5 League-Winning Fantasy Football Sleeper Wide Receivers: Undervalued Draft Targets (2025)

June 15, 2025

John's 5 league-winning fantasy football wide receiver sleepers to draft. His league winner sleeper players to pick, including Rashee Rice, Travis Hunter, and Deebo Samuel Sr.

There are a few more important things to do in PPR fantasy football redraft leagues than nailing your later-round picks on wide receivers that end up finishing the year among the top players at their position. WRs have huge upside in PPR leagues due to their main role being, you know, catching the football.

Every season, there are players we don't expect that end up far higher in scoring than the general community thought they would. While it's never easy to predict exactly who these players will be, that's what fantasy football analysts are for, I guess.

Obviously, hot takes in the offseason aren't super helpful, but often, there are players who are clearly undervalued for their upside. This can be for a variety of reasons. It's important to lean into this upside as much as possible, and sometimes, all you have to do is spend a late-round pick to get one of them. Let's dive in!

Rashee Rice, Kansas City Chiefs

Rice (knee) started the 2024 season at an absolutely sizzling pace. He was immediately the clear WR1 for the Chiefs offense, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes had no issues slinging the ball his way early and often. In his first three games, Rice was targeted 29 times, catching 24 passes for 288 yards and two scores.

Unfortunately, his season ended when he tore his MCL on a play in which Mahomes was diving to try to stop one of his interceptions from being run back. Mahomes collided with Rice's knee. That said, Rice is participating fully in organized team activities and doesn't appear to be hampered by this ailment.

So let me get this straight…

Rashee Rice:

⁃ didn’t tear his ACL
⁃ isn’t likely to be suspended in 2025
⁃ is already participating in OTA’s
⁃ is priced outside the Top-15 WR’s

After averaging 21.6 PPG last year.

This is how we acquire generational wealth…

💰 💰 💰 pic.twitter.com/AG7dC7yd3p

— David J. Gautieri (@GuruFantasyWrld) May 18, 2025

In redraft leagues, you can get a premier WR1 for your squad outside of the first two rounds. That's fantastic value. Hitting on your picks in the first two rounds and selecting Rice in the third or fourth could absolutely help you have an elite squad that could cruise to the fantasy playoffs.

Rashee Rice pic.twitter.com/ECeRJsAI45 https://t.co/dx72JJovtv

— Brad Henson Productions (@BradHensonPro) June 2, 2025

Rice is an elite talent after the catch, which allows him to rack up easy targets and catches, boosting his PPR fantasy point totals by a significant amount. And despite target competition from WRs Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, Rice should remain the clear favorite and get plenty of work.

With tight end Travis Kelce now 35 years old, and clearly having declined athletically, Rice has stepped into the primary pass-catching option in one of the league's most well-designed offenses, courtesy of head coach Andy Reid. Rice could easily finish as a top-5 wideout, and that makes him a huge steal at his price.

Update - Rashee Rice has accepted a plea deal following his high-speed car accident in Dallas in March 2024. He was sentenced to 30 days of jail time and five years of probation. As a result, Rice will likely be forced to serve a suspension during the 2025 NFL regular season. At this time, the league has not made an official ruling, but the looming suspension could cause his ADP to drop, making him an even greater value.

Deebo Samuel Sr., Washington Commanders

Samuel's ADP took an absolute free fall after his 2024 season. It's understandable from the surface level, as Samuel's production absolutely nosedived, and he looked nothing like his formerly elite self last season. Digging deeper and using some common sense should help us push back against his ADP drop, though.

He suffered from a bout of pneumonia in Week 7 of last season. Taking a look at his statistics, you can see how much worse he was after his illness than before. The common-sense part is that it simply takes months to recover from pneumonia fully. It's a brutal illness to have.

Deebo Samuel was clearly, clearly much worse after his bout with pneumonia. Ever had pneumonia before? It can take months to recover fully from. Now imagine playing football just one week after catching pneumonia. Brutal stuff. Samuel should bounce back this year pic.twitter.com/UfMpAMgoYJ

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) June 2, 2025

Samuel just turned 29 years old, so it's not like he still has a bit of his prime ahead of him. We shouldn't hold his downturn in play in 2024 against him. Hopefully, the Commanders do a better job of managing his injury-prone nature than the San Francisco 49ers do.

San Fran has been horrible at managing player injuries, and consistently has one of the most hurt rosters in the league. SF head coach Kyle Shanahan insists on letting his players play through serious injuries, so that's likely a big part of it.

Fuck it, 15 minutes of Deebo Samuel highlights from the 2023 season

🎥: NFL on YT pic.twitter.com/NaE7TlvMLr

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) July 2, 2024

Samuel is just two seasons removed from fantastic production, of course, with breaks in his scoring due to injuries. But his upside is massive, and if he hits his stride by the fantasy football playoffs, he could go on an absolute tear and be a league-winner. So I like taking him in redraft leagues at his highly depressed ADP.

WR37 is an insanely low price for Samuel.

Sleeper: Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars

Hunter is one of my dark horse league-winning picks, and not a very popular one. The idea that an offense will produce two league-winning wide receivers, especially when the team's quarterback isn't considered one of the league's elites, is controversial.

