5 Mid-Round Sleepers and Potential League-Winners for 2025 Fantasy Football

Dave's fantasy football draft targets in the middle rounds of 2025 drafts. His potential sleepers, risers, and league-winners, including Jayden Reed and more.

Fantasy football drafts will soon be underway as we are now just a few weeks away from the start of NFL training camps. Much emphasis is placed on the players going in the early rounds of fantasy football drafts. This is understandable, as Rounds 1-3 are the most essential picks and can make or break your team.

However, it’s vital that managers also take time to evaluate players going in the middle rounds (roughly Rounds 4-9) of fantasy drafts. There is a wide range of players available at this point in the draft. If you can find a few values in these rounds, you could be well on your way to winning your league.

Make sure you’re following RotoBaller on X and check out RotoBaller.com for all your fantasy football needs. For our exercise today, we will be using ADP (average draft position) data from Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues. With that said, here are five players to target in the middle rounds of 2025 fantasy football drafts.

• 2025 fantasy football rankings
• Running back (RB) fantasy football rankings
• Wide receiver (WR) fantasy football rankings
• Tight end (TE) fantasy football rankings
• Quarterback (QB) fantasy football rankings
• FLEX fantasy football rankings
• Defense (D/ST) fantasy football rankings
• Kicker (K) fantasy football rankings
• Dynasty fantasy football rankings

Tyreek Hill - WR, Miami Dolphins

Yahoo ADP: 38th Overall

Hill is coming off a down 2024 season. He injured his wrist in training camp, and that, combined with starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missing significant time with another concussion, led to Hill’s worst season since 2019.

2025 will be Hill’s age-31 season. He is on the back nine of his career, and despite the poor circumstances last year, he appears to have slowed down a bit. Hill is a player gamers should consider selling in dynasty football leagues, but his current redraft ADP has him going in the beginning of Round 4. That feels like a pretty good price to gamble on Hill returning to form in 2025.

TUA TO TYREEK ON A 78-YARD TD

📺: #MIAvsWAS on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/xvCjbLUIcN pic.twitter.com/I7MXJ3qJbU

— NFL (@NFL) December 3, 2023

The Dolphins' recent decision to trade tight end Jonnu Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers may be a sign that the team wants to return to its offensive approach from 2022-2023. This approach de-emphasized tight ends, and the passing game ran almost exclusively through Hill and fellow wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. If that is the case, then Hill is a potential bounce-back candidate who is available for a very affordable cost.

We’ll have to wait until the season begins to see if Hill can rebound. However, his current Yahoo ADP makes it very tempting to gamble on Hill returning to form. It’s not often players with Hill’s upside are available in the fourth round of fantasy football drafts.

TreVeyon Henderson - RB, New England Patriots

Yahoo ADP: 79.7 Overall

Henderson joins the Patriots after the team selected him in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. He was a very productive player in college, but struggled with injuries.

There are some questions about whether or not he can handle a full workload at the NFL level. This could mean Henderson remains stuck in a committee with new teammate Rhamondre Stevenson. The one thing that’s not in question, though, is Henderson’s ability to create big plays.

THAT'S HOW YOU START THE HALF 🔥@OhioStateFB extends its lead with a HUGE run by TreVeyon Henderson! 👏 pic.twitter.com/n7VnC3OjQX

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 18, 2023

Henderson is also a skilled pass blocker and a natural pass catcher. That should mean he sees the field quite often in passing situations. With offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' history of utilizing backs as receivers and the Patriots' lack of pass catchers, Henderson should see plenty of targets.

That all makes him a fine RB2 or flex play with upside for more if he can eventually wrangle the RB1 spot away from Stevenson.

George Pickens - WR, Dallas Cowboys

Yahoo ADP: 81st Overall

Pickens was traded to the Dallas Cowboys this offseason. He posted a 59-900-3 line in 14 games last year, but also had some strong advanced metrics. Per Fantasy Points Data Suite, Pickens registered a 24% targets per route run (TPRR) as well as a 2.18 yards per route run (YPRR).

These are solid scores and indicate Pickens is capable of a season better than last year’s WR42 finish in PPR leagues.

GEORGE PICKENS TOUCHDOWN AGAIN.

He can not be stopped tonight.

📺: #CINvsPIT on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/yewPow3ekF pic.twitter.com/JbRic5KPmP

— NFL (@NFL) December 23, 2023

He gets a major quarterback upgrade in Dallas as Dak Prescott is undoubtedly the best quarterback Pickens has had in his young career. He will also get the benefit of playing alongside alpha WR1 CeeDee Lamb. This will benefit Pickens as Lamb will draw coverage away and allow Pickens to see plenty of single coverage looks.

We should note that the Steelers have been adept at knowing when to move on from wide receivers. The fact that they traded Pickens away is a bit of a red flag. However, this is a reasonable price to take a shot on Pickens finally reaching his ceiling. He’s an excellent target for managers who prioritize running backs early in their draft.

Brock Purdy - QB, San Francisco 49ers

Yahoo ADP: 98.9 Overall

Purdy’s season in 2024 was a step back from his performance in 2023. He saw declines across the board statistically and only finished as the overall QB14.

While Purdy’s passing numbers took a dip, his rushing numbers unexpectedly improved. He ran for a career-high 323 rushing yards and scored five rushing touchdowns as well. It remains to be seen if Purdy can sustain this kind of rushing production, but if he does, it will only help raise his floor.

The 49ers' offense suffered multiple injuries in 2024. Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey were both lost for the season due to injury. 2024 first-round pick Ricky Pearsall was slow out of the gates, too, after recovering from a preseason gunshot wound.

With McCaffrey fully healthy, Pearsall primed for a big second year, and Aiyuk set to return in the latter half of the season, this offense should bounce back in 2025. Purdy would be a prime beneficiary, and he should produce better results than his QB14 finish from a year ago.

Saubert gets his first of the season 🙌

📺 #SFvsMIA on CBS pic.twitter.com/Nh2vuyZSx0

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) December 23, 2024

Gamers who bypass a quarterback early in their drafts should target Purdy in the middle rounds. He has finished as a top-12 quarterback in fantasy points per game in each of the last two years and still has Kyle Shanahan as his play-caller.

Jayden Reed - WR, Green Bay Packers

Yahoo ADP: 107.9 Overall

2025 will be Reed’s third season in the NFL. This is significant because this is traditionally a time when many young receivers post their best season to date. Reed is a talented player and is arguably one of the more underrated route runners in the league. He is a big play machine and is a threat to score anytime the ball is in his hands.

JAYDEN REED LEFT WIDE OPEN FOR THE 70-YARD TD.

📺: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/cAvTn5HLLd

— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024

Reed’s main issue is that he does not receive consistent playing time in Green Bay’s crowded offense. The team also added rookie Matthew Golden in the 2025 NFL Draft. His presence further complicates the Green Bay wide receiver room. However, Golden is a good player, but is not a true WR1. There are parts of his game that still need refinement. So while Golden’s presence has understandably scared some gamers off of Reed, there is a scenario where he emerges as the team’s best wide receiver.

The question for Reed will remain whether he can secure more playing time in two-receiver sets. That will be the difference between him posting another WR29 finish or fully breaking out.

Green Bay has a talented offense led by quarterback Jordan Love. They should be among the best offenses in the league again in 2025. That means it would be wise to grab a piece of this offense in your draft. Given Reed’s cost, it’s worth taking him in Round 8 and hoping he finally puts it all together this year.

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