by Lou Brunson
Share
Can you smell it in the air? No, not spring, although that’s nice, too. It’s the 2025 season! The NFL Draft is the real kickoff of the fantasy football prep season, and when so many dormant dynasty leagues come back to life. It’s almost poetic. We understand if you’re just waking up to the NFL, too. Here at Optimus Fantasy, we stay ready so we can help you get ready. Let’s go!
Check out Richard Sickels’ Complete Guide to Fantasy Football Terms
NFL Draft Week — Rumors & Fantasy Implications of Potential Landing Spots
Cam Ward: Tennessee Titans
Cam Ward going to the Titans is one of a duo of open secrets in the NFL Draft. It’s important to remember that this isn’t the QB class of 2024 and Cam Ward doesn’t have the scrambling ability of Caleb Williams or Bo Nix, let alone Jayden Daniels. This lowers his ceiling considerably and compounds the issues the Titans have at wide receiver and along the offensive line. In redraft or best ball leagues, it’s worth looking elsewhere even for QB2 production in 2025. Long-term, Ward on the Titans is a solid bet and is worth being in the 1.2-1.3 discussion in dynasty rookie drafts.
That 1.2 vs 1.3 conversation brings me to…
Travis Hunter: Cleveland Browns or New York Giants
Early on in the draft cycle, the prevailing sentiment surrounding Hunter is that he’s a “CB-first-who-might-play-a-little WR” player. Even as physically gifted as Hunter is, that kind of usage would kill his fantasy value and limit him to WR3 range at best. Within the last week, however, it’s come out that both the Browns and Giants view Hunter primarily as a WR. The Giants specifically have gone so far as to say they are comfortable playing Hunter on both sides of the ball.
In either case, this development buoys Hunter’s value tremendously. It’s never a good idea to project a rookie WR too high, remember Marvin Harrison in 2024, but Travis Hunter scoring as a strong WR3 with WR1 spike weeks is very reasonable in redraft leagues. In dynasty leagues, Hunter is now firmly in the 1.2 vs 1.3 conversation with Cam Ward. In individual defensive players (IDP) dynasty leagues, it’s reasonable to consider Travis Hunter in the 1.1 vs 1.2 conversation, since he’d immediately be the most valuable CB in fantasy football history.
Ashton Jeanty: Las Vegas Raiders
Ashton Jeanty going to the Raiders is the second of the two open secrets in the 2025 NFL Draft. This is hitting the motherlode in terms of fantasy. You can read my full breakdown of what you can expect from him on the Raiders here. Even in the worst-case scenario for this season, this is the best possible landing spot for Jeanty in the short term. While you should temper expectations for 2025, it’s impossible to feel better about his long-term outlook in dynasty leagues.
Omarion Hampton & Kaleb Johnson: Chicago Bears
There are a couple of layers to this one, so stick with me. The Bears have publicly said how enamored they are with Ashton Jeanty, and he projects as a high-floor, lower-ceiling option with them. Over time, however, it has become obvious that Jeanty’s destination is most likely Las Vegas, with the silver and black of the Raiders.
Which now brings us to Omarion Hampton and Kaleb Johnson. Both have met with the Bears. Hampton would be an option, most likely at 10, and Johnson would most likely be sometime on Day 2. Neither would have the value Jeanty would have in Chicago, but both are capable of playing the David Montgomery “grinder” role in Ben Johnson’s offense.
That may not sound appealing if you paid attention to the Bears’ offense last year. It was beyond a hot mess. It was a full-on dumpster fire. It’s important to note that Ben Johnson himself is a tremendous upgrade, though. Beyond that, the Bears added three high-end offensive linemen to shore up the middle of their OL.
Either rookie sliding into the Hammer role for the Bears in 2025 is looking at high RB3 or low RB2 value. The Day 1 draft capital that Omarion Hampton would carry would bolster it a bit higher, but even with Day 2 draft capital, Kaleb Johnson can deliver this kind of production. For dynasty, it’s important to understand that any RB landing on the Bears has his ceiling capped, so be sure to take landing spots of the non-Bears top RBs into consideration when making your rookie draft plan.
