Fantasy Football: 10 Bold Predictions for 2025

Last season, Sam Darnold went from a bust and career journeyman to the QB9 in total points.

Chuba Hubbard went from getting his replacement drafted in May to finishing as an RB1 in fantasy points per game (FPPG).

Late-round selections Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey didn't just hit. They won fantasy leagues as top-five wideouts during playoff weeks.

The NFL is a ridiculous league where ridiculous things happen. Making predictions or projections of things that seem ridiculous to most might actually be the most important part of being a cerebral football fan -- and fantasy football player.

In the spirit of being outgoing, I'll do my best to manage "bold" with "irrational" and give you a lens into some zany places that I'm planting my flag when going through fantasy football drafts. We'll start in descending orders of spiciness with mild takes at the start, reaching inferno levels as we get to the bottom. Enjoy.

Note: A player's average draft position (ADP) comes from FantasyPros' consensus ADP data in half PPR. All projected rankings and point-total projections are on the basis of a half-PPR scoring system.

10 Bold Predictions for the 2025 Fantasy Football Season

Isiah Pacheco Posts the Best Positional Finish of His Career

If this take were sauce on chicken wings, it'd still be safe for the kids.

Isiah Pacheco was the RB16 in 2023 as the Kansas City Chiefs ended up winning the Super Bowl later that season, but a broken leg derailed Pacheco's 2024 campaign before it really started. He returned to an ineffective 4.5 FPPG from Weeks 13 through 18.

A thought exercise for you: where would Pacheco be going in drafts if he just never came back?

Looking spry at camp, the former seventh-rounder still appears to have a good margin over Kareem Hunt and Elijah Mitchell for work in the K.C. backfield. Rookie Brashard Smith might not even make the team. Before his injury, Pacheco held a 74.3% snap share and averaged 25.0 adjusted opportunities (carries plus 2x targets) per contest. Is he not the featured back again?

My colleague Jim Sannes mentioned Pacheco when evaluating RBs on teams with high win totals, and I want my Chiefs exposure here. A boatload of uncertainty surrounds Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Travis Kelce as far as who has what role in the passing game.

Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton Both Finish as Top-12 Running Backs in Total Points

Despite rolling this one out after April's NFL Draft, consensus -- apparently -- hasn't come with me.

I thought Ashton Jeanty and Omarion Hampton were going to both be in first-round consideration after landing with the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers, respectively. Apparently, the presence of Najee Harris has spooked some around the latter, but Harris' cryptic eye injury is ramping up the possibility Hampton is the lone wolf in L.A.'s backfield come Week 1.

These two rookies went in the first round for a reason. They're unbelievable. Both topped 2,000 scrimmage yards in their final college season.

Jeanty might have been the higher-ranked prospect, but Hampton's situation with Justin Herbert and a strong offensive line is better.

As I mentioned in Ashton Jeanty's fantasy football outlook, rookie running backs taken in the top 10 have had a floor of a top-11 season in total points each of the last five years. Hampton might be a better prospect than a few of those on the list. I think both of these rookies make a ton of noise in their inaugural campaign.

Bo Nix Slips Outside the Top-12 Quarterbacks

As the 2024 season progressed, it felt like I was always streaming Bo Nix. A fortuitous run for the Denver Broncos created the opportunity.

Denver's strength of schedule was a cupcake. Including playoffs, Nix faced a below-average schedule-adjusted pass defense, per numberFire, in 9 of 17 games last year. Somehow, the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints also dodged that full-season criteria but were awful secondaries in the second half.

Nix chewed that sample of 11 teams apart for 22.2 FPPG. Against the others, it was just 15.3 FPPG. Amazingly, the Broncos didn't beat a playoff team last year, including Nix's dud of 14.1 fantasy points in the AFC Wild Card round.

There are extreme strengths to Nix's fantasy appeal like his rushing. He was seventh among QBs with at least 10 starts in rushing yards per game (25.3). However, after defensive coordinators get an offseason of tape, I can't see him holding off at least four of Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray, Justin Fields, Justin Herbert, Drake Maye, Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud, and several others to maintain anything close to a QB7 finish this season.

CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens Both Finish as Top-15 Wide Receivers on a Points-Per-Game Basis

The Dallas Cowboys better figure out the Micah Parsons situation if they want to be any good this year. Regardless of Parsons' status, the passing game should be fire.

