Late-Round Fliers: Fantasy Football Upside Draft Picks for RB, WR, TE (2025)

August 29, 2025

Nick's late-round fantasy football breakouts, draft fliers and value picks for 2025. His running back, wide receiver and tight end sleepers to target late.

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Fantasy football drafters rightfully pay the most attention to their early picks, which can lead to taking the same couple of "sleepers" late after the early-draft hype wears off. We'll present some late-round fliers at running back, wide receiver, and tight end that are worth taking due to their upside for you to fold into your drafts. The goal is to find those who could hit it big at little cost, but who would be droppable for that valuable first in-season waiver period.

Those seeking kicker or defense fliers, feel free to ask, but I'd advocate skipping K/DEF in place of the most late-round RB/WR fliers that you can squeeze in. Hitting on those positions is so valuable compared to stashing a top-flight kicker or defense, which we know how to stream by now! For today’s purposes, we're using aggregate ADP data from half-PPR drafts as of 8/3/2025. Let's dig in!

Late-Round Fliers - Running Backs

Will Shipley (PHI), RB62
AJ Dillon (PHI), RB84

It’s no secret that the Eagles had a league-leading 621 rush attempts last year, with that total settling around 750 with the postseason included. We know that Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts represented the majority of that, but Kenneth Gainwell still had 75 carries and another 22 targets.

Shipley disappointed with only 82 yards on 30 totes (2.7 yards per carry), catching all four targets for 35 yards. But the Clemson alum racked up 33 total TDs with a 5.2 YPC in 36 collegiate games before being taken in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft. His appeal skews to those in PPR formats.

Dillon enters the room after missing all of 2024, but the “Quadfather” is one of the few with the build to fill Barkey’s cleats should injury strike. But there were questions arising on Dillon before getting hurt, as he averaged just 3.4 YPC after topping 4.0 in each of his first three seasons in Green Bay.

We know that many are fixated on Barkley racking up over 400 touches last year, which makes Dillon a highlighted name. And if you combine Shipley’s 2024 workload with Gainwell’s change-of-pace reps, you wind up with 125 touches.

You will mix in Dillon, but the Eagles should scale Barkley back a bit. Dillon going undrafted makes little sense to me, even if you only view him as a Barkley handcuff. Presumably, the discrepancy between him and Shipley is the thought that Shipley owns the change-of-pace role to pop alongside a healthy Barkley. Don't let Dillon disappear from your draft boards, though.

Keaton Mitchell (BAL), RB77

Yes, Derrick Henry is the bees' knees and will command a massive share of the pie. And Mitchell did tear his ACL in Week 15 of the ‘23 season, returning in Week 10 of the ‘24 campaign with barely any usage. But we're drafting what will be, not what was.

Mitchell reached 20.99 mph on a 40-yard burst against Seattle in his Week 9 breakout back in ‘23, and will need to once again reach that electricity to crack meaningful reps amidst Henry and a reliable, versatile veteran in Justice Hill. If he comes out of the gate running through molasses, then you cut him for the early waiver gem of your choice. But camp reports have been encouraging.

RB Keaton Mitchell just turned a short catch from Cooper Rush into a TD. His speed has been evident in camp. Has different look than he had last year when he was just getting back from major knee injury.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) August 3, 2025

Being a year removed from major surgery and still so young, we’re fine using the final pick on the ceiling swing. Again, the underlying thesis here is that targeting backs with proven upside (however brief) in high-scoring offenses, especially ones with a rush-oriented blueprint, is the way to go. Hill is safer, but he doesn't have Mitchell's ceiling.

Late-Round Fliers - Wide Receivers

Dyami Brown (JAX), WR88

Brown had under 500 yards with three total touchdowns across his first three NFL seasons, but he flashed in 2024 with Jayden Daniels elevating the team. Brown caught 30-of-40 targets for 308 yards and a score, which isn’t great, so what gives? Why’d Jacksonville give him $10 million?

Well, you could rewatch the Commanders’ playoff run, or scour the box scores and see that Brown led the team with 229 yards on 14 catches. If you shine when the lights are brightest, folks will take notice. And few had a better seat to the postseason show than his new coach.

Classic "I Gotta Have Him! He Killed Us!"

This back-to-back play sequence from Dyami Brown in NFC Wild Card game sealed it for Liam Coen (watching on TB sidelines) https://t.co/l21mMMRFk1 pic.twitter.com/a7SbxJNFkn

— Kyle Borgognoni (@kyle_borg) March 10, 2025

Jacksonville hopes to take several steps forward in Liam Coen’s first year, but nothing is certain beyond Brian Thomas Jr. on offense. The backfield has three moving parts, Brenton Strange is an intriguing-yet-unproven TE breakout candidate, and Travis Hunter’s snap share projections are polarizing.

Elijah Moore (BUF), WR90

Moore has had the displeasure of playing for the 2021-22 Jets and 2023-24 Browns, yet he’s averaged 10.8 yards per reception with the crummy QB play. The brief Jameis Winston era gave us a glimpse at production with a real slinger, but Jerry Jeudy’s elite output overshadowed Moore.

