Justin Carter's Must-Have Fantasy Football Draft Picks: 5 Undervalued Sleepers for 2025

June 27, 2025

Justin Carter's fantasy football must-have draft picks in 2025. Read his draft targets for 2025 fantasy football, including Tucker Kraft, George Pickens, and more.

It's time to start thinking about fantasy drafts. Yes, I know it's early, but despite having a shorter schedule than all the other top American sports leagues, the NFL doesn't really take a break. OTAs have already happened, and training camp will be here before you know it.

There are plenty of articles out there about sleepers and values and so on and so on. Sometimes, though, you just want to know which players a person is banging the drum for.

Here are the players that I have to have in fantasy football in 2025.

C.J. Stroud - QB, Houston Texans

Call me a homer, but Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is being way undervalued in fantasy right now. He's currently being drafted as the QB17 on Yahoo!, which just feels absurd.

Yes, Stroud is coming off a disappointing second season in the NFL, one that saw his completion percentage, passing yards, and touchdowns all drop while his interception rate more than doubled.

However, let's add in some important context there: Stroud spent much of the year playing without his whole battalion of top receivers. Nico Collins missed five games, Tank Dell missed three games, and Stefon Diggs missed nine games. Houston just never seemed to have the full arsenal of weapons for Stroud.

The team spent this offseason building a deeper group around Stroud. Sure, Diggs is gone, but the team traded for a reliable veteran in Christian Kirk and spent second and third-round picks on wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel.

Houston also made a change at offensive coordinator. Here's where my personal Texans fandom comes into play: I agree with the vast cadre of Texans fans who think Bobby Slowik was the problem last year, and that Slowik's play-calling actually held Stroud's rookie production back as well. The move to former Rams' pass game coordinator Nick Caley should be huge for Stroud.

Jordan Mason - RB, Minnesota Vikings

Aaron Jones is coming off one of his best NFL seasons, rushing a career-high 255 times for 1,138 yards and five touchdowns while catching 51 passes for 408 yards and two scores. So, why is his backup one of my must-target players in fantasy?

There are a few reasons, but let's start by talking about why Jones worries me in 2025.

Despite having a strong 2024 season, there were a few worrisome signs for Jones. He had a rushing success rate under 50 percent for just the second time in his career. His 4.5 yards per attempt were his fewest of his eight seasons in the NFL. He tied his career-high in fumbles with five.

Jones is also 30 years old and will turn 31 near the end of the 2025 regular season. That's a fairly old age for a running back. Mike Braude of APEX Fantasy Football Money Leagues ran some numbers a few months ago that show that 92.8 percent of peak RB1 seasons come between ages 21 and 28, and just 3.89 percent of seasons where a back averages 15 fantasy points per game come from a player 29 or older.

So, that's part of why I like Mason this year. He starts as the backup, but Jones is at the age cliff and could suffer a major fall-off at any point.

The other main reason? Mason's pretty good!

Jordan Mason could be a STEAL in drafts/trades rn.
- Elite efficiency last year
- Little competition for rb 2/1b role
- Aaron Jones older/could be scaled back for injury concerns
- Elite oline/rushing offense
- First year starter at qb, Minn could look to ease McCarthy in pic.twitter.com/aVgXInG3l4

— FSJames (@FantasyScape_) June 10, 2025

Last season with the 49ers, Mason was one of the league's best pure runners, ranking seventh among running backs in true yards per carry, ninth in yards per touch, and ninth in breakaway runs. He's not really a factor in the receiving game, but he could easily take early-down opportunities away from Jones.

He's also very cheap in fantasy right now, being drafted as an RB4 and outside of the top 100 overall. His lack of targets will be an issue in full PPR, but I want as much of him as I can get in half-PPR and, especially, in standard scoring.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba - WR, Seattle Seahawks

Hey, sometimes you just have to grab an obviously good player in as many leagues as possible, right?

Jaxon Smith-Njigba broke out in his second NFL season, catching 100 passes for 1,130 yards and six touchdowns. He was Seattle's best receiver on a roster that still featured D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.

