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John breaks down the best sleepers after the first two rounds in 2025 Dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts ahead of the NFL Draft. Which sleepers will end up as league-winners some day?
The 2025 NFL season is almost over, and it's never too early for Dynasty fantasy football managers to get informed about the incoming rookie class. In 2024, there were plenty of steals -- thanks to NFL scouting regularly underrating great players, it's possible to get massive value in later rounds of rookie drafts.
This season is no different. I've spent way too much time breaking down and analyzing film from this year's rookies, and came away shocked that many players weren't ranked way higher than they actually were. If you remember the following players here, you could get absolute studs for incredibly cheap in the draft.
Keep in mind -- this year's running back class is absolutely stacked, so the majority of players on here will be RBs. It's a bit wild that there are so many good ones, but that can benefit you. It will allow great players to fall pretty far! By the way, all the players below are better picks than Kaleb Johnson straight-up. As in, don't draft Johnson. Seriously.
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Dylan Sampson, RB, Tennessee
Boise State Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty is commanding a massive amount of attention for his stellar 2024 campaign. Because of this, a lot of incredibly athletic and highly productive running backs are flying way under the radar. One of those is Sampson, who put together an incredible year that landed him 1st-Team All-SEC honors.
Flag plant coming -- Sampson should be a 1st-round pick in rookie drafts. The first thing that stands out is his athleticism. It's quite shocking to see, but you after watching enough of his tape, you can actually see him intentionally taking his foot off the gas on several runs, like the first one below.
The Colts need someone like Dylan Sampson (preferably Sampson himself) really, really badly pic.twitter.com/XLW9JZEVm1
— John (@colts_report) January 30, 2025
While that may seem like a bad thing, he's actually well aware that he's often the fastest guy on the field. He can outrun defensive backs, and that's massive for fantasy football, because huge plays and long TD runs often win your weekly matchups.
On the last run above, you can see how his elite speed makes linebackers' jobs impossible when combined with his cut-back ability from the first clip. If the LBs aren't spaced much, he can cut to the outside and outrun them, but if they're too far apart and he breaks through the defensive line, he's too fast for them to crash inwards and catch.
The third clip above also shows fantastic tackle-breaking strength and elusiveness. Players with his speed often force defenders to take bad angles. Few RBs can take NFL defenders on directly and break free, so this is a crucial skill.
2025 Rookie Spotlight ⬇️
Dylan Sampson (RB - Tennessee)
One of the fastest players in the draft, Dylan Sampson reportedly runs in the 4.3s, allowing him to take it to the house anytime he touches the ball. Sampson has excellent vision and patience, allowing his blocks to set up… pic.twitter.com/dEc5sm3L9V
— Cornerstone Fantasy (@90StoneFantasy) February 4, 2025
Sampson displays speed similar to New York Jets running back Breece Hall (before his disappointing 2024 campaign that likely was due to unreported knee issues). He runs with rocket boosters on his back. He's rarely caught when he breaks free with any kind of head start, and even when he is, he can turn what should be short gains into explosive plays.
RJ Harvey, RB, Central Florida
Another back who's just better than Johnson (Kaleb) by being more explosive, creating more plays when there's little opportunity to do so, and actually being able to cut back is UCF star running back RJ Harvey. He, along with the next player on our list, is criminally underrated by scouts. Though his rank has risen over time, as the community takes a step back and realizes that even though Jeanty exists, other players can be great as well.
Yet another RB in this upcoming class, UCF's RJ Harvey is a player I haven't heard many in Broncos Country discuss.
Super shifty, he's a handful to bring down in space when you pair his feet with his low-to-the-ground running style/build. Wish he offered more in pass protection… pic.twitter.com/mcrSajSzBT
— Joey Richards (@LTB_Joey) January 25, 2025
He's a complete back with great speed, vision, elusiveness, burst, acceleration, jump-cut ability, size, and strength. Perhaps film evaluators couldn't see these traits because they were too busy looking at the logo on his helmet. Remember, if they don't go to a Big 10 or SEC school they can't be good! Unless they're Jeanty. That's sarcastic, of course.
