Fantasy Football Rookie Sleepers: 5 Late-Round Draft Picks to Target and Stash (2025)

June 26, 2025

Dave Ventresca's top five late-round sleepers in 2025 fantasy football dynasty rookie drafts. His undervalued first-year players and breakout candidates for dynasty leagues.

While the player pool is vastly different, dynasty rookie drafts are no different than any other fantasy football draft. There are overvalued players who could torpedo your team, and then there are undervalued players who could lift your team from the depths.

Many dynasty gamers consider fourth- and fifth-round rookie picks to be a waste and consider them useless. While the talent pool certainly dries up later in rookie drafts, there are still plenty of potential gems waiting to be found. If you correctly identify one sleeper in the closing stages of your rookie draft, it can give you a massive advantage over the rest of your league. Look no further than Puka Nacua in 2023 rookie drafts for proof of that statement. For our exercise today, we will examine several players currently ranked outside the top 36 in RotoBaller’s dynasty rookie rankings.

Make sure you’re following RotoBaller on X and check out RotoBaller.com for all your fantasy football needs. Here are five late-round players to stash in your 2025 dynasty rookie drafts.

Brashard Smith - RB, Kansas City Chiefs

RotoBaller Rookie Ranking: 40th Overall

Smith is a converted running back who began his collegiate career as a wide receiver. Despite 2024 being his first season as a running back, Smith fared quite well in several advanced metrics. Among 154 collegiate backs with 100+ carries, Smith finished 21st in PFF rushing grade, 27th in PFF’s missed tackles forced, and 56th in PFF elusive rating.

He is a big-play machine with great skills in the open field.

Brashard Smith Folks 📈🔥 #NFLDraft2025 #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE pic.twitter.com/BlZ3O5gDme

— NFL Draft (@NFLDraftOG) January 29, 2025

Unfortunately, Smith fell to Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft. He would eventually be selected in the seventh round by the Kansas City Chiefs. While Smith did not receive the ideal draft capital, Kansas City is a highly intriguing landing spot.

Starter Isiah Pacheco was not effective last year after returning from a broken leg. It’s possible his struggles bleed over into 2025, and that would open a door for Smith to gain more touches. Kareem Hunt and Elijah Mitchell are the only other backs of note on Kansas City’s roster. Hunt is nearly 30 years old and is clearly on his last legs, while Mitchell has never been able to stay healthy.

With his skills as a receiver, Smith may earn a role as a pass-catcher right out of the gates. Even if Pacheco returns to form, there’s room for Smith to deliver RB2 production similar to what we saw from Jerick McKinnon a few years ago.

There’s little risk in taking Smith in the fourth round of rookie drafts. He is a very talented player tied to a strong offensive coach in Andy Reid and is playing in a great ecosystem. Gamers should feel comfortable reaching for him in the third round of rookie drafts if they feel inclined to do so.

Tory Horton - WR, Seattle Seahawks

RotoBaller Rookie Ranking: 44th Overall

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 it signed Cooper Kupp this offseason, he turned 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.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt - RB, Washington Commanders

RotoBaller Rookie Ranking: 51st Overall

Croskey-Merritt is one of the more underrated running backs in this year’s rookie class. Eligibility issues limited him to just one game in 2024, and this caused him to fly under the radar.

However, he enjoyed a strong season at New Mexico in 2023 and ran for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns on just 189 carries. He also averaged a robust 6.3 yards per carry.

The #Commanders are getting a tremendous value in the explosive, creative, & unpredictable RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt (@JacoryMerritt15)!

Crosky-Merritt displays nimble footwork, strong leg drive to finish, & breakaway speed!#NFLDraft #RaiseHail @raj_manjrekar pic.twitter.com/f8tyRXojqX

— Noah K.M. Chang (@NoahKMChang) April 26, 2025

Croskey-Merritt garnered several top 30 visits from NFL teams in the run-up to the NFL Draft, but ultimately fell to Day 3. He was eventually selected in the seventh round by the Washington Commanders. This is a highly intriguing landing spot for the incoming rookie. Austin Ekeler is now 30 years old, coming off back-to-back ineffective seasons, and struggled to stay healthy last year.

Current starter Brian Robinson Jr. survived the NFL Draft, but there were murmurs that the team was in the market for a running back. Robinson is a solid but unspectacular player who lacks explosiveness and is limited in his ability as a rusher.

