It might feel like we have plenty of time before 2025 fantasy drafts roll around in August, but I promise you, getting a leg up on prep work and sleeper picks in May will pay dividends as you sit down with the rest of your league.
Kicking off our series of “Must-Have” players for 2025, we begin with quarterbacks and tight ends. Each position is traditionally left in the dust in favor of stockpiling running backs and wide receivers for their potential upside, but the tide has turned over the last few seasons, and I’d encourage managers to address quarterback and tight end earlier than the “punt the position” mindset you might have had for the last decade.
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Must-Have Quarterbacks & Tight Ends
Quarterbacks
To maximize potential upside at the position, finding a signal-caller that offers at least some upside in the running game is imperative, as rushing yards inflate weekly floors and counteract negative point totals for turnovers.
Taking a glance at the final totals from 2024, 13 quarterbacks finished with over 300 rushing yards, with six (I’ll give Anthony Richardson one extra yard to round things off because I’m a nice guy) over the 500-yard mark.
Predictably, Lamar Jackson led the position with 915 yards on the ground (his highest mark since 2020), with Jayden Daniels close behind at 891. There was a significant drop off to third place with Jalen Hurts (630) and Kyler Murray (572), followed by last season’s MVP, Josh Allen (531).
Each of the top-five finishers will carry an inflated average draft position (ADP) cost during draft season, so I’d ideally look to target the following tier if possible, for the best value and return on investment. Two candidates immediately stick out like sore thumbs, which I’m happy to prioritize adding to my squads if at all possible — Caleb Williams and Justin Fields.
Caleb Williams is an easy recommendation, and I’m willing to bet he will be a popular sleeper selection in 2025. Overshadowed by the play of fellow rookie Jayden Daniels, it is easy to forget how well Williams played and the adversity that he overcame.
Williams finished with over 3,500 passing yards and a sterling 20:6 touchdown-to-interception ratio while constantly running for his life behind a sieve offensive line. Williams took a league-high 68 sacks and was forced to throw passes early, rather than allow plays to develop downfield. The intense defensive pressure, coupled with largely inept play-calling from the sidelines, made it difficult for Williams to show any form of consistency.
All that has changed.
Chicago landed the top offensive mind available in the offseason, bringing in former Detroit Lions coordinator Ben Johnson, who will instantly provide a spark for Williams by catering calls to his strengths. The Bears then doubled down during the NFL draft by bringing in multiple elite offensive weapons in wideout Luther Burden III from Missouri and tight end Colston Loveland from Michigan. They also prioritized shoring up the offensive line during free agency, trading for guards Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney and signing center Drew Dalman to a multi-year deal.
Burden and Loveland join wideouts DJ Moore and Rome Odunze to form arguably one of the most well-rounded supporting casts in the league. Their presence, coupled with the additional time that the offensive line will provide to Williams, gives him a very high ceiling in 2025.
Defenders will need to play honestly to cover all of Chicago’s weapons, decreasing attention in the box for Williams to take off and run, if necessary. He might not scramble as often as last year (he had 81 attempts in 17 starts), but I expect him to eclipse the 500-yard mark for the first time on the ground.
Acquired by the New York Jets during free agency, Gang Green inked Justin Fields to a multi-year deal worth $40 million, and didn’t bother to bring in any competition during the NFL Draft to challenge his status atop the depth chart.
Fields is in a different situation from Williams. Entering his fifth season in the league, fantasy managers have a good idea of what to expect from the Ohio State product. An athletic marvel with middling accuracy, Fields has a career 61.1% completion rate, but offers Lamar Jackson-esque upside as a running option. We are just two seasons removed from his historic 1,143 rushing yards on 160 attempts back in 2022, a season where he finished as a top option at the position based on his legs alone.
In New York, the Jets have surrounded Fields with a stout running game behind him that can punish defenders into submission, a top-flight wideout in Garrett Wilson who can take over games, and a greatly improved offensive line anchored by first-round selections in each of the last two drafts at tackle on either side.
During his career, Fields has developed a knack for only progressing through the first read (or possibly two) in a given play, before taking off as a runner to pick up yards. During the six games that he started in 2024 as the Steelers’ quarterback, Fields had 55 rushing attempts and five rushing touchdowns. His ability to pick apart defenses when looking for extra yards was notable, and he should have plenty of scrambling opportunities in New York.
