Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft (2025)

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 sleepers below. And check out all of the fantasy football sleepers experts love in our consensus sleeper rankings.

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Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft

Here are fantasy football sleepers the experts love to target in drafts.

Who are Fantasy Football Sleepers?

Fantasy football sleepers are players who have a strong chance to exceed expectations and become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers.

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Running Backs

Our RB sleepers are based on a poll of experts who selected their favorite RBs with high upside. Each RB had a consensus draft rank below #45. as of early July.

Bhayshul Tuten found a port in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Liam Coen and company hope that Tuten can pull their offense up the scoring ranks in 2025. Ok, that’s enough tugboat references. Tuten will compete from the jump for touches with holdovers Travis Etienne and Tank Bigsby. Etienne looked like a shell of his former self last season, so Bigsby might be the most formidable adversary to a Tuten takeover. That doesn’t mean that Tuten and Bigsby couldn’t form a solid committee. Tuten has the juice to make the most of his touches. During his final collegiate season, he ranked tenth in yards after contact per attempt and breakaway percentage and eighth in elusive rating (per PFF). Tuten is an upside flier who could pay off handsomely in 2025, much like Bucky Iriving did last year.
– Derek Brown

After tearing his Achilles in Week 1 of the 2023 season, J.K. Dobbins made a successful return in 2024, rolling up 905 rushing yards and nine touchdowns for the Chargers in 13 games. Dobbins now joins the Broncos, where he’ll be part of Sean Payton’s backfield. Payton likes to use multiple running backs, and no doubt rookie R.J. Harvey will be prominently involved. But Dobbins figures to have a role as well, and it’s possible he’ll be Payton’s preferred goal-line back.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Jaydon Blue fell to the fifth round of the NFL Draft as he was swimming in a ridiculously deep running back draft class. The former Longhorn displayed some three-down big play ability in his final collegiate season. He ranked 26th in elusive rating, 35th in yards after contact per attempt, and 25th in yards per route run (per PFF). It’s not hard to envision Blue having a role in the backfield immediately in Week 1, considering the lackluster players surrounding him on the Dallas Cowboys’ depth chart. Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders’ best football looks to be behind them. Blue could be the passing down back from Day 1 with an avenue to become the team’s lead back quickly.
– Derek Brown

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Wide Receivers

Our WR sleepers are based on a poll of experts who selected their favorite WRs with high upside. Each WR had a consensus draft rank below #55. as of early July.

Jayden Higgins got the capital I was hoping for as the fifth wide receiver selected in the NFL Draft at the top of the second round. Higgins should immediately file in as the starting outside receiver opposite Nico Collins in two wide receiver sets. Higgins was an underrated player throughout the entire draft process, ranking 27th and 16th in yards per route run and first and 18th in receiving grade during his final two collegiate seasons (per PFF). He’s a sure-handed receiver who will become a trusted safety blanket for C.J. Stroud after posting a 2.2% drop rate or lower in each of the last three seasons and a 55.6% contested catch rate in college. The addition of Higgins and fellow former Iowa State wide receiver Jaylin Noel should push Christian Kirk while also hopefully fueling a big bounce-back season for Stroud. Higgins is a WR3/4 that could easily evolve into a weekly WR2 as the 2025 season rolls along.
– Derek Brown

Over the Broncos’ last five regular-season games of 2024, Marvin Mims had 23 catches for 341 yards and five touchdowns. He was WR17 in PPR fantasy points per game (17.5) over that stretch, even though Mims played fewer than half of Denver’s offensive snaps in all of those games. Mims is still only 23 years old. It’s possible Sean Payton sees Mims as merely a punt returner and gadget guy. But it’s also possible that the flash we saw at the end of last season was the start of big things for an electric playmaker. Mims is a worthwhile dart throw in the later stages of your draft.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Kyle Williams enters the NFL as one of the most dynamic rookie wide receivers in the 2025 class. After a breakout 2024 season at Washington State (1,200+ yards, 14 TDs, 34% dominator rating), Williams showcased elite YAC skills (1st in class) and vertical playmaking (3rd in deep-ball catches, 58.3% success rate on 20+ yard throws). His tape backs it up – including burning Travis Hunter on one notable route – and his Tyler Lockett-style game makes him a strong fit with rookie QB Drake Maye in New England. With Stefon Diggs on a one-year prove-it deal and coming off a torn ACL, Williams has a legitimate shot to emerge as the Patriots’ go-to target in Year 1.
– Andrew Erickson

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Quarterbacks

Our QB sleepers are based on a poll of experts who selected their favorite QBs with high upside. Each QB had a consensus draft rank below #15. as of early July.

