5 Wide Receiver Sleepers for Fantasy Football: PPR Draft Targets (2025)

August 27, 2025

Ryan Kirksey's fantasy football wide receiver (WR) sleepers for 2025 fantasy football. His top draft values and targets, including Wan'Dale Robinson and more.

The 2025 NFL season is fast approaching, and fantasy football drafts are already taking place at a furious pace. Now is a great time to draft, especially while there are tons of undervalued players and sleepers available in the middle or late rounds. Once more game footage and training camp news emerge, some of these players might see an ADP bump.

In fantasy football, PPR leagues have become more and more popular each season. Many sites have PPR as the default setting now. It's important to identify which players could have additional value in these setups versus standard or half-PPR leagues. In this early August piece, we will highlight five of those players who have strong and sneaky PPR value.

Who are five fantasy football wide receiver sleepers for PPR leagues? Let's dive into an underrated sleeper for traditional leagues going in the middle rounds, two sleepers going after pick 90, and two sleepers going very late in drafts for deeper leagues.

Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

Even with Brock Bowers coming in with record-setting numbers as a rookie tight end, Meyers was a target monster for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024. He missed two games and still demanded 129 targets. His 8.6 targets per game were top-12 among all wide receivers.

Those numbers were with Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell at quarterback, and now Las Vegas brings in Geno Smith, who may not be a superstar, but is light years better than either of those 2024 quarterbacks.

The #Raiders and standout WR Jakobi Meyers are in exploratory discussions regarding a contract extension, according to Ian Rapport

The veteran receiver, who notched his first 1000 yard season last season, is currently set to hit free agency next spring pic.twitter.com/rZzBr9wf9I

— M Raider (@Raiderswmarcos) July 31, 2025

Meyers was fourth in passing yards last season, partially because he was 10th in accuracy rating. Smith has already talked about how often he will be targeting Bowers and Meyers this season, and their top rookie wide receiver, Jack Bech, doesn't seem to be making waves at camp like the team wanted. Meyers then remains a clear number one option in the wide receiver room, and with the Raiders playing a tough AFC West schedule this year, I expect the team to be in a lot of game scripts that require them to air it out.

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts

Here is a list of wide receivers who averaged around 7.5 targets per game in 2024: A.J. Brown, Jauan Jennings, Ladd McConkey, D.K. Metcalf, and George Pickens. Another name you can add to that list? Josh Downs. His 7.6 targets per game in 2024 were top-25 among all wide receivers. We just don't think of him in the same way as those other receivers because Anthony Richardson Sr. was throwing him the ball.

Downs finished the year 28th in total targets (107), but was 37th in receiving yards (803). He was 25th in receptions (72), but was a shocking 68th in unrealized air yards (327). However, Daniel Jones was able to win the starting job, which should raise Downs's ceiling.

If Downs just keeps the same role as 2024, and he has even average quarterback play, he should be a PPR machine. Downs' aDOT was just 6.9 yards, 97th among wide receivers last year. He makes his living catching everything underneath and gaining yards after the catch. For a player going after pick 110 in drafts, he is absolutely worth that kind of investment.

Khalil Shakir, Buffalo Bills

It took Shakir a few weeks to get his groove going with Josh Allen last year, but once it happened, Shakir was a target hog the rest of the season. From Weeks 7-18 in 2024, Shakir averaged 8.0 targets per game and never had fewer than six in any game. The Buffalo Bills found the perfect way to use him, and once they did, they made sure he got 100 targets on the season.

"I don't need Kahlil to do anything other than be Khalil Shakir.”

- Joe Brady 🔥 #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/dQz4BeuSxp

— Buffalo Sports Talk (@BUFSportsTalk) June 3, 2025

Shakir was second among all wide receivers in yards after the catch last season. The Bills understood that if they threw short to Shakir, it was a high catch probability, and he could use his speed to gain yards. That's exactly what happened as Shakir was 85th in air yards, but 35th in receiving yards.

The offensive scheme and personnel in Buffalo are largely the same as in 2024. Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid might take some steps up this year, but the most reliable safety valve for Josh Allen is Khalil Shakir. Even in PPR leagues, he is still being underdrafted. He is going later than WR40 on every site, and can be picked up around pick 90 in current drafts.

Wan'Dale Robinson, New York Giants

Last season, Malik Nabers got all the hype that came with being a top-of-the-first-round rookie and one of the most dominant players of the last 15 years. Nabers ended the season with 170 targets and 109 receptions despite Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, and Tommy DeVito as his quarterbacks. Nabers is a first-round pick for a reason this year, but we shouldn't overlook his teammate  Robinson.

Nabers led all wide receivers with 11.3 targets per game. But Robinson ranked tied for 16th with 8.2. The Giants' passing game was a funnel to just two players, Nabers and Robinson, and there is no reason to think that won't happen again. Will Robinson come close to challenging Nabers' yards and touchdowns? Certainly not, but he can match or exceed the 93 receptions he hauled in in 2024.

I actually think Robinson's best chance at a huge PPR season would come if and when Jaxson Dart takes over as quarterback. Russell Wilson likes to throw deep, which is not Robinson's game. But Dart could very well rely on Robinson as an underneath security blanket while he learns the NFL game. Right now, Robinson is going after pick 175 in drafts, and is no higher than WR65 on any fantasy site. For a player who earned 140 targets and 93 receptions last season, that's way too low in PPR formats.

Pat Bryant, Denver Broncos

Earlier in the offseason, Broncos head coach Sean Payton discussed his new rookie wide receiver, Bryant, and he compared him to his former wide receiver in New Orleans, Michael Thomas. In case your brain has been filled up with too many football stats and TikToks since then, Thomas is a player who had four straight seasons with at least 92 receptions.

Thomas also broke the NFL record with 149 receptions in 2019. Is this what we should expect from Pat Bryant? Of course not. But it's interesting that Payton sees him in that way, and the Broncos used a third-round pick on him this spring. Bryant signed his four-year deal and only has Marvin Mims Jr. and Devaughn Vele ahead of him on the depth chart.

PAT BRYANT SCORES THE GAME-WINNING TD ON 4TH DOWN! 😱@IlliniFootball pic.twitter.com/ndso5u3X8B

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) November 23, 2024

Can Bryant emerge as the WR2 for the Broncos alongside Courtland Sutton? Absolutely he can. Bryant was 18th among all college receivers in yards per route run in 2024. He had a 24% target share last season and 10 receiving touchdowns. More than 65% of Denver's offensive yards came via the air last year, and it's certainly possible Bo Nix takes another step up.

Bryant is going after pick 250 in almost every PPR draft. He is absolutely worthy of a last-round pick, just to see if Payton wants to turn him into Michael Thomas lite.

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