Browns on Sunday included four sacks and three interceptions, one of which safety Ronnie Hickman called seconds before it happened. Any defense that is going up against the Dolphins right now is stream worthy and the Falcons can really pump their numbers up this Sunday.

The Bears’ D/ST has been a top-10 unit in fantasy and they got to flex a little bit in their 26-13 victory over the Saints on Sunday. They terrorized Spencer Rattler throughout the afternoon, coming away with four sacks, three interceptions, and fumble recovery in the win, earning a season-high 13 fantasy points for the day. It was the fourth game this year where they cracked double-digit points and have been flying under the radar as one of the more disruptive units in the league.

Their Week 8 matchup against the Ravens is a tricky proposition as Lamar Jackson from a hamstring injury. One would balk at the idea of starting a defense against a two-time MVP, but are we sure that his presence will single-handedly save Baltimore’s season? There may be a rust factor considering that he hasn’t played in a month and Ravens players are still capable of putting the ball on the ground from time to time. Chicago’s defense could really make a statement here and I think it’d be worth the risk.

I’m going to keep this short and simple. Cincinnati’s defense has been bad, yes. But they’re playing the Jets. THE JETS. The only remaining winless team in the league that is currently mulling a Justin Fields vs. Tyrod Taylor QB battle. Like with the Dolphins, I’m hunting for whoever is facing the Jets at this point and that includes Cincy.