Early Overvalued Draft Targets: Isiah Pacheco, Saquon Barkley, Brock Bowers

Looking to get a leg up on your 2025 fantasy football draft? Identifying early overvalued and undervalued players based on Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) can give you the edge you need. To help you stay ahead of the curve, we’ve gathered insights from our collection of Featured Pros – some of the most accurate fantasy football experts in the industry. These analysts have pinpointed which players are being drafted too early or slipping too far, allowing you to build smarter, more value-driven rosters. Let’s break down the early draft targets you need to know.

Early Overvalued Draft Targets

Who is one overvalued player based on early expert consensus rankings (ECR) that you’ll be avoiding in redraft drafts and why?

Isiah Pacheco (RB – KC)

“I can’t get myself to draft Isiah Pacheco as the RB25 and 65th player overall. Before breaking his leg, he was on track to have another great fantasy year. Unfortunately, after his injury, he returned to a committee backfield with the reunited Kareem Hunt. Over this eight-game span (including playoffs), he had over 10 carries in two games and didn’t have more than five in each of the three playoff games. This offseason, they did not only re-sign Hunt but also signed Elijah Mitchell to a 3.5 million dollar deal. Everything points to this backfield splitting touches with Kareem Hunt in the driver’s seat for goalline carries. As a result, I’m avoiding this backfield at all costs.”
– Ellis Johnson (FantasyPros)

Saquon Barkley (RB – PHI)

“The consensus RB1 in 2025 will be Saquon Barkley after arguably the greatest season we have ever seen from the position. He went over 2,000 rushing yards as the only skill player to average more than 20 points per game in half-PPR. The Eagles’ rusher led the NFL in touches with nearly 500…running effectively behind the league’s best OL. But as was the case with Christian McCaffrey in 2023 and many RBs before him, leading the NFL in touches by such a vast margin is essentially the kiss of death for RBs the following year. Only two RBs finished as RB1s the following year after leading the NFL in touches since 2013. Ezekiel Elliott is the only one over that period to finish inside the top 5.”
– Andrew Erickson (FantasyPros)

Brock Bowers (TE – LV)

“This may come in as a shocker, but I’ll likely be avoiding Brock Bowers in early round 2. Bowers is a fantastic talent for the tight end position, but that early in drafts may be risky. The addition of Geno Smith may get the passing game to spread the ball around more than under the previous quarterbacks. I’d expect the Raiders to add to their offense a running back (who can make the run game useful) and another receiver to take away targets. Bowers at ECR14 is drafting him like he is guaranteed another 150 target season.”
– Steven Pintado (The Fantasy Coaches)