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Dave's top five potential $1 auction fantasy football value picks for 2025. His undervalued draft targets for auction leagues, including Trey Benson and more.
2025 fantasy football drafts are already underway. While most prefer a traditional snake draft, many fantasy managers prefer to play in auction leagues. If you’ve never joined an auction league (sometimes referred to as salary cap leagues), I highly suggest doing so. It’s a unique fantasy football experience and is a great alternative to traditional redraft leagues. One thing seasoned auction gamers know is the potential value in $1 players. Correctly identifying these sleepers is key to executing a successful Stars and Scrubs approach. It’s also a great way to build depth if you decide to build a balanced roster.
Before we go any further, a quick disclaimer. The players listed below are based on RotoBaller’s Auction Value Tool. This feature is available for Premium subscribers, and the results below are based on a standard $200 auction budget. Also, please note, every auction is unique. While you should be able to land these players for $1, there could be situations where they are more expensive. That will ultimately come down to your league mates and how bullish they are on the players below. Now that we've got that out of the way, let’s discuss several $1 players you should target this year.
Make sure you’re following RotoBaller on X and check out RotoBaller.com for all your fantasy football needs. Here are five $1 players to target in your 2025 auction fantasy football drafts.
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Trey Benson - RB, Arizona Cardinals
Arizona selected Benson in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He wasn't very effective as a rookie and failed to make an impact. Benson only ran for 291 rushing yards and one touchdown on 63 carries. Among 70 backs with 50+ attempts, Benson also finished just 63rd in PFF rushing grade.
It wasn’t all bad, though, as Benson did average 4.6 yards per carry and (among those same 70 backs with 50+ attempts) Benson finished eighth in PFF elusive rating and 26th in Fantasy Points Data Suite’s explosive run rate.
Cardinals RB1 James Conner figures to begin the season as the team’s lead back. But he is now 30 years old and coming off a career-high 283 touches in 2024. Conner’s age, combined with his injury history, could present an opening for Benson to carve out a role in Arizona’s offense.
For what it’s worth, Conner himself, as well as quarterback Kyler Murray, have insinuated Benson will be more involved in 2025.
James Conner has been awesome the last two years.
And Trey Benson’s rookie year was awful.
But at some point, you need to start listening to what the team is saying.
Benson is absolutely worth a pick late in your draft. #fantasyfootball #birdgang
— Dave Ventresca (@FF_Stallion) August 11, 2025
“He’s gonna play a lot this year.”
Cardinals RB James Conner is expecting big things from Trey Benson. pic.twitter.com/6227zTyFIh
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) August 3, 2025
Whether or not that happens remains to be seen, but there’s enough smoke here to justify taking Benson as a cheap $1 option in auction formats. He might have standalone value and would be a borderline RB1 candidate if Conner misses time due to injury.
Bhayshul Tuten - RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Tuten was selected by Jacksonville in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. With 4.32 40-yard speed, Tuten is a threat to make a house call anytime he touches the ball. He also has the power to truckstick opponents when a situation calls for it.
Bhayshul Tuten is a box checker ✅
➖4.32 40-yard dash (100th percentile)
➖118.3 Speed Score (98th)
➖133.9 Burst Score (97th)
➖38.3% Dominator Rating (90th)
➖6.4 yards per carry (84th)
➖24 Bench Press (82nd)Is he worth an early 2nd round pick in rookie drafts?🤔 pic.twitter.com/A20UiVoBya
— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) May 6, 2025
BHAYSHUL TUTEN DID NOT GIVE UP ON THE PLAY 😤
He powers his way in for the TD
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/sQ5iIMUSLh
— NFL (@NFL) August 10, 2025
Tuten’s main competition for touches is fellow running backs Travis Etienne Jr. and Tank Bigsby. While Etienne does have a top-3 fantasy finish to his name, he has been an inefficient rusher the last two years and could easily be phased out of this offense by midseason. Bigsby showed promise in 2024 and outproduced Etienne as a runner. However, he is limited in his skill set and does not offer the same upside as Tuten.
New Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen worked wonders for the Buccaneers' running game in 2024. If he can have a similar impact on Jacksonville's, then figuring out the Jaguars backfield might be the key to winning your fantasy football league.
Tuten is not a perfect prospect, but he has big-play, home-run-hitting ability that the other backs on this team do not possess. He was also handpicked by the new Jacksonville regime. General manager James Gladstone even mentioned Tuten's name as a potential draft target during his initial interviews for the Jacksonville general manager job.
