Jonathan Fuller reviews offseason NFL free agency and the most traded players in dynasty fantasy football.

The free agency dust has mostly settled and we still have a few weeks until the NFL Draft, which makes this the ideal team to take stock of the dynasty landscape, make trades, and prep for rookie drafts. In this article I've outlined the themes that should be top of mind for dynasty managers as we head toward draft day. 

Premium

FantasyLife+ Rankings

A FantasyLife+ subscription gives you into the ultimate fantasy football and sports betting experience. Including full access to some of our premium tools, such as Rankings.

Check It Out

Best Rookie RB Landing Spots

It's no secret this is a strong rookie RB class. Dwain McFarland has been in the lab crunching the numbers for the rookie RB Super Model, but it is also important to see where these players land when it comes to projecting their 2025 workloads. Below are the teams I would be most excited to see select a running back in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft.

Dallas Cowboys

One of the surprises of the 2024 NFL Draft was the Cowboys not taking an RB at all. They chose to roll with Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott as their primary ballcarriers, and it worked out OK. Somehow Dallas finds itself in an even worse situation at the position with Javonte Williams, Miles Sanders, and Deuce Vaughn currently atop the depth chart.

Any highly drafted rookie should be able to step in and consolidate touches in this backfield. If Dak Prescott remains healthy the Cowboys should have a high enough scoring offense to support an elite fantasy RB, making this one of the most desirable landing spots for a rookie on Day 1 or 2 of the NFL Draft.

Chicago Bears

The Bears have had one of the strongest offseasons in the NFL by landing Ben Johnson as their new HC and then investing significantly in their offensive and defensive lines. Chicago also has four of the top 72 picks in the draft to continue building out what is shaping up as a solid roster.

On paper, Chicago does have some pieces in its backfield already. D'Andre Swift was serviceable last year and Roschon Johnson is a bigger back who proved capable of handling short-yardage and goal-line work. However, it's worth remembering that Ben Johnson was part of the Lions staff that seemed fed up with, and ultimately traded Swift back in 2023. 

Even if the Bears keep Swift, he is best as a change-of-pace and pass-catching back. The backfield is wide open for a rookie to come in and handle a large workload in an ascending offense. If Chicago uses decent draft capital on the position I will want to target that player in all formats.

Denver Broncos

The Broncos were arguably the NFL's biggest surprise in 2024, winning 10 games and earning a playoff spot in Bo Nix's rookie season. With a strong defense and PFF's second-highest rated offensive line in 2024, Denver is actually in a decent position to spend an early pick on the RB position. 

Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime are currently at the top of the depth chart, so I expect Denver will make it a priority to upgrade their backfield. Personally, I would love to see one of the bigger backs like Omarion Hampton, Quinshon Judkins, or Kaleb Johnson land in Denver because they could step right into a huge workload and have top-12 potential as a rookie.

Las Vegas Raiders

Hear me out, Las Vegas isn't as gross of a landing spot as it would have been in recent years. The Raiders upgraded their QB position by trading for Geno Smith, which will give the offense a floor of competence it has lacked recently. They also used free agency to upgrade their defense, which makes me think we could see more of an offensive focus during the draft.

The Raiders hit in a big way on Brock Bowers last year, but they need help at just about every other position on offense. If they do go offense-heavy in the NFL Draft by adding one of the better rookie RBs as well as a lineman and a pass catcher or two we could suddenly be looking at a fun, young offense. Yes, that is a good amount of projecting on my part, but even if they take a more balanced approach there are a ton of touches available in this backfield. 

I don't think Raheem Mostert, Sincere McCormick, or Zamir White are the answer at the position so Las Vegas is probably the best bet to give a rookie RB 300+ touches in 2025. 

Free agency fallout

Despite a mediocre free agent class, there were still plenty of notable signings and trades that shifted the fantasy football landscape. 

QB musical chairs

The rookie QB class looks weak compared to last year, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see a lot of QB movement around the start of free agency. As a quick recap, here are the most notable QB moves of the offseason so far:

• Geno Smith was traded to the Raiders
• Sam Darnold was signed by the Seahawks
• Justin Fields signed with the Jets
• Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston landed with the Giants

The final free agency domino expected to drop is Aaron Rodgers, who looks more and more like a Steeler every day. If that deal happens, it leaves the Titans and Browns as the teams most in need of a Week 1 starter. It's no coincidence those are the teams with the top two picks in the NFL Draft. I expect Cam Ward to end up going to one of those teams, but the bigger question is whether Shedeur Sanders goes to the other or if he falls on draft day?

