FantasyPros Staff | Wed, Jul 2nd 2025, 3:24am EDT

8 Must-Have Players Experts Love to Draft (2025 Fantasy Football)

The preparation for your perfect 2025 fantasy football draft begins now.

Have a battle plan when you show up for your in-person draft or fire up the laptop for your online draft. But don’t make it a rigid plan.

Fantasy drafts are unpredictable. Average draft position goes out the window. Your competitors will make unexpected picks. You’ll occasionally get snaked on a player you wanted.

Be flexible. Be nimble. Be prepared.

And get those reps in before draft season arrives! Test your draft strategies by mock-drafting with the FantasyPros Draft Simulator.

Here are some of my favorite 2025 draft targets.

Fantasy Football Draft Picks to Target

Drake London (WR – ATL)

London turned a corner in 2024, finishing third in the NFL in targets (158), ninth in receptions (100) and fourth in receiving yards (1,271) while scoring a career-high nine touchdowns.

London really popped when rookie QB Michael Penix Jr. made three starts for Atlanta at the end of the regular season. London caught 22-of-39 targets in those three contests for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Penix has a terrific arm and could be a rainmaker for London this year.

Brock Bowers (TE -LV)

Bowers is a freak. He finished third among all pass catchers in receptions, behind only Ja’Marr Chase and Amon-Ra St. Brown, and he did it as a 21-year-old tight end playing with bad quarterbacks. Bowers had 112-1,194-5 receiving. He finished 18th in PPR scoring among non-QBs, but had Bowers scored just two more touchdowns, he would have finished 12th.

The Raiders have added QB Geno Smith, who threw for 4,320 yards in Seattle last year, and the fast pace favored by new Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly could give Bowers an incremental value bump due to increased play volume.

Bucky Irving (RB – TB)

Irving had 1514 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns last season, and he played only about one-third of the Buccaneers’ offensive snaps over the first month of the season, when Rachaad White was still Tampa’s lead RB. Irving also had a toe injury at midseason that cost him snaps.

In fact, there were only seven games last season in which Irving played more than half of the Buccaneers’ offensive snaps, including their one playoff game. But in games where he did play more than half of the offensive snaps, Irving averaged 127.3 yards from scrimmage per game.

Irving averaged 3.93 yards after contact per attempt, according to PFF – tops among all RBs who had 60 or more carries. He ranked seventh in PFF rushing grade, ninth in breakaway percentage, and fourth in yards per route run (1.62) among RBs with at least 20 catches.

Kenneth Walker (RB – SEA)

It’s a good bet that the Seahawks’ ground game will thrive under new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak and run game coordinator Rick Dennison. The Kubiak-Dennison partnership has been running-game gold dating back to Dennison’s pairing with Klint’s dad, Gary Kubiak, in Denver in the 1990s and 2000s.

The Kubiak scheme will include a lot of outside zone, which should suit Walker, who has averaged 4.54 yards per carry on outside-zone runs over his first three NFL seasons, according to Ryan Heath of Fantasy Points.

Walker has also been a reliable touchdown scorer, with 26 TDs in 41 career games.

Calvin Ridley (WR – TEN)

Ridley has topped 1,000 yards in each of the last two seasons. He was highly efficient in 2024, averaging 15.9 yards per catch and 1.86 yards per route run, even though the Titans had one of the worst QB situations in the league.

No. 1 draft pick Cam Ward takes over at quarterback for the Titans this season, and while he’s sure to hit some bumps as a rookie, Ward is an aggressive downfield thrower who should help boost Ridley’s fantasy value

Jerry Jeudy (WR – CLE)

In 2024, Jeudy hit career highs last season in targets (145), receptions (90) and receiving yards (1,229). He’s a fine route runner, and he’s terrific after the catch.

Jeudy figures to remain the No. 1 receiver in Cleveland, and even though it seems as if he’s been around forever, Jeudy is only 26. The Browns’ QB situation is messy, but Jeudy is still a value at his midrange WR3 ADP.

Drake Maye (QB – NE)

Rushing ability is a cheat code for quarterbacks, but most of the QBs who provide substantial rushing value are expensive in fantasy drafts — Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, and Jayden Daniels. You can turn a big profit by finding a quarterback who provides prolific rushing value but isn’t very expensive. I think Maye can be that guy.

Maye started 12 games as a rookie. But if we exclude Week 18, when he only played three snaps before being pulled, Maye averaged 4.7 carries and 37.2 rushing yards. Over a full season, that would project to 632 rushing yards. I think Maye could do better than that. As a redshirt freshman at North Carolina, Maye had 698 rushing yards in 14 games — and remember that college quarterbacks have sack yardage deducted from their rushing yardage. In his two seasons as a college starter, he had 16 touchdown runs in 26 games.

Maye was also competent as a passer last year, even though his offensive line and pass catchers were trash. The Patriots have at least incrementally improved their WR corps and O-line.

Jordan Mason (RB – MIN)

We’ve seen what Mason can do if he gets substantial carry volume. In the 49ers’ first five games of 2024, with Christian McCaffrey out, Mason averaged 107 rushing yards per game, 120 scrimmage yards per game, and 5.1 yards per carry.

Mason is a terrific fit for a Minnesota running game that’s heavy on outside-zone runs. The Vikings improved their offensive line in free agency, and head coach Kevin O’Connell is one of the best playcallers in the league.

Mason could have stand-alone value even if 30-year-old Aaron Jones stays healthy. If Jones were to miss time, Mason could deliver RB1 value.

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