Dak Prescott missed eight games to end last year, and CeeDee Lamb missed a pair himself. It wasn't meant to be for a duo that were the QB3 and WR1, respectively, in 2023. However, the duo might be ready to take things to the next level after adding George Pickens from the Pittsburgh Steelers as a nitro-infused upgrade of Brandin Cooks' role.

Pickens' talent never got a true showcase with Pittsburgh's quarterback woes, yet my colleague Skyler Carlin thinks he's a league-winning wide receiver because of at least a 53.1% catch rate on balls 20-plus yards downfield each of his first three seasons. Prescott is one of the NFL's best passers with the deep ball. It's a match made in heaven.

Lamb should still be the go-to guy, and Pickens has premium target equity on downfield passes and in the red zone. Dallas' offense was top 10 in pass rate over expectation (PROE) and overall pace before Dak's injury last year. After once again not substantially upgrading their running back room, this offense should be fireworks again if everyone stays healthy.

Kyle Pitts Is a Top-Five Tight End

Sigh. I promised I'd never go here again. Kyle Pitts has a unique charm to always find his way back into my draft queue.

It's not like Pitts is all untapped potential. We saw his 1,026-yard rookie season where, only scoring 1 touchdown, the sky seemed like the limit due to incoming regression. Astoundingly, that 2021 season was his best as he's worn Arthur Smith's obsession with Jonnu Smith, Taylor Heinicke, and Desmond Ridder on the chin since that campaign. Unfortunately, last season's biggest issue seemed to be recovering from a 2023 knee injury.

Regardless, fantasy football's prince at tight end is probably in a do-or-die season for the Atlanta Falcons in terms of becoming a legitimate, high-level weapon.

Offseason rapport with quarterback Michael Penix Jr. seems to have translated to training camp, and Darnell Mooney's week-to-week shoulder injury has thinned out an already-thin Falcons receiving corps.

Penix's 10.5-yard average depth of target (aDOT) last year is perfect for someone billed as a vertical threat at the position. It took just 10.6 FPPG to be the TE5 last season; I'm once again -- perhaps foolishly -- dreaming of the former top-five pick converting his athleticism to production as the Dirty Birds' No. 2 option.

George Kittle Isn't a Top-Five Tight End

I can be disrespectful, but I mean no disrespect to George Kittle by acknowledging he's being drafted at his absolute ceiling as the TE3 this season.

The San Francisco 49ers' offense has two potential versions in 2025, and I'm not sure either set up super well for Kittle to repeat his 13.2 FPPG, which did lead all tight ends. The first (and potentially likeliest) involves a far healthier Christian McCaffrey than we saw last year. CMC dominated the San Fran offensive opportunities in 2023, and Kittle's production suffered:

Look at the noted decrease in red zone work, which is where fantasy points swing most. Even in McCaffrey's four healthy games last season, Kittle's FPPG was 10.5. It was 13.8 in all other regular season outings.

Though there are questions about health regarding Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings, eventual larger roles for Aiyuk, Jennings, and Ricky Pearsall in place of a down season for Deebo Samuel is probably also a slight negative for Kittle's opportunity share.

Additionally, the tight end is turning 32 early in the season and has missed 13 games in the last five seasons even excluding Week 17s he received off for rest.

So, to draft him in the third round, you're sort of building a parlay that he stays healthy, CMC doesn't, and most of San Francisco's efficient wide receivers struggle in larger roles. I think there are far better gambles at tight end later in the draft.

Trevor Lawrence Becomes a Top-10 Quarterback on a Points-Per-Game Basis

It was a good offseason to be Trevor Lawrence.

Though the future of the Jacksonville Jaguars was perhaps gambled a bit, they have set the former top prospect in a position where he'll either succeed or likely never do so. The team hired Liam Coen away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offense after he resurrected Baker Mayfield for a QB4 season in fantasy where the quarterback averaged 22.5 FPPG. His previous career high was 16.5, and Lawrence already has a QB8 season on his record from 2022.

Since he was last taken off the field for a vicious, dirty hit, T-Law also now has a pair of generational receiving talents at his disposal. Brian Thomas Jr. broke out entirely to average 107.0 scrimmage yards on 12.0 targets per game over the Jags' last five contests, and the team traded a boatload to draft two-way superstar Travis Hunter at No. 2 overall in April. Hunter appears to have a near-full-time role on offense so far.

Lawrence currently has an ADP of QB20, so this is spicier than, frankly, it feels to me. The former top pick is a better passer than Mayfield and now will enjoy the system -- and a similar group of weapons -- that he did.

