3 Fantasy Football Players Experts Fade (2025)

We have just one week of preseason football left. The next two weekends are the height of fantasy football draft season. It’s go time. FantasyPros analysts Mike Maher, Derek Brown, Andrew Erickson and Pat Fitzmaurice continue a series of preseason roundtables. You can find the first three articles in our roundtable series here, here, and here.

Fantasy Football Roundtable

Players to Fade in 2025 Drafts

We’re about to hit peak fantasy football draft season. Here’s your chance to talk fantasy managers out of drafting one player you believe is destined to disappoint. Which player do you want to warn people about?

Tyreek Hill (WR – MIA)

Derek Brown: I’m fading Tyreek Hill this year. The vibes around Miami are not great, and this is an aging wide receiver with the headlines now dominated by his press conference antics and his off-the-field actions, not his play.

Last year, with Tua Tagovailoa under center (Weeks 8-16), Hill was the WR24 in fantasy points per game while ranking 36th in yards per route run, 34th in target share, and 33rd in receiving yards per game. He was 28th in separation last season and 48th in route win rate (per FantasyPoints Data).

None of this screams, “Hill is a top 15-20 wide receiver this season and a must-draft player!” If fading Hill burns me this year, so be it, but I’m out.

Andrew Erickson: I want no part of Tyreek Hill. In 11 games with Tua Tagovailoa under center, Hill surpassed 100 receiving yards just twice and averaged 12.4 fantasy points per game — only good enough for him to be WR18 during that span.

Hill posted the worst YAC/reception of his career and just turned 31 years old. His outburst at the end of the 2024 season — removing himself from the game and demanding to get out of Miami — adds another layer of uncertainty regarding his role and long-term future with the Dolphins.

There are so many red flags. Declining efficiency, age, and potential chemistry issues with the team and QB make Hill a high-risk, low-confidence fantasy pick in 2025 drafts — especially if his ADP remains in the early rounds. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Hill were traded (back to KC amid the Rashee Rice situation?), which might be the only way he makes me regret fading him in 2025.

Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)

Mike Maher: He’s going to be over-drafted in home leagues the next few weekends because of his name, but I want no part of Breece Hall this season.

The vibes coming out of New Jersey are no bueno, and we’re seeing smoke about an increased role in that backfield for fellow RB Braelon Allen. Hall is currently 39th in FantasyPros ECR, which is down three spots from last week (and still falling), and eight spots lower than his ADP.

The fantasy football industry is signaling the alarm on Hall. Let one of your leaguemates take that risk while you grab Allen 100 spots later to fill out your bench.

Josh Downs (WR – IND)

Pat Fitzmaurice: Those are some good early-round fades by my colleagues, and I’m fading Tyreek Hill and Breece Hall, too. But I’ll go further down the draft board and implore you not to bother with Josh Downs.

Downs has scored seven touchdowns in 31 career games and has gone over the 100-yard mark just twice. The Colts’ quarterbacking? Not great, Bob.

Also, I don’t know if the Josh Downs enthusiasts understand how much rookie TE Tyler Warren is going to impact Downs’ target share. Warren is a beast who piled up more than 1,200 receiving yards at Penn State last year and accounted for 35.6% of the Nittany Lions’ pass receptions. Warren has played all but one of the 35 snaps the Colts’ offensive starters have played this offseason. It’s inevitable that Warren is going to siphon away targets from Downs.