Fantasy Football Christmas Naughty & Nice List (2025)

It’s that time of year again, when we all need to consider how well we’ve behaved throughout the year, and for one man above all else, he’s casting a careful eye over us all before loading up his sleigh next week. If Santa has been paying much attention to the NFL and fantasy football this year, some very deserving folks warrant extra big presents, while, as per usual, a few folks might find themselves more deserving of a visit from Krampus.

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Fantasy Football Naughty List

The Raiders

A few teams probably belong here (Browns, Bengals, Jets, Dolphins, Saints), but the lengths the Raiders have gone to this year deserve special attention. The Raiders only ever seemed to have eyes for Pete Carroll in the coaching search last offseason, bringing back the 74-year-old coach who had run out of gas in Seattle but perhaps represented a calm presence for a team lacking identity and leadership.

Carroll has gone on to preside over the 30th-ranked offense in expected points added (EPA) per play, and a large part of it stems from the woeful offensive line play they’ve had, which is coached by Carroll’s son, Nate. The line ranks 32nd in Pro Football Focus (PFF) grades heading into Week 16, with their highest lineman graded out 41st, with everyone else performing miserably. That line play has led to Geno Smith regressing substantially, throwing the second-most interceptions in the league, taking the joint-most sacks and feeling so skittish that he was unable to help Brock Bowers improve upon an incredible rookie season.

The line play has also drastically impacted Ashton Jeanty‘s production, as the Raiders generated a league-low 1.05 yards before contact on rushing attempts. It remains to be seen what happens in Las Vegas, but nobody can feel good about the current regime.

Kyler Murray (QB – ARI)

The Cardinals thought they had their franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray, and in fairness, he’s had his moments, but not for some time. The injuries have clearly had an impact, and there are other factors we could point to around the team and ownership, but it’s become apparent that Murray deserves to be on the naughty list.

Trey McBride has 10 receiving touchdowns this season, four more than he’d had in his previous three seasons combined. McBride has flourished with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, helping him to rank second in red-zone targets and receptions. It’s not just McBride, either, with Marvin Harrison Jr. seeing a career-high seven receptions in Week 9, and also being targeted three times on the first drive for the first time in his career.

Murray used to say there’s only one ball and it can only go one place at a time, but the simple fact is Murray has shown his decision-making might be better while playing Call of Duty than playing in the NFL. If Santa has anything to do with it, he won’t be gifting Murray the latest version of Call of Duty under the Christmas tree.

The Waiver Wire

This year has been a lot of things, but it hasn’t been a classic one for the waiver wire. In Week 2, people rushed to the wire for Dylan Sampson and Marquise Brown. In Week 3, it was Elic Ayomanor and Bhayshul Tuten who never gave you any faith you could start them. Kendre Miller, Devin Neal, Trey Benson, Bam Knight… player after player off the wire looked like gold, only to turn into fool’s gold.

Of course, there were a few gems like Oronde Gadsden II and Cam Skattebo, but neither lasted long in your starting lineups. We’re not always going to get years where we get gems like Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, James Robinson or Jamaal Williams, but give us a little juice.

Evan Engram (TE – DEN)

Plenty of people lay their tight end hopes on a player they assumed would be the ‘joker’ in Sean Payton’s offense, but Evan Engram has never been that player, despite tweeting out a gif of Heath Ledger’s Joker shortly after signing.

Engram ranked 28th among tight ends in yards after the catch per game last year, scored over four touchdowns only once in his career and had largely gotten by on volume throughout his career, ranking sixth in receptions last year at a clip of 5.2 per game. This year, Engram wasn’t able to earn anywhere close to those numbers.

Engram ranks 27th among tight ends with 359 yards, has a single touchdown and ranks 43rd among tight ends with 25+ catches in catch rate. Engram was the TE8 in offseason average draft position (ADP) and was drafted inside the top 90 picks. He has finished lower than TE18 on eight occasions in PPR leagues. Engram has simply turned out to be much more Jared Leto than Heath Ledger.

Fantasy Football Nice List

Joe Flacco (QB – CIN)

Many of us will be old enough to remember the sour taste that watching Joe Flacco’s latter years with the Ravens brought, but nowadays, he’s a cult hero for rejuvenating offenses. If you gave fantasy football fans a choice between Flacco and Jameis Winston, it’s a tough conversation these days.