TreVeyon Henderson & Quinshon Judkins: Denver Broncos
The Broncos have made no secret about their desire to draft a marquee RB. They’ve done everything shy of literally shouting it from the rooftops. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Broncos’ coaching staff has had multiple meetings with both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Either would fit Sean Peyton’s offense like a glove, but in very different ways.
Come with me as I harken back to the days of yore. No, it’s not medieval England, it’s 2013 in New Orleans. Ironically, leading the Saints in rushing are two RBs who have a reasonable skill set approximation to Henderson and Judkins – Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram.
TreVeyon Henderson is the Thomas in this exercise, thanks to being an effective pass-catcher and “good enough” as a runner between the tackles. Quinshon Judkins, on the other hand, profiles as a Mark Ingram-style runner who is capable of punishing defenses and can also do a little pass-catching.
Despite differences in play style, Henderson and Judkins have a similar profile for fantasy if they land with Denver. Their reasonable outcomes are in the mid-RB2 range, although if things break right throughout the season, they could peak into RB1 territory thanks to their overall talent level. For dynasty, either RB should be in the mid-first-round range, depending on your league scoring settings, if they land in the Mile High City.
Shout-out to my buddy Matt and his guy, “PT Cruiser” (Pierre Thomas).
Colston Loveland: Chargers & Tyler Warren: Colts
Another two-parter!
The Colts have made no secret of the fact that they desperately need to improve their TE room. Combine that need with Indianapolis’ devotion to relative athletic score (RAS, developed by Kent Lee Platte), and Tyler Warren seems like a perfect fit. Although Warren didn’t do any athletic testing, some prospects you can see the athleticism jump off the film, and he’s definitely one of them. It feels like a match made in heaven.
The Chargers need pass catchers outside of Ladd McConkey. They also have a devotion to the running game thanks to OC Greg Roman and HC Jim Harbaugh. While they’ve met with WRs as well, what position marries running the ball and pass catching better than TE? In addition to this, Colston Loveland has ties to Harbaugh already, having played for Michigan, where Harbaugh was the coach. At this point, it would be a coup if the Chargers picked someone other than Loveland.
So, what can we expect from the rookie tight ends? Don’t get over your skis with how well Brock Bowers did in 2024, or even what Sam LaPorta and Dalton Kincaid did in 2023. Bowers is a unicorn, and neither Warren nor Loveland is in the same stratosphere as him. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.
The TE landscape right now is superb at the very top, and then there’s a mass of about 15 TEs who have the chance to finish as a TE1 in any given week. It’s reasonable to expect Warren and Loveland to both be a part of that cluster as rookies. In other words, don’t go out of your way to chase them in redraft leagues. In dynasty, it’s also important to keep in mind that TEs usually take around 3 years to blossom. So even though you’ll be using mid-late 1st round picks on Warren and Loveland, don’t expect either to light the world on fire right out of the gate.
Jalen Milroe: Cleveland Browns
Although the Browns have recently brought Shedeur Sanders in for a private workout, that smacks more of “Someone should totally give up way too much to take Sanders at two overall” than actual interest in the QB from Colorado. They look every bit like a franchise getting ready to take the aforementioned Travis Hunter or the Edge phenom Abdul Carter. So, where does that leave them?
Browns’ GM Andrew Berry is apparently very impressed with Jalen Milroe. Cleveland holds the first pick in Round 2 of the NFL Draft, which is a perfect spot to be able to secure Milroe. It’s also a fairly easy spot to trade from to get back up into the 1st round to ensure they get their QB in a draft class devoid of many high-end options.
The good news for Milroe, if he lands in Cleveland, is that he could very well start in Week 1 thanks to weak QB competition. If that happens, Milroe is a fast enough and skilled enough runner to reach high-end QB2 or maybe even QB1 range. QBs who can run are that valuable.
The downside is that the rest of Cleveland’s offense is awful, and Milroe would benefit from sitting and learning how to be a professional. Thanks to this, the range of outcomes from Milroe landing in Cleveland is about as wide as can be. The downside is he could not play at all and end up QB♾️. Meanwhile, the upside is low-end QB1 production. He’d be worth a late-round dart in redraft. In dynasty, he’s a mid-second-round pick in superflex leagues any time after that big tier that includes the back half of first-round talent.
Jaxon Dart: New York Giants
The Giants have been rather coy with their plans at QB since signing both Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson. They did have Shedeur Sanders in for a workout late in the visiting process, but two veterans plus a rookie are a lot of assets to invest at third overall when one of either Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter will be on the board.
