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10 Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Sleepers - Undervalued Players to Target (2025)

Jayden Higgins - NFL Draft Prospects, Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Rankings

John's analyzes his top fantasy football rookie draft sleepers for 2025: Travis Hunter, Tre Harris, Bhayshul Tuten, Jayden Higgins, Brashard Smith, RJ Harvey, more.

The 2025 NFL Draft is less than a few weeks away, so it's time to start thinking about who may be sleepers in this year's rookie drafts. Obviously, which team each player goes to will significantly impact their fantasy production, but we can still evaluate them based purely on their skills.

This is a valuable thing to do. We shouldn't totally fade players who aren't hyped massively and don't get an ideal landing spot. There are multiple examples of players who don't get great landing spots and still are very productive, like Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving. No one expected his massive 2024 season, and many believed he'd be the clear RB2 behind RB Rachaad White.

White was the RB4 in PPR in 2023, so there was a lot of doubt about Irving ever getting a significant role. But it happened, and the spot wasn't a great reason to fade Irving, who was somewhat of a sleeper heading into 2025. So let's break down all of my biggest sleepers in dynasty fantasy football rookie drafts ahead of the 2025 NFL season.

Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:

 

Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado

Hunter will mostly play wide receiver at the next level if his coaches don't want to get fired. Think about it this way: think about how NFL teams would answer the following question. "Would you rather have Justin Jefferson or Jalen Ramsey on a rookie contract?" Any management group that answers Ramsey should be immediately fired in this hypothetical situation.

The other question I'd like to ask teams is this: "Do you think Hunter has a lot of room to grow as a WR?" I imagine all of them would say yes. He was raw as a prospect, yet he put up great numbers and likely single-handedly got his quarterback much better draft capital.

I don't want to leave any rookie draft without Hunter. He is an astoundingly good athlete with tremendous upside.

 

Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan

Loveland is an excellent route-runner and separator. Compared to the other TEs in this class, he should have the most immediate success. With some more development, he could become the centerpiece of a team's passing offense or serve as a de facto WR2 on a team that lacks one. A lot of teams lack a good WR2.

I've seen conflicting numbers about his height and weight, but I'm going with the numbers from his combine on the official NFL website. You can get Loveland quite a bit cheaper than Penn State TE Tyler Warren, and Loveland is the superior separator and route-runner with more receiving upside. So you should take him if you want better value.

 

RJ Harvey, RB, UCF

Harvey is very elusive, has massive athletic upside, is a great pass-catcher, and is a wizard at turning negative plays into positive gains when the offensive line doesn't open up holes for him. He's an older prospect, at 24 years old, but he tested excellently at the NFL Combine, and he has a ton of upside for at least his rookie season.

Harvey put up monster numbers in his final two campaigns at UCF. He should immediately be productive in the NFL. His blend of elusiveness, speed, explosiveness, and receiving upside will make it hard for an NFL offensive coordinator to pass up on his talents, and he should get significant touches in Year 1, especially if he's selected by a team that doesn't have a clear RB1.

 

Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech

Tuten is my favorite running back in this class. I'm not saying he'll outproduce Ashton Jeanty in Year 1, nor does that remotely matter, because he's being picked much later in the draft. I do think it's a great idea to trade back and stockpile picks in the second and third rounds, partly because of players like Tuten.

Tuten is remarkably skilled and highly underrated right now. You can probably get him in the late second round. With enough volume, he should win leagues in Year 1.

 

Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State

To me, Higgins is a player that people want Tetairoa McMillan and Luther Burden III to be, combined. He's a silky smooth route-runner, has surprising speed and acceleration for his size, is a fantastic separator, has amazing body control, and can immediately be a team's prototypical "X" WR.

Higgins is another player I firmly believe will win leagues in 2025.

