2025 NFL Draft Wish List: AFC South

Our 2025 NFL Draft wish list series continues with the AFC South. You can argue that this is the worst division in football — and you’d be right! So the real-life NFL wish list probably takes precedence over the fantasy wish list.

So what is on our fantasy wish list for these teams entering the 2025 NFL Draft? Let’s run through it.

I’ll also make this clear again: This is a fantasy football wish list. We might mention some defensive picks here and there, but this will mostly focus on offense.

(Stay tuned for the full NFL Draft Wish List series: AFC East | NFC East | AFC North | NFC North | NFC South | AFC West | NFC West)

2025 NFL Draft Wish List: AFC South

Houston Texans

• First pick: 1st round, 25th overall
• Total first-rounders: 1
• Total selections: 7

The Texans loaded C.J. Stroud up at WR for Year 2 — but that didn’t pan out. Stroud struggled for much of the year, Nico Collins missed some time, and Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell both got hurt.

Fast forward to today, Diggs is no longer on the team and Dell is unlikely to play in 2025. The team did add Christian Kirk in a trade — but Kirk is also coming off an injury and you can easily argue that the Texans need another WR.

My favorite fits? Either Emeka Egbuka or field-stretcher Matthew Golden. Perhaps the Texans would view Golden as too similar to Kirk, so let’s call Egbuka the No. 1 player on the wish list.

Of course, they need significant help along the offensive line, too — at both tackle and guard. Shaq Mason, Laremy Tunsil and Kenyon Green are all gone. They were replaced (on paper), but all replacements seem like sidegrades at best. So it really wouldn’t be the end of the fantasy world if the Texans went boring-mode in Round 1. Protecting C.J. Stroud is pretty important, too…

Jacksonville Jaguars

• First pick: 1st round, 5th overall
• Total first-rounders: 1
• Total selections: 10

The Jags are loaded with picks. They have one first-rounder, one second-rounder and then two picks each in the third and fourth rounds.

The Jags found a gem in Brian Thomas Jr. in the first round last year — but they still need help at WR. They lost Christian Kirk, and while they added Dyami Brown, it’s still a thin room of unproven (or unreliable) WRs. Does Travis Hunter somehow fall to pick No. 5? Or do the Jags go for a WR early on Day 2 with someone like Emeka Egbuka, Jayden Higgins or Matthew Golden if he slips out of Round 1?

WR isn’t the only pass-catching support Jacksonville needs. They lost Evan Engram as well, who was a TE on paper but a WR in reality. The TE position was hugely important for fantasy in Jacksonville and even led to some fantasy championships back in 2023.

No. 5 feels a little early for the Jags to snag Tyler Warren out of Penn State, but as a fantasy fan, I wouldn’t complain. Or perhaps the Jags go for TE Elijah Arroyo in Round 2. Either way, if the Jags don’t come out of the first two rounds with either a WR or TE, I’ll chalk it up as a loss for fantasy players.

Tennessee Titans

• First pick: 1st round, 1st overall
• Total first-rounders: 1
• Total selections: 8

The Titans were gifted the No. 1 pick by the Patriots, and it’s pretty obvious they will go QB in the draft. The only question is: Which QB? From a fantasy perspective, we’ll just pray the new Titans QB is cursed like all the others seem to have been.

The real interesting Titans question begins in Round 2. And it’s doubly interesting because the Titans don’t have a Round 3 pick. So Pick No. 35 overall on Day 2 is their only pick until Round 4.

The team needs edge rushers, line help, corner help … help just about everywhere. But this is a fantasy wish list, so I’m hoping the Titans go QB/WR in Rounds 1 and 2 to really spark everything for Tennessee. Chig Okonkwo has developed into a solid TE for fantasy purposes, and the RB duo of Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears is not one I wish to break up for 2025.

So give me big-bodied Jayden Higgins at the top of Round 2 to pair with Calvin Ridley. Maybe Higgins will be who Treylon Burks was supposed to be.

Indianapolis Colts

• First pick: 1st round, 14th overall
• Total first-rounders: 1
• Total selections: 7

The Colts lost both Ryan Kelly and Will Fries on their O-line, and as a team built around a young QB and Jonathan Taylor, I’d expect them to look at the offensive line early in the draft.

But from a fantasy perspective, how about a part-time offensive lineman and part-time pass-catcher named Tyler Warren?

The stud TE is sometimes mocked to go in the top 10, but our wish list has him falling to the Colts at pick 14, who might view him as quasi-O-line help and major Anthony Richardson help.

(Does this sound like a reach? Probably. But I don’t care. We’re fantasy football players at heart. I’m trying to rationalize why the Colts might draft Tyler Warren. Leave me alone. But in my defense, he apparently “loves” to block!)

If Warren isn’t there, I’ve seen TE Colston Loveland mocked to the Colts pretty frequently, too. He’s been flying up draft boards in the last handful of weeks and my fantasy-brained rationale gets applied to him, too. Let’s just hope Anthony Richardson can complete closer to 60% of his passes or it won’t matter who he’s targeting.

In all reality, a high investment in a TE might force the Colts to re-do their offense. Richardson’s average depth of target was about 1 billion and needs to be significantly pared back. An offense that flows through a TE might help that happen naturally and increase Richardson’s effectiveness and completion rate as a result.