James Gladstone presented Bhayshul Tuten's name as a priority target on Day 3 during his two interviews with the Jaguars to become their GM pic.twitter.com/08PYmloWYU
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) April 26, 2025
This all makes Tuten the Jacksonville running back to target late in your auction. He could prove to be a massive steal in all drafts.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt - RB, Washington Commanders
An underrated prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, Croskey-Merritt has made a big impression on the Washington coaching staff this summer.
the rook is runnin' pic.twitter.com/NeNcTAqSuZ
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) July 28, 2025
Croskey-Merritt was selected by Washington in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft. 99% of the time, seventh-round picks are usually poor investments in fantasy football, but Croskey-Merritt might be different.
He did receive several top-30 visits during the lead-up to the 2025 NFL Draft, but he mostly flew under the radar in this year’s draft cycle. Croskey-Merritt only played one collegiate game in 2024, but that was mostly due to a ridiculous eligibility issue. He has great burst, vision, and explosive one-cut ability as a runner.
Jacory Croskey-Merritt pic.twitter.com/uqzVqE5BQs
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) August 9, 2025
Since Washington traded running back Brian Robinson Jr. to the San Francisco 49ers, Croskey-Merritt has gotten more expensive in some leagues. I have done several auction drafts since this news broke, and Croskey-Merritt has gone anywhere from $1-$10. Some gamers are big believers in his talent and think he is in line for a huge role in Washington's offense, while others remain skeptical.
If your league highly values Croskey-Merritt, then his backfield mates Austin Ekeler and Chris Rodriguez Jr. are also viable, cheap alternatives.
Luther Burden III - WR, Chicago Bears
Burden was one of the more talented receivers in the 2025 rookie class. Concerns about his effort and route-running caused him to fall to the second round of the NFL Draft. Chicago did not blink and, despite already having DJ Moore and Rome Odunze on the roster, the team selected Burden with the 39th overall pick.
The rookie missed significant time this offseason while nursing a soft tissue injury. It’s never a good thing when a rookie misses large portions of the offseason program. It's even more concerning for a player like Burden, who already had several question marks surrounding him entering the league.
However, recent reports suggest Burden has taken well to some hard coaching from head coach Ben Johnson, and the rookie has reportedly started to turn the corner.
#Bears rookie WR Luther Burden III has earned strong praise over the last week for the work he’s put in to grasp Ben Johnson’s offense, along with his attention to detail.
Several Chicago coaches tell me there’s no hiding Burden’s immense talent … it’s far better than where he… pic.twitter.com/AE4Exgl6WM
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) August 13, 2025
What makes Burden such an intriguing pick is his potential role in Chicago’s offense. During his time as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, Johnson heavily featured Amon-Ra St. Brown as a slot receiver and ran the passing game through him. Burden profiles best as a big-slot type of player and is a perfect fit for this role in Johnson’s offense.
We don’t know exactly how this Bears offense will look this year, but it’s safe to say we should expect improvement across the board. That means we should target players in this passing game.
Burden is the cheapest of the Bears’ wide receiver trio. He’s a great bench stash in auctions and is an ideal target for a Stars and Scrubs strategy. Just know, it might take him a while to get fully integrated into the offense. So be prepared to hold onto Burden if he gets off to a slow start.
DeMario Douglas/Kyle Williams - WR, New England Patriots
Both Douglas and Williams should be easily affordable in auction drafts this year. Douglas has reportedly been the best receiver this summer for the Patriots and could become the team’s WR1. He is a sneaky third-year breakout candidate.
“DeMario Douglas has been the Patriots’ best pass-catcher, and it isn’t close,” per @tkyles39
“He looks more comfortable than ever under Josh McDaniels, consistently getting open, catching everything thrown his way, and quickly becoming Drake Maye’s top target.”
POP SZN 📈📈📈 pic.twitter.com/cjTIVa5ODo
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 26, 2025
Williams was a third-round draft pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and is one of the more underrated receivers from this rookie class. He can play all three positions, but would be best utilized in a slot receiver role.
Both Douglas and Williams could thrive as slot receivers. That is important because the slot receiver in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ offense has traditionally been a valuable role for fantasy gamers. From Wes Welker to Julian Edelman to Jakobi Meyers, slot receivers in this offense have found a way to be fantasy relevant.
Stefon Diggs is Douglas and Williams' main competition for targets. However, he is now 31 years old, turns 32 in November, and is coming off a major knee injury. Diggs has received glowing reports from the Patriots this summer, but it’s hard to get overly excited about an older player recovering from a significant knee injury.
If second-year quarterback Drake Maye takes a significant step forward in 2025, then this passing game will be one to target. We don’t know who will emerge as the team’s WR1, but odds are decent that it will be either Douglas or Williams. They are great options to target toward the end of your auction and can be great values, especially in full PPR leagues.
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