Fantasy Football Strength of Schedule Rankings by Position - Easiest QB, RB, WR & TE Matchups (2025)

August 12, 2025

John Laghezza's fantasy football strength of schedule rankings to identify top sleepers and draft targets. The easiest schedules for QB, RB, WR, and TE in 2025.

Every new fantasy football season means a thousand proposed ways to skin the cat without scratching its backside. We've all heard the time-tested adages before -- "Draft your guys," "Just pick good players on good teams," and my personal favorite, "ADP is comprised mostly by losers." While these macro strategies will generally set you on the right path directionally, they lack some critical nuance in a game of small samples built so firmly on immediacy.

It's important to get off to a great start, as my friend Scott Pianowski says to "win September." Strong play out of the box allows for extra freedom in bench-building, as well as a leg up in the trade market when pitted against struggling GMs battling desperation to stay afloat.

And what's the best way to get into the optimal position to do just that? Simple, by mapping out the schedule grid for outliers in the strength of the schedule. Using a combination of last year's statistics and this year's projections, I created my strength of schedule matrix to identify players who draw additional value by facing off against the league's weakest opponents.

Quarterback — Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers (Ranked #1 Easiest SoS)

San Fran grabs the league's easiest draw for fantasy shot-callers, mixing a nice combination of early weak opposing secondaries (TB, NO, JAX) with an incredible five indoor games in its first eight weeks.

Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy is coming off a strong season as fantasy football's QB13, featuring some especially strong efficiency metrics (+0.17 EPA/dropback, 65.9% completion rate, 8.5 yards/attempt, 47.9% throws to the sticks). Add in the league's sixth-highest scramble rate among starters at the position (8.6%), and you can easily see Purdy exceeding expectations against weak competition in this vaunted Kyle Shanahan system.

Fantasy Impact: In no way does this mean to push Purdy over the dual-threat alien quarterbacks going in the early rounds. However, this soft schedule could (and should?) be a determining factor in making sense of the consolidated QB glob in those middle frames.

Oftentimes drafted outside the top-12 conventional starters, Purdy offers a great shot at draft-day value, allowing you to wait on QB while you stack the rest of your squad with superstars. Remember, it wasn't long that long ago Las Vegas listed Purdy as a favorite to win MVP. The talent, coaching, and schedule are all aligned for a big step forward in 2025.

Every Brock Purdy throw of 20+ air yards from a clean pocket in 2024: pic.twitter.com/BzzlVca5uO

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) May 17, 2025

Running Back — Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons (Ranked #1 Easiest SoS)

Entering his third NFL season after being selected eighth by the Falcons, Bijan Robinson is set to build off a stellar 2024 campaign that saw him finish as fantasy football's RB3.

Totaling 365 touches last season, the former Longhorn is on the shortest list of players with realistic aspirations to be the game's top overall scorer. Robinson brings with him the ability to post two separate quality box scores in any given contest, averaging just under 18 carries a game and 79 targets per season, good for a +15% team target share. That's the stuff fantasy football dreams are made of.

Robinson's talent plus projectable workload alone make him a consensus top-5 pick, though I'd argue he should be the clear-cut second choice after Ja'Marr Chase once factoring in strength of schedule. Not only are the Dirty Birds stationed in the league's worst run-stopping division, but Las Vegas' lookahead lines list Atlanta with a 3.5 point spread in either direction for a remarkable nine of 11 games before its bye.

Generally, RB success can be tied to team win/loss record with a relative degree of accuracy, which makes sense -- a team with the lead is more apt to run consistently in the fourth quarter. However, given Robinson's high-value usage and proficiency in both phases of the offense, close contests could be our best friend as fantasy gamers.

Fantasy Impact: I alluded to it earlier -- the more I digest the totality of Robinson's contextual environment, the more I'm buying in with both hands. Strength of schedule happened to be the cherry on top to make Robinson my undisputed 1.02 this draft season. Salary cap auction players take note.

