Fantasy Football Expert Draft Cheat Sheets (2025)

Get ready for your fantasy football draft with our fantasy football draft day cheat sheets. Our analysts dive into their favorite fantasy football draft targets and sleepers, as well as overvalued players and busts they’re avoiding in drafts. Let us help you prepare for your fantasy football draft with our cheat sheets! And use our Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet Creator to create your cheat sheet using our expert rankings, notes, and player tags.

Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Fitz’s QB & TE Fantasy Football Sleepers

Quarterback Sleepers

Drake Maye might not have moved the needle for fantasy in his rookie season, but his performance over 12 starts was impressive considering how terrible his supporting cast was. From Week 6 of last season, when Maye made his first start, through Week 17, Maye averaged a respectable 16.8 fantasy points per game. The third overall pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Maye has immense potential as a passer, but it’s his rushing that should make him attractive to fantasy games. Maye had 421 rushing yards last season, and there’s potential for much more. As a sophomore at the University of North Carolina, Maye had 698 rushing yards in 14 games. Bear in mind that college quarterbacks’ sack yardage counts against their rushing yardage, and Maye lost about 200 yards from his rushing total that year. Maye should have it a little easier in the passing game this year, with New England beefing up its offensive line in the offseason and adding WRs Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams. It’s possible we get a Drake Maye breakout in 2025.

Michael Penix heads into the 2025 season as the Falcons’ unquestioned starting quarterback after sitting behind Kirk Cousins for most of the 2024 season. Penix did make three late-season starts, completing 58% of his throws in those games, averaging 245.7 passing yards per game and 7.4 yards per attempt, with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Penix is a pocket passer who doesn’t offer much rushing upside, but he has a powerful and accurate arm. He led FBS in passing yardage in each of his final two college seasons at Washington. Penix has the potential to return a small profit on his low-end QB2 price tag.

J.J. McCarthy missed his entire rookie season with a torn meniscus in his knee but enters 2025 as the Vikings’ undisputed starting quarterback. McCarthy steps into a very healthy offensive ecosystem. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell is one of the NFL’s shrewdest offensive architects. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison form a terrific WR duo, and T.J. Hockenson is a top tight end. The Vikings have a good pair of offensive tackles and upgraded the middle of their offensive line in the offseason. Things might not always go smoothly for McCarthy in his first go-round as an NFL starter, but he offers intriguing rushing upside. McCarthy had eight TD runs in his final two college seasons at Michigan.

Tight End Sleepers

A great many fantasy managers have vowed to never again roster Kyle Pitts, as the young tight end has repeatedly failed to meet expectations. The fourth overall pick of the 2021 draft, Pitts played his first NFL game at age 20 and became the first rookie TE to have a 1,000-yard receiving season since Mike Ditka 60 years earlier. But after finishing TE6 in PPR fantasy scoring as a rookie, Pitts hasn’t finished as a top-12 fantasy tight end in any of the last three years. He had 47 catches for 602 yards and a career-high four touchdowns last year. Pitts is still only 24, so there may be hope for him yet. Pitts had to acclimate to new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson’s system last year, and Falcons QB Kirk Cousins was a disappointment. Perhaps there’s hope for Pitts now that he has greater familiarity with the system and will be playing with talented young QB Michael Penix Jr.

Zach Ertz still appears to have gas left in the tank at age 34. He had 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns last season, finishing TE8 in half-point PPR scoring. After scoring only one touchdown over his first 10 games of 2024, Ertz scored six touchdowns over Washington’s last seven regular-season games. He scored another TD in the playoffs and went out with an 11-catch, 104-yard performance in the Commanders’ season ending loss to Ertz’s former team, the Eagles. After playing a full season for the first time since 2021, Ertz agreed to a one-year deal that will keep him in Washington. He and young QB Jayden Daniels developed strong chemistry. Despite his age, Ertz could be a sneaky-good late-round TE option in 2025.

Now that Evan Engram has gone from Jacksonville to Denver via free agency, former second-round draft pick Brenton Strange sits atop the Jaguars’ TE depth chart. Strange had 40 catches for 411 yards and two touchdowns last season. In the eight games that Engram missed, Strange averaged 3.6 receptions and 34.4 receiving yards. The possibility of an enhanced role makes the 24-year-old Strange an intriguing TE sleeper.