Plus, Jacksonville didn't make a ton of improvements to last year's worst schedule-adjusted pass defense other than Hunter's part-time efforts. This team could be in high-octane shootouts just like Coen's Bucs were in 2024.

At Least Two Other Rookie Wideouts Outperform Tetairoa McMillan on a Points-Per-Game Basis

Forecasting NFL Draft prospects is difficult because some end up in the ideal situation to pull the best out of a certain player. I'm wondering if that happened for Tetairoa McMillan this April.

T-Mac was one of my lowest prospects compared to consensus the entire process. Upon review, it felt -- to me -- that he chewed up the underbelly of bad schools for gaudy stats you'll hear referenced in McMillan's draft profile, but he failed to eclipse 80 yards against all four of the the Big 12's best pass defenses last season. Compare his effort against the Arizona State Sun Devils (68 yards) to Matthew Golden's (149) despite Golden's team having a lead and superior competition for targets.

Character concerns also littered his pre-draft process, and the "lack of attention to detail" rumors aren't exactly thwarted with two drops and an interception on five preseason targets to this point.

McMillan is now the WR27 in ADP -- and climbing fast -- as optimistic managers see a Mike Evans clone in Dave Canales' improving offense. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm sticking to my guns. In addition to McMillan, five other WRs went in the top 60 picks, and Day 3 rookies Dont'e Thornton Jr. and Tory Horton have already cracked their team's starters on the depth chart.

I see at least two of these guys having better seasons than McMillan because opportunity does not always equal production. We saw that with Marvin Harrison Jr.'s slew of uncatchable targets last year. This time, I'm not sure McMillan even outproduces Xavier Legette if he can't clean up the mistakes.

Chase Brown Underperforms His RB11 ADP

It's scary to take a position against a guy like Chase Brown. There are seemingly no paths to failure for him on paper.

However, we don't play NFL seasons on paper, and Brown being the third Cincinnati Bengals skill player in the top-25 picks of fantasy drafts seems nuts when 33.5% of the team's cap is tied into its passing game: Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins.

At 5'9", I just don't see Brown assuming the 84.9% snap share that he did after Zack Moss' season-ending neck injury. That small sample had the bye week, and Brown was injured to miss Week 18 already.

Yes, he's a decently efficient running back who contributes in the passing game, providing a path to points. That was 18.9 FPPG in this sample to be exact, but this is the same tireless argument I had -- and won -- with Jaylen Warren in Pittsburgh. You have to be built like Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry to handle that sort of workload, or it won't last long.

Cincinnati knows. They added Samaje Perine and Tahj Brooks this offseason. Perine will be annoyingly involved on valuable passing downs, and while people scoff at Brooks' potential involvement, the Texas Tech Red Raiders' all-time leading rusher has the exact same draft capital that Chase Brown did two years ago.

Brown is fantasy football's fastest riser at present, but I'm pumping the brakes. Even a drop to a 55-60% snap rate will sour the running back's finish versus ADP, which now expects an RB1 season.

Rhamondre Stevenson Outscores TreVeyon Henderson in Total Points

I love college football. I love the NFL Draft. I'm not new to the "TreVeyon Henderson Experience," but it seems some are.

Henderson is dynamite. He's the sports car that you can take out and rip (responsibly) at high speeds on a warm day. However, you don't typically depend on that car for a commute in bad weather. That's why Rhamondre Stevenson will still be a thing for the New England Patriots, and boosted preseason usage for Henderson, a rookie, in lieu of the veteran doesn't change that.

Considering how many of the Ohio State Buckeyes' games are blowouts, Henderson missing eight games in his final three college seasons should speak volumes to how injury-prone he truly was. There's a reason OSU brought in Quinshon Judkins to do the dirty work in 2024.

Fantasy managers tend to see rookies as shiny, fresh guys who don't break down, but Henderson can't be given that credit. That's why Henderson's draft profile was always in a Jahmyr Gibbs-esque role of 12-to-15 touches per game.

Stevenson will be the "Judkins" of this team, including likely maintaining a 43.0% share of red zone opportunities that he had a year ago. Most just didn't know it was that high because the Pats never scored.

If the rumored improvement of this New England offense comes to fruition, Stevenson will be the goal-line back with upside to be ranked as an RB1 for any weeks that Henderson may miss. I'm not sure Henderson can or will ever have a true monopoly of touches.

He's not nearly as attractive or buzzy of a fantasy pick, but I trust the volume Rhamondre will get significantly more than I do the rookie's.

Futures Day is coming August 26th. Learn more here.

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.