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Mitch Blatt's top 13 dynasty fantasy football risers and veteran player winners following the 2025 NFL Draft: Bryce Young, Jordan Love, C.J. Stroud, Breece Hall, and more.
The NFL Draft sends shockwaves through the dynasty fantasy football landscape.
If too much new competition for targets and carries comes in, the value of your players could tank. But if a better supporting cast steps up alongside your guy, they could rise significantly. In this year's NFL Draft, we saw a little bit of both things happening.
I’m going to focus on the winners, and my list starts with five quarterbacks whose value has significantly increased. For more good information on strategies for dynasty for the 2025 season, be sure to check out RotoBaller's Dynasty Fantasy Football Guide.
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Dynasty Fantasy Football Quarterback Winners
Bryce Young, QB, Carolina Panthers
The Panthers gave Bryce Young much-needed help by taking Tetairoa McMillan with the No. 8 pick in the draft. Young had an amazing turnaround in the second half of last season, which was all the more impressive considering that his best receivers were the aging Adam Thielen and the underwhelming rookie Xavier Legette.
Going into the draft, the Panthers didn't have an alpha WR1, and it was unclear whether they would address that need. Many analysts expected them to go with a defensive player in Round 1. Instead, Bryce has himself a 6-foot-4, 219-pound Fred Biletnikoff Award finalist.
In three years at Arizona, T-Mac combined for 3,423 yards, including two seasons with over 1,300 each, and scored 26 touchdowns. Young is poised to continue his breakout.
Jordan Love, QB, Green Bay Packers
The Packers are not lacking wide receiver weapons. However, before the draft, they did not have a do-it-all X receiver. Whether or not Matthew Golden is that alpha, he is elite at running nines and in-breaking routes down the field, routes Jordan Love is adept at hitting for big-time plays.
Golden was a top wide receiver on most draft boards, and the Packers definitely thought of him as such, making him their first wide receiver selected in Round 1 since 2002.
In addition, the Packers also drafted Savion Williams from TCU in Round 3 and added Cincinnati guard John Williams for offensive line depth in Round 7.
Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears
The Bears continued to add a plethora of early-round weapons for second-year quarterback Caleb Williams to throw to.
At pick No. 10, Chicago drafted Colston Loveland, an excellent receiving tight end who ran most of his routes at Michigan, lined up wide or in the slot. They followed that with the selection of Luther Burden III at No. 39. Burden was ranked as a top-20 talent on many big boards.
The Bears already had a strong offensive line after they made offseason moves, and they added Michigan State guard Luke Newman in the sixth round, who could step in if starters get injured. DJ Moore is 28 years old and still has some good years ahead of him, but now the Bears also have passing game weapons for the future.
C.J. Stroud, QB, Houston Texans
The Texans restocked an extremely deep wide receiver room with the selections of both Iowa State wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in Rounds 2 and 3.
Both teammates caught 80 or more passes for over 1,100 yards and eight or more touchdowns last season. Higgins is younger and was ahead of Noel on most draft boards. They could go a long way to replacing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell, who will miss a large chunk of the season with a dislocated kneecap and a torn ACL.
Their offensive line is still weak, but they took a stab at finding a new tackle when they picked Minnesota’s Aireontae Ersery in Round 2.
Baker Mayfield, QB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers made sure that they would have good wide receivers after Chris Godwin and Mike Evans retire. They already had rookie Jalen McMillan, who had a mini-breakout late last season. Then, they drafted Emeka Egbuka, who set the Ohio State school records for receptions and receiving yards, in the middle of the first round.
The Egbuka pick might not improve Mayfield’s outlook for 2025. Chris Godwin hopes to return by Week 1. (Egbuka does serve as an insurance option if Godwin misses extended time.) More importantly, it means the 30-year-old Mayfield will likely have strong receiving weapons to work with for the rest of his career.
Dynasty Fantasy Football Running Back Winners
Breece Hall, RB, New York Jets
The New York Jets only had the 20th-best running game last season, as graded by PFF. Breece Hall’s total carries and yards decreased from 2023, and he gained the fewest yards per attempt of his career. Despite their struggles on the ground, they opted not to add another running back to their backfield.
Trey Benson, RB, Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals didn’t add any running backs in the draft, leaving last year’s third-round pick, Trey Benson, with an opportunity to establish himself as the RB of the future. James Conner is 30 years old, and his contract expires after the 2026 season.
Benson averaged 4.6 yards per carry last season, but he was limited to just a couple of carries in many games. There is hope that he will have a greater role in 2025, potentially becoming the RB1B.
Isiah Pacheco, RB, Kansas City Chiefs
Isiah Pacheco rose from the RB32 to the RB29 in the immediate aftermath of the draft. The Chiefs waited until Round 7 to draft a running back, selecting Brashard Smith. Kareem Hunt and Elijah Mitchell are his backups.
Dynasty Fantasy Football Wide Receivers and Tight End Winners
Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans
Calvin Ridley is about to be 31 years old, but he still went (just) over 1,000 yards in each of the past two seasons.
For a 1,000-yard receiver, he had surprisingly few touchdowns--just four. The Titans scored the fifth-fewest touchdowns of any team, and what few passing touchdowns they scored mostly went to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
Now Westbrook-Ikhine is gone, and, even better, Will Levis is gone as starting quarterback. Cam Ward might be an underwhelming QB1 compared to most years, but he ought to be a considerable upgrade over Levis.
CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys
After a draft in which Dallas didn’t select a single wide receiver, the Cowboys' receiver room consists of CeeDee Lamb, Jalen Tolbert, and KaVontae Turpin.
Dak Prescott has thrown the ball over 500 times in each of the last four seasons, in which he has played 16 games. In 2023, he led the league in completions and touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb has received the second-most targets since 2022, and all signs point to even more targets in 2025.
Jake Ferguson, TE, Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys also didn’t draft any tight ends. Ferguson has averaged over six targets per game since becoming the Cowboys’ top tight end in 2023.
Dynasty Fantasy Football IDP Winners
Cam Taylor-Britt, CB, Cincinnati Bengals
Cam Taylor-Britt has made seven interceptions and returned two for touchdowns in the past two years. The Bengals’ defense has been terrible, though. CTB is similar to Trevon Diggs: sometimes he gets beat, but sometimes he makes the big play.
In Round 1, Cincinnati drafted edge rusher Shemar Steward. If the Bengals generate more pressure, opposing quarterbacks could rush and make poor throws. On the downside, more Bengals sacks could result in fewer passes thrown and more passes thrown away.
That could have mixed effects on Taylor-Britt’s production, but I’m betting on a net gain.
Nik Bonitto, EDGE, Denver Broncos
This situation is the inverse of my Cam Taylor-Britt pick. An improvement in the secondary should help the defensive line make more sacks.
Nik Bonitto didn't need any help making sacks last season. He set a career-high with 13.5 sacks, and he also recovered two fumbles and scored two defensive touchdowns. However, he will likely see a reversion to his previous career high of 8.0 sacks if the underlying fundamentals don't improve.
By adding a shutdown corner with Jahdae Barron — something they sorely missed after Patrick Surtain II went down last season — the Broncos will make it even harder for opposing quarterbacks to find an open receiver. With QBs waiting in the pocket longer, the Denver pass rushers will have more time to get to them.
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