RADIO
Joey Pollizze's fantasy football bold predictions for 2025. His top fantasy football projections and calls, including for Christian McCaffrey, Justin Fields, and more.
Every season, things happen that fantasy managers don't see coming. Some of these last year included Chase Brown finishing as the RB12, Chuba Hubbard finishing as the RB13, Brian Thomas Jr. finishing as the WR4, Terry McLaurin finishing as the WR5, and Brock Bowers finishing as the overall TE1.
If you put together a bold predictions list before last season, some of these would have been on there because most of these were long shots to happen. In this article, we will identify six bold predictions that could occur during the 2025 season. These predictions are bold but realistic.
So, let's dive in and look at six bold predictions for the 2025 fantasy football season.
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Tetairoa McMillan Finishes as a Top-10 WR
Fantasy managers all saw the upside that rookie wide receivers can have in their first year. Both Thomas and Malik Nabers entered their rookie season with some question marks. However, both wound up finishing as top-8 fantasy wide receivers in 2024. They were the clear WR1 in their respective offenses and were heavily involved in the passing game.
The rookie who could follow a similar path in 2025 is Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan. The Panthers selected McMillan with the eighth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and this was a perfect landing spot for the Arizona product. The 6-foot-5 playmaker immediately goes to a Carolina offense that lacks a true WR1.
As a result, it's fair to assume that McMillan will step in as the top pass catcher in this offense. That will give him an extremely high fantasy ceiling in his rookie campaign. He has the chance to see over 130 targets in Year 1 and should easily be the featured option in this ascending Panthers offense.
The idea that rookie WRs have league-winning upside down the stretch of a season is the most harped on edge in fantasy but its for good reason
Since 2010, 21 rookie WRs have posted 16+ PPG from week 9 on (this is a Tet Mcmillan, Travis Hunter, etc tweet) pic.twitter.com/om8I5wcRSk
— Ron Stewart (@RonStewart_) June 30, 2025
That means a top-10 wide receiver fantasy finish is not totally out of the question for McMillan this season. His connection with Bryce Young continues to grow, and Panthers head coach Dave Canales has even come out and said that the 22-year-old is "going to get targeted a lot." If Young continues to develop as a passer, the sky is the limit for the rookie.
Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, and Jared Goff All Finish Outside the Top-10
The quarterback position in fantasy this year is the deepest it has been in recent seasons. You have quarterbacks with rushing upside like Kyler Murray and Justin Fields going outside the top-95 picks. You have potential second-year breakout quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Drake Maye going outside the top 120, and even quarterbacks like Dak Prescott -- who finished as the overall QB3 in 2023 -- going extremely late.
All five of those quarterbacks have the upside to finish top-10 at the position this season. That means some quarterbacks who are being drafted inside the top-10 could fall out of that range. Unfortunately, those quarterbacks will be Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, and Jared Goff.
Mahomes just recently finished as the overall QB11, and his limited rushing will yet again give him a lower fantasy floor. Mayfield is due for some massive touchdown regression, as he ranked as the QB2 in pass touchdown rate (7.2%) last season. For context, the league average is around 4.0%. As for Goff, he doesn't run at all, and the loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson could hurt his overall numbers.
So, there is a world where all three of these pocket passers finish outside the top-10 at the quarterback position. They don't run much and don't have the upside of some of the other quarterbacks going around them in drafts.
Justin Fields Finishes as a Top-6 QB
While the three quarterbacks listed above might not have a high fantasy ceiling, Fields, on the other hand, does. The 26-year-old signed a multi-year deal with the New York Jets this offseason and is set to lead this quarterback room for the entire season. The only competition he faces in New York is with 36-year-old veteran Tyrod Taylor.
Therefore, Fields will be New York's starter for the whole year. The last time the former first-round pick started at least 15 games in a season was back in 2022 with the Chicago Bears. In that season, the Ohio State product finished as the QB7 in all fantasy formats and rushed for a career-high 1,143 yards.