Yet Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen is one of the best play-designers and play-callers in the league. He is capable of elevating both quarterback and WR talent, like he did last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making both WRs Mike Evans and Chris Godwin league winners.

CHRIS GODWIN
🏴‍☠️ 11 receptions
🏴‍☠️ 125 yards
🏴‍☠️ 2 TDs
🏴‍☠️ 35.5 fantasy points

STEAL. OF. THE. DRAFT.pic.twitter.com/0ALZBS1VFm

— NFL Fantasy Football (@NFLFantasy) October 13, 2024

Godwin was a serious candidate to finish as a top-3 wide receiver in the league in fantasy football last season before his injury, despite clearly not having top-3 wideout talent. Coen helped quarterback Baker Mayfield easily have the best season of his career, too -- Mayfield threw 13 more touchdowns than he ever had in a season to that point.

All this to say that Coen is capable of elevating Lawrence, and thus Hunter and BTJr. The team doesn't have many other good pass-catching options -- TE Brenton Strange doesn't compare. Lawrence has languished under terrible offensive coaching his whole career, but should not so any longer.

The Jalen McMillan biggest gains of the year are a great highlight package for Liam Coen. pic.twitter.com/T3W77nUI4m

— Hayden Winks (@HaydenWinks) May 19, 2025

Coen's ability to elevate WRs last season was remarkable. He even made Jalen McMillan look good, and McMillan's advanced metrics were very poor. The film showed that it was the schemes that helped J-Mac get wide open. The same should apply to both Thomas and Hunter.

Of course, Thomas finishing as an elite WR1 wouldn't be surprising. But the Jaguars don't have a great defense, and it's hard to believe that the offensive-minded Coen will take receiving opportunities away from Hunter to have his star play on defense.

Travis Hunter in 1 clip.
-Improvises
-Elite body adjustment to ball trajectory
-Attacks the ball, big vertical
-Elite awareness
-Sells to the outside after the catch
-Hard jab fake to the outside, cuts back in
-Makes 3 guys miss
WR1 pic.twitter.com/XxlN0fMgR8

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) March 17, 2025

Hunter is a remarkably talented WR prospect that didn't even refine his receiving skills as much as he could have in college, due to being a 2-way player. He's a truly special prospect, and I think he can finish as a top-15 WR in Year 1.

Sleeper: Kyle Williams, New England Patriots

Williams was drafted in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft by the Patriots and is a much better prospect than people are giving him credit for, according to my analysis. Combine that with his biggest target competition being a bunch of bad or plain terrible wide receivers, and you already have a nice case for an upside pick.

But even the team's tight ends played disappointingly in 2024. The pass-catching corps was easily the league's worst. Sure, New England signed WR Stefon Diggs (knee) to a big contract, but the market was very thin, and he's coming off an ACL tear. He's also 31 and will turn 32 during the 2025 season.

Kyle Williams Vs. Ranked Teams: (2024)

➖9-142-1 Vs. Boise State (25th)
➖10-172-1 Vs. Syracuse (21st)

His Day 2 Draft Capital (69th overall) was extremely promising.

➖40 Time: 4.40 (92nd Percentile)
➖Break Out Age: 19.1 (86th Percentile)

Drake Maye might have a new WR1.. pic.twitter.com/QBKVDbdcow

— Austin Abbott (@AustinAbbottFF) June 2, 2025

Fantasy football managers have been slowly warming up to the idea that Williams is a fantastic prospect. But they haven't been warming up enough. He has a deep and very refined skill set. He's excellent after the catch, has a very smooth and abrupt release package, and bounds off the line of scrimmage with frightening speed.

Williams shouldn't have much trouble beating out Diggs as the most productive Patriots receiver in 2025. Quarterback Drake Maye played very well, considering he didn't have a real offensive line or real receivers last season. He was in a horrible situation. He could shine quite a bit this year.

Sleeper: Ricky Pearsall, San Francisco 49ers

Taking a dart throw at the most athletic 49ers receiver is never a bad idea. Pearsall, if he can remain healthy, has fantastic upside. While many consider WR Jauan Jennings to be the real sleeper, he simply has too many athletic limitations for my taste. Keep in mind Jennings ran a 4.72-second 40-yard dash.

It's remarkably difficult for slow WRs to have league-winning seasons, unless they're hyper-targeted all year long. SF has other options -- namely running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, and the aforementioned Pearsall -- as well as WR Brandon Aiyuk (knee) when he returns from injury.

Ricky Pearsall’s final 2 games of the season in 2024:

• 18 targets
• 14 catches
• 210 receiving yards
• 2 touchdowns pic.twitter.com/cQP2D2QTs2

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) May 10, 2025

I'm a bit less confident than many that Aiyuk will return to form in 2025, even late in the season. Keep in mind he tore both his ACL and MCL and suffered significant damage to his meniscus. Aiyuk stated as much about his meniscus in a video shortly after his injury, though it wasn't widely reported.

Pearsall, if he can develop his game a bit, could be the primary WR target on this offense, now that the aforementioned Samuel is gone. San Francisco can support at least two great pass-catchers, so it's possible both he and Kittle could have great seasons. Pearsall is very, very cheap in fantasy leagues right now.

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