Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheets (2025)

Get ready for your fantasy football draft with our fantasy football draft day cheat sheets. Our analysts dive into their favorite fantasy football draft targets and sleepers, as well as overvalued players and busts they’re avoiding in drafts. Let us help you prepare for your fantasy football draft with our cheat sheets! And use our Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet Creator to create your cheat sheet using our expert rankings, notes, and player tags.

Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Fitz’s Running Back Busts

Joe Mixon volume-hogged his way to an RB8 finish last year. Last year, he ranked 14th in snap share, fifth in opportunity share, 17th in weighted opportunity, and sixth in red zone touches. The efficiency aspect hasn’t been there, and I doubt that it will change in 2025 with another year of touches hitting the body odometer. Last year, he ranked 22nd in explosive run rate, 38th in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 29th in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). The Texans added Nick Chubb and Woody Marks this offseason to help out on early downs and in the passing game. With Mixon continuing to deal with a foot injury that has him sidelined for an extended period of time right now, he’s a tough player to get excited about drafting. Mixon has tumbled into risky RB2/3 territory, and I’m avoiding him in most of my drafts this year.
– DBro

David Montgomery could be hard-pressed to turn a profit on his low-end RB2 ADP. He shares work with Jahmyr Gibbs, one of the most talented RBs in the league. Montgomery has averaged 16.8 and 15.8 touches a game in Gibbs’ first two seasons. I’ll bet the under on 15.8 touches a game for Montgomery in 2025, as I expect an uptick in Gibbs’ usage. We could also see a dip in Montgomery’s TD total. He’s scored 13 and 12 touchdowns the last two years, as the Lions ranked first and fifth in scoring those two seasons. If the Lions scale back Montgomery’s usage to give Gibbs more snaps, or if the Detroit offense has hiccups after losing offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to the Bears, Monty’s TD total could slip. He’s a quality running back, but I see Montgomery as more of an RB3 than an RB2.
– Fitz

I have some concerns about James Cook heading into the 2025 season. His touchdown totals for the last three seasons: 3, 6, 18. Which number looks like the outlier to you? Cook is being selected as a high-end RB2 in early drafts, which doesn’t seem terribly unreasonable. But TD regression is inevitable, Cook probably isn’t going to get a huge rushing load because he weighs less than 200 pounds, and while he’s a good pass catcher, Cook might not be a huge needle-mover in that area simply because Josh Allen doesn’t check down to his RBs very often. It’s also possible the Bills give more work to second-year RB Ray Davis, who had 152 yards from scrimmage against the Jets in the one game Cook missed last season. But the Bills gave Cook a new deal in mid-August, and he should remain the leader of the Buffalo backfield.
– Fitz

Check out Fitz’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

DBro’s Wide Receiver Busts

Father Time remains undefeated. Tyreek Hill could see his efficiency dip again this season another year older. 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. Overall, last year, he was 28th in separation and 48th in route win rate (per Fantasy Points Data). None of this screams, “Hill is a top 15-20 wide receiver this season & a must-draft player.” Hill could return WR2 value in 2025 if he can hold off Father Time and rebound from the wrist injury that plagued him last season. If Hill dips in drafts, I’ll get exposure to him, but he’s not a player I’m prioritizing in drafts.
– DBro

DK Metcalf joins the Steelers as their new No. 1 WR after finishing 2024 as the WR32 (WR33 per game) with 992 yards and a career-low 5 TDs in 15 games. However, before a knee injury in Week 7, Metcalf was off to a scorching start – ranking top-5 in targets, yards, and air yards. Now in Pittsburgh’s run-heavy Arthur Smith offense, target share won’t be an issue, but overall passing volume/efficiency may be. Even with Aaron Rodgers at QB, this offense will have a low pass rate. Metcalf’s fantasy ceiling hinges on red-zone usage and big plays. The opportunity is there, but his 2025 value depends entirely on the Steelers’ offensive competency with the 41-year-old QB under center.
– Erickson

Marvin Harrison Jr. is coming off a disappointing rookie season in which he had 62 catches for 885 yards and 8eight touchdowns. Those aren’t bad numbers at all — certainly not by rookie standards — but was the No. 4 overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, and he’s a prodigy, the son of former Colts great Marvin Harrison Sr. Harrison finished WWR30 in PPR fantasy scoring as a rookie, and he needed some pretty good touchdown luck to finish that high — 12.9% of his catches and 6.9% of his targets resulted in TDs. With an averaged depth of target of 13.4 yards last season, MHJ seemed miscast as a purely vertical receiver. Harrison was excellent operating in the middle of the field at Ohio State, but Cardinals QB Kyler Murray doesn’t do a lot of business in the middle of the field, possible because his smaller stature limits his vision. Will Harrison’s usage change significantly? I’m not sure, which is why I’m reluctant to bet on substantially better numbers for MHJ in Year 2.
– Fitz

Check out DBro’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Erickson’s Quarterback Sleepers