Late in the week before the draft, Brian Daboll came out and spoke positively about the rookie-to-be. That in itself is notable enough, but then Dart, who was on the list to be present for Round 1 of the NFL Draft, withdrew. Perhaps his camp got the impression that he wouldn’t be a first-round pick after all? That, put together with Daboll’s comments, paints a decent picture of Dart going to the Giants towards the top of the second round.
For 2025, it likely wouldn’t mean much as Jaxon Dart needs a lot of time to sit and grow as a QB. Think Jordan Love coming into the NFL. He’s not worth even having on your draft boards in a redraft. Just pick him up off the waiver wire if injuries wreak havoc.
In dynasty superflex leagues, he’ll be worth a late second-third pick just because of the position he plays, but even that might be a little rich. I can’t fault anyone taking him in the third, though.
RBs: Washington Commanders
All offseason, fantasy managers and draftniks have been wringing their hands over the state of the Commanders’ RB room and what the NFL Draft would mean for it. Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler were OK in 2024, but never better than that. It stands to reason that Washington would target one of the plethora of strong RB options in the 2025 class.
Now that all the pre-draft workouts and visits have concluded, we see that they have indeed met with a good number of RB prospects. The odd part is that only one of them is even a potential Day 2 pick. The RBs who have visited are (in no particular order): Bhayshul Tuten, Jaden Blue, Jacory Croskey-Merrit, Jarquez Hunter, Kaleb Johnson and Woody Marks.
It’s a rather wide-ranging list of RBs, but aside from Kaleb Johnson and maybe Bhayshul Tuten, none of the RBs listed are “every-down” RBs, which bodes well for Brian Robinson. If either of them goes to Washington, they’re worth a late-round (12th round or later) pick.
In dynasty, Johnson or Tuten would be worth mid-second-round picks, and the others would be worth a fourth-round pick.
Lou Brunson is a Senior Analyst and THE social media guru for Optimus Fantasy. Find his dynasty stylings on right here and at draftbuddy.com.
by Lou Brunson
Share
Can you smell it in the air? No, not spring, although that’s nice, too. It’s the 2025 season! The NFL Draft is the real kickoff of the fantasy football prep season, and when so many dormant dynasty leagues come back to life. It’s almost poetic. We understand if you’re just waking up to the NFL, too. Here at Optimus Fantasy, we stay ready so we can help you get ready. Let’s go!
Check out Richard Sickels’ Complete Guide to Fantasy Football Terms
NFL Draft Week — Rumors & Fantasy Implications of Potential Landing Spots
Cam Ward: Tennessee Titans
Cam Ward going to the Titans is one of a duo of open secrets in the NFL Draft. It’s important to remember that this isn’t the QB class of 2024 and Cam Ward doesn’t have the scrambling ability of Caleb Williams or Bo Nix, let alone Jayden Daniels. This lowers his ceiling considerably and compounds the issues the Titans have at wide receiver and along the offensive line. In redraft or best ball leagues, it’s worth looking elsewhere even for QB2 production in 2025. Long-term, Ward on the Titans is a solid bet and is worth being in the 1.2-1.3 discussion in dynasty rookie drafts.
That 1.2 vs 1.3 conversation brings me to…
Travis Hunter: Cleveland Browns or New York Giants
Early on in the draft cycle, the prevailing sentiment surrounding Hunter is that he’s a “CB-first-who-might-play-a-little WR” player. Even as physically gifted as Hunter is, that kind of usage would kill his fantasy value and limit him to WR3 range at best. Within the last week, however, it’s come out that both the Browns and Giants view Hunter primarily as a WR. The Giants specifically have gone so far as to say they are comfortable playing Hunter on both sides of the ball.
In either case, this development buoys Hunter’s value tremendously. It’s never a good idea to project a rookie WR too high, remember Marvin Harrison in 2024, but Travis Hunter scoring as a strong WR3 with WR1 spike weeks is very reasonable in redraft leagues. In dynasty leagues, Hunter is now firmly in the 1.2 vs 1.3 conversation with Cam Ward. In individual defensive players (IDP) dynasty leagues, it’s reasonable to consider Travis Hunter in the 1.1 vs 1.2 conversation, since he’d immediately be the most valuable CB in fantasy football history.