It is doubtful that Fields finishes within the top 20 options as a passer in 2025, but his insane floor as a runner will still make him a fringe QB1 that will come at a heavy fantasy football ADP discount during drafts. Fields is the perfect backup option that can be acquired in later rounds I’m happy to have on my team.
Tight Ends
Over the past few seasons, we’ve seen the tight end position completely morph from “either select Travis Kelce early or wait because everyone else is ho-hum” to “there is a ton of depth here coupled with upside rookies galore, so just be patient.” Funny how quickly things can change, eh?
The youth movement continued at the position last year, with rookie Brock Bowers going ballistic, catching 112 passes on 153 targets for 1,194 yards and five scores, finishing as the TE1. Bowers was the clear focal point of the Las Vegas Raiders’ offense and managed to put up historic numbers despite a carousel under center all year long and overwhelming amounts of defensive coverage. Unsurprisingly, Bowers is universally ranked as the TE1 entering the 2025 season, with Trey McBride close behind him.
Regarding the tight end position, there is one crucial factor to underline, circle and highlight — volume is king.
Eleven players finished with more than six targets per game at the position in 2024, so securing one of them (or potentially a rookie expected to see that sort of volume) is paramount. I’ll go out of my way to avoid touchdown-or-bust options that can potentially put up a goose egg on a given week.
Two players I’d be happy to see start on my teams in 2025 at tight end are Evan Engram and T.J. Hockenson.
Evan Engram is coming off a disappointing 2024 season riddled with injuries, where he managed to start just nine games and finish with a 47/365/1 split, but I’m happy to buy into the dip given his current circumstances.
Inked to a two-year, $23 million deal by the Denver Broncos in the offseason, Engram was brought in to be a “move” option in Sean Payton’s offense (the same role that propelled Jimmy Graham to three consecutive top-two finishes in fantasy).
Still just 30 years old, Engram steps into an ascending offense anchored by Courtland Sutton at wideout, desperately looking for someone to siphon away defensive pressure downfield. Engram fits their needs perfectly.
Engram averaged over seven targets per game last year in Jacksonville and was coming off a breakout 114/963/4 campaign in 2023. Given that none of his injuries were long-term in nature, he should enter fully healthy and immediately ready to become a favorite target of quarterback Bo Nix. The Broncos rookie signal-caller finished with the sixth-most attempts in the league during his rookie season (567), and it is evident that Sean Payton has lost none of his trademark aggressiveness to move the ball downfield through the air.
Engram doesn’t carry the same name recognition as Kelce, McBride, Bowers or George Kittle, but I expect his totals to be firmly within the TE1 tier in 2025, at a draft-day discount.
Hopefully, you’re beginning to see the “I’m willing to select tight ends coming off of down seasons” mindset I find myself in entering 2025 drafts.
T.J. Hockenson finished with a paltry 41 receptions for 455 yards and zero touchdown receptions in 2024 — a far cry from his 95/960/5 split the year prior. Limited to just 10 games while rehabbing from an ugly knee injury suffered at the end of the 2023 season, Hockenson never appeared to play at full strength.
Borrowing a stat from ESPN’s Mike Clay, Hockenson was limited to a 60% snap share and averaged just 6.1 targets and 8.7 fantasy points per game in 2024, down from an 80% snap share with 8.5 targets and nearly 15 fantasy points per game the year prior. Why the optimism?
Despite being described as “one-year” in nature, ACL/MCL injuries have two-year recovery windows. Players regain their top speed first, but often take much longer to recover their ability to cut and agility. Hockenson is now approaching a more stable window, and I anticipate he should finally be back to full strength and his typical self.
Additionally, J.J. McCarthy takes over under center for the Vikings, and for all intents and purposes, this is his rookie season. Tight ends historically provide a safety net/blanket option for young quarterbacks as sure-handed chain movers, and a pass-happy Kevin O’Connell offense is sure to feature Hockenson plenty.
Provided he can stay healthy and on the field for more than 15 games (a feat he has accomplished in three of the past five seasons), Hockenson should be a high-end TE1 for fantasy purposes that will come at a discount compared to Bowers and McBride.
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