Dak Prescott is an amazing late-round quarterback value. He is primed to return to the QB1 ranks in 2025. With George Pickens added opposite CeeDee Lamb, Jake Ferguson, and Jalen Tolbert, Prescott has enough weaponry at his disposal to excel in Dallas’s pass-centric offense. Last year, in Weeks 1-8, Dallas ranked eighth in neutral passing rate and tenth in pass rate over expectation. Last year, Prescott’s passing touchdown rate dipped to 3.8%, which was the first time since 2020 that his passing touchdown rate had dipped below 5.8%. Prescott will throw for more touchdowns in 2025. We’re only one season removed from him finishing as the QB4 in fantasy points per game, seventh in yards per attempt, eighth in CPOE, and sixth-best in highly accurate throw rate (per Fantasy Points Data). Invest in Prescott.
– Derek Brown

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.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Yes, I know we haven’t seen J.J. McCarthy play outside of an abbreviated preseason sample last year, but I’ll be targeting him everywhere this season. This should remain a pass-happy offense after ranking eighth in neutral passing rate and third in pass rate over expectation last year (per Fantasy Points Data). The Vikings remain loaded with skill players and added to the offensive line this offseason to give their new signal caller all the time in the world to dice up opposing pass defenses in 2025. Sam Darnold (yes, that Sam Darnold) finished as the QB9 in fantasy points per game last year, continuing a long history of Kevin O’Connel’s quarterbacks finishing as QB1s. I believe McCarthy will keep that streak alive. He was a stellar prospect who has been airdropped into the perfect situation. In his final collegiate season, McCarthy ranked inside the top 12 FBS quarterbacks in passing grade, adjusted completion rate, yards per attempt, adjusted completion rate with downfield throws, and against pressure (per PFF). It’s wheels up for McCarthy in 2025.
– Derek Brown

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Tight Ends

Our TE sleepers are based on a poll of experts who selected their favorite TEs with high upside. Each TE had a consensus draft rank below #15. as of early July.

Tyler Warren got the ballyhooed first-round draft capital that we all figured he would. The landing spot is rough, though. Indy has a ton of talented pass-catching options that will push Warren weekly for target volume. Michael Pittman and Josh Downs presumably will be above him in the target pecking order. I still love Warren as a player, but I’m worried that he could struggle to live up to the hype that his talent has deserved. The passing volume, quarterback play, and receiving depth chart are all big-time concerns for his 2025 outlook. Last year, Indy had the third-lowest passing rate inside the red zone and in neutral game environments. During his final collegiate season, Warren ranked in the top three among tight ends in yards per route run, receiving grade, missed tackles forced, and yards after the catch (per PFF). Warren is a TE2 that could easily finish as a TE1.
– Derek Brown

Now that Evan Engram has gone from Jacksonville to Denver via free agency, former second-round draft pick Brenton Strange sits atop the Jaguars’ TE depth chart. Strange had 40 catches for 411 yards and two touchdowns last season. In the eight games that Engram missed, Strange averaged 3.6 receptions and 34.4 receiving yards. The possibility of an enhanced role makes the 24-year-old Strange an intriguing TE sleeper.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Hunter Henry is a wonderful late-round tight-end target this season if you’re looking to punt the position in 2025. Last year, in Drake Maye’s full starts, he had a 19.2% target share, averaged 49.9 receiving yards per game, had 1.70 yards per route run, a 22.7% first-read share, and 0.098 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). I’ll also add on top that he averaged 11.3 PPR points per game in that sample. Last year, among all tight ends with 25 targets, those marks would have ranked seventh, sixth, 14th, fifth, eighth, and the points per game production would have made him the TE8 in fantasy. Yes, since that time, New England added Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams to the passing equation, but that doesn’t mean that Henry still can’t emerge in 2025 as Maye’s number two option in the passing offense and flirt with TE1 output.
– Derek Brown