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Dynasty Rookies to Avoid: Wide Receivers (2025 Fantasy Football)

We’ll have you covered as you prepare for your 2025 dynasty rookie drafts. In order to dominate your dynasty rookie draft, check out our expert consensus dynasty rookie draft rankings. And sync your dynasty league to practice with fast and free dynasty rookie mock drafts. Below, we dive into dynasty rookie draft picks our analysts are higher or lower on compared to our expert consensus rankings.

Dynasty Draft Kit 2025

Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice

Travis Hunter (WR – JAC)

There’s an excellent case to be made that Travis Hunter is the best wide receiver in this year’s draft class. He’s a ridiculously fluid athlete with extraordinary ball skills. His route running needs refinement, but it’s scary to think about how good he could become once he develops that part of his game. The big question is Hunter’s role. He played both wide receiver and cornerback in college, and some people believe he’s better as a cornerback. The Jaguars, who traded up to select Hunter second overall in this year’s draft, say they intend to use Hunter primarily as a wide receiver in his rookie year, though Hunter has made it clear he wants to play both ways. Does double duty end up limiting Hunter’s offensive snaps? And what if the Jags eventually decide they want to make Hunter a full-time cornerback who plays, say, 30% of the offensive snaps. That sort of usage could crush his fantasy value. On talent alone, Hunter should be a first-round pick in dynasty rookie drafts, and he’ll probably go in the fourth or fifth round in redraft. But Hunter’s investors may have to live in fear of a role change.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

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.
– Derek Brown

Matthew Golden (WR – GB)

Texas keeps churning out good NFL receiver prospects. Matthew Golden is a burner who runs crisp routes and has sure hands. It’s impressive how adroitly he works the sidelines. Film guys such as Mel Kiper Jr., Daniel Jeremiah and Dane Brugler love him and ranked him as a top-15 overall prospect in this year’s draft. But Golden’s college production profile raises some red flags. Golden has a chance to make an immediate impact for the Packers, who selected him 23rd overall in this year’s draft. Golden should be able to earn significant rookie-year targets among a group of receivers that includes Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks. The Packers also have Christian Watson, but he might miss most of 2025 after sustaining a major knee injury late last year. Golden figures to go late in the first round of dynasty rookie drafts, and he’s a mid-rounder in redraft.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

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.
– Derek Brown

Here are our latest Dynasty Rookie Draft Rankings from our consensus of fantasy football experts. You can find the latest Dynasty Rookie Draft Rankings and sync your fantasy football league for specific advice.

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