The NFL Draft is an event that took place on April 24th, 2025, where teams select players based on their college career performance, and are placed by pick depending on their record from last season. The NFL Draft can drastically change the strategy and tactics in fantasy football, and this year is no exception. With many highly talented players in the top three rounds, let’s look at how these players can change fantasy football.
Running backs: This year’s running back class is the star of fantasy football, being compared to the stacked 2017 running back class featuring Christian McCaffrey, Aaron Jones, Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, Joe Mixon, and much, much more. Headlined by 6th overall pick Ashton Jeanty, who is being compared to the legendary LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the best running back prospects ever. Followed by North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton, selected by the Los Angeles Chargers with the 22nd pick, Hampton is a strong and aggressive runner, with great balance and great break-tackle ability. He is an all-around amazing running back with a great coaching staff and team around him.
In the early second round, we saw both Ohio State running backs go to great situations with rebuilding teams. Quinshon Judkins was selected 36th overall by the Cleveland Browns. This team has had a lot of struggles, but with legendary running back Nick Chubb wanting out of Cleveland, Quinshon is looking at a workhorse role in this backfield, explosive speed, and great break tackle abilities, which could be huge for fantasy football.
Following Judkins was his teammate, TreVeyon Henderson, selected 38th by the New England Patriots. He jumps into a rebuilding team that found their franchise QB in Drake Maye; this duo could be electric. Especially since Henderson’s best ability is to make big receiving plays out of the backfield, it could be huge for PPR leagues.
These are the big names out of this class, but players like RJ Harvey (60th overall, Denver Broncos) and Kaleb Johnson (83rd overall, Pittsburgh Steelers) could have great roles in their offenses and are names to watch this offseason.
Quarterbacks: This season’s quarterback class is probably one of the worst in recent history. Highlighted by one really solid prospect, first overall pick to the Tennessee Titans, University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward, being compared to Patrick Mahomes for his improvisation ability, and also being compared to legend Steve McNair for his overall prospect grade. Ward’s speed and rushing ability also help him rise on Fantasy Draft Boards. With the right coaching staff around him, Cam Ward can become a great quarterback.
Unfortunately, after Cam Ward, the quarterback class mainly consists of bridge quarterbacks (A quarterback not good enough to be a full-time starter, he is just holding the spot until a better quarterback comes along), project quarterbacks (A super raw quarterback that is physically gifted but needs time to develop into a good starter), and backups. Names like Tyler Shough (40th overall, New Orleans Saints) and Dillon Gabriel (94th overall, Cleveland Browns) could be fighting for a starting job. Two huge names to watch have to be Jalen Milroe (92nd overall, Seattle Seahawks) because of the major upside he brings to the Seahawks, being one of the greatest rushing quarterback prospects ever, and Shedeur Sanders (144th overall, Cleveland Browns) who was supposed to be a first round quarterback but fell because of his poor interviews with multiple coaching staffs and his overall bad mentality.
Tight ends: This tight end class, just like the running back class, is extremely stacked. To start, the 10th overall pick, to the Chicago Bears, Michigan tight end Colston Loveland. A 6’6 250-pound monster with great hands and already being compared to the blooming Sam LaPorta. Unfortunately, fantasy analysts do not know how well Loveland will perform in fantasy this season because of how many star players there are on this team around him.
Following close behind Loveland was the best-rated tight end in the draft class, 14th overall, to the Indianapolis Colts, Penn State’s Tyler Warren. This is a guy who can play any position on the field, is a great blocker, pass catcher, runner, and quarterback. Standing at 6’5 250 pounds, he is a Swiss army knife, compared to the legendary Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen. Warren has the best chance out of this class to have an immediate impact at the tight end position.
After these two beasts in the first round, the draft class seems to fall off. Still, my two personal favorites to keep an eye on are LSU’s Mason Taylor (42nd overall, New York Jets), being compared to Zach Ertz, Taylors a great pass catching tight end who is extremely explosive into space and has a great route tree (how good they are at running different routes).
Finally, another tight end in this class is the University of Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo (50th overall, Seattle Seahawks). Without his knee injury in 2022 and 2023, Arroyo has a great case to be the best and most athletically gifted tight end in this class. Standing at 6’5 250, he is explosive when given space, running a 4.64 40-yard dash. This guy could be a receiver if he wanted to.
Wide Receivers: Compared to the past couple of years, this receiver class is pretty lackluster. Headlined by two big names, let’s start with a confusing one: Second Overall Pick, to the Jacksonville Jaguars, Colorado’s Travis Hunter. Hunter is a big question mark because he’s one of the only players in NFL history to come into the league as both a receiver and a cornerback. Undoubtedly, Hunter is an electric player on both sides of the ball, but at receiver, he’s unguardable. Being compared to one of the greatest rookie receivers of all time, Odell Beckham Jr. However, his fantasy viability is questionable, just because the world has never had a player do this, so we do not know how much he will play on offense.
The best player only playing receiver is easily the University of Arizona’s Tetairoa “T-Mac” McMillian. Selected eighth overall by the Carolina Panthers, McMillian stands at 6’4 225 pounds. He’s a huge receiver who is great at winning 50/50 balls. McMillian has a great chance to shine in fantasy football in his first season, with a much stronger Panthers team.
After this, the class majorly falls off besides two first-round receivers. These include Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka (19th overall, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Texas receiver Mathew Golden (23rd overall, Green Bay Packers). Golden, being a speedy and shifty receiver, with a great route tree, and a wide open receiver room, has a great chance to blossom on this team and is definitely someone to keep an eye on. Egbuka, just like Golden, is fast and shifty, and amazing after the catch, being compared to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The only reason Egbuka might not be as viable for Fantasy as Golden is because of the two great veteran receivers in Tampa, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Fantasy Football is constantly changing, and this year is no different. With an elite running back class, along with two great receiver prospects, all of these players have a great chance to emerge as dominant Fantasy Football players.