Ashton Jeanty: Las Vegas Raiders
Ashton Jeanty going to the Raiders is the second of the two open secrets in the 2025 NFL Draft. This is hitting the motherlode in terms of fantasy. You can read my full breakdown of what you can expect from him on the Raiders here. Even in the worst-case scenario for this season, this is the best possible landing spot for Jeanty in the short term. While you should temper expectations for 2025, it’s impossible to feel better about his long-term outlook in dynasty leagues.
Omarion Hampton & Kaleb Johnson: Chicago Bears
There are a couple of layers to this one, so stick with me. The Bears have publicly said how enamored they are with Ashton Jeanty, and he projects as a high-floor, lower-ceiling option with them. Over time, however, it has become obvious that Jeanty’s destination is most likely Las Vegas, with the silver and black of the Raiders.
Which now brings us to Omarion Hampton and Kaleb Johnson. Both have met with the Bears. Hampton would be an option, most likely at 10, and Johnson would most likely be sometime on Day 2. Neither would have the value Jeanty would have in Chicago, but both are capable of playing the David Montgomery “grinder” role in Ben Johnson’s offense.
That may not sound appealing if you paid attention to the Bears’ offense last year. It was beyond a hot mess. It was a full-on dumpster fire. It’s important to note that Ben Johnson himself is a tremendous upgrade, though. Beyond that, the Bears added three high-end offensive linemen to shore up the middle of their OL.
Either rookie sliding into the Hammer role for the Bears in 2025 is looking at high RB3 or low RB2 value. The Day 1 draft capital that Omarion Hampton would carry would bolster it a bit higher, but even with Day 2 draft capital, Kaleb Johnson can deliver this kind of production. For dynasty, it’s important to understand that any RB landing on the Bears has his ceiling capped, so be sure to take landing spots of the non-Bears top RBs into consideration when making your rookie draft plan.
TreVeyon Henderson & Quinshon Judkins: Denver Broncos
The Broncos have made no secret about their desire to draft a marquee RB. They’ve done everything shy of literally shouting it from the rooftops. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Broncos’ coaching staff has had multiple meetings with both TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins. Either would fit Sean Peyton’s offense like a glove, but in very different ways.
Come with me as I harken back to the days of yore. No, it’s not medieval England, it’s 2013 in New Orleans. Ironically, leading the Saints in rushing are two RBs who have a reasonable skill set approximation to Henderson and Judkins – Pierre Thomas and Mark Ingram.
TreVeyon Henderson is the Thomas in this exercise, thanks to being an effective pass-catcher and “good enough” as a runner between the tackles. Quinshon Judkins, on the other hand, profiles as a Mark Ingram-style runner who is capable of punishing defenses and can also do a little pass-catching.
Despite differences in play style, Henderson and Judkins have a similar profile for fantasy if they land with Denver. Their reasonable outcomes are in the mid-RB2 range, although if things break right throughout the season, they could peak into RB1 territory thanks to their overall talent level. For dynasty, either RB should be in the mid-first-round range, depending on your league scoring settings, if they land in the Mile High City.
Shout-out to my buddy Matt and his guy, “PT Cruiser” (Pierre Thomas).
Colston Loveland: Chargers & Tyler Warren: Colts
Another two-parter!
The Colts have made no secret of the fact that they desperately need to improve their TE room. Combine that need with Indianapolis’ devotion to relative athletic score (RAS, developed by Kent Lee Platte), and Tyler Warren seems like a perfect fit. Although Warren didn’t do any athletic testing, some prospects you can see the athleticism jump off the film, and he’s definitely one of them. It feels like a match made in heaven.
The Chargers need pass catchers outside of Ladd McConkey. They also have a devotion to the running game thanks to OC Greg Roman and HC Jim Harbaugh. While they’ve met with WRs as well, what position marries running the ball and pass catching better than TE? In addition to this, Colston Loveland has ties to Harbaugh already, having played for Michigan, where Harbaugh was the coach. At this point, it would be a coup if the Chargers picked someone other than Loveland.
So, what can we expect from the rookie tight ends? Don’t get over your skis with how well Brock Bowers did in 2024, or even what Sam LaPorta and Dalton Kincaid did in 2023. Bowers is a unicorn, and neither Warren nor Loveland is in the same stratosphere as him. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.
