Three Sleepers for Dynasty Rookie Drafts

Dave's dynasty fantasy football rookie draft sleepers. His analysis for Jalen Milroe, Kyle Williams, and Tory Horton in 2025 fantasy football rookie drafts.

It’s dynasty football rookie draft season. This is the most exciting time of year for dynasty football managers. After months of scouting and number crunching, gamers finally get to put pen to paper and select the rookies they hope will guide them to a dynasty football title.

Like all fantasy football drafts, sleepers are available in the later rounds. If you can correctly identify just one sleeper in your dynasty draft, it can kickstart a rebuild or even be one of your team’s missing pieces. Several players selected in the later stages of rookie drafts that fit this mold are Jalen Milroe, Kyle Williams, and Tory Horton. Each has pros and cons, but offers dynasty gamers untapped upside that is worth chasing in drafts. Today, we’ll take a few minutes to discuss why dynasty managers should select each player.

Make sure you’re following RotoBaller on X and check out RotoBaller.com for all your dynasty football needs. Let’s examine what makes Milroe, Williams, and Horton appealing sleeper picks in 2025 dynasty football rookie drafts.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) rankings
• Quarterback (QB) rankings
• Tight end (TE) rankings
• Defense (D/ST) rankings
• Kicker (K) rankings
• FLEX rankings
• Dynasty rankings

Jalen Milroe - QB, Seattle Seahawks

The former Alabama quarterback was a polarizing prospect in the lead-up to the NFL Draft. Milroe displayed big-time athleticism and play-making ability on the ground. He ran for over 1,200 rushing yards and scored 32 rushing touchdowns in the last two seasons as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback.

That kind of rushing upside gives him the highest fantasy football ceiling among all the quarterbacks in this class.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE BUT FOUR RUSHING TDS FOR JALEN MILROE 😱

ABSOLUTELY TERRORIZING THE LSU DEFENSE 😳 pic.twitter.com/XuXOsCkLLC

— ESPN (@espn) November 10, 2024

Quarterbacks who score points on the ground have long been fantasy football cheat codes. More and more of the top fantasy quarterbacks are built in this mold. This makes Milroe such a tantalizing pick for dynasty gamers, particularly those who play in superflex leagues.

However, a major area of concern for Milroe is his accuracy and ability to play from the pocket. He struggled with accuracy during his collegiate career, and this caused him to fall to the third round of the NFL Draft. It’s worth pointing out, though, that concerns regarding his passing may have been overblown.

Just for fun ...

Comparing Anthony Richardson and Jalen Milroe: pic.twitter.com/L3AeBWXnaN

— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) February 17, 2025

If Richardson hadn’t gone down the road he’s currently on, Milroe would have been viewed more favorably by NFL teams. Either way, he fell in the draft for these concerns, but landed in an interesting situation when the Seattle Seahawks selected him in the third round.

Seattle signed Sam Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract this offseason. While that seems like a strong commitment, the specifics of the contract say otherwise. Seattle has an out in Darnold’s contract following the 2025 season. If his play in 2025 resembles anything close to what we saw in the final two games of 2024, it’s very possible he won’t get another year as the starter.

That’s where things could get interesting with Milroe. In the weeks following the NFL Draft, the Seahawks have discussed his intangibles and work ethic. They have also signaled they are committed to developing him as a passer. Milroe is already doing his part and has reportedly begun improving his mechanics.

Jalen Milroe Working On Lower-Half Mechanics To Improve Accuracy https://t.co/sGw43ZYo0X

— RotoBaller NFL (@RotoBallerNFL) May 5, 2025

It’s also possible Seattle struggles to begin the 2025 season and decides to give Milroe an extended look as a starter to see if they need to draft a quarterback from the loaded 2026 class. Given his rushing upside, Milroe should immediately return fantasy results in this scenario, and it could also present a good sell-high opportunity for dynasty gamers who wish to cash out.