I expect UCF’s RJ Harvey to be RB riser post Senior Bowl
✅ patient runner with anticipation
✅ great changes direction
✅ slippery + elusive
✅ reliable hands + YAC upsideCould be a steal in rounds 3/4 of rookie drafts
— Matt Hicks (@TheFF_Educator) January 2, 2025
The lateral agility he possesses is fantastic. Johnson has very little of it. And it's massively important to play RB at the next level, because being able to quickly shift between gaps behind the line of scrimmage stresses the defense and allows RBs to make plays out of what would normally be tackles for loss.
Harvey goes to a Big 12 school, so he gets less credit than he deserves. Sampson went to an SEC school but it wasn't Alabama or LSU so he gets underrated too. That's also how it works. If Harvey had gone to Ohio State and done the exact same thing he'd be in the first-round conversation.
In Honor of celebrating the birthday of the Greatest RB to don the Black and Gold, here’s RJ Harvey Highlights⚔️ pic.twitter.com/fBgH5ViPB1
— ⚔️RBJ🦅 (@RBJHarvey7) February 5, 2025
It's apparent that UCF doesn't matter to a lot of people, but Harvey is the greatest running back in the school's history. His stat line of 232 carries for 1,577 yards (6.8 yards per carry), 22 rushing touchdowns, 20 catches for 267 yards and three touchdowns was absurd. And in 2023, he averaged 6.3 YPC, racked up 1,416 rushing yards and scored on the ground 16 times.
His production isn't a fluke. And he did it behind mediocre to just plain bad offensive line play. Johnson had an elite offensive line and basically just ran through the gaping holes that were set up for him. Harvey is an easy top-5 back in this class, along with Sampson, and the next guy on this list as well.
Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech
The absolute biggest steal of this year's rookie drafts is setting up to be Bhayshul Tuten. He might be even faster than Sampson, which is absurd. But it's his curvilinear acceleration and speed that make him stand out. Which is hilarious when you think about it, because he's also the best tackle-avoider of all the RBs this year.
Run Game Physicality:
Broken+Missed Tackles and Yards After Contact Per Attempt pic.twitter.com/Lpncs49PbH— parker fleming (@statsowar) December 5, 2024
Elite tackle avoidance and elite speed and he's.... ranked No. 46 on FantasyPros 2025 Overall Rookie Rankings list. We're not saying you should e-mail every "analyst" in the community and ask them if they've collectively gone insane, but we also wouldn't oppose it.
How an elite player like this could fly under the radar is mind-boggling, and the cost of drafting him is virtually zero. In every rookie draft I do this season, I won't let him fall below the 3rd round, because he has 1st-round value, just like Harvey and Sampson do.
I see a lot of this in Bhayshul Tuten. Big reason I'm so high on him. pic.twitter.com/C2w0Mjaode
— Jordan W (@hillarambe) January 19, 2025
Going from traveling horizontally to the line of scrimmage to exploding vertically, doing a hurdle without slowing down, and burning the entire secondary for a long touchdown is seriously impressive. This combination of skills simply shouldn't exist. His explosiveness will force whichever team he's on to give him the ball more often, and he'll probably shock NFL defenders with his ridiculous speed.
I cannot emphasize this enough -- if you have the chance to get Tuten in the third round of rookie drafts, you are getting away with robbery.
Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State
Another school that people don't pay much attention to is Iowa State. Their top receiver this season, Jayden Higgins, looks like a better version of Allen Lazard. And he's a great route-runner who doesn't get enough credit for his size-adjusted skills because he's one inch shorter than Tetairoa McMillan.
Jayden Higgins is an incredibly smooth route runner at 6’4 215lbs with excellent hands, physicality, and contested catch ability.
