Best Fantasy Football Landing Spots in the 2025 NFL Draft

After three days, seven rounds and 257 picks, the 2025 NFL Draft is in the books. Not every one of those picks will be a game-changer for fantasy, but some will make a significant impact this year and for years to come. For those of you who play dynasty, it’s crucial to identify which prospects found the perfect situations to elevate their potential and improve their dynasty draft stock. With that in mind, here are eight of the best landing spots from the weekend’s festivities, accounting for both draft capital and franchise.

Best Landing Spots in the NFL Draft

8. Kyle Williams, WR, New England Patriots

Wide receiver was one of New England’s most glaring needs coming into the draft, but they skipped on the position through the first two rounds. Then they took Washington State product Kyle Williams at 69th overall, adding the 5-foot-11, 190-pound speedster to a depth chart full of question marks. Williams was never considered one of the “elite” receivers in the class, but he did gain momentum through the draft process, especially following a superb Senior Bowl where he flashed his quick separation ability in 1-on-1s.

The former Cougar had an extremely productive senior season, with 1,198 yards, 14 touchdowns, 17.1 yards per reception and 2.71 yards per route run. For context, just two receivers drafted last year hit all those marks in 2023: Marvin Harrison Jr. and Brian Thomas Jr. Not bad company.

He may not have the physical makeup to be a prototypical No. 1. But neither did Stefon Diggs, a 195-pound fifth-round pick who compiled the second-most targets in the league from 2020 to 2023 … and signed with the Patriots a month before the draft. Williams has the potential for a significant level-up if he can grow and refine his route tree, and Diggs would be an excellent mentor in that regard (if he’s willing). The veteran wideout is also recovering from a torn ACL, and there is very little other competition for targets in New England, so Williams could see sneaky fantasy upside out of the gate if Drake Maye and the Pats offense improve under Josh McDaniels and Mike Vrabel in 2025.

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7. Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago Bears

Chicago made a bold move snagging tight end Colston Loveland 10th overall, and the dynasty hype exploded immediately. The Michigan product was considered a first-round talent entering the draft, but most analysts had him ranked below Tyler Warren and expected Loveland to fall to the Colts (and their questionable quarterback situation) at 14th overall. Instead, Loveland joins an offense designed by Ben Johnson, captained by Caleb Williams, and featuring a wealth of dangerous receivers, including DJ Moore, DJ Moore II (actually Luther Burden III) and Rome Odunze.

While the target competition will be a little tougher in The Windy City than it might have been in Indianapolis or elsewhere, Johnson’s offensive wizardry and the top-10 draft capital are both massive boosts for Loveland’s potential. In Johnson’s three years as OC in Detroit, Lions tight ends tied the Chiefs for the second-most receiving TDs by any TE group and scored the fifth-most half-PPR fantasy points as well. Meanwhile, all five tight ends drafted with a top-10 pick since the turn of the century have posted at least one top-seven fantasy season in their careers — yes, even Kyle Pitts. And Loveland’s pass-catching profile is excellent: he’s a complete, technical, experienced receiver with rare TE separation skills and superb analytics. More than one draft scout comped Loveland to Sam LaPorta — though I personally prefer Tyler Eifert — so it’s not hard to envision Johnson’s plans for his new tight end. He jumps into immediate top-five consideration in dynasty with this landing spot.

6. Isaac TeSlaa, ET, Detroit Lions

Exactly one pick after Kyle Williams went to New England, Detroit surprised everyone by reaching for an even less-heralded wideout (of a very different make) at 70th overall: Isaac TeSlaa out of Arkansas. TeSlaa wasn’t even appearing in rookie draft ADP data prior to Friday, but that will change after earning this kind of capital. His future is going to be an intriguing exercise in tape/draft process evaluation versus collegiate production. He played three years at Hillsdale College (a Division II program) before transferring to the Razorbacks, where he totaled 62 catches for 896 yards and five TDs … in 25 games over two seasons. Woof. That said, he did log an 82nd percentile breakout age and an 87th percentile college dominator rating (not adjusted for competition).

