A look at some potential 2025 NFL Draft team and player pairings
The 2025 NFL Draft is less than ten days away! How do I know? Well, I looked at a calendar. But also, I did an internet search for “NFL Mock Draft” and the number of results that came back was staggering. Football fans are locked in for the spectacle on the night of April 24, and the two additional days of player selections that follow.
The Final Four and the Masters may have owned the first two April weekends, but now it’s time for the NFL to take over the sports-scape as only it can. Even with what is widely considered to be a mediocre draft class that’s short on blue chippers, get ready to be swept away in the perennial tsunami of NFL draftspeak: Measurables, athletic freaks, character guys, length, lunch pail guys, non-stop motors, road graders, burst, and high football IQs.
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Those who play the dynasty version of fantasy football have been all over the upcoming draft for some time, as rookie drafts will quickly follow the NFL proceedings. But no matter what type of fantasy football you play, the draft is an important piece of the annual offseason puzzle. The 2024 NFL Draft was a bonanza for fantasy in year one and that makes it a bit of an outlier. On a points per game basis (Half PPR), rookies finished as the QB4, QB10, RB18, WR7, WR9, WR20, and TE2 last season, and overall a pretty large number of rookies showed up in fantasy lineups at different points of the season. I don’t expect that kind of bounty this year, but there definitely are some guys who’ll be fantasy-relevant at some point in 2025, as rookies.
Landing spot matters a lot. Today I’m going to try to give you some player-team pairings that I think could be particularly good matches from a fantasy standpoint, in year one (and beyond, but the main focus for today is the 2025 season). Mind you, I think all of the players listed below have a chance to be decent fantasy producers this season regardless of where they land. But I believe the team-player pairings below could be especially rewarding from a fantasy standpoint.
I haven’t paired RB Ashton Jeanty with a team. He’s going to be a coveted pick in fantasy this season wherever he goes, as long as he’s in a position to get volume which should be the case. Las Vegas or Chicago seem to be likely destinations, and either one will work for fantasy in 2025. As for the Colorado unicorn (WR/CB Travis Hunter), I’ll just say this: If you play in an IDP league, don’t be shy, as he might break those leagues if his stats count both ways and his listed position is DB.
OK, let’s get to it.
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1. TE Colston Loveland (Michigan) to the Chargers.
This one is an easy call, as Jim Harbaugh has already shown a proclivity to go after players who played for him at Michigan, or who he tried to recruit to the Wolverines. The Chargers need to get more weapons for Justin Herbert, and their cupboard is especially bare at tight end. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound Loveland is the consensus TE2 in this class (after Penn State’s Tyler Warren) and it’s very possible that neither one lasts until the Chargers’ turn at pick 22. Despite what we saw from Sam LaPorta and Brock Bowers the past two seasons, I wouldn’t bank on TE1 numbers from Loveland as a rookie, regardless of where he lands. Tight ends traditionally don’t excel as pass catchers right away. Still, this would be an ideal landing spot for him and would be a pick that generates some rookie fantasy buzz.
2. RB Omarion Hampton (North Carolina) to the Broncos.
Like Loveland to L.A., Hampton to the Broncos is one of the more common pairings you’ll see in mock drafts. Denver has a clear need for a No. 1 RB with Javonte Williams having left for Dallas, and Hampton (the consensus No. 2 RB in this class, after Jeanty) figures to come off the board somewhere in the second half of Round 1 (Denver has the 20th pick). We’ve seen what talented running backs can do in a Sean Payton offense, and Hampton is a big, tough runner at 6-foot, 220 pounds, with plenty of speed and a good all-around skillset that suggests he could develop into a three-down back. He hauled in 38 passes last season, and Bo Nix loves him some screen passes.