The 5-foot-10 wideout put up 386 yards in Weeks 7-9 and 11-14, good for 30th among WRs and TEs. His 66% catch rate in that window gives us hope against the sub-60% marks in each of his first four seasons. And while Josh Allen won’t necessarily provide Winston-level volume (few do), the increased efficiency and overall scoring opportunity improvements should count for more.

Now that we’ve ideally established Moore as a player, let’s chat about opportunity. The Bills' receiver room has Khalil Shakir in the slot, and then Keon Coleman, Joshua Palmer, Curtis Samuel, and Moore. Palmer has intrigue, but has failed to stand out on the Chargers when injuries have elevated his role.

The Bills could unlock something, but Moore has shown more in the past. However, Buffalo saw fit to give Palmer a three-year deal worth $29 million compared to a one-year, $2.5M deal for Moore. We’re taking a flier on talent, not money, but it would be foolish to ignore initial team commitments.

Oh, and now Shakir is expected to miss 4-5 weeks with a high-ankle sprain, and Palmer is working through a groin injury. These are valuable preseason reps that Moore is soaking up with Allen and the 1’s!

Tutu Atwell (LAR), WR104

Atwell had 562 yards on 42 catches while competing for No. 3 WR reps last year, though Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp missing time helped widen the target share. Demarcus Robinson also siphoned a career-high seven TDs on just 31 catches, but he’s in San Francisco now.

Jordan Whittington turned 22 catches into 293 yards, but held a meager 5.6 average depth of target. Meanwhile, Atwell owned a 12.1 aDOT with valuable downfield routes. But he also had zero end-zone targets, one missed tackle forced, and six drops. This is no slam dunk.

In limited work, Whittington forced three missed tackles with one end-zone look and a beautiful 2.62 yards per route run.

It’s reasonable to expect more from Nacua and Davante Adams, but the team still lacks a playmaker at TE. Just like with any Ram, you are banking on Matthew Stafford’s health, specifically his back, holding up. But everyone in this column has a minimal opportunity cost.

Michael Wilson (ARI), WR103

Wilson is being priced alongside those with questionable roles on bad offenses, but he’s got a sturdy role and gave Kyler Murray a 68% catch rate. Wilson quietly ran a route on 81% of Arizona’s plays (Marvin Harrison Jr. was 83%).

He was the clear third option behind Trey McBride and MHJ, rocking a 13.6% target share to 26.5% for McBride and 21% for MHJ, but a hefty 23.5% air yard share works for us.

Not only that, but he had two drops and a 64% contested catch rate (MHJ was at 37% for reference). Zay Jones and Simi Fehoko are not notable threats, and they didn’t bring any WRs in through the draft. Greg Dortch has not stood out from the slot, where Xavier Weaver could threaten and split reps.

(Wilson is in the concussion protocol as of August 1 after colliding with Budda Baker, so perhaps his ADP will be further suppressed.)

Late-Round Fliers - Tight Ends

Darren Waller (MIA), TE24

Waller, who will turn 33 in September, has had a tumultuous career that had seemingly ended after he retired in 2024. But taking a year to recover from playing for the 2023 New York Giants is understandable.

The 2019 breakout was coaxed out of retirement by Miami, who operate a creative offense that’s predicated on speed. While Waller’s top speed was around 21.76 mph back in ‘19, he still galloped to 19.66 mph in ‘23 on an offense with zero creativity or time for a play to develop.

Jonnu Smith was still topping 21 mph last year en route to a career year (88 catches, 884 yards, eight TDs), so we can’t simply project that form onto Waller, but being a starter on Miami can pay dividends.

In the 11 games that Tua Tagovailoa played, he averaged 260 yards per game, which was the fourth-highest tally in the NFL. Investing in the Dolphins is investing in Tagovailoa’s health, but Waller in the late teens is a far cry from where the other starting players go.

Mason Taylor (NYJ), TE25

Taylor joins a weak Jets TE room and should quickly give us a sink-or-swim glimpse at the rookie’s fit in a Justin Fields offense. Taylor only had a 55-546-2 receiving line over 12 games as a junior at LSU, but within the lesser volume was one charted drop on 79 total targets.

If his blocking and stamina prove to be NFL caliber, then he could easily become the No. 2 receiver behind Garrett Wilson. Neither Josh Reynolds nor Allen Lazard has the skill to give us much to hope for beyond remote flex appeal, so what about this 6-foot-6 fella? Could he have a year like 2023 Cole Kmet in him?

Those Bears were a mess, but Fields still gave Kmet 90 targets after channeling 136 looks to D.J. Moore. Kmet also offered steady hands, catching 73 of those targets (81% catch rate) for 719 yards and six TDs. Let's hope that early reports of plus blocking give us paths to heavy playing time right from the jump.

Aaron Glenn said he always knew rookie TE Mason Taylor was a good receiver, but the thing that has impressed him the most is his blocking

"I knew he could block, but I didn't think it was gonna be this good"#Jets

— Harrison Glaser (@NYJetsTFMedia) July 25, 2025

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