Then, TeSlaa impressed at the Senior Bowl (which seems to carry more weight each year) and earned Next Gen Stats’ highest WR Athleticism Score at the combine (96). He ran a 4.43 in the 40 and a class-best 4.05 in the short shuttle, hit 39.5 inches in the vertical, and did it all at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds. Here’s an easy SparkNotes on his profile: his NGS Athleticism Score is in the 99th percentile … and his Production Score is in the 7th percentile. Clearly, Detroit saw the promise in the former and consequently added him to a receiver corps with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. While it doesn’t mean TeSlaa should become a rookie draft priority, going to a great offense at the top of the NFL’s third round is a best-case scenario for the 23-year-old and puts him in the early third-round conversation in said rookie drafts.

5. Mason Taylor, TE, New York Jets

Quite a few mocks had the Jets going Tyler Warren at seventh overall, but instead they went offensive line there and hit tight end with the 10th pick of the second round, specifically Mason Taylor out of LSU. Taylor is a young (not yet 21), green (no pun intended) prospect with a lot of room for growth, especially in his route package. He’s very smooth (in the routes he does run, his hands, and his movement ability) and athletic (NGS Athleticism Score of 80, fifth among TEs at the combine). And while his route tree isn’t the most impressive, his family tree is: His dad, Jason Taylor, and uncle, Zach Thomas, are both Pro Football Hall of Famers. Those traits suggest Taylor is highly likely to realize a good amount of his unrealized potential — hence the day two investment by GM Darren Mougey and Co.

Beyond the glaring need for a tight end in East Rutherford, Gang Green also just needed pass-catchers in general — outside of Garrett Wilson, they have a bevy of WR4s but no true number two target. While it might take Taylor a year or two to get there — as tight ends always did before the LaPortas and Bowerses of the world spoiled us — he has the upside to be a 100-target, double-digit-touchdown player in this offense. He’s drawn comps to Hunter Henry and Dallas Goedert, and I’ve likened him to Tucker Kraft — all three have recorded top-10 fantasy seasons, and Taylor’s draft capital ended up being right in their range. He was hovering around the 3-4 turn in rookie draft ADP but should jump into the early to mid-second round with this landing spot, and he is now the clear TE3 of the class.

4. Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers

In my Ideal RB Landing Spots article just before the draft, I had targeted the Broncos for Omarion Hampton and the Chargers for TreVeyon Henderson. Denver passed on the former Tar Heel, but Los Angeles pounced at 22nd overall and landed their RB of the future … and possibly the present. As I laid out in that piece, Hampton is “a size-speed demon with a punishing, downhill running style that makes him very hard to stop once he gets going.” At 221 pounds with 4.46 speed, I’ve compared him to Ezekiel Elliott and Rashaad Penny, and all three have a juice that this offense was sorely missing. No offense to Najee Harris, but Joe Hortiz, Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman paid the premium for Hampton because he offers an explosiveness that Harris has never had.

Hampton’s main weakness is his lack of creativity or patience behind the line — he needs a clear hole and will take the first one he sees, but accelerates through it like a freight train. As such, I believed he needed a strong offensive line (hence the Denver dream) … which the Chargers have, bookended by Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt Between their line, Justin Herbert at QB, and the offensive minds of Harbaugh and Roman, the Chargers are a smash spot for a back like Hampton, if he can beat out Harris for touches. And if you read my Dynasty Moves to Make article from earlier this month, you’ll know I was trying to move Harris prior to the draft for this exact reason. He’s reliable and might still see 150 touches in 2025, but I feel very confident Hampton will take the starting role with ease and likely become a bell cow in 2026 when Harris becomes a free agent. He was already going early in the first round of rookie drafts, but with the first-round capital locked in, and the lucrative landing spot, Hampton is also in the conversation for the top-six backs in dynasty and the top two rounds of startup drafts.

3. Jack Bech, WR, Las Vegas Raiders

Like Isaac TeSlaa earlier — though with a much higher pre-draft grade for most scouts — Jack Bech is a conundrum of tape versus production. Bech flashed as a freshman at LSU, but then essentially disappeared from the stat sheet in both 2022 as a Tiger and 2023 as a TCU Horned Frog. He managed to put together 62 catches, 1,034 yards and nine touchdowns last year but never cracked a 20% target share in a college season and finished with a career 1.86 yards per route run (less than good). His Next Gen Stats Production Score of 68 is abysmal — most of the notable prospects to make a fantasy impact with a score that low were superior athletes like DK Metcalf and Terry McLaurin.

