“Catch The Latest Top 2025 NFL Rookies with Sr. NFL IDP+ Analyst Joel Wirth’s 2025 NFL Fantasy Advice”
The 2025 NFL Draft has come and gone. Now we know how the league feels about the prospects we’ve been putting under our personal microscopes for the last few months. The Draft marks the end of the most significant player movement, so we know who will have the most open runways to playing time. Let’s look at the rookies with the best combination of draft capital and landing spot to allow them to be producers for our Best Ball and season-long fantasy teams in 2025.
Quarterback
Cam Ward, Tennessee – Let’s see, 1st overall pick and only has to beat out turnover machine Will Levis to be the starter…yeah, he’s good to go. Superflex leagues only, though. Let’s not get carried away here. Ward’s game is reminiscent of early career Jordan Love. He can make all the off-platform throws, but will frustratingly try to force those throws instead of planting and ripping it. His footwork can get loose on him. He needs some serious NFL coaching to get to Love’s level. But Ward won’t have to sit and watch a future Hall-of-Famer until he gets his chance to play. He’ll get to start dodging live bullets on Day One. Hopefully, that on-field experience Love didn’t get will lead to Year One production. Top 2025 NFL Rookies
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Running Back
Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas – A top 10 draft pick RB is a day one starter in this day and age. Add in that he’ll be playing for a Pete Carroll-coached team that had an abysmal running game last year, and you’ve got the recipe for a top-five RB. Top 2025 NFL Rookies.
I’m aging myself, but when I started playing fantasy football, Emmitt Smith was the be-all end-all running back you drafted with the 1.01 every…single…time. Jeanty reminds me of Emmitt Smith. He won’t have the advantages Emmitt had (best offensive line of all time, elite defense, played in an era where teams ran the ball significantly more than they do now), but there’s nothing stopping Jeanty from having a similar career. Especially playing for a throwback coach like Pete Carroll.
Omarion Hampton, Los Angeles Chargers – Hampton is the idealized version of Najee Harris. A Najee 2.0 if you will. So it’s no surprise he was drafted to the team that signed Najee in free agency. The presence of Najee Harris on the depth chart may slow Hampton’s ascent to the top of the RB room, but it should happen by the end of the season. Just in time for the fantasy and Best Ball playoffs.
Quinshon Judkins, Cleveland – He’s the stylistic successor to Nick Chubb, who was drafted into the offense that made Chubb a fantasy star. I don’t imagine Jerome Ford will put up much in the way of playing time resistance. Judkins may not be a prospect at the level of the two backs who are sandwiching him on this list, but he got the best landing spot of the three.
TreVeyon Henderson, New England – That sound you hear is Rhamondre Stevenson‘s fantasy value evaporating. He’s entered the “handcuff-only” stage of his career, and Henderson is nudging him forward into that good night. Henderson is an absolute headhunter in pass protection. How does that help his fantasy value? It will certainly endear him to new Head Coach Mike Vrabel, and we’ve seen the workloads Vrabel will give his bell-cow Running Back. Henderson is no Derrick Henry. No one is. Stevenson may get some between-the-tackles grinder carries, but Henderson will run this backfield for the foreseeable future. You can at least be sure Vrabel won’t forget to bench Stevenson for fumbling too much.
RJ Harvey, Denver – He’s already 24, so he’s in the narrow subset of RBs who are better season-long than Dynasty assets. Sean Payton drafted him early to take over an egregiously bad backfield, so he’s got to have some rookie-year value. Even if it’s at a sub-Kamaraian level of production. Do yourself a favor and don’t look at the Broncos’ depth charts during the pre-season. Payton will tie himself in knots pretending the rookie needs to “earn” his playing time. Don’t buy it. Harvey’s the best Running Back on the Broncos’ roster, and it’s not close.
Devin Neal, New Orleans – He didn’t get the draft capital you want to justify drafting a rookie, but he stuck the landing spot. New Orleans has been unsuccessfully trying to find a running mate for Alvin Kamara for years. My comp for Neal was Kyren Williams. Nobody’s idea of an athletic specimen, but good at everything, especially the reliability and availability things coaches care about when assigning snap totals. Kamara has played in every team game exactly once in his career, his rookie season. Neal should get complementary duty and get the backfield to himself for a game or two. The recipe for a perfect late-round dart throw.
Wide Receiver -Top 2025 NFL Rookies
Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina – What do you give an outlier-small Quarterback to further his development? An outlier-tall receiver that the Quarterback can see anywhere on the field. Small (no pun intended) wonder Bryce Young was lobbying the Panthers to take McMillan in the draft. But Tet is not just size. He uses that size to be an elite receiver. He’s no burner, but once he gets up to speed, his long strides chew up space. His massive wingspan lets him make catches away from his body, and his 10″ hands snatch the ball out of the air. The Mike Evans career path is in play for Tet. Don’t be surprised if 130 targets/80 catches/1000 yards/10 touchdowns becomes his baseline for the next decade or so.2025 Quarterback Rankings
Jack Bech, Las Vegas – The Raiders desperately need a receiver bigger than Jakobi Meyers. Bech qualifies, if only barely. His Senior Bowl performance pushed him up into the second round. If he plays to that draft capital, he could be a draft steal. Bech will be a Best Ball staple. In redraft, you can beat your league mates to the Post-Week One waiver wire by taking him on draft day.
Kyle Williams, New England – The Patriots did everything they could to give Drake Maye some developmental support. A top-five pick Left Tackle, the best Center in the draft, the aforementioned TreVeyon Henderson in the second round, and Williams with the 69th overall pick. Williams was a favorite “under-the-radar” prospect of draft mavens. He had a terrific Senior Bowl and ran a legit 4.4 40-yard dash. Best Ball players may have a bit of Javon Baker PTSD from last season, but Williams should be what we all wanted Baker to be. Worst case, he can’t be as bad as Ja’Lynn Polk, right? Right? Top 2025 NFL Rookies.
Tight End
Colston Loveland, Chicago – With the caveat that we’re in “Rookie Tight End” territory, and there’s no guarantee of rookie year success, Loveland’s coach just coaxed a rookie record season from Sam LaPorta two seasons ago. The Bears thought highly enough of Loveland to take him with a top 10 pick. Loveland should demote Cole Kmet to primary blocking Tight End status. Vacated targets is a sketchy metric to evaluate a newcomer’s potential role with, but if Loveland can consolidate Kmet’s targets and a chunk of Keenan Allen‘s targets, he can easily be a Top 12 Tight End as a rookie.
Mason Taylor, New York Jets – The “Rookie Tight End” caveat only gets more pervasive as we leave Round One of the draft. Taylor could buck history, though. He was drafted in the top 10 of the second round at least. The Jets have nothing for Justin Fields to throw to, not named Garrett Wilson. They fortified their offensive line in Round One, so Taylor shouldn’t be forced into blocking duty. The dustbin of history is littered with rookie Tight Ends who we thought would be their team’s second (or first) option in the passing game, of course, but there’s reason to think Taylor could buck that trend. Reason beyond the fact that he’s Jason Taylor‘s kid. He’s a good player in his own right. Top 2025 NFL Rookies.
