RADIO
John's 2025 fantasy football draft sleepers at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. His top draft targets and undervalued players for 2025 fantasy football.
In the early rounds of fantasy football drafts, you're mostly looking for either elite players or players everyone knows are good, but you might think have a chance of taking the next step and becoming a top-10 performer at their position. Generally, we at least expect most of these players to be very good.
But in the middle to later rounds, it becomes much more difficult to find talent. Often, you might be choosing between players you regard as having very little upside, taking blind dart throws, and praying that at least one or two of them work out.
But it doesn't have to be this way. Thankfully, because so many of you like reading RotoBaller's content, analysts like me are enabled to deliver you the best of their ... well, analysis. So, let's break down four players -- a quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end -- who are my favorite sleeper picks for 2025!
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 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
QB - J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota Vikings
Apparently it's controversial to say that McCarthy is a nice value. I'm not really sure why. The biggest reason is simply that he's in perhaps the best system that any quarterback can be in. He gets the benefit of having an elite group of pass-catchers, a great roster to play on, and a fantastic offensive-minded head coach to mentor him.
Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell has run an incredibly fantasy-friendly system for quarterbacks in Minnesota. And with wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and tight end T.J. Hockenson to throw the ball to, McCarthy should have a fantastic rookie season.
We have already seen JJ McCarthy throw a ball nearly fifty yards in the air with perfect touch and accuracy. pic.twitter.com/V1Ptd0kRWW https://t.co/TBH1VIq2DO
— 𝙆𝙖𝙨𝙚 (@verysadvikings) May 29, 2025
I try my best to push back against the prevailing attitude that all rookies are unproven and we can't project anything they do unless they're hyped enough in the predraft process, in which case fantasy managers change their minds immediately. It's a selective and very flawed manner of thinking.
McCarthy was excellent in college. His film was fantastic, he has massive rushing upside if he decides to take off and run with it, and he's in a system that produces QB1s year after year. Just look at what Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold did in the past three seasons.
Vikings QBs Fantasy Scoring (In the KOC era)
2022 (Kirk Cousins): 18.2 FP/G (QB12)
2023 (Kirk Cousins): 19.8 FP/G (QB6)
2024 (Sam Darnold): 19.1 FP/G (QB9)2025 (JJ McCarthy): TBD (QB20 ADP)
— Dataroma (@ffdataroma) May 28, 2025
McCarthy has more raw talent than Cousins and is easily a better QB than Darnold, who is horrific under pressure and completely collapsed to end last season. And with a fully healthy Hockenson back up to speed, McCarthy will be primed to excel from the start of his career.
He's reportedly fully healthy from the knee injury that prematurely ended his rookie year. And at an ADP of QB20, he feels like a fantastic value. He's one of my favorite dark-horse candidates to finish top eight overall at his position. He's worth picking in the later rounds of redraft fantasy leagues.
RB - James Conner, Arizona Cardinals
We're reaching the point where Conner is a clear value pick every single season now. No matter how many times he outperforms his ADP, he always seems to fall at least a round too far in fantasy drafts. It makes sense, I guess. He's one of the least sexy picks to make.
But for a player who constantly puts up big numbers in the fantasy football playoffs, even in seasons where he struggles with injuries -- which, admittedly, happens often -- Conner plays lights out down the stretch. He's one of the league's best running backs in Weeks 15-17, overall, over the past few seasons.
When James Conner isn't injured in the fantasy football playoffs, he usually plays lights out. 17.9, 22.2, 26.3, 18.1, 25.0, 14.0, 30.8, and 26.6 point playoffs games in the last few seasons. Pretty wild stuff. pic.twitter.com/cOtUrCUfEu
— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) May 31, 2025
And he's set to essentially have the same role he had last season, which propelled him to another RB1 finish. His numbers during the season were consistently good, and he was a locked-in starter in most fantasy leagues all year. So, it's odd to see that, yet again, he's being underrated.
Right now, he's being drafted as the RB21, or 68th overall (Round 6), in PPR leagues. I think I'd take him a bit higher than that. But if he's there in the late fifth and at any point in the sixth round, there's not much risk in picking him up because he'll probably be better than most of the players around him.
