Jonathan Fuller examines the 2025 NFL Draft based on how it could impact dynasty fantasy football.

Happy NFL Draft week to those who celebrate! Undoubtedly the peak of the offseason for football fans, we are about to get a massive amount of information on how teams feel about their current roster and this year's crop of rookies.

There will be surprises and disappointments, but our job is to process the chaos that is the NFL Draft so that we can make the best decisions between now and the start of the season. This means being honest about landing spots and draft capital as well as the state of our own dynasty rosters. 

Here is what's top of mind for me before the landscape-altering event that is the NFL Draft.

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The great Travis Hunter debate

As the media coverage of the NFL Draft has picked up, so have the rumors that Travis Hunter is  being viewed as a WR first. We know he wants to play both ways, but it's probably going to be as a part-time player on one side of the ball. From a career earnings perspective, he should want to be a full-time WR who rotates in at CB, but the team that takes him might have other plans.

In best ball tournaments, it is easy to take a swing on Hunter. He is clearly talented and offers the upside needed to be a tournament-winning player if he is a WR first and runs +70% of routes. The reward is clearly worth the risk. 

Hunter ranks just behind Tetairoa McMillan in the rookie WR Super Model, but is only dinged for program quality and strength of schedule. His production and film ratings are on par or better than McMillan, who is a very good prospect. If we knew Hunter was going to be a full-time WR, he would be my WR1 in this class.

In dynasty the risk/reward calculation is a bit trickier because this is a multi-year investment that comes with real opportunity cost if you pass on other good prospects. That being said, I still want to be aggressive on my ranking of Hunter. He won't ever challenge Jeanty for the 1.01, but if he is drafted by a team that says they plan to use him primarily on offense, he will be in consideration for me from the 1.02 on.

The good news is that we should get a lot more information after the NFL Draft, and hopefully before your rookie drafts. I will be paying close attention to what the team that drafts him says about their plans for him. My philosophy is generally to embrace risk because we are trying to win our league. As long as there are positive quotes about Travis Hunter playing a meaningful role on offense, I am willing to bet on the talent early in my rookie drafts and I'll be thrilled if my leaguemates are scared and let him fall to me later in the first round.

Jalen Milroe to the moon?

One of the early draft-related surprises we got was the fact that Jalen Milroe will be attending the live event in Green Bay. These invitations are generally reserved for players with a decent chance of being selected in the first round. Milroe getting an invitation raised some eyebrows, but his choice to accept the invitation is what really caught my attention. Unless he really wanted to visit Green Bay—not impossible, but let's be honest—I struggle to see why he would accept if he isn't expecting to be drafted on Day 1.

Milroe has always been an intriguing prospect. He's got a rocket arm and is a dynamic athlete, but most early scouting reports viewed him as a project who was likely to go in the second or third round. That would allow him to sit and learn behind a veteran while working on his mechanics to hopefully develop into a starter in a few years. 

That picture totally changes if he is a first-round selection, though. Most first-round QBs end up playing as rookies, even if the team doesn't say that is the plan heading into the season. If he ends up with a team like the New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, or the Seattle Seahawks, who have a shaky veteran QB situation, I expect Milroe to be the starter at some point in the 2025 season. In those situations, I think he should be a mid-first round pick in rookie drafts. His rushing ability will make him a very valuable fantasy asset whenever he is on the field.

The more difficult situation for dynasty managers would be if a team like the Los Angeles Rams takes him late in Round 1. He would be unlikely to play in 2025 and potentially not in 2026 if Stafford decided to give it another go. The long-term potential would still be there, but getting no points for multiple seasons is a tough pill to swallow for fantasy managers and it should be reflected in his price in rookie drafts. 

This makes Milroe one of the wider range of outcome players depending on draft capital and landing spot, but he is firmly on my radar as a player who could rocket up my rookie rankings after the NFL Draft. 

The biggest rookie risers and fallers

Since my last dynasty check in we haven't had much movement in the free agent market, the biggest news is that Aaron Rodgers remains unsigned and it looks like he will wait until the dust has settled from the NFL Draft before making a decision. 

We have seen some notable moves in expected draft capital for a handful of rookies though. I already discussed Milroe in great detail, but he and Kyle Williams headline the risers group. Williams is a WR out of Washington State who first started getting serious buzz when Chris Simms ranked him as the WR2 in this class. The NFL seems to agree and Williams has moved up the mock draft rankings quickly and now looks likely to be a Day 2 pick. 

Another notable riser is Tyler Shough. The Louisville QB spent seven seasons in college and was once Justin Herbert's backup at Oregon, but he reportedly has plenty of fans in NFL circles. Maybe this is just a product of a weak QB class, but having any early-round buzz for a QB who only topped 1,600 passing yards once in seven seasons is noteworthy.  

At the top of the fallers list are a pair of WRs. Isaiah Bond has had off-field issues that raise his risk profile and may make him undraftable for a number of teams. He is now questionable to be a Day 2 pick. We'll see how far he falls but I expect to be pretty low on him in my post-draft rankings.

Luther Burden has also been moving down consensus draft boards. His expected draft capital in the WR Super Model is down to pick 34, just outside the first round. If he slips to the second round that hurts his Year 1 projectable volume and could also mean he lands in a worse offense than if he were to go in the late first round. 

Finally, Shedeur Sanders is no longer viewed as a lock to be a top-10 pick, and potentially not even a first-rounder. This feels like this could be a smokescreen with teams not letting on how interested they are, but it is worth considering the possibility that he falls on draft day. If the Milroe hype is real, he could easily flip Sanders, and probably should if Sanders isn't selected in the first half of the first round. 

Where to find veteran values

In the last edition of this article I wrote about how none of the veteran RBs are safe because of the strength and depth of the rookie RB class. I stand by that, the list of veteran RBs I would be willing to trade for before the draft is incredibly short. After the draft, I expect a number of veteran RBs to take a big hit in their dynasty value after their team drafts real competition for them.

The inverse of that is true for WRs and QBs. This draft class doesn't seem particularly strong at those positions so I believe there will be plenty of veteran values that emerge as strong trade candidates over the course of this summer as they appear set for large roles in 2025, especially among WRs. 

The QBs are pretty straightforward, we've already seen moves for Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Russell Wilson, while Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers should have their situations resolved shortly after the NFL Draft. It should be pretty clear who is expected to remain a starter for the full season and who will have to fend off a rookie challenger. If you're in need of a short-term QB solution for your dynasty roster you should be able to fill that need for a reasonable price this offseason.

In my opinion, the more interesting position is WR. The more I've dug into this group of rookies, I haven't been too impressed. We'll see plenty of WRs drafted, but I think the list of players who can step in and make an impact in 2025 is limited. This is also supported by Dwain's rookie WR Super Model, which gives only nine WRs a rating of 70+, the fewest since the 2018 class.

If that lack of depth turns out to be correct, it will directly benefit veteran WRs, who may be forgotten in the midst of all the rookie hype. This creates an opportunity for savvy dynasty managers to improve their roster cheaply.

Under-the-radar veteran WRs to keep an eye on after the draft:

• Jauan Jennings—San Francisco
• Rashid Shaheed—New Orleans
• Darnell Mooney—Atlanta
• Marvin Mims—Denver
• Dyami Brown—Jacksonville
• Christian Kirk—Houston
• Wan'Dale Robinson—New York Giants

Some of these guys will get real competition from a rookie, but many of them won't and could offer great value if you need WR depth to turn a contending roster into a championship favorite. Rookie draft season often leads to picks being overvalued and productive veterans being undervalued. Don't be afraid to go against the grain and capitalize on that behavioral bias to benefit your roster.

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