 

Jaylin Noel, WR, Iowa State

Noel's upside is Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who has much more speed and explosiveness. Unfortunately for his fantasy value, but incredibly fortunate for yours, he had to share a team with the Higgins, as mentioned earlier. Noel has league-winning upside in Year 1, just like his former teammate. We pray he goes to a team with a good quarterback.

If just one or the other was on the team in 2024, he could have easily surpassed 1,500 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, but that wasn't the case, so their values are being depressed because of that. Trade for multiple second-round picks, and make picking Noel and Higgins a top priority. It will pay off.

 

Brashard Smith, RB, SMU

Smith is a Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane-type player. Smith has excellent receiving upside since he's a converted WR and should be lethal on routes out of the backfield, just like Achane was. Like Achane, he's a highly explosive and fast running back (he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash) and can win running routes out of wide receiver spots in his formation. He can also improvise well when plays break down, getting open down the field for massive gains, and make some absurd circus catches.

Smith is not just a back who will be used as a receiver on passing downs. He's an excellent football runner, too. He's most dangerous in space, and his size isn't what you expect from a workhorse back (especially from a pass-protection standpoint), which caps his upside, but he's ridiculously cheap in rookie drafts right now.

If it were just for the pure receiving upside in PPR leagues, he'd be worth a third-round pick in rookie drafts all day. I'd be comfortable taking him in the second, with the caveat that I want to stock up on as many picks as possible to take all the guys on this list.

Smith has the speed to hit home-run plays, which is massively crucial for later-round picks. You can win fantasy matchups on just one or two huge plays or long touchdowns, and getting scoring like that from a late-round pick can cover for your team's other holes in the roster or push it into elite territory.

Draft Smith in all leagues if he's there in the third round. That's an insane value.

 

Jaxson Dart, QB, Ole Miss

Dart is my QB1. He's the best processor in this year's draft class, makes the fewest boneheaded plays, has the best accuracy when dealing with pressure, and put up great numbers even when he had no one to throw it to in 2024. His best WR, Tre Harris, missed a lot of time with a groin injury.

He has underrated rushing upside, and his film shows that he has the most nuanced understanding of the position. He should have the best rookie season among the top-3 quarterbacks in this class, including Dart, Shedeur Sanders, and Cam Ward.

I won't be picking Ward or Sanders in any rookie drafts. I'll just pick Dart wherever I can get him, especially in Superflex/2QB leagues. He's a better player at a cheaper price.

 

Tre Harris, WR, Ole Miss

Harris is the most unfairly hated WR in this class. He's a bit of an older prospect, but his film in 2023 and 2024 was incredible. There's not much he can't do. He regularly breaks tackles, carries defenders with him for extra yards, gets wide open due to his elite route-running nuance and separation skills, rarely loses jump balls, and dominated everyone in 2024.

He has a disgusting stiff-arm, is fantastic against zone coverage, can manipulate defensive backs and pace his routes enough to win vertically even without elite speed, and shattered the efficiency record for most yards per route run against man coverage in a season in college football history.

He has no shortage of absurd highlight-worthy plays, and it's likely that his groin injury significantly hampered his abilities in 2024, which makes his production even more absurd. He looked to have a bit more juice on his 2023 tape.

The criticism that his production mostly came against small schools isn't a knock on his talents, either. There are mountains of examples of him embarrassing corners from bigger schools, sometimes multiple times per game, with his routes.

 

Jarquez Hunter, RB, Auburn

Hunter is an intriguing player. Thanks to Dataroma on X for bringing him to my attention and pointing out his similarities with Irving. Hunter is a smaller prospect, but his blend of elusiveness and burst could quickly land him a nice RB2 role.

The film also shows a surprisingly good player, considering how low his ADP is in rookie rankings.

Note his re-acceleration after breaking through contact. That's a highly underrated skill RBs can have, and it's pretty nuanced, but every yard counts at the next level, and if it allows him to break away big runs at the next level (it should), he should be a player to get excited about. I'd hammer Hunter as much as possible in the fourth round of dynasty drafts.



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