Has a little Nico Collins to his game 👀 pic.twitter.com/jliz8K5H1r
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) January 11, 2025
Take the WRs who can consistently separate from coverage with their route-running prowess, and you'll almost always get great value in the later rounds of rookie drafts. And in this case, there's not much to it. He's much more fluid than most WRs in this class.
An aside here -- the "for his size" is a bad take. That's to say, praising a player for a skill, then making an excuse as to why it could be better but he's just too big is not a good idea. For example, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans was 6-foot-5 and significantly bigger than McMillan, but he was still an elite separator regardless, and remains one today.
And remember -- it's easy to find at least some flaws in the games of players on this list. But that's the point. If they didn't have flaws, they wouldn't be available. Higgins doesn't have elite speed, but especially in PPR leagues, that doesn't always matter. In the last two rounds, you're lucky if you can get a guy who will develop into a team's WR2 at some point.
Jayden Higgins is that guy pic.twitter.com/xs20k377Yf
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) January 24, 2025
Contested catches are overrated when they're a crutch that players lean on because they can't get separation. But in some situations, there isn't much room to run, or WRs have to go up and get passes that could be intercepted. Typically, what you want to see is a WR winning jump ball catch opportunities in creative ways or with highly athletic plays.
And that's one thing Higgins excels at just like Ole Miss WR Tre Harris, who is my No. 1 WR in this year's class. Higgins doesn't have the speed to win on vertical routes, but if he's utilized primarily for that use, the offensive coordinator in charge of designing the plays might get fired.
He excels on horizontal-breaking routes in all areas of the field, so that's how he should be utilized. He'll be better off going to a team with a QB that has great arm strength. If he goes to the Los Angeles Chargers, he'll be in great shape.
Jaydon Blue, RB, Texas
His game is a little rough around the edges, but you're usually fine taking a highly explosive RB in the last round of your rookie drafts. Blue fits that bill, and he's actually solid as a receiver out of the backfield. The Chase Brown archetype is a real thing -- RBs with great size and solid pass-catching ability that have excellent burst are dark horse candidates to take over NFL backfields.
I initially questioned Jaydon Blue’s decision to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Upon further review, I get it. He’s the fastest back in the class, has one of the best receiving skill sets, and *should* be a day-two pick, even in a loaded class. pic.twitter.com/6NhzMx0pHx
— Christian Williams (@CWilliamsNFL) January 19, 2025
But he has elite burst and speed to go along with great size. Technically, that's really all you need to at least carve out a solid RB2 role on most rosters. He's the anti-Kyren Williams, at least athletically, which is a good thing despite Williams' production.
Jaydon Blue forced 3 of the 7 missed tackle attempts from Georgia pic.twitter.com/g2vvLkGpyd
— Nash (@NashTalksTexas) October 21, 2024
And the more you watch Blue's tape, the more you wonder why he's flying under the radar.
Jaydon Blue is a DAWG, chips DE and catches the ball right after.
Get him some carries! pic.twitter.com/WmkLundtJU
— Nash (@NashTalksTexas) October 21, 2024
If players like Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jaylen Warren can ever be fantasy relevant, why can't a far more athletic version of him succeed? Blue is a willing pass-blocker and a great safety-valve option. Teams that have hyper-athletic RBs tend to dump the ball off more to them because they're rewarded.
If he goes to an offense with at least solid run blocking that can scheme him into space in the open field, he should eat. A quarterback's best friend isn't always a great receiver -- on some downs, it's the RB that can bail you out of busted pass-protection and consistently set you up for 2nd or 3rd and short down-and-distances.
JAYDON BLUE, HOW DO YOU DO?!?! 🔥
A 77-YARD TOUCHDOWN TO MAKE IT A TWO-SCORE GAME VS. CLEMSON 😱 pic.twitter.com/cCzmh6V5W2
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 22, 2024
You can't coach speed (if you're a coach) and sometimes you can't catch speed (if you're a hopeless defender trying to chase down a track star that's turned on the jets). This RB class is deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Capitalize on that.
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