After the NFL Draft, Kirk Cousins is likely to seek a trade to a team where he can start, but he could be the odd man out if Sanders goes second overall. The music is definitely slowing in the game of QB musical chairs, but there may be one or two more twists until we can project a Week 1 starter for all 32 NFL teams.

A blockbuster WR trade

For a long time the NFL rarely had exciting trades, but those tides have turned in recent years and the DK Metcalf trade is just the latest example. Seattle is rebuilding on the fly and Pittsburgh is apparently going all in to end its playoff losing streak. Sure, the Steelers still don't have a QB, but having two stud WRs will make things easier on whomever ends up under center for them in 2025.

The problem is that this trade muddles the outlook for both George Pickens and Metcalf in dynasty leagues. It's unclear how the target pecking order will shake out and this trade has cast some doubt on whether the Steelers view Pickens as part of their long-term plans. For now, I'm viewing this as a slight negative for both Pickens and Metcalf, but Metcalf has more certainty in his outlook due to the large extension he got.

Also relevant for dynasty leagues is the fact that Jaxon Smith-Njigba now has minimal target competition in Seattle, which improves his outlook and makes him a top-12 WR for the foreseeable future. This is the case even with the signing of Cooper Kupp with Seattle.

The Most Traded Players In Dynasty Leagues

It's a high-risk, high-reward time to be making dynasty trades as we know plenty of supposedly safe veterans will get unexpected competition in the NFL Draft. If you can dodge the rookie landmines you might get some good values, but be sure to factor the added risk of the NFL Draft into any trades you make for veteran players over the next couple weeks.

With that in mind, here are the players being traded most often in dynasty leagues right now.

Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson

I'm going to group these two into one section because their fantasy fates in 2025 are intertwined. The Jets gave Fields a two-year, $40 million contract and are set to make him their QB1 for this season. Justin Fields himself should be a nice superflex piece this year, and I like trading for him if you don't have to give up a first-round rookie pick or any premium pieces. 

The more difficult question is what this means for Garrett Wilson. He hasn't had stellar QB play throughout his career, but has managed to top 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons and is likely to see 150+ targets again in 2025. He's also only heading into his age-25 season so he is entering the prime of his career. I believe we haven't seen the best of Wilson yet so I wouldn't want to sell low on him in dynasty leagues.

If you aren't one of the favorites to win your league this season I like the idea of acquiring Wilson in trades by giving up an aging WR like Terry McLaurin or Mike Evans who might offer better short-term production.

Najee Harris

The Los Angeles Chargers' signing of Najee Harris is a real Rorschach test for fantasy managers. On one hand, it looks like a great landing spot in a run-first offense with a solid offensive line and a good QB. We saw J.K. Dobbins put up strong fantasy production in this scheme last season and for the moment Harris is the clear top back on the team.

On the other hand, Harris got only a one-year contract with just $5.25 million guaranteed. That small of an investment means we can't lock Harris in for a huge workload in 2025. The Chargers could still invest decent draft capital in an RB, which makes Harris a risky trade target at this time. Personally, I wouldn't want to trade a second-round rookie pick for him right now, but if you can get him for less than that it seems like a good win-now move for competing rosters.

Stefon Diggs

New England finally got a real WR for Drake Maye to throw to. Did the Patriots have to overpay to land a 31-year-old coming off a torn ACL? Maybe just a little bit. 

It's a necessary move for an offense that has struggled to sign or draft quality receiving weapons in recent years. From a dynasty perspective Diggs doesn't have many valuable years left, but he should see plenty of targets in 2025. For competing teams he's a decent buy-low option with the chance to be a real contributor this season. But I think there are better values to be had with someone like Christian Kirk, who is also coming off an injury and changing teams.

Jaylen Waddle

This was the most surprising name on the most-traded list, in my opinion. Pretty much all of the other players were directly impacted by free agency moves, but Waddle is the exception. My best guess is that some dynasty managers are willing to bet that Tyreek Hill's time in Miami is coming to an end, and others are just happy to get something of value for Waddle after two consecutive seasons of declining production. 

I would rather be on the acquiring side because I believe Waddle has real bounceback potential in 2025 and beyond. He's already posted two seasons with more than 2.5 YPRR and racked up 1,356 receiving yards and 8 TDs in his age-23 season. He has the talent to be a real difference maker in fantasy football and I'm willing to bet that we will see it again soon. Similar to Garrett Wilson, Waddle is a great trade target if you have aging players you can flip to a team that is looking to win-now.

Premium

Go FantasyLife+

Your league is unique. Your advice should be too. Get personalized tools, rankings, and projections tailored to your fantasy football league settings.

Learn More