Check out Fitz’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

DBro’s RB Fantasy Football Sleepers

Last year, it was tough to watch Javonte Williams. The injuries have seemingly robbed him of his special tackle-breaking sauce, but I think with another year away from the injuries, Williams could regain some of his zip. Last season, Williams finished as the RB36 in fantasy points per game. He will be in the conversation, if not the favorite, to be the Cowboys’ starting back this season, with only Miles Sanders and Jaydon Blue realistically competing with him for the job. Last year, Williams struggled after Week 8 as he didn’t force a single missed tackle for the rest of the season. His production in Weeks 1-8 offers some hope that we could see a better version of him in 2025. Yes, he hit a wall down the stretch last season, but in the first eight games, among 43 qualifying backs, Williams ranked 13th in missed tackle rate (20% per Fantasy Points Data). If Williams can more closely resemble that player in 2025 or take another step back towards his former glory, he could be this year’s J.K. Dobbins. Williams is an RB3, who could easily be an RB2 this season.

Tank Bigsby had an awesome sophomore season for Jacksonville, especially considering how his rookie season unfolded. He finished as the RB40 in fantasy points per game with eight weeks as the RB36 or higher in weekly fantasy scoring. Bigsby wasn’t involved in the passing game, having only 12 targets last year. I don’t see that changing this season, so he’ll need to manufacture fantasy points on the early downs with his legs. He proved he can do that last season. Among 46 qualifying backs, he ranked 21st in explosive run rate and second-best in yards after contact per attempt (per Fantasy Points Data). Bigsby will have to fight Travis Etienne and Bhayshul Tuten for playing time, but he has the raw talent to carve out a role in this offense in 2025.

Jordan Mason moves from San Francisco to Minnesota in an offseason trade to become Aaron Jones’ running mate/handcuff. Mason sustained a shoulder injury and an ankle injury last year. The bum ankle ultimately ended his season. In the brief six games, he played 64% or more of the snaps as the starter for the 49ers, with an average of 21.3 touches and 111.8 total yards. He was a top-24 fantasy option at the running back position in four of those six outings and an RB1 in 50% of them. Mason finished top six among running backs last year in explosive run rate (second), missed tackles forced per attempt (sixth), and yards after contact per attempt (third, per Fantasy Points Data). Mason is a top-shelf handcuff again this season who could offer some stand-alone value in Minnesota’s high-scoring offense.

Check out DBro’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

Erickson’s WR Fantasy Football Sleepers

Jayden Higgins lands in a dream fantasy spot after being selected 34th overall by the Houston Texans. With Tank Dell likely sidelined for much of 2025 and Christian Kirk only under contract for one year, Higgins is positioned to start immediately alongside Nico Collins and Kirk in a high-powered offense led by C.J. Stroud. The former Iowa State standout was PFF’s highest-graded WR in 2024, commanding a 33% target share while boasting a top-10 career college dominator rating in the class. With a strong blend of size, speed, and draft capital – and strong connections between the Texans and Iowa State coaching staffs – Higgins profiles as a plug-and-play rookie with significant fantasy appeal.

The Chargers signed WR Keenan Allen to a one-year, $8.52 million contract. Allen was the WR38 in PPG (WR35 overall) in his lone season with the Bears in 2024, attached to a rookie QB in a broken offense. Even so, he finished top-20 in targets per game (8.1) and was just narrowly out-produced by D.J. Moore in the final 8 games of the season (also led the team in targets). At 33 years old, it’s hard to peg Allen to replicate his insane 2023 numbers with the Chargers (WR8 overall and WR3 in PPG). But attached to Justin Herbert, Allen is going to command targets in some capacity that will make him fantasy viable when healthy.

Marvin Mims flashed major upside in the second half of 2024, averaging 62 receiving yards per game and leading all WRs in yards per route run (3.63) from Week 11 onward. He also posted a strong 28% target rate per route run on the year, ranking 13th in the NFL. Still just 23 years old, Mims is a prime third-year breakout candidate in a Broncos offense looking to grow alongside Bo Nix. His preseason usage has indicated he is going to see a full-time role for the first time…

Check out Erickson’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet

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