With the NFL season just days away, now is the perfect time for Fantasy football managers to lock in their 2025 Fantasy football draft strategy. As always, rookies bring a blend of upside and uncertainty, and this year’s crop of rookies is no different. Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty is widely viewed as the top rookie in the 2025 Fantasy football rankings, but there is still uncertainty about how he will perform at the NFL level. Likewise, Colston Loveland of the Chicago Bears and Tyler Warren of the Indianapolis Colts are being touted as potential Fantasy game-changers at the tight end position. Should any of them be included on your 2025 Fantasy football draft board?
Other notable rookies include Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward, Jacksonville Jaguars’ playmaker Travis Hunter, and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. Will one of these first-year players emerge as a Fantasy sleeper, or could they fall flat and become one of the biggest 2025 Fantasy football busts? Before finalizing your 2025 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2025 Fantasy football rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model accurately predicted that Bills running back James Cook would comfortably outperform his ADP (RB14). The result: Cook rushed for 1,009 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding 32 receptions for 258 yards and two more scores as a receiver. He finished as RB8 in CBS Sports PPR leagues and his maturation into a scoring threat cemented his status as a Fantasy football superstar.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, identifying A.J. Brown as a sleeper in 2020, nailing Jonathan Taylor’s monstrous season in 2021 and correctly predicting C.J. Stroud would take a step back in 2024. Additionally, it’s called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2025, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2025 Fantasy football sleepers
One of the 2025 Fantasy football sleepers the model is predicting: Vikings running back Aaron Jones. The veteran’s price fell after Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said that he and Jordan Mason were “1A-1B” on the depth chart earlier in camp, but that’s also creating the potential for value from a proven player. Jones is now the 25th running back off the board on average despite finishing as RB15 last season.
He rushed for 1,138 yards and five touchdowns and was heavily involved in Minnesota’s passing attack, catching 51 passes for 408 yards and two more scores. Mason might have an exciting downhill running style, but he missed five games last season and has 250 career touches in three seasons. Jones was able to withstand a career-high 306 touches in his age-30 season and the model ranks him as RB16 for 2025.
Another sleeper that SportsLine’s Fantasy football rankings 2025 have identified: Steelers wide receiver D.K. Metcalf. After four straight seasons as a top-20 fantasy WR, Metcalf dipped to WR34 last year before being traded from Seattle to Pittsburgh this offseason. He’ll now be catching passes from future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers. While Rodgers may no longer be in his prime, the four-time MVP still helped Davante Adams put up WR5 numbers over a 12-game stretch in New York.
With George Pickens now in Dallas, Metcalf becomes the undisputed No. 1 target in Pittsburgh and will no longer be competing for targets with established players like Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba as he did in Seattle. Despite a “down” year in 2024, Metcalf still recorded 66 receptions for 992 yards and 5 touchdowns. He maintained his status as one of the top deep threats in the league, finishing in the top-five in both average depth of target (13.1) and yards before catch per reception (11.0) among players with 60+ receptions. Currently going off the board as WR24, Metcalf has strong sleeper upside, with the model projecting him to finish as WR16. See which other Fantasy football sleepers 2025 to pick here.
How to find proven 2025 Fantasy football rankings
SportsLine is also extremely high on a veteran wide receiver to surprise with his production. The model says this wideout is a shocking top-10 option ahead of younger stars like A.J. Brown and Drake London. You can only see who it is, and the 2025 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2025 Fantasy Football sleepers should you target, and which wide receiver shocks the NFL with a top-10 performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2025 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called James Cook’s huge season, and find out.
2025 Fantasy football ADP
(PPR, via CBS)
1. Ja’Marr Chase (1.67)
2. Bijan Robinson (2.54)
3. Saquon Barkley (3.16)
4. Jahmyr Gibbs (3.91)
5. CeeDee Lamb (7.23)
6. Justin Jefferson (7.50)
7. Derrick Henry (7.93)
8. Christian McCaffrey (8.90)
9. Ashton Jeanty (11.66)
10. Josh Jacobs (11.95)
