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.
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Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
Fitz’s QB & TE Fantasy Football Sleepers
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.
Michael Penix heads into the 2025 season as the Falcons’ unquestioned starting quarterback after sitting behind Kirk Cousins for most of the 2024 season. Penix did make three late-season starts, completing 58% of his throws in those games, averaging 245.7 passing yards per game and 7.4 yards per attempt, with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Penix is a pocket passer who doesn’t offer much rushing upside, but he has a powerful and accurate arm. He led FBS in passing yardage in each of his final two college seasons at Washington. Penix has the potential to return a small profit on his low-end QB2 price tag.
J.J. McCarthy missed his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus in his knee but enters 2025 as the Vikings’ undisputed starting quarterback. McCarthy steps into a very healthy offensive ecosystem. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is one of the NFL’s shrewdest offensive architects. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison form a terrific WR duo, and T.J. Hockenson is a top tight end. The Vikings have a good pair of offensive tackles and upgraded the middle of their offensive line in the offseason. Things might not always go smoothly for McCarthy in his first go-round as an NFL starter, but he offers intriguing rushing upside. McCarthy had eight TD runs in his final two college seasons at Michigan.
Tight End Sleepers
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.
Zach Ertz still appears to have gas left in the tank at age 34. He had 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns last season, finishing TE8 in half-point PPR scoring. After scoring only one touchdown over his first 10 games of 2024, Ertz scored six touchdowns over Washington’s last seven regular-season games. He scored another TD in the playoffs and went out with an 11-catch, 104-yard performance in the Commanders’ season ending loss to Ertz’s former team, the Eagles. After playing a full season for the first time since 2021, Ertz agreed to a one-year deal that will keep him in Washington. He and young QB Jayden Daniels developed strong chemistry. Despite his age, Ertz could be a sneaky-good late-round TE option in 2025.
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.
Check out Fitz’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
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