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NFL Draft: Fantasy football dynasty league rookie rankings and tiers for 2025

At the precise moment Kobee Minor was announced as this year's Mr. Irrelevant — the 257th and final selection in the NFL draft — the dynasty calendar officially flipped. Your fantasy football league's 2025 season was officially and irrevocably underway.

The annual email from your commish probably hit the inbox within hours. Subject line: "Scheduling the rookie draft."

It's time, everyone. Rookie dynasty drafts are about to go down. For many of us, they happen this week.

Recently, we engaged in a way-too-early sweep of the rookie class ahead of the draft, and today the mission is to revise and refine (and possibly repudiate) those unfortunate ranks. With landing spots known, we can now put a finer point on things.

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To be clear, the ranks below will still bomb spectacularly, but we feel pretty great about 'em at the moment. For our purposes today, assume the usual one-QB half-PPR format. If you're playing in a Superflex dynasty league, this year's rookie class is going to take you to some terrible places, early in the draft proceedings.

Tier 1

1. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders

Jeanty has been a tier-of-his-own player in this draft class all along, and his status was solidified when he was selected by a team offering unlimited opportunities. As a rookie, he probably deserves to be the favorite to lead the NFL in touches. Jeanty is the clear and unchallenged top rookie pick this year, no question.

Tier 2

2. Travis Hunter, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars

3. Omarion Hampton, RB, Los Angeles Chargers

4. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers

We use the term "cheat code" in reference to lots of things in the NFL that are merely useful, but it's truly the only appropriate description for Hunter. Jacksonville is getting both an elite corner and a freakish offensive playmaker, and he's on a single rookie contract. Absolutely wild situation. The Jaguars are reportedly immersing him in Liam Coen's offense, fully intending to feature him as a rookie. For the foreseeable future, Hunter is clearly the non-QB most likely to win the league's MVP.

Hampton won't actually be my second-ranked rookie back for redraft purposes, but his dynasty outlook is spectacular. The Chargers were a premium destination and the team isn't tied to Najee Harris beyond the current season. As a general rule, we shouldn't look too far down the road with dynasty running backs — no more than two seasons — but it's so easy to imagine Hampton eventually challenging for a rushing title in L.A.

Tier 3

5. Kaleb Johnson, RB, Pittsburgh Steelers

6. R.J. Harvey, RB, Denver Broncos

7. Quinshon Judkins, RB, Cleveland Browns

8. TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots

Entering the draft, the Steelers had a Kaleb Johnson-shaped hole on their backfield depth chart and they filled it with the actual Kaleb Johnson. He was a huge winner. It's simply a perfect fit, as discussed here and here and here.

This tier is really where the strength and depth of this year's running back class becomes apparent. All four of these players were drafted into good-to-great situations in which they should immediately serve as heads of their respective backfield committees. To me, these guys are a very clear tier of four — closer to the group above than the group below.

Tier 4

9. Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago Bears

10. Matthew Golden, WR, Green Bay Packers

11. Luther Burden III, WR, Chicago Bears

12. Kyle Williams, WR, New England Patriots

13. Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants

14. Jaydon Blue, RB, Dallas Cowboys

15. Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars

OK, this collection of names is going to contain two or three very right answers and a bunch of misfires. Here we find four high-ceiling pass-catchers with real opportunities to become either the No. 1 or 1A receiving options for their teams, possibly as soon as the current season. (When Ben Johnson discusses rebuilding Chicago's depth chart from scratch, purely through competition, we definitely should not assume it's coachspeak.) I've also stacked three fun running back prospects of very different types in this tier, each with a clear path to first-year touches.

Rookie drafts this season have a locked-in top-eight players in my view — nine in Superflex, where I'd boost Cam Ward — and I wouldn't deviate from my ranks at the top of the board in those first three tiers. When we reach this fourth tier, however, I'd stop thinking best-player-available and instead address my known roster needs. That is, if I was sitting at the 10th pick and my dynasty squad had a glaring need at running back, I'd take Skattebo without hesitation, skipping over the receivers.

Let's remember that prospect evaluation is highly subjective and — particularly as we move down the ranks — often hilariously imprecise. We can see our own roster weaknesses with much greater clarity than we can see future outcomes for the rookies in this range.

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Tier 5

16. Tre Harris, WR, Los Angeles Chargers

17. Jayden Higgins, WR, Houston Texans

18. Jack Bech, WR, Las Vegas Raiders

19. Cam Ward, QB, Tennessee Titans

20. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

21. Terrance Ferguson, TE, Los Angeles Rams

22. Jaylin Noel, WR, Houston Texans

23. Tyler Warren, TE, Indianapolis Colts

24. Jaylin Lane, WR, Washington Commanders

25. Pat Bryant, WR, Denver Broncos

26. Mason Taylor, TE, New York Jets

27. Dylan Sampson, RB, Cleveland Browns

It nearly broke me to slot Egbuka and Warren down in this neighborhood, but they are each facing the stiffest possible fantasy headwinds as rookies, for different reasons. Egbuka is buried in Tampa Bay's receiving hierarchy behind two of the best receivers in the game, players who are likely to command 270 combined targets, assuming good health. Warren splashed down in an offense that has everything necessary to be highly functional, except competent, consistent quarterback play. His situation feels agonizingly hopeless in Year 1.

Bryant was nowhere near the top of most pre-draft ranks at receiver, but it's not entirely surprising that the league itself was higher on him (third round) than the mock draft community seemed to be. He's a polished player who never drops a ball and his new head coach just tossed a Michael Thomas comp his way.

Tier 6

28. Isaac TeSlaa, WR, Detroit Lions

29. Jalen Milroe, QB, Seattle Seahawks

30. Jalen Royals, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

31. Woody Marks, RB, Houston Texans

32. Tahj Brooks, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

33. Harold Fannin Jr., TE, Cleveland Browns

34. Elijah Arroyo, TE, Seattle Seahawks

35. Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants

36. Trevor Etienne, RB, Carolina Panthers

37. Damien Martinez, RB, Seattle Seahawks

38. Jordan James, RB, San Francisco 49ers

39. Devin Neal, RB, New Orleans Saints

40. Elic Ayomanor, WR, Tennessee Titans

This tier contains intriguing curiosities (notably TeSlaa and Milroe), pass-catchers who are at least a year away from relevance and running backs who would need several unlikely things to fall into place.

It also contains Dart, whom I am ranking mostly as a courtesy to Giants fans, but also because he has a rushing element to his game. Just to be completely transparent, I don’t think I’d draft him outside Superflex leagues. You can still fool me in a thousand different ways in fantasy, but, sorry, I will no longer be tricked by Lane Kiffin quarterbacks. If Dart manages to break out in 2026, he’s gonna be someone else’s success story.

This truly feels like the wrong season to have an immediate need at quarterback in your dynasty league. Ward can clearly help, and Milroe’s ceiling certainly might be worth the wait, but every other name on the board seems like a bad idea in its own unique way. As expected, running back is the position with the shiniest object and all the depth.

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