Fantasy Football: 5 Players Undervalued on ESPN in 2025

You shouldn't go into a fantasy football draft with just players you like and players you don't at certain draft positions.

Which site you draft on also matters.

A vast majority of fantasy football managers aren't diehard zealots with their own individual rankings and in-depth knowledge of where a player should be valued on any platform. When on the clock, the masses are likely to peruse the top of the site-generated draft rankings. I do that exact thing a lot of the time when it's my turn to pick -- even as someone who does this for a living. It's hard for most of us to reach all the way down 15 spots lower than the pre-draft rankings on a given website, especially if there's not much time given to pick.

That's why knowing a player is vastly under-ranked on a given platform can be such a huge advantage. At any point in a round, you can scoop up a player most of your leaguemates won't consider for another 10 picks. It's easy value to find, which is the name of the game in fantasy football.

In a three-part series, I'm going to take a look at the pre-draft rankings of three of globe's largest fantasy football platforms and see where their consensus rankings differ the most compared to the rest of the fantasy football community.

This piece will focus on ESPN's fantasy football platform. Yahoo's undervalued players and Sleeper's undervalued players are also available.

Note: A player's expert consensus ranking (ECR) comes from FantasyPros' expert consensus rankings data. This piece is based on full-PPR scoring.

Undervalued Players on ESPN's Fantasy Football Platform

Breece Hall, New York Jets

ESPN Ranking: 44th (RB19)
ECR: 40th (RB13)

Even though the "flex" ranking is only four spots apart for Breece Hall, there's a massive difference in where he can go in drafts because of his positional ranking.

Hall is above Kenneth Walker III, Omarion Hampton, James Conner, Chuba Hubbard, and James Cook in consensus rankings but falls behind all of them at ESPN. He can go nearly a full two rounds behind the first of the group because of that gap that isn't present on any other site.

It'll be interesting to see how this group evolves in draft season. I could see Hampton rising up ECR due to Najee Harris' eye issue, but especially on a site which defaults to full-PPR settings, concerns about Hall's potential committee are probably overblown when he's the pass-catching back of the Jets' duo compared to Braelon Allen.

Oh, and trade rumors could make this pick look like a steal if he ends up plugging the Dallas Cowboys' or Jacksonville Jaguars' ambiguous backfield.

Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints

ESPN Ranking: 75th (WR37)
ECR: 58th (WR31)

ESPN is probably the most "casual" of the three platforms I'm looking at in the series, and they tend to do this. Last year, it was Amari Cooper with the Cleveland Browns.

Chris Olave's offense isn't good, but he'll soak up a giant part of it. The wideout battled concussions to still post a sensational 2.22 yards per route run (YPRR) mark in 2024.

The injury is a question, but Olave's talent and this Kellen Moore offense are both huge positives in his direction. In each of the last three years in different stops, Moore's top wideout has ranked as the WR8, WR3, and WR12 on a points-per-game basis.

Quarterback play with Tyler Shough and Spencer Rattler certainly won't be great, but there's plenty of room for error between WR12 and Olave's WR37 ranking on this platform.

Remember, even numberFire's worst-schedule adjusted offense last year posted 5,114 total yards and 27 offensive touchdowns. There will be fantasy points from the Big Easy despite Shough and Rattler's best efforts.

Jordan Mason, Minnesota Vikings

ESPN Ranking: 120th (RB42)
ECR: 100th (RB33)

If you're on board with Kenyatta Storin's favorite late-round running back target, ESPN is the place to get him.

Some believe Jordan Mason could completely take over the Vikings' backfield by the end of the season. Mason trailed only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry with 1.35 rushing yards over expectation per carry (RYOE/c) among all running backs who saw at least 12.0 carries per game last year.

At worst, Mason was probably brought in to improve the goal-line rushing attack. Amazingly, 16 carries for Aaron Jones inside the five last year resulted in -2 total rushing yards. It was brutal.

Of course, the former San Francisco 49ers also assumes a gaudy snap rate if something should happen to Jones. To potentially get him as an RB4 as ESPN's rankings lag behind everywhere else would be an absolute steal.

Jonnu Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers

ESPN Ranking: 168th (TE21)
ECR: 146th (TE17)

A lot of experts are down on Jonnu Smith this season, but ESPN's ranking for him is easily the lowest on the board. Sleeper, Yahoo, and NFL.com still have Smith as TE11 or higher.

I don't love this spot for Smith to come anywhere close to repeating his TE4 season from a year ago, but the path to volume for the tight end spot is still certainly there. Behind D.K. Metcalf, Pittsburgh just has Smith, Pat Freiermuth, Calvin Austin III, and Roman Wilson jockeying for targets, and we know offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who authored a TE17 finish for Jonnu in 2023 despite playing limited snaps behind Kyle Pitts, is not afraid to use him.

Most importantly, Smith's talent was on display with the Miami Dolphins last year. He was third in the NFL among tight ends in yards after the catch (521) behind Brock Bowers and Trey McBride. You tell me where that guy should go in drafts with a path to the team's second-highest target share.

I prefer Dalton Kincaid and Tucker Kraft in his same area on normal platforms, but waiting for Jonnu on ESPN is fine by me.

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

ESPN Ranking: 199th (QB22)
ECR: 119th (QB18)

After Liam Coen just authored the first top-10 fantasy season of Baker Mayfield's career, Trevor Lawrence might be undervalued everywhere. That's especially the case on ESPN.

Lawrence is behind Justice Hill, Kareem Hunt, and Tyler Lockett -- in that order -- in ESPN's top 300. You can pretty much scoop him up in the last round of every draft, incentivizing waiting on quarterback a great deal.

Though a tumultuous past two years with Doug Pederson ended on a dirty hit last year, Coen could easily resurrect a guy with a QB8 season in fantasy points per game (17.8 FPPG) already on his resume. Brian Thomas Jr. showed he was a true No. 1 wide receiver after Lawerence's injury, and the team spent two firsts and a second on Travis Hunter.

Ranking him behind Tua Tagovailoa and Matthew Stafford is pretty ridiculous when Lawrence has shown a mobility component that both have zero chance of having.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.