Flacco didn’t light the world on fire with the Browns, but then landed in Cincinnati, where he averaged 19.9 points per game, five more than Joe Burrow has managed in his starts. Flacco kept Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins alive when fantasy managers were ready to give up after some woeful Jake Browning play. The Cleveland experience tells us it might not always work out, but gunslingers like Flacco, who aren’t afraid to make mistakes, give fantasy managers much more hope than tepid backups intent on sticking around as long as possible.

Rookie Tight Ends

We’ve seen a steady uptick in rookie tight end performances over the last few seasons, ever since Kyle Pitts had 1,026 yards in his rookie season. Sam LaPorta and Brock Bowers also followed with aplomb, and then the 2025 class looked set to be another great group.

Tyler Warren started hot, before succumbing to the regression and injuries that hit Daniel Jones, but he definitely paid off his ADP, while Colston Loveland has been a fine streamer with high value peaks. Oronde Gadsden II had a fantastic streak of startable performances, but arguably nobody has been as good as Harold Fannin Jr., who has had seven top-12 PPR weekly finishes. With even mediocre quarterback play, Fannin could be a star.

We simply have to reevaluate how we evaluate tight ends entering the NFL going forward. Yes, they can be volatile, but the entire tight end position is; however, rookie tight ends are simply far better equipped for the challenges of the NFL than they once were, and that provides us with plenty of fantasy opportunity.

Sam Darnold (QB – SEA)

It has been a truly wild career arc for Sam Darnold. From a highly sought-after rookie to an abject disaster with a spell of mono, before misery with the Panthers and other stops, he’s finally found a level of stability that has let him shine.

First with Minnesota and now with the Seahawks, who moved on from Geno Smith to bring him in. Minnesota must be green with envy, thinking about how they could be performing after Darnold led the Seahawks to a last-second win over the Rams. Justin Jefferson is caught in the worst season of his career, while Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the favorite to win this year’s Offensive Player of the Year award. Darnold hasn’t been flawless, but he’s been excellent throwing the ball deep downfield, and that makes a massive difference for fantasy.

Liam Coen

The Jaguars have been a laughing stock more often than not over the last decade, and serious questions were being asked about Trevor Lawrence‘s future heading into this season. The Jaguars had mortgaged their future on Lawrence being able to thrive in this system, particularly when they gave up future picks to acquire Travis Hunter in the draft. While Hunter hasn’t particularly paid off so far, Lawrence is on track for career highs in passing touchdowns, with multiple touchdowns in four straight games for the first time in his career

Travis Etienne is 176 yards away from a career high in rushing yards, and has found more consistency than he’s displayed in previous years, helping the Jaguars to have the fifth-best rushing offense in EPA. If Coen can find a way to get Hunter, Brian Thomas Jr. and Jakobi Meyers all clicking on the field at the same time, this offense could really go nuclear.

Drake London (WR – ATL)

Despite not playing since Week 11 with a PCL injury, Drake London enters Week 16 with a chance to play and is ranked third in total receiving yards. London has five games over 100 receiving yards and three weekly finishes as the WR1 overall, as he finally shook off any doubts about his ceiling.

London’s only issue remains at the quarterback position, where questions will linger due to Michael Penix‘s latest knee injury. London is only 24 years old, four years into his NFL career and should be paid substantially this offseason. For fantasy, you can’t ask for much more from a player who has only finished below WR36 twice. Consistency and ceiling get you a prized place on the nice list.

Matthew Stafford (QB – LAR)

Save the best till last? Perhaps. Matthew Stafford was top of the panic list for many people this Summer when Rams fans joked Stafford was dead, because they hadn’t seen him at training for so long. When the Rams rolled out a healing trailer to the side of the practice field, people thought he could be on the verge of retirement; instead, he’s pacing to be the MVP and be very deserving of it.

Stafford has already hit both 4,000 passing yards and 40 touchdowns while only throwing five interceptions. Stafford has rejuvenated Davante Adams‘s career and finally made Puka Nacua a touchdown threat. Last time Stafford looked this dangerous, he took the Rams to the Super Bowl, and it doesn’t seem out of the question this year either.