Fantasy Football Risers: Justin Fields, Cole Kmet, Joe Burrow

The NFL Scouting Combine is a matter of days away, marking the start of the NFL Calendar for the 2025 season. While much of the focus will be on the rookies who work out, and those who don’t, plenty of business will be done by the agents of veterans during this week with numerous ramifications will follow. Here are players trending up or down for fantasy football at the end of February.

• 2025 NFL Draft Guide
• 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Reports
• 2025 NFL Mock Drafts
• Dynasty Mock Draft Simulator

Fantasy Football Players Trending Up

Justin Fields (QB – FA)

It feels a little surprising that Justin Fields is a hot name at this time of year but it’s likely a side effect of a sub-draft class at the quarterback position, combined with plenty of quarterback-needy teams. Regardless, Fields will be grateful for any opportunity after spending the last 12 games of the season on the bench while Russell Wilson took over starter duties in Pittsburgh.

Fields was up and down for fantasy in his time as the starter, scoring over 18 points in three games and averaging 13.1 in the other three. Fields had career-bests in completion rate (65.8%) and interception rate (0.6%) but managed a disappointing five touchdowns in six games — he was very much playing things safe. The team consistently being linked with Fields is the New York Jets and reuniting Fields with former Ohio State teammate Garrett Wilson would likely help the Jets secure Wilson’s long-term future. It’s unlikely Fields will turn into a high-value asset once again, but his future looks brighter now than it did a couple of months ago.

Justin Fields to Garrett Wilson again? pic.twitter.com/NBrFh5xCoQ

— J. Gray (@JGrayJets) February 19, 2025

Cole Kmet (TE – CHI)

The 2024 season got off to a slow start for Cole Kmet with the Bears’ offense splitting reps between him and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s love child Gerald Everett. Throughout Everett’s career, he’s frequently been Waldron’s guy, but in 2024, it was apparent Everett wasn’t a good fit for the Bears’ offense and wasn’t a better player than Kmet.

The Bears will have a new-look offense under Ben Johnson and the hope is he can bring some of the magic he sprinkled on the Detroit Lions to the Bears. Sam LaPorta was a big part of the offense in Detroit and while Kmet isn’t close to the player Laporta is, there remains some hope he can be a solid low-end TE1 or high-end TE2 if Caleb Williams finds his feet in Year 2.

Joe Burrow (QB – CIN)

There’s only so much room for Joe Burrow to trend upward after another excellent season from a quarterback who is undeniably a top-five player at his position. Burrow threw for career-highs in pass attempts (460), touchdowns (46) and passing yards (4,918), helped by two main factors — his pass-catching options and the Bengals’ woeful defense.

The positive news for Burrow is that both these factors look to remain in place with the Bengals seemingly intent on prioritizing offense over defense, franchise tagging Tee Higgins for the second year in a row and releasing Sheldon Rankins. The Bengals could look to hammer the draft with defensive additions, but they’re unlikely to turn into an excellent defense immediately, which should keep Burrow slinging the ball plenty and, in turn, sustain his excellent fantasy football qualities.