20 Players Experts Target & Avoid (2025 Fantasy Football)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football players below. And you can check out which experts are higher or lower than our expert consensus rankings using our Fantasy Football Rankings Comparison Tools.

Fantasy Football Draft Advice

Let’s dive into players I like more or less than the expert consensus rankings.

Players to Target

Wide Receivers

Andrew Erickson’s Rank	Player	ECR	Diff.
19	Tetairoa McMillan CAR – WR	28	9
20	Xavier Worthy KC – WR	27	7
21	Jaylen Waddle MIA – WR	29	8
31	Rome Odunze CHI – WR	35	4
34	Jayden Reed GB – WR	42	8

Tetairoa McMillan lands in an ideal situation to emerge as the alpha wideout in Carolina. Drafted with top-10 capital (8th overall) the former Arizona star joins a Panthers offense in need of a true WR1. McMillan brings size, production and opportunity to a WR room featuring an underwhelming Xavier Legette and a promising but undrafted Jalen Coker. T-Mac was just one of 3 WRs in the FBS in 2023 to hit 1,396 yards, 10 TDs, and 89 receptions. The others being fellow top-10 WR draft selections: Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze. If Bryce Young takes even a modest step forward and continues to fuel fantasy success for his No. 1 target, McMillan could be this year’s breakout rookie receiver.

Running Backs

Andrew Erickson’s Rank	Player	ECR	Diff.
22	Kaleb Johnson PIT – RB	28	6
25	Travis Etienne Jr. JAC – RB	31	6
29	Jordan Mason MIN – RB	39	10
31	J.K. Dobbins DEN – RB	42	11
35	Rachaad White TB – RB	40	5

Travis Etienne was a borderline disaster in 2024. He carried over his sluggish finish in 2023 losing work to Tank Bigsby playing in a bad offense heralded by a backup quarterback for the majority of the season. He was a flat-out bust after being a star in 2023. Although to be fair, Etienne still had a higher rushing success rate than Bigbsy, who flashed more as a boom-or-bust rusher. Etienne also battled through several different injuries. But we love targeting ambiguous backfields for upside. And that is Jacksonville’s backfield. If Etienne wins the starting job, he has easy top-15 upside in this Coen offense. Etienne has an RB3 and RB17 finish on his resume after falling off in 2024 (RB36).

Players to Avoid

Wide Receivers

Expert Consensus’s Rank	Player	Andrew Erickson’s Rank	Diff.
13	Tyreek Hill MIA – WR	23	10
20	DJ Moore CHI – WR	25	5
21	DK Metcalf PIT – WR	29	8
22	Courtland Sutton DEN – WR	28	6
23	DeVonta Smith PHI – WR	32	9

Tyreek Hill was a mega bust in 2024, but so much of his poor performance can be placed on the injury to Tua Tagovailoa. Now, admittedly, even when Tua was healthy, Hill still underperformed vs. draft expectations. In those 11 games with his southpaw starting QB, Hill went over 100 yards twice, averaging 12.4 fantasy points per game (WR18). He had a wrist injury that he dealt with from Week 1 and his yards per route run cratered to a 1.75 mark – less than half of his 2023 yards per route run. Not to mention, the Cheetah just turned 31 years old, suggesting the age cliff might be near. And let’s not forget Hill’s outburst at the end of the 2024 season, which could lead to Miami moving on from the veteran WR.

Running Backs

Expert Consensus’s Rank	Player	Andrew Erickson’s Rank	Diff.
12	Kyren Williams LAR – RB	18	6
20	D’Andre Swift CHI – RB	28	8
26	Joe Mixon HOU – RB	32	6
32	Tyrone Tracy Jr. NYG – RB	42	10
34	Zach Charbonnet SEA – RB	44	10

It feels like Groundhog Day all over again – another offseason, another round of analysts fading Kyren Williams. But this year, the concerns are more justified, in the last year of William’s rookie contract. Despite a monster workload in 2024 (nearly 400 touches, 87% snap share, both second to only Saquon Barkley), Williams was wildly inefficient – ranking near the bottom in explosive run rate, missed tackles, and YAC per attempt (akin to Najee Harris’ numbers in 2024) with fumbles to boot. The Rams spent legit draft capital on Blake Corum in 2023 (who Sean McVay thinks is a stud) and Jarquez Hunter in 2024 (who the Rams traded up for) while publicly embracing the NFL trends of a more committee-driven backfield approach this offseason. Williams could still deliver RB1 numbers on sheer volume alone, but if that volume even slightly dips, it will be tough for him to live up to his ADP.