Both of those players are gone now. Their replacement, Cooper Kupp, might be washed, and even if he isn't washed, he'll play a clear second fiddle to Smith-Njigba.

Seattle might have downgraded at quarterback, but it also might have improved. It all depends on what version of Sam Darnold arrives to replace Geno Smith. The 2024 version is a slight upgrade, but the pre-2024 version is a downgrade. We kind of just have to wait and see on this point, which is probably part of why JSN's fantasy value feels depressed.

In 2024, Smith-Njigba was the overall WR10 in half-PPR, although in points per game, he falls into the low-end WR2 area. He's being drafted as a low-end WR2 right now, but with Metcalf gone, we could see 150 targets for Smith-Njigba. At his current cost, I'm all in.

George Pickens - WR, Dallas Cowboys

In 2023, George Pickens led the NFL in yards per catch at 18.1, posting the first — and, so far, only — 1,000-yard season of his NFL career.

His 2024 numbers don't look as good, but Pickens did miss three games. If he's played 17, he would have once again been on track for a 1,000-yard campaign, as his per-game receiving yard total barely dropped. It was down to 64.3 after sitting at 67.1 the year before.

Pickens has produced despite an absolute nightmare at the quarterback position. Here's a complete list of players that he has caught a pass from during his first three seasons in Pittsburgh: Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph, and Mitchell Trubisky.

Here's who he'll be catching passes from in 2025, barring an injury: Dak Prescott.

Is Prescott an elite quarterback? Probably not. However, he's a clear step above any quarterback Pickens has played with in the NFL.

George Pickens is one of my favorite WR picks at value

- QB upgrade
- offensive production upgrade
- more pass happy offense
- will see easier coverage across from Lamb
- massively efficient WR
- no legit targets after him and Lamb

6th round pick right now

Who is your favorite… pic.twitter.com/Rm137UYOdu

— Deep Dive Fantasy Football (@deepdiveff) June 23, 2025

He'll also have a chance to eat because he'll see lighter coverage, because he'll share the field with CeeDee Lamb, one of the league's best receivers.

Last season, Pickens ranked 93rd among all receivers in target separation. Some of that is because he lacks elite speed and wasn't able to get open as easily as you'd like. Still, another part of that is that defenses could blanket him because Calvin Austin III and Van Jefferson weren't scaring anyone.

We should see Pickens open more in 2025, allowing him to put up bigger numbers as long as the Cowboys use him as a deep threat like Pittsburgh tried to do. Pickens was fourth among receivers in the number of deep targets last year, but also ranked 13th in unrealized air yards.

Better quality targets and more open space should fix that issue.

Tucker Kraft - TE, Green Bay Packers

The Packers have a crowded receiving room, but that's no reason to ignore that they have one of the league's best young tight ends in Tucker Kraft.

Despite the narrative that Green Bay had too many receivers for anyone to stand out last year, Kraft stood out, finishing with 70 targets, which ranked fourth on the team but was just six behind leader Dontayvion Wicks. Kraft led the Packers with seven receiving touchdowns.

The addition of Matthew Golden and Savion Williams will complicate the receiving picture in Green Bay this year, but I don't think it really impacts Kraft too much. Those guys aren't tight ends, so they won't block Kraft from seeing the field.

Tucker Kraft had the most yards after catch per reception among TEs last year and forced twice as many missed tackles as George Kittle

Do with this information what you’d like https://t.co/ya1405w6qA pic.twitter.com/BneaaFM7jo

— Mike Kash (@FFMikeKash) June 21, 2025

Kraft was one of the most efficient tight ends in the league last year. Despite only ranking 18th at the position in targets, he was seventh in receiving yards and fifth in yards after the catch. He's a player who is capable of doing impressive things once the ball is in his hands, a relative rarity at the tight end spot.

Where can you draft Kraft right now? He's going on average as the TE13, at the bottom, behind players like Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren. Both are probably good NFL players, but Kraft shouldn't be going behind rookie tight ends.

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