The TE landscape right now is superb at the very top, and then there’s a mass of about 15 TEs who have the chance to finish as a TE1 in any given week. It’s reasonable to expect Warren and Loveland to both be a part of that cluster as rookies. In other words, don’t go out of your way to chase them in redraft leagues. In dynasty, it’s also important to keep in mind that TEs usually take around 3 years to blossom. So even though you’ll be using mid-late 1st round picks on Warren and Loveland, don’t expect either to light the world on fire right out of the gate.
Jalen Milroe: Cleveland Browns
Although the Browns have recently brought Shedeur Sanders in for a private workout, that smacks more of “Someone should totally give up way too much to take Sanders at two overall” than actual interest in the QB from Colorado. They look every bit like a franchise getting ready to take the aforementioned Travis Hunter or the Edge phenom Abdul Carter. So, where does that leave them?
Browns’ GM Andrew Berry is apparently very impressed with Jalen Milroe. Cleveland holds the first pick in Round 2 of the NFL Draft, which is a perfect spot to be able to secure Milroe. It’s also a fairly easy spot to trade from to get back up into the 1st round to ensure they get their QB in a draft class devoid of many high-end options.
The good news for Milroe, if he lands in Cleveland, is that he could very well start in Week 1 thanks to weak QB competition. If that happens, Milroe is a fast enough and skilled enough runner to reach high-end QB2 or maybe even QB1 range. QBs who can run are that valuable.
The downside is that the rest of Cleveland’s offense is awful, and Milroe would benefit from sitting and learning how to be a professional. Thanks to this, the range of outcomes from Milroe landing in Cleveland is about as wide as can be. The downside is he could not play at all and end up QB♾️. Meanwhile, the upside is low-end QB1 production. He’d be worth a late-round dart in redraft. In dynasty, he’s a mid-second-round pick in superflex leagues any time after that big tier that includes the back half of first-round talent.
Jaxon Dart: New York Giants
The Giants have been rather coy with their plans at QB since signing both Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson. They did have Shedeur Sanders in for a workout late in the visiting process, but two veterans plus a rookie are a lot of assets to invest at third overall when one of either Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter will be on the board.
Late in the week before the draft, Brian Daboll came out and spoke positively about the rookie-to-be. That in itself is notable enough, but then Dart, who was on the list to be present for Round 1 of the NFL Draft, withdrew. Perhaps his camp got the impression that he wouldn’t be a first-round pick after all? That, put together with Daboll’s comments, paints a decent picture of Dart going to the Giants towards the top of the second round.
For 2025, it likely wouldn’t mean much as Jaxon Dart needs a lot of time to sit and grow as a QB. Think Jordan Love coming into the NFL. He’s not worth even having on your draft boards in a redraft. Just pick him up off the waiver wire if injuries wreak havoc.
In dynasty superflex leagues, he’ll be worth a late second-third pick just because of the position he plays, but even that might be a little rich. I can’t fault anyone taking him in the third, though.
RBs: Washington Commanders
All offseason, fantasy managers and draftniks have been wringing their hands over the state of the Commanders’ RB room and what the NFL Draft would mean for it. Brian Robinson and Austin Ekeler were OK in 2024, but never better than that. It stands to reason that Washington would target one of the plethora of strong RB options in the 2025 class.
Now that all the pre-draft workouts and visits have concluded, we see that they have indeed met with a good number of RB prospects. The odd part is that only one of them is even a potential Day 2 pick. The RBs who have visited are (in no particular order): Bhayshul Tuten, Jaden Blue, Jacory Croskey-Merrit, Jarquez Hunter, Kaleb Johnson and Woody Marks.
It’s a rather wide-ranging list of RBs, but aside from Kaleb Johnson and maybe Bhayshul Tuten, none of the RBs listed are “every-down” RBs, which bodes well for Brian Robinson. If either of them goes to Washington, they’re worth a late-round (12th round or later) pick.
In dynasty, Johnson or Tuten would be worth mid-second-round picks, and the others would be worth a fourth-round pick.
Lou Brunson is a Senior Analyst and THE social media guru for Optimus Fantasy. Find his dynasty stylings on right here and at draftbuddy.com.
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