With free agency in the rear-view mirror and the NFL Draft ahead, we can reliably start to pinpoint sleepers based on FantasyPros’ expert consensus rankings (ECR). While the draft can shake things up and anything can happen, some situations are pretty set from now until Week 1.

While we all love players from the first few rounds of fantasy football drafts, fantasy leagues are won and lost in the middle rounds by getting early-round value later. It’s essentially adding more early-round picks to your roster.

Let’s look at some early fantasy football sleepers.

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

Fantasy Football Sleepers 

Courtland Sutton (WR – DEN) | ECR: WR23

Year 1 of Sean Payton’s Broncos featured veteran Russell Wilson at quarterback, and while he wasn’t bad, the team still moved on. Denver ditched Wilson and drafted Bo Nix, giving him the reins in Week 1. Nix was awesome in his rookie season. A huge part of that was because of one of the only things we could set our watch to in the Broncos receiving game: Courtland Sutton.

Over the last two seasons of the Payton regime in Denver, it hasn’t been particularly fruitful to be a Broncos pass-catcher. The team uses a ton of pass-catchers, multiple tight ends, multiple running backs and is the opposite of a condensed offense — what we usually like and prefer in a fantasy offense.

It’s not to say Sutton was bad in 2023; he caught 10 touchdowns, but his fantasy value — WR35 in PPR — was primarily tied to catching a touchdown with just 5.4 targets per game and 59 receptions in 16 games. Sutton had the best fantasy season of his career last season with career highs in targets (132), receptions (81), air yards share (44.6%), target share (25%), targets per game (7.8) and first-read target share (31.2%).

Sutton was also remarkably consistent, especially after Week 8. In eight out of 10 games in which Sutton had no fewer than eight targets, he caught six of his eight total touchdowns and was the WR7 in total fantasy points and WR10 in points per game. Sutton was also the go-to receiver on third down thanks to the dearth of receiving options Nix could reliably trust.

Highest team target shares on 3rd down…

Wan’Dale Robinson 38.9%
Amon-Ra St. Brown 33.6%
Courtland Sutton 31.1%
George Pickens 29.5%
Justin Jefferson 29.2%
Tyreek Hill 29.2%
Drake London 28.8%
Calvin Ridley 27.9%
Jaxon Smith-Njigba 27.3%
Josh Downs 26.7%

– Rich Hribar (@lordreebs.bsky.social) February 1, 2025 at 10:35 AM

As one of the longest-tenured Broncos on the roster since being drafted in 2018, Sutton has seen a lot of things in his days, but after an ACL injury in 2020 derailed his early career, Nix has given Sutton a new lease on his fantasy life after being a good-not-great fantasy asset over the last few seasons. He’s a value even if the Broncos bring in a wide receiver because it shouldn’t challenge Sutton’s status as head of the table.

Chris Godwin (WR – TB) | ECR: WR25

The only question we have about Chris Godwin for this season is how he recovers after a dislocated ankle ended his season after just seven games. What Godwin produced in those seven games put him on a trajectory that would have likely resulted in the best fantasy season of his career. We don’t have to worry about how he will assimilate into a different offense because he decided to come back to Tampa.

After the 2023 season that saw Godwin out wide for most of his snaps for the first time since his second season, he was a primary slot player last season, and was on pace for career highs in yards per route run (YPPR) with a mark of 2.36 and targets per route run (TPRR) at 24.6%, plus his counting stats in this prolific Tampa offense. Of course, Mike Evans exists, as does Jalen McMillan, but Godwin is the clear second target for Baker Mayfield as long as he’s healthy.

The big question looms: Will Godwin be ready for Week 1 in 2025? Head coach Todd Bowles hinted at the possibility of Godwin being available for the team if it had made a deep playoff run at the end of last season, so that’s a good sign for Godwin. For redraft, Godwin should be a worthwhile value inside the wide receiver window at or around WR25-WR30 as long as we get some good news about him this spring and summer.

(3) #Buccaneers Chris Godwin

Dislocated ankles tend to carry lingering performance impacts x1 year.

Data projects 20% production hit thru 1st half of season.

Projection lightens to 10% hit mid-season onwards.

Landing spot TBD. Prob too costly at projected ADP

4/6

– Deepak Chona, MD. SportsMedAnalytics (@sportsmedanalytics.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 7:40 PM

Jauan Jennings (WR – SF) | ECR: WR40

We’re going to find out if Jauan Jennings’ 2024 was a fluke or not. We’ll see how this receiving corps shakes out as it looks to be much different than what we’ve seen the last few seasons in San Francisco. Deebo Samuel is now in Washington, Brandon Aiyuk may not be ready for Week 1 and the 49ers signed Demarcus Robinson to add to Jennings and Ricky Pearsall.

Last season, Jennings was 14th among all wide receivers with at least 150 routes with a 2.26 YPRR and was 14th in TPRR (25.7%), earning a target on over 25% of his routes. He wasn’t just “third-and-Jauan,” he was first and second as well.

In 6 games with Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings, George Kittle, and Brock Purdy on the field together:

Pearsall: 9.6 FPG / 17.6% first-read target share

Kittle: 14.2 FPG / 19.8% first-read target share

Jennings: 13.5 FPG / 31.3% first-read target share

Seems pretty simple!

– Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) March 26, 2025

Little fanfare was given to Jennings when he received a two-year contract last May, and that will keep him in San Francisco through this upcoming season. Jennings was a seldom-used third receiver for the 49ers who just kind of blended into the background in previous seasons. However, unlike many receivers before him who have gotten paid and their production falls off, Jennings turned in by far his best season as a pro after getting some financial security.

Jennings is a fun redraft value with some ambiguity reflected in his mid-round average draft position (ADP). Thanks to his efficiency last season, the price is right to see if Jennings can take his 2024 season and give that a worthy encore in 2025.

Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn

Kevin Tompkins is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Kevin, check out his profile and follow him on Bluesky @ktompkinsii.bsky.social