Journeymen quarterbacks finally finding the perfect situations for them and excelling is nothing new, as Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith and Sam Darnold can attest. Many are identifying Justin Fields as the next in that lineage and see him as a potential late-round steal in 2025 Fantasy football drafts. He ranked sixth in positional Fantasy points during his six games as a starter last season and finished the year with the best TD:INT and passer rating of his career. With few others having his rushing ability, and an true No. 1 wideout in Garrett Wilson, Fields could be in position to emerge as a Fantasy football 2025 sleeper.
Well-traveled vets at other positions like Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins and Evan Engram are also out to prove that their new teams taking chances on them were the right moves. Identifying a potential 2025 Fantasy football sleeper is one thing, but knowing when to utilize one of your Fantasy football picks on them is another. Before setting your 2025 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2025 Fantasy football rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model accurately predicted that Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud might take a step back in his second season. He finished as QB18 and anybody who avoided drafting him early dodged a major headache in their Fantasy football lineups.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, identifying A.J. Brown as a sleeper in 2020, nailing Jonathan Taylor’s monstrous season in 2021 and calling Rachaad White’s breakout in 2023. Additionally, it has called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest 2025 Fantasy football rankings for PPR and non-PPR leagues, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2025 Fantasy football sleepers
One of the 2025 Fantasy football sleepers the model is predicting: Commanders wide receiver Deebo Samuel. His hybridized usage in San Francisco led to one of the great seasons in recent Fantasy football history when he caught 77 passes for 1,405 yards and six touchdowns while adding 59 carries for 365 yards and eight touchdowns in 2021. However, as the 49ers added weapons, his usage dropped off, and he’s also had to fight through injuries in recent years, missing eight games the last three seasons and playing through several more while hampered.
Now he’ll have a chance for a career reset in Washington with NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Jayden Daniels, and he could begin the season as Washington’s No. 1 receiver. Terry McLaurin is in a serious contract dispute and has been the constant subject of NFL trade rumors all offseason. Even if McLaurin’s situation gets sorted, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury should have plenty of wrinkles for Samuel, and the model predicts that he far exceeds expectations as the No. 39 wide receiver off the board on average. See more Fantasy football sleepers 2025 here.
Top 2025 Fantasy football breakouts
One of the 2025 Fantasy football breakouts the model is predicting: Colts tight end Tyler Warren. After an All-American career at Penn State, in which he not only had 19 touchdown receptions but also six rushing scores, Warren was the second tight end taken in the NFL Draft. He joins a Colts team in desperate need of uptick at the position as no Indy tight end had more than 14 catches or 182 yards last year. Indianapolis didn’t spend a first round pick on Warren to just use him as a blocker as it has high hopes for the 2024 Mackey Award winner as the best tight end in college football.
Indy used a tight end on roughly 98% of its offensive plays last season and used multiple tight ends on over a quarter of all snaps. Thus, the position clearly has a big role in the offense. The learning curve for rookie tight ends is also not as steep as in the past as players like Brock Bowers and Sam LaPorta were top-two Fantasy tight ends in their first years. SportsLine’s model has Warren ahead of more established tight ends like Kyle Pitts and Evan Engram in its Fantasy football 2025 rankings. See more Fantasy football breakouts 2025 here.
Top 2025 Fantasy football busts
As for players to avoid, the model lists Ravens receiver Rashod Bateman as one of its 2025 Fantasy football busts. The 2021 first-round pick finally broke out in his fourth season with a 45-756-9 stat line as his nine touchdowns were over twice as many as the four scores he had over his first three years combined. However, that screams outlier after Bateman never had more than two touchdowns in any previous season, and his number of touchdowns wasn’t in line with his number of catches or yards.
Bateman was tied for ninth in the NFL in TD receptions but was tied for 95th in receptions and 43rd in receiving yards. There’s also the fact that Zay Flowers is Baltimore’s clear-cut top wideout, DeAndre Hopkins was just added into the fold, and the team has arguably the best tight end tandem in the league with Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. That’s lots of mouths to feed for Lamar Jackson, and the model sees statistical regression for Bateman as a result. Bateman’s 2025 Fantasy football ADP has him being drafted as the WR26, but the model slots him as the WR35, making Bateman one to avoid. See more Fantasy football busts 2025 here.
How to find proven 2025 Fantasy football football rankings
SportsLine is also extremely high on a surprising wide receiver you aren’t even thinking about being taken in the early rounds of 2025 Fantasy football drafts. This wide receiver is listed as a shocking top-15 option ahead of stars like A.J. Brown and Tyreek Hill. You can only see who it is, and the 2025 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2025 Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade, and which WR shocks the NFL with a top-15 performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2025 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called C.J. Stroud’s disappointing sophomore season in 2024, and find out.