Justin Fields today: #Jets pic.twitter.com/0XUAQo8pkC
— Harrison Glaser (@NYJetsTFMedia) August 7, 2025
So, why can't Fields finish that high again in fantasy in 2025? He is the undisputed starter, and his rushing upside gives him such a high fantasy ceiling. Fantasy managers saw a glimpse of that last year, as the four-year veteran rushed for at least 50 yards in three of his six starts with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In those six starts, Fields averaged 19.1 fantasy points per game.
If Fields had kept the Steelers' starting job last year, that 19.1 average would have helped him finish as the QB9. Yet, the new Jets signal-caller is currently going as the QB17 on Sleeper. He has a fantastic chance to outperform that ADP and finish as a top-6 fantasy quarterback this season due to his rushing potential.
TreVeyon Henderson Emerges as a League-Winner
The New England Patriots entered the 2025 NFL Draft with a significant need at the running back position. Rhamondre Stevenson had a disappointing 2024 campaign in which he averaged a career-low 3.87 yards per game, and backup Antonio Gibson was a non-factor throughout the year.
That led the Patriots to select TreVeyon Henderson with the 38th overall pick. The Ohio State product was the fourth running back taken off the board, only behind Ashton Jeanty (sixth overall), Omarion Hampton (22nd overall), and Quinshon Judkins (36th overall). That second-round draft capital will almost ensure that the rookie will be involved in some capacity in his first year.
Even though Stevenson is expected to see his fair share of opportunities on offense, it's only a matter of time until Henderson overtakes him for that starting job. The coaching staff has been raving about the rookie all offseason, with strong praise about his pass-catching work. The 22-year-old has lined up all over the formation as a receiver so far in training camp.
As a result, Henderson has league-winner written all over him. While he might not be the undisputed RB1 to begin the season, he should only get more chances as the season progresses. This New England backfield situation could be very similar to Tampa Bay's running back room last season, when Bucky Irving eventually overtook Rachaad White for the RB1 job and went on a dominant run to close the season.
Calvin Ridley Finishes as a Top-15 WR
This one might be the boldest prediction yet, but there is a real chance Tennessee Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley easily outperforms his ADP this season. For starters, he no longer has a below-average quarterback throwing passes to him. Ridley ranked 91st in target accuracy, 73rd in target premium, and 91st in quarterback rating per target among all wide receivers in 2024.
That quarterback upgrade from Will Levis/Mason Rudolph to Cam Ward is going to help Ridley put up strong fantasy numbers throughout the year. Although rookie quarterbacks usually go through their growing pains, we all saw what McLaurin did last year with a rookie under center.
.@Titans receiver @CalvinRidley1 gets open deep vs @Buccaneers pic.twitter.com/wLMpFsMJRo
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) August 7, 2025
Now, we shouldn't expect Ridley to finish as high as McLaurin did a season ago. However, we could see him emerge as a very strong WR2 and finish inside the top-15 at the wide receiver position. He is the clear WR1 on a Titans offense that should trail in a lot of games, and the quarterback upgrade will help him immensely.
Christian McCaffrey Finishes as the Overall RB1
The biggest obstacle in the way of Christian McCaffrey finishing as the overall RB1 is his recent injuries. McCaffrey dealt with Achilles tendinitis to begin the 2024 season, which caused him to miss the first nine weeks of the year. After making his season debut in Week 10, the veteran then suffered a PCL injury in a Week 13 game against the Buffalo Bills that ended his season.
He played in just four games last year and will now enter his age-29 season. This is usually the point in running backs' careers where they start to decline. However, we all know McCaffrey's upside when he manages to stay healthy. The three-time Pro Bowler has finished as the RB2 (2022) and RB1 (2023) in PPR formats in each of his last two full seasons.
As a result, if McCaffrey stays healthy this year, an overall RB1 finish is certainly possible. The 49ers running back has looked healthy so far in training camp, and fullback Kyle Juszczyk even said last month that the veteran looks "so explosive." That is undoubtedly an encouraging sign for the 49ers running back entering the 2025 season.
If McCaffrey can play in 15 to 17 games this year, he should lead the pack at the running back position. In his last full season in 2023, the 29-year-old totaled 1,459 yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground while also catching 67 passes for 564 yards and seven touchdowns through the air. That's the type of numbers you're getting with McCaffrey if he stays healthy in 2025.