Bijan Robinson is a human joystick 🕹️😮‍💨pic.twitter.com/eKaAFlPk7c

— Football’s Greatest Moments (@FBGreatMoments) July 18, 2025

Wide Receiver — Ricky Pearsall, San Francisco 49ers (Ranked #1 Easiest SoS)

Couldn't bury this wide receiver lede, as the best scheduling for wideouts mimics those for quarterbacks. However, currently suppressed costs don't seem to reflect my elevated expectations for the Niners whatsoever.

We all know what happens when Kyle Shanahan gets into his bag -- and you can only imagine how badly he's champing at the bit to get back in the saddle. Remember, despite a dismal 6-11 regular-season record, the San Francisco offense finished top-5 in yards/game (376.3), yards/play (6.2), net yard differential (59), average drive distance (35.8), passing yards/game (249.1), and yards/reception (12.7). In other words, rumors of a demise may be greatly exaggerated.

Suddenly, no squinting is required to see a pathway to fantasy glory for the former late first-rounder out of Florida. And oh yes, Pearsall got shot at close range right before the season started. It's a miracle he managed to play professional football after eating hot lead at all, let alone put on a two-game highlight reel to close out the 2024 campaign.

In case you already checked out by Week 17, despite the small sample, it was certainly impressive. Pearsall looked every bit the type of featured wideout who would allow an offense to move on from Deebo Samuel Sr.: 89% route participation, 18 targets, 23% target/route, 14 receptions, 2.36 yards/route, 210 yards, and two touchdowns. That's WR1 production.

Mix in a full offseason of processing NFL game speed, plus a lovely discount given the schedule, and we could have a legitimate league winner on our hands. San Fran plays six of its first 11 games indoors, including juicy matchups versus the leaky Saints and Jaguars secondaries in the first month alone.

Every indicator is flashing for Pearsall to explode, hopefully helping to win the opening month for us. Under normal circumstances, it feels like Pearsall would be going several rounds earlier, so I'm jumping on the perceived value while I can. Draft first, ask questions last.

Fantasy Impact: Unlike players of Robinson's ilk who remain widely unavailable to most teams, identifying a potential standout in the ~90 ADP range presents an entirely different opportunity. Regardless of your strategic approach, there's always room for a possible needle-mover in the seventh/eighth rounds. I wouldn't punt the position for any single piece of schedule data, but in Pearsall's case, it simply fortifies an already compelling case for nearly universal rostership.

Ricky Pearsall pic.twitter.com/UWdJzi16AF

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) July 10, 2025

Tight End — Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars (Ranked #1 Easiest SoS)

Once again, digging just a little deeper into schedules reveals another chance to uncover a TE diamond in the rough. As if we needed anything else to get excited about in sunny Florida after the arrival of offensive guru Liam Coen, the Jaguars also happen to boast the league's softest tight-end schedule.

Brenton Strange played second fiddle to Evan Engram, who eventually landed on the IR for good in Week 14. Strange performed admirably down the stretch, posting low-end TE1 stats across the board from Week 15 on: 69% route participation, 21 targets, 20% target/route, 1.46 yards/route, 17 receptions, 155 yards, and zero touchdowns.

This pick may not be the most exciting on its face, but sometimes it's as much about pragmatism as anything. In the case you whiff on the early TEs, definitely add Strange to your queue as a late-round dart. If Week 1 comes and goes without a spike in utilization, he's an easy cut. Conversely, in the case that Strange fully assumes the Engram role in a new and improved prolific offensive ecosystem, you could already be rostering Week 1's waiver wire headliner.

Fantasy Impact: Granted, there's some consternation regarding former 1.01 Trevor Lawrence and exactly what the Jaguars' offensive ceiling is -- and that's fine. The thing is, by the time we get to Strange's name on the draft board, he's essentially an afterthought as the TE24 and an oft-undrafted last-round pick. He's also the owner of an 11-reception game, accomplished just 15 times by a tight end in 2024. It's all about the risk-reward ratio.

Every Brenton Strange target from Year 2 pic.twitter.com/n9wUVD380X

— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) July 4, 2025

Strength Of Schedule Honorable Mentions

• C.J. Stroud, QB, HOU
• Sam Darnold, QB, SEA
• Alvin Kamara, RB, NO
• James Conner, RB, ARI
• Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, SEA
• Tetairoa McMillan, WR, CAR
• Chig Okonkwo, TE, TEN

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