Hampton led the ACC in rushing, scored 15 rushing TDs, and averaged 5.9 yards per carry in each of the last two seasons, despite a major drop-off for the offense after Drake Maye left UNC for the NFL last season. He also didn’t have a single fumble in three years of college ball. Hampton is an excellent prospect who should have fantasy value as a rookie wherever he lands, but Denver would give him an especially strong chance to get good volume right away, in an ascending offense. That said, there is plenty of good Day-2 depth at the position, so Denver could wait on RB.
3. WR Tetairoa (Tet) McMillan (Arizona) to the Cowboys.
Tet McMillan is that rare combination of size and speed (6-4 219, with a sub-4.50 40 time) that makes NFL scouts drool. He’s projected to come off the board somewhere in the first 20 picks, so Dallas is potentially in play at Pick 12. Finding a legitimate receiving threat opposite CeeDee Lamb has been a need for Dallas for two seasons and counting. Jerry Jones and the Cowboys could go in multiple directions with their first pick, but if McMillan is on the board for them, he’d be very tempting. For fantasy, it would be a nice fit in an extremely pass-happy offense with a prolific passer. McMillan wouldn’t need to step in as the #1 WR in Dallas, but could garner plenty of targets including a lot of red-zone looks. Texas speedster Matthew Golden is also a possibility for Dallas if they do decide to take a wide receiver in Round 1, but I prefer McMillan’s fit in Big D for fantasy.
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4. WR Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State) to the Texans.
It’s very hard to predict how the wide receivers will come off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft. This is a relatively weak, and shallow, wide receiver class as compared to most of the last half-decade or so, which has been a bonanza for freshman receivers. Last year, three WRs went in the first 10 picks, and ten receivers went in the first 37 picks. The numbers could be half of that this April. Not only that, but the top-rated wide receiver in the class might play more as a corner in the NFL. Egbuka is a smooth route-runner who does everything well and benefits from having played a full four years at Ohio State, where he is the all-time receptions leader. He might be the most “pro-ready” wide receiver in this class.
The Texans have Nico Collins and newly added Christian Kirk (who will be 29 in November and has missed 14 games over the last two seasons), but could use more help at the position. Stefon Diggs has moved on and Tank Dell is likely to miss the entire 2025 season as he recovers from a major knee injury suffered in December. In his sophomore year (2022), Egbuka put up a 74-1,151-10 stat line (with a 15.6 YPC average) catching passes from C.J. Stroud, so there’s already familiarity. Stroud needs more weapons in Houston, and while the Texans might be more inclined to go with another position in Round 1 (such as offensive line, a major need) and then addressing wide receiver later in the draft, Egbuka to Houston at pick 25 is certainly possible and late-first to early-second feels like the right range for him. Jacksonville or Las Vegas early in Round 2 are potentially good fits too.
A few other pairings that I think could be especially fun matches for fantasy in 2025 (and in some cases, these players are more likely as Day 2 picks) include Ohio State RB TreVeyon Henderson to any of the Chiefs, Cowboys, Raiders, or Bears, Missouri WR Luther Burden III to the Bills, Jaguars, Packers, or Seahawks, and L.S.U. TE Mason Taylor or Miami TE Elijah Arroyo to the Jaguars or Chargers.
Where are the rookie quarterbacks, you ask? Well, I didn’t list any, and that was by design. The 2024 standout QB class was very unusual, and much stronger and deeper with potential starters than this ho-hum group. You don’t often see rookie QBs producing steady QB1 production, much less more than one at a time like we saw last year. QBs who start right away usually find themselves in less-than-ideal situations to succeed, plus learning the position at the pro level is a daunting and often lengthy process.
If the Steelers end up with Shedeur Sanders then there might be something there right away given the quality of their pass catchers and overall solid foundation, but either way I don’t think you’re going to see any of the QBs in this class doing anything close to what Jayden Daniels or Bo Nix (or even Drake Maye or Caleb Williams) did last season.
That’s it for today. Keep it here for more fantasy-related draft coverage, which I expect you to consume with a non-stop motor.