Fantasy Football Rankings: Slow Down On The Brian Thomas Jr. Hype Train?
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Bud Light, a look at fantasy football rankings outliers, Ian Hartitz rankings, and Luther Burden profile.
In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Bud Light:
With the combine in the books and Free Agency mostly wrapped up—c’mon Keenan, sign somewhere already—we can finally start piecing together an early 2025 draft board.
In fact, that’s exactly what our rankers at Fantasy Life have begun to do.
Rankings Central
Now that Ian’s rankings are fresh out of the oven—see below—I thought it would be fun to compare some of the more polarizing players for the Fantasy Life crew.
Let’s dig in …
Pump the brakes on BrIan Thomas Jr.? Most of our crew have BTJ as a Top-8 overall option, although Freedman recommends proceeding with more caution (14th overall). I’m with Freedman here, there are a lot of new variables at play for him in 2025, and I prefer taking guys like Malik Nabers or Brock Bowers over him.
Chuba Hubbard is an extreme value. If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that Hubbard is a rock-solid pick in the 5th round of drafts. But our guy Ian is even more bullish, slotting him in at 28th (an early-third round value). The Hubbard eval ultimately comes down to how much you think new signee Rico Dowdle will be involved.
Is George Kittle still an Elite TE? Year after year, Kittle gets undervalued by the market. Both Dwain and Freedman have him as a Top-35 overall option in 2025. This is music to my ears, considering I took Kittle at pick 51 in a draft yesterday.
Rookie uncertainty with Omarion Hampton and Tyler Warren. Valuations on rookies before the NFL Draft are naturally going to be all over the place, so I’m not too surprised by the differences here.
Freedman is the Hampton bull (45th overall), while Ian says chill on the rookie love (75).
And Dwain is amped on Warren’s prospects to be fantasy-relevant (86th overall), while Ian is the bear (133).
If I’ve learned anything through this exercise, it’s that Dwain is our centrist while Freedman and Ian battle it out on the poles.
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Early 2025 Rankings: Brock Purdy, Top-10 QB
The consensus early fantasy football rankings are pushing Brock Purdy down to QB12. How’s that possible for a QB who has not finished lower than QB10 in fantasy points per game in his first three seasons in the NFL? Is he not still in a Kyle Shanahan offense?
Ian makes the strong case for ranking Purdy inside the top 10 QBs. How high? Well, check out his early rankings outlook—and for several other players—as rankings week continues at Fantasy Life.👇
WHERE IS Davante Adams RANKING?
Luther Burden Is Riding To The NFL
As a childhood football prodigy, Luther Burden’s coaches made it a point to assure that he would be at practices and games. Now he’s coming off an uneven three-year career at Missouri, where a low-octane offense may have limited his production compared to his prodigious skill set.
Thor Nystrom starts with a youth football backstory and how Burden has risen the ranks, and how he could help an NFL team after being selected at the backend of the first round come draft day.
The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds:
🦞 Yes, free agency did change the NFL landscape, but tell us more about that crawfish boil.
🏀 How many 12 seeds will turn upsets in Round 1? Pick all of them in your bracket, if you want.
👀 What could you get if you traded your first-round pick in dynasty rookie drafts? Some players to target.
🐯 Step 1: Go To LSU. Step 2: Profit???
🤔 Where will Jameis Winston land? The latest update here.
🤑 Derek Stingley gets paid. Here are the details.
😯 Ben Johnson adds another weapon. Sneaky move.
🏃 Is Tet McMillan fast enough? You be the judge.
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