Today is a day that ends in y, which means it’s a great day to fire up a fantasy football mock draft using FantasyPros’ Draft Wizard. I recently completed a a half-PPR mock draft (the superior format), picking as the final of 12 teams. Roster settings for this mock will be 1-QB, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 1-Flex and six bench slots. I’m picking at the turn, so and I’ll share a few of my favorite picks from the draft to help you navigate your 2025 drafts.
Fantasy Football Draft Picks to Target
9.12/10.01: Justin Fields (QB – NYJ) & Jerome Ford (RB – CLE)
The fantasy football community has gotten much better at properly valuing quarterback rushing production. But for some reason, that doesn’t seem to extend to Justin Fields and his QB12 ADP. Say what you will about his abilities as an NFL quarterback, but Fields has an excellent skill set for racking up those sweet, sweet fantasy points. Even last year, playing on a hyper-conservative Steelers offense, he was the QB6 with 19.1 points per game after his sixth and final start of the season. I will happily grab him as one of the final QB1s off the board in every draft where I have that option.
As for Jerome Ford, you could argue that selecting him here was a bit of a reach. He is ranked well behind this in both ADP and ECR. But it is looking more and more likely that Ford will be the Browns’ starting running back. The season is just three weeks away, and Quinshon Judkins doesn’t seem remotely close to signing. Dylan Sampson will be involved, but the fourth-round rookie is clearly behind Ford (who was quietly efficient last season) in the pecking order. Ford is still a low-ceiling player, as the Browns’ offense is set to be unexciting, to be polite. But I’m not going to look too hard at the gift horse of a potential starting running back in the 10th round.
11.12/12.01: Luther Burden III (WR – CHI) & Tyler Allgeier (RB – ATL)
If drafting Jerome Ford was settling for an infield single, I swung for the fences with my next pick. Luther Burden’s path to targets is murky on a crowded Bears offense; there’s a real chance his role is too small to provide any fantasy value. But he was an exciting prospect and received solid second-round draft capital.
We know from history that highly drafted rookie receivers are some of the best possible upside bets late in fantasy drafts. It might take a while (and an injury or two) for Burden to become a usable fantasy asset, but I won’t need him to start right away as my WR5 and 10th Flex-eligible player.
As for Tyler Allgeier, I don’t have anything groundbreaking to say. He is a pure handcuff, one of the best in the league. For what it’s worth, I think he would start on plenty of teams around the NFL, and I am always happy to add him to my roster near the end of a draft.
13.12/14.01: Dallas Goedert (TE – PHI) & Jacory Croskey-Merritt (RB – WSH)
After a relatively smooth draft, Dallas Goedert was the pick I agonized over the most (as much as one can agonize over a 13th-round pick in a mock draft). I normally don’t like drafting a backup tight end when I already have a top-six option. But I simply couldn’t pass on Goedert this late in the draft.
If we remove Goedert’s injury-shortened Week 7, he averaged 9.4 half-PPR points per game in 2024. That would have ranked him as the TE6 for the season; that was on an Eagles offense that hardly threw the ball. He also has proven contingent upside if either DeVonta Smith or A.J. Brown misses time. He might end up redundant if Mark Andrews starts strong, but I can easily move on from my second-to-last pick if that is the case.
The great thing about drafting at this stage of the year is that you can often snag value players on their way up draft boards. Jacory Croskey-Merritt is exactly one of those players. He is still a seventh-round rookie, so there’s a real chance he never turns into anything. But he’s behind two uninspiring veterans in Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler and has generated tons of hype in camp. He also missed all but one of the games in his final college season due to a weird eligibility issue, so there’s a chance his true talent is higher than that of a traditional seventh-rounder. Even putting that aside, there’s zero risk and plenty of upside in taking him with my final pick of the draft.
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Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasyPros.com. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.