Drake Maye might not have moved the needle for fantasy in his rookie season, but his performance over 12 starts was impressive considering how terrible his supporting cast was. From Week 6 of last season, when Maye made his first start, through Week 17, Maye averaged a respectable 16.8 fantasy points per game. The third overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Maye has immense potential as a passer, but it’s his rushing that should make him attractive to fantasy games. Maye had 421 rushing yards last season, and there’s potential for much more. As a sophomore at the University of North Carolina, Maye had 698 rushing yards in 14 games. Bear in mind that college quarterbacks’ sack yardage counts against their rushing yardage, and Maye lost about 200 yards from his rushing total that year. Maye should have it a little easier in the passing game this year, with New England beefing up its offensive line in the offseason and adding WRs Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams. It’s possible we get a Drake Maye breakout in 2025.
– Fitz

Last year was disastrous for C.J. Stroud as he tumbled from the QB7 in fantasy points per game to the QB28. Everything that could have gone wrong did. His offensive line imploded. Nico Collins was in and out of the lineup, while Tank Dell and Stefon Diggs were lost to season-ending injuries. Stroud didn’t help matters with the fifth-highest time to throw and the 15th-highest pressure-to-sack ratio (per Fantasy Points Data). Stroud will operate behind a retooled offensive line in 2025 that honestly couldn’t be worse than what he dealt with last year. The skill player cabinet has been restocked with a nice mix of veterans and youth, with the additions of Christian Kirk, Jayden Higgins, Jayllin Noel, Nick Chubb, and Justin Watson. Everything is setting up nicely for Stroud to make a run as a top-12 fantasy quarterback again this season.
– DBro

The light finally came on for Bryce Young down the stretch last year. In Weeks 12-18, he was the QB8 in fantasy points per game, averaging 25.4 rushing yards per game, which would have ranked 12th-best overall last year. During that stretch, among 34 qualifying quarterbacks, Young ranked eighth in CPOE, 12th in highly accurate throw rate, and second in hero throw rate (per Fantasy Points Data). He was aggressively pushing the ball downfield with the fifth-highest deep throw rate in the NFL behind only Josh Allen, Anthony Richardson, Lamar Jackson, and Jordan Love. Young is a sneaky QB2 option for 2025 who could again flirt with QB1 production if he can keep up the stellar play of late 2024 and quickly get on the same page with Tetairoa McMillan.
– DBro

Check out Erickson’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Joe’s Tight End Sleepers

Evan Engram could SMASH his ADP this year as Sean Payton’s Joker. Everyone will point to last year as a reason to have worries about Engram, who ranked 20th in yards per route run, but his target-drawing ability was just fine, ranking fifth in targets per route run and third in target share. He was also dealing with shoulder and hamstring issues. Those were his first injuries to deal with during a season since 2021. In Engram’s two previous seasons, he ranked 13th and 14th in yards per route run and second and 12th in target share (per Fantasy Points Data). Also, in 2023-2024, Engram excelled in one of the hallmark metrics that I look at when evaluating talent and upside at the tight end position: yards per route run versus man coverage. In those seasons, Engram ranked fourth and eighth in this metric. Engram’s best competition for targets is Courtland Sutton. Engram could lead Denver in targets this season. If that happens, he’ll likely be knocking on the door of the top 3-5 tight ends in 2025.
– DBro

A great many fantasy managers have vowed to never again roster Kyle Pitts, as the young tight end has repeatedly failed to meet expectations. The fourth overall pick of the 2021 draft, Pitts played his first NFL game at age 20 and became the first rookie TE to have a 1,000-yard receiving season since Mike Ditka 60 years earlier. But after finishing TE6 in PPR fantasy scoring as a rookie, Pitts hasn’t finished as a top-12 fantasy tight end in any of the last three years. He had 47 catches for 602 yards and a career-high four touchdowns last year. Pitts is still only 24, so there may be hope for him yet. Pitts had to acclimate to new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s system last year, and Falcons QB Kirk Cousins was a disappointment. Perhaps there’s hope for Pitts now that he has greater familiarity with the system and will be playing with talented young QB Michael Penix Jr.
– Fitz

Isaiah Likely’s path to fantasy relevance has been blocked by fellow Ravens TE Mark Andrews for most of Likely’s three NFL seasons. But Likely has had his moments, particularly when Andrews has been sidelined. In the nine games Andrews has missed over the last three years, Likely has averaged 3.4 catches, 50.3 yards and 0.7 touchdowns. Prorated, that would work out to 58 catches, 855 yards and 11 touchdowns over a full season. Likely and Andrews are both in the final years of their contracts with the Ravens. Likely has intriguing upside, but we might not get to see it until he and Andrews have been decoupled.
– Fitz

Check out Joe’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Articles NFL James Cook Joe Mixon David Montgomery Travis Etienne Tyreek Hill Marvin Harrison Jr. Zay Flowers Drake Maye C.J. Stroud Bryce Young Evan Engram Tyler Warren Kyle Pitts Isaiah Likely