It’s that time again. Dynasty rookie fever SZN is here. The 2025 NFL Draft is in the rearview, and rookie drafts will start flying daily. Before you dive head-first into our fantasy football mock draft simulator and run 3,000 rookie drafts in preparation, please read up on this talented prospect class as I roll through my positional primers. You can find each of them in our 2025 Dynasty Draft Kit. Below you can check out my dynasty rookie draft bust candidates.
It’s that time again. Dynasty rookie fever SZN is here. The 2025 NFL Draft is in the rearview, and rookie drafts will start flying daily. Before you dive head-first into our fantasy football mock draft simulator and run 3,000 rookie drafts in preparation, please read up on this talented prospect class as I roll through my positional primers. You can find each of them in our 2025 Dynasty Draft Kit. Below you can check out my dynasty rookie draft bust candidates.
Dynasty Rookie Draft Bust Candidates
Let’s dive into my dynasty rookie draft bust candidates to help you prepare for your drafts!
Jalen Milroe (QB – SEA)
The former Crimson Tide dual-threat signal caller fell to the third round of the NFL Draft despite drawing some late first-round buzz close to the draft. The Seattle Seahawks stopped his tumble by punching his card with the 28th pick of round three. Milroe slots in as Seattle’s backup quarterback right now behind Sam Darnold, who has two years of strong money in his newly minted contract. Darnold will need to falter for Milroe to get on the field in the next two years as the team’s starter. His draft capital automatically makes him an outlier if he becomes a multi-year starter for Seattle. The rushing upside of Milroe, if he gets the starting opportunity, is enticing, but his skills as a passer are frightening. In his final collegiate season at Alabama, Milroe ranked 60th in adjusted completion rate, 36th in big-time throw rate, and 66th in adjusted completion rate from a clean pocket (per PFF). Milroe will go before I’m willing to take him in most Superflex rookie drafts. It feels more like burning a rookie draft pick than a well-composed dart throw. He’s a viable late second-round draft pick if you want to take the plunge, but I’m not drafting him until the late third round.
Tyler Shough (QB – NO)
Derek Carr‘s 2025 status remains a mystery, so it’s not surprising that the Saints addressed their quarterback room. I will say it was surprising that New Orleans selected him as the 40th overall player in the draft. While I was a Shough fan compared to much of the consensus, I didn’t see that type of draft capital incoming. That bumped Shough up to QB3 for me in this class. If we assume that he’s the Saints’ starter for 2025, he has immediate QB2 appeal for Superflex squads. If Shough can play well enough this upcoming season, it’s not insane to think that he could be the team’s long-term starter, although I’m highly skeptical, and I think it’s best to view his starting window as maybe only one year. Last year, he was sixth in passing grade, but he ranked outside the top 20 quarterbacks in adjusted completion rate (30th), yards per attempt (24th), big-time throw rate (35th), and deep ball adjusted completion rate (72nd, per PFF). Shough is in play in the late-second round/early-third round of dynasty rookie drafts.
Matthew Golden (WR – GB)
Well, Golden got the draft capital alley-oop as the Packers bucked their previous trend and sent the card to the podium in the first round of the NFL Draft. I’ll lead this off by saying I’m lower than consensus regarding Golden. With the selection of Golden and then the team following that up by selecting Savion Williams (round 3) later in the NFL Draft, I don’t think Golden will be the team’s “true WR1.” Those correlated moves speak more to Green Bay continuing its wide receiver-by-committee approach. Even if they don’t and the team seeks to run more of the offense through Golden, I don’t know if he has the high-end target-drawing ability to reward their faith. Golden finished his collegiate career with an 18.7% target per route run rate and 1.85 yards per route run (per PFF). Neither of those metrics screams “future alpha WR1” in the NFL. Despite my pessimism, Golden’s draft capital alone necessitates that he be selected in the early to mid-second round of dynasty rookie drafts.
Luther Burden III (WR – CHI)
The manufactured touch king of Missouri heads to the Chicago Bears via the second round of the NFL Draft. The Ben Johnson faith and steam will give Burden a high floor in dynasty rookie drafts despite the muddy path to significant targets in his rookie season. Chicago did this last year with Rome Odunze as they tossed him into a crowded target tree, and it didn’t work out. Burden faces a similar hurdle with Odunze, D.J. Moore, and possibly Colston Loveland ahead of him in the hierarchy. I also didn’t even mention Cole Kmet or D’Andre Swift. Burden enjoyed a ton of schemed and easy looks in college as he wasn’t asked to just line up every down and route guys up. It’s tough to see Burden finding his way to high-end fantasy relevance in 2025 if everyone stays healthy. He’s more of a long-term play in dynasty as you invest in what we hope to be a much-improved version of the Bears offense and Caleb Williams moving forward. Burden is a mid-second-round pick in dynasty rookie drafts.
Kyle Williams (WR – NE)
Williams hive stand up! Williams gained a lot of traction in the fantasy community in the predraft process, with plenty of people hyping up the former Washington State late breakout. I remain a tad below consensus on Williams, but I agree that he is a viable third-round dart throw in dynasty rookie drafts. Williams didn’t surpass 900 receiving yards or 2.25 yards per route run in any collegiate season until 2024 (per PFF). The hope for the Patriots’ third-round draft pick is that he can avoid faceplanting like Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker did last year. He’ll need to hop Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, Kayshon Boutte, and Kendrick Bourne to see the field in 2025 as a full-time starter. We’ll see if he can accomplish that task. If not, he could disappear into the ether in 2026 like New England’s receiver draft picks from the last process are seemingly doing this year. With Williams concerning analytical profile, I don’t think the ceiling is extremely high in fantasy, but he’s worth selecting in the third round of dynasty rookie drafts if you need wide receiver depth and a flier for your squad.
Isaac TeSlaa (WR – DET)
TeSlaa was one of the most surprising picks of the entire NFL Draft, both in relation to his draft capital (round three) and the amount Detroit gave up to trade up for him (three third-round picks). The Lions needed to upgrade their WR3 spot and give them some insurance for Jameson Williams, who could walk after the 2025 season. I just don’t know if the highly athletic big slot (68.3% slot in college) in TeSlaa was the right answer. In his two seasons at Arkansas, he never had more than 532 receiving yards. He finished with a disappointing 5.0 yards after the catch per reception, 16.4% target per route run rate, and 1.45 yards per route run. I won’t be chasing the overwhelming draft capital with TeSlaa when everything else regarding his film and analytical profile screams to stay away. TeSlaa is just another fourth-round rookie pick that will be added to a multitude of taxi squads.
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