With a strong summer, Croskey-Merritt could easily leapfrog Ekeler and wind up as the team's RB2. If Robinson is injured or begins to struggle, the team could give Croskey-Merritt some runway and see what he can do.

On a personal note, I am very bullish on Croskey-Merritt’s outlook and own him in a whopping 53% of my dynasty rosters. He is a player who could surprise in a big way if he gets an opportunity to show what he can do.

If the stars align, Croskey-Merritt can blow by his current RotoBaller rookie ranking and leave dynasty gamers who missed out shaking their heads at what could have been. At this price, why not take a flyer on him?

Kyle Monangai - RB, Chicago Bears

RotoBaller Rookie Ranking: 52nd Overall

Monangai was selected by the Bears in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He played well during his final two years at Rutgers. 2024 was his best season, though, as he ran for 1,279 rushing yards and 13 rushing touchdowns.

#Bears 7th round pick Kyle Monangai (Rutgers).

5-foot-8, 211. Low pad level + contact balance. Sudden footwork — with short-area acceleration. Can shake defenders in the open field. Production on underneath throws. pic.twitter.com/U5F5iBjK9n

— Matt Bowen (@MattBowen41) April 29, 2025

Monangai is a powerful rusher and is known for his tackle-breaking ability. Among 154 collegiate rushers with 100+ carries, Monangai finished 10th in PFF’s missed tackles forced. This is noteworthy because this is a metric that translates very well to the NFL.

The Bears were originally rumored to be in the mix to sign veteran running backs Nick Chubb and J.K. Dobbins this offseason. However, both players signed elsewhere, and that means there’s an opening for Monangai to function as the team’s power back behind D'Andre Swift.

David Montgomery performed well in this role during head coach Ben Johnson’s days with the Detroit Lions. If Monangai earns the Montgomery role in Chicago, he would be in line for a bigger workload than some are expecting.

For what it’s worth, Chicago is reportedly quite bullish on Monangai, and that could be why the team opted not to sign Chubb or Dobbins.

While the Chicago Bears discussed adding another RB, after seeing what they have in 7th-round pick Kyle Monangai, that notion has been tabled. There’s a real chance here for Monangai to eventually be the #2 back and see meaningful carries as a rookie. #DaBears

— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) June 16, 2025

Gamers should feel comfortable selecting Monangai anywhere in the fourth round of rookie drafts. He has a real chance at getting significant playing time as a rookie and could be Chicago's RB2 by the time the 2025 season begins.

Efton Chism III- WR, New England Patriots

RotoBaller Rookie Ranking: 63rd Overall

Chism played collegiate ball for five seasons at Eastern Washington University. 2024 was his best season as he posted a 120-1,311-13 line. After going undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft, Chism joined the New England Patriots as an undrafted free-agent signing. Chism has made some headlines this offseason and reportedly turned heads during the Patriots' minicamp earlier this month.

Head coach Mike Vrabel also lauded Chism’s ability and seemed impressed with the rookie’s development.

Mike Vrabel on Efton Chism:

“I think he’s a talented player. I think he has a certain skillset. He’s dedicated. He’s studied extremely hard. He has a good feel for what we’re asking him to do. The biggest thing for receivers is that there’s trust from the guy that throws him the pic.twitter.com/kuHiePYqsh

— Patrio7s (@PATRIO7S_) June 10, 2025

Listed at 5’10” and 198 lbs, Chism probably profiles best as a slot receiver in the NFL. That's where things could get intriguing for him.

New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has a long history of slot receivers producing high-end fantasy numbers. If Chism lands the slot role in New England’s offense, he could be a surprise rookie contributor. Chism will have stiff competition from fellow rookie Kyle Williams as well as third-year receiver DeMario Douglas. Both reportedly had strong springs and are in contention for the slot role as well.

It’s more likely than not that Chism never becomes a viable dynasty asset. But given the buzz we’ve been hearing about him (as well as the fact that he got some run with the first team in minicamp), there's no harm in taking him with your final rookie pick and stashing him in your taxi squad to see what happens.

If your rookie draft has already finished, Chism is more than likely sitting on waivers. Go ahead and pick him up. The worst that happens is you kick him back to waivers in favor of someone else once the season begins.

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