This was called back, but just a reminder that James Conner is a scary dude. pic.twitter.com/qJ8UAh7bjI
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) October 28, 2024
Conner is a highly skilled back who has a history of good production in the league, and his efficiency metrics from last season didn't show any signs of a big slowdown. Sure, it might be his last great season in the NFL, as he's 30 years old, but we've often seen good running backs continue to play well in their very early 30s.
So, Conner is a very solid value at his current ADP.
WR - Kyle Williams, New England Patriots
It's always bold to say that a rookie WR, especially not one drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, will take over his team's WR1 role in his first season. Especially not when he's playing alongside a big-name WR like Stefon Diggs.
But that's exactly what I'm saying. Sometimes, NFL teams collectively let players fall too far. My personal opinion is that even NFL scouts struggle to accurately contextualize every player's production and film as a function of both their own talent and the offensive environment they were in.
Patriots WR Kyle Williams will THRIVE in the NFL for 3 main reasons:
1. Release Package
2. Route-Running/Separation
3. YAC AbilitySee what I mean in the video below… https://t.co/y0fcfIKZX1 pic.twitter.com/Dichgdi3cP
— SCOUTD (@scoutdnfl) May 19, 2025
The three skills that Williams excels at the most are, you know, three of the most important things a WR can dominate in. There are a few weaknesses to his game, sure. He's not exactly elite at the catch point, but he makes up for it by easily gaining quick separation with his release package.
He's incredibly fluid when he hits his releases, quickly bounding out of his initial breaks with surprising quickness. And he accelerates well enough to maintain that early separation, so on quick passing plays, he should be an excellent option for quarterback Drake Maye. I'd argue the best one.
This Kyle Williams rep at the Senior Bowl is just filthy man
Cooks the defender TWICE on the same route..
1,196 Yards and 14 TD’s this year btw
92nd Percentile 40 Time (4.40) ain’t bad
..and now he gets paired with Drake Maye
Kyle Williams is coming for that WR1 role in NE pic.twitter.com/N8RIlp3jZX
— Austin Abbott (@AustinAbbottFF) May 9, 2025
For how little hype he got in the predraft process, his Senior Bowl film was particularly shocking. As was, you know, his season film. He's easily a better player than Carolina Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan in my eyes. Last year, my flag plants at WR were Brian Thomas Jr. and Ladd McConkey, if that helps.
I scoffed at the Rome Odunze hype, and I feel pretty similarly about McMillan. Neither has the athleticism and burst to dominate in the NFL. Williams does. And he's pretty special with the ball in his hands after the catch. Maye played solidly last year, so I love taking Williams in as many drafts as I can.
TE - Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams
Higbee is 32 years old, yet in the two playoff games he played for the Rams in 2024, he was targeted 12 times, catching 10 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. That's impressive stuff, especially for a player his age coming off an ACL tear.
But it was clear that Higbee was still a priority target in this offense. It looks like he and wide receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams will be the clear top targets for a Rams passing offense that funnels as much of its volume through its top players.
Shout out to Tyler Higbee
After tearing both his ACL & MCL last January, he was able to come back late in the season & contribute right away! Higbee scored 3 TDs in 5 games played & led the Rams with 12 catches in the post season
#89 is for sure a leader that we sorely missed pic.twitter.com/yA78aLnOQX
— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) January 22, 2025
Good players on good offenses are usually the best picks you can make. Higbee still appears to have it, and tight ends tend to maintain good production a bit later into their careers than wide receivers and running backs do. And at his ADP of TE31, there's very little risk in taking him as late as possible in drafts.
Even if he falters down the stretch, at that price, a few games with good production would make him an immediate must-start. TEs are the lowest-scoring players, easily, in non-TEP leagues, and even in those leagues, they don't tend to be big difference-makers at the lower end.
Higbee is a great value pick if he has just one more season of solid play left in him. Rams head coach Sean McVay cooks up fantastic schemes that help the pass-catchers score big in fantasy football, and if either Adams or Nacua gets hurt, Higbee could go on a fantastic run of scoring.
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