Drafting Milroe carries risk, but he’s certainly worth a selection at the top of the third round in superflex rookie drafts. You get all the upside of an Anthony Richardson-type prospect but carry nowhere near the risk, given Milroe's cost in drafts. The hit rate for picks in this area of rookie drafts is extremely low. Why not swing for the fences and take a chance on Milroe?

Kyle Williams - WR, New England Patriots

Williams was drafted 69th overall by the New England Patriots in the 2025 NFL Draft.

With the No. 69 overall pick in the 2025 @NFLDraft, the @Patriots select Kyle Williams.

📺: #NFLDraft on NFLN/ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/wnA9NLzQbs

— NFL (@NFL) April 26, 2025

His selection was noteworthy as New England is searching for playmakers for second-year quarterback Drake Maye, and the team has few options behind WR1 Stefon Diggs. Williams is an underrated route runner and separates well against all coverages. He could be a sneaky long-term bet to emerge as Maye’s WR1.

2+ minutes of Kyle Williams absolutely torching guys on All-22:

• Patriots fans, meet your WR1… pic.twitter.com/NhPscB5NGS

— SCOUTD (@scoutdnfl) April 26, 2025

What makes Williams a fun sleeper candidate is the role that slot receivers have played in the Patriots' new offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels', system for years now. Wes Welker and Julian Edelman famously had great success operating in this role. Jakobi Meyers also had a degree of success playing under McDaniels in New England and Las Vegas.

Williams profiles best as a slot receiver with the ability to play a bit of flanker in the NFL. However, we should expect him to work primarily out of the slot. Third-round draft capital doesn’t automatically guarantee anything, even for a team like New England that desperately needs pass-catchers. Still, it’s telling that they were willing to use an early round pick on a player who nicely fits into the slot role of McDaniels’ offense.

We probably won’t see any gaudy Year 1 numbers from Williams, but if he can consistently work his way onto the field as a rookie and show some signs of life, he could quickly rise in dynasty rankings. Williams has been a consistent pick in the third round of superflex leagues. His talent is real, and you could do a lot worse at this stage of the draft than using a late-round rookie pick on a player like Williams. There's also nothing wrong with reaching a bit to acquire him. The upside is real.

Tory Horton - WR, Seattle Seahawks

Another Seahawks rookie makes our list. Horton played at a smaller school at Colorado State. The big knock on Horton is the level of competition that he faced. This partially explains why Horton fell to the fifth round of the NFL Draft. While concerns about his competition are valid, Horton does have some savvy route-running chops and is an overlooked prospect in this class.

Tory Horton joins Michael Gallup and Rashard Higgins as the only three players in CSU history to record multiple games with 3 touchdown receptions. pic.twitter.com/Jnh00u3vl8

— Matt L. Stephens (@MattStephens) October 1, 2023

Horton’s final season at Colorado State was cut short due to injury. Perhaps he would have been higher on teams' draft boards had he not been injured, but Seattle found a potential gem late in the draft. Per PFF, among 422 collegiate receivers with at least 30 targets, Horton ranked seventh in yards per route run (YPRR) in 2024. This is a handy stat when predicting success at the next level, so it’s good to see Horton rank so high despite missing time last year.

The target sample from 2024 is a bit small and less than ideal, but things still look good even when we go back to 2023. Among 35 collegiate receivers with at least 100 targets, Horton finished 11th with a strong 2.74 yprr. This is the data you want to see from a small school receiver.

None of this guarantees success for Horton, and he will need to make changes to his game and hone his craft if he wants to be an impact receiver in the NFL. But we’ve seen late-round draft picks (cough cough Puka Nacua) emerge out of nowhere to become household names before.

Seattle needs more weapons behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba. While they signed Cooper Kupp this offseason, he turns 32 in June and is clearly on the downside of his career. Horton could eventually fill the WR2 role in Seattle, and if his skills do translate to the NFL, he could function very well in tandem with Smith-Njigba.

Horton is far from a guarantee, but he’s certainly worth taking a flyer on with one of your last picks in rookie drafts.

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