And yet, like TeSlaa, Bech impressed at the Senior Bowl, and he earned a second-round grade largely off the traits he put on tape. Transcendent hands and ball skills, toughness, physicality at the catch point and after the catch, the dependability to be a strong possession receiver, even if he’ll never be the most explosive. GM John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll liked what they saw enough to drop a late second-round pick (58th overall) on the 22-year-old, and now he’ll enter a Las Vegas receiver room where he might legitimately be the number one on day one. Beyond Jakobi Meyers — a fine WR2, but not a true stud — the Raiders have nothing of note on the outside. Geno Smith‘s best targets will be tight end Brock Bowers, running back Ashton Jeanty … and probably Bech. TCU receivers have made a habit of disappointing at the NFL level — Quentin Johnston, Jalen Reagor, Josh Doctson — but if Bech can break the curse, he may have hit the draft jackpot in Vegas.

2. Kaleb Johnson, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers

Speaking of my Ideal RB Landing Spots article, my pick for Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson was … the Pittsburgh Steelers. Apparently Omar Khan, Mike Tomlin and Co. agreed, as they invested their second pick in the draft — 83rd overall, in the third round — to acquire the well-rounded 21-year-old. Rather than recapitulate everything I wrote a week ago, follow that link, and you can read my full pre-draft prognosis. The SparkNotes, if you need them: Johnson is a perfect drag-and-drop replacement for Najee Harris and should be able to fill his shoes the second he steps onto the field.

For those who’ve forgotten, those shoes produced four straight top-20 fantasy finishes in Pittsburgh — Harris was the RB4 in 2021, RB14 in ’22 and RB20 in both ’23 and ’24 (all half-PPR). I see little reason to doubt Johnson’s ability to recreate similar production (particularly if the Steelers can find an answer at quarterback), which makes his current startup price of RB19 more or less the floor. He was already going in the first round of rookie drafts, but this landing spot locks his position as most people’s RB5 and should leapfrog him over at least Luther Burden III and Emeka Egbuka in most drafts as well.

1. RJ Harvey, RB, Denver Broncos

The No. 1 landing spot from the 2025 NFL Draft could not have been easier to choose. UCF running back RJ Harvey was a personal favorite “sleeper” of mine — and many other analysts — before he landed in Denver with the 50th overall pick, a round or two above expectation. The Broncos boast arguably a top-three offensive line in the league, a budding franchise QB in Bo Nix, absolutely zero competition on the depth chart, and a head coach who’s been famously good news for fantasy running backs in Sean Payton. Harvey plays tougher than his 5-foot-8, 205-pound frame and improved his draft stock with a strong combine: 4.40 speed and a 38-inch vertical. He cracked the 91st percentile in Speed Score and the 88th percentile in Burst Score on PlayerProfiler, and their “Best Comparable Player” was Chase Brown. Not coincidentally, Harvey was my pick as the “Chase Brown” of the 2025 class: A later-round draft selection who could rocket into the RB1 conversation with the right opportunity. And the production is sublime: nearly 3,500 scrimmage yards and 42 scrimmage touchdowns the last two seasons as a Knight, with top-tier marks in yards per carry (6.6), yards after contact (1,699), missed tackles forced (153), the list goes on.

As it turns out, Harvey can’t be the Brown of this class because he was simply drafted too high (113 picks higher, to be exact). But that’s nothing but good news for fantasy, as he will enter camp as the runaway favorite for the starting job, ahead of undrafted free agent Jaleel McLaughlin and fifth-rounder Audric Estime. He and his bowling-ball build could pretty easily roll their way to an RB2 season in this offense, and he’ll definitely be rolling his way up both rookie and startup draft boards. Once a late-second-round rookie pick and the consensus RB9 in the class, with a startup rank around RB40, Harvey is now draftable at the one-two turn in rookie drafts as the RB5 or RB6, with a startup value closer to RB20. It’s a mile-high rise for the 24-year-old and evidence for just how good this landing spot was for his fantasy outlook.