Fantasy Football Bounceback Candidates for 2025

Players disappoint in fantasy football every single year. It happens. But it is more important to understand the reason and if it is something we need to consider going into the following season. That is how you identify potential bounceback candidates, which is exactly what we are here to do today.

Here are six players that should get back on track in 2025.

Fantasy Football Bounceback Candidates for 2025

Quarterback

Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears

It’s weird to consider a rookie as a candidate to “bounce back,” but given what was expected from Caleb Williams a year ago, I think it makes sense. Chicago fans may be wishing their team drafted Jayden Daniels, but there is still time for Williams to showcase his true potential. Williams’ 3,672 yards, 20 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions look good on the surface, but his rookie season was still frustrating. He posted the third-highest adjusted sack rate in football (12.1%), only having a clean pocket on 64% of dropbacks. His deep passing metrics were poor, too, posting the league’s eighth-lowest completion rate on passes of 20-plus yards (27.5%).

So why should we be excited for year two?

Well, for starters, this is still an immensely talented player. And Williams showcased it plenty of times during his rookie season. But perhaps most importantly, the Bears will have a competent offensive structure with Ben Johnson taking over. Johnson is arguably the league’s top playcaller, helping the Lions emerge into one of the elite offenses in football. In three seasons with Johnson as the offensive coordinator in Detroit, Jared Goff averaged over 4,500 yards and 32 passing touchdowns per year, finishing as fantasy’s QB6, QB7 and QB10 during that span. Johnson will bring more movement and creativity to this offense, which will alleviate pressure from Williams. This past season, according to the FTN Fantasy StatsHub, the Bears used motion on just 47.9% of dropbacks, 21st among signal callers. The Lions, meanwhile, used motion on 66.2% of Goff’s dropbacks, the fourth-highest rate in the league. More movement, more play-action and more creativity should do wonders for Williams’ progression in year two.

Running Back

Kenneth Walker III, Seattle Seahawks

I wrote about Walker in my injured players to remember, so feel free to check that out as well. But injuries aside, the environment in Seattle should be much better for the run game in 2025. For starters, the run-blocking can’t get much worse, right? Last year, nearly 22% of Walker’s runs were stuffed at or behind the line of scrimmage, the ninth-highest rate in football. And as a team, Seattle was stuffed on 21% of carries, tied for the fourth-highest rate in the league. The Seahawks will also look to play more to Walker’s strengths with a different run scheme, bringing in Klint Kubiak to call plays. According to the StatsHub, the Seahawks utilized outside zone just 14.1% of the time in 2024 which ranked 24th in football. The Saints, meanwhile, ranked second in outside zone rate under Kubiak at 34.7%. A one-cut and go style might benefit Walker, who tends to dance around and look for the home run too often.

Wide Receiver

Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins

Perhaps the most obvious bounceback candidate, Hill was brutal in 2024, hauling in 81 passes for 959 yards and six touchdowns, his worst season since a 12-game 2019 campaign. His advanced metrics took a hit, as his yards per route run plummeted from 3.9 in 2023 to 1.9. Of course, his season is difficult to fully gauge considering Tua Tagovailoa missed time with a concussion. In games with Tua sidelined last year, Hill averaged just 5.8 targets, 4.2 catches, 44.2 receiving yards and 9.0 PPR points per game. Yikes. During Weeks 3-7 (with Tua out), Miami just tried to run the football, sporting the league’s highest neutral script rush rate during that span (57.2%), which limited Hill’s volume. While Hill is obviously getting up there in age, he’s still got plenty of good football left. And as long as Tagovailoa is healthy in 2025, expect a much better season from Hill.

Marvin Harrison Jr., Arizona Cardinals

Harrison’s rookie season wasn’t exactly bad, but it could certainly be classified as a disappointment, especially considering his draft capital in both the NFL and fantasy drafts. While other teams utilized their rookie wideouts in creative ways, the Cardinals simply did not. Instead, they asked their first-year wideout to win on the boundaries over and over again. He had 22 targets off go routes, which accounted for 19% of his total targets, while his 92.1 air yards per game were 10th in the league. He lined up out wide over 70% of the time and only saw one target out of pre-snap motion all year long. As a result, his 46.6% tight coverage rate was the fifth-highest rate among qualified wide receivers. Harrison also didn’t have immediate chemistry with Kyler Murray, often missing on back-shoulder throws early in the year. A sophomore bounceback is likely in 2025, but Arizona has to create more layups for Harrison.

Rome Odunze, Chicago Bears

If we expect Caleb Williams to bounce back, then Odunze has to come along with him, right? Odunze had a modest rookie season (54-734-3), as it was tough to find consistency given his role. Most of the schemed targets went to DJ Moore and Keenan Allen, while Odunze had to make plays deep down the field. And it simply just didn’t work out. Just 38.3% of Odunze’s air yards were deemed catchable, the fifth-lowest rate in the league. And as we mentioned earlier, Williams completed less than 28% of his passes 20-plus yards down the field. Allen could be gone, Williams will be better and the overall offense will be more fantasy-friendly with Ben Johnson calling plays.

Tight End

Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys

I was pretty high on Ferguson entering last season. But injuries to both he and QB Dak Prescott limited his production for most of the year. Ferguson ultimately finished outside the top 20 fantasy tight ends, though he missed a handful of games. More importantly, however, Prescott’s season ended in Week 9, cratering the upside of this Dallas offense. But with Prescott healthy through Week 9, Ferguson was the TE10 in fantasy points per game. We’ll see what the Cowboys do this offseason but there’s a good chance Ferguson is once again the second option of a pass-happy offense with a good quarterback. I’m willing to go back to him in 2025.