The fantasy season is approaching, so it is time to prepare for fantasy drafts. This article will identify some of my favorite targets for the upcoming fantasy football season at each position.
Also, check out PFSN’s mock draft simulator before your fantasy drafts to determine which players you want to target for your upcoming season.
Geno Smith, QB, Las Vegas Raiders
ADP: 176.0, QB26
Fantasy managers are underrating Geno Smith heading into 2025. Smith was surprisingly traded from Seattle to Las Vegas this offseason to reunite with head coach Pete Carroll.
During his two seasons (2022, 2023) starting under Carroll in Seattle, Smith averaged a 67.4% completion percentage, 3,953 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions per season. Smith was the QB9 in fantasy in 2022 (17.9 PPG) and the QB21 in 2023 (15.2). The veteran quarterback is also coming off a QB16 finish in 2024Â without Carroll as head coach.
In Las Vegas, Smith will have access to an improved (but not great) offensive line, a young, dynamic tight end (Brock Bowers), a steady veteran receiver (Jakobi Meyers), and a top-10-pick rookie running back who can catch passes (Ashton Jeanty). The Raiders also have several players who can take the top off a defense, an area where Smith excelled in 2024.
The veteran signal-caller was also one of the most accurate passers in the NFL last season, finishing third in clean pocket completion percentage (73.3%), third in deep ball completion percentage (44.1%), and tenth in pressured completion percentage (59.5%).
Every Geno Smith throw of 20+ air yards from a clean pocket in 2024: pic.twitter.com/hmp71NouKb
— Jacob Gibbs (@jagibbs_23) May 14, 2025
Smith won’t be a top 10 quarterback, but he is good enough to be a dependable QB2 in your fantasy lineup so that you can attack other positions in the draft. He will be able to easily beat his ADP and be one of the surprising quarterbacks in the NFL in 2025.
TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
ADP: 53.5, RB20
TreVeyon Henderson wasted no time showing how explosive he can be in the NFL. Henderson’s first touch was a 100-yard kick return that showed his burst and explosiveness. He also added one carry for 18 yards and three receptions for 12 yards.
Overall, it was a day where the full range of Henderson’s impact was on display.
Henderson will be in a timeshare during his rookie season with the Patriots, but he has the explosiveness to take any carry to the house. He will get a valuable receiving role as a rookie.
The Patriots don’t have a strong defense, so they will be in enough negative game scripts to have dependable fantasy production every week. If Rhamondre Stevenson gets injured, Henderson would be poised to take on a bigger weekly role.
The rookie has consistently been a featured weapon in New England’s offense throughout the summer, and that shouldn’t change once Week 1 rolls around. His RB20 price is expensive, but it could pay off in a big way in 2025.
David Montgomery, RB, Detroit Lions
ADP: 57.0, RB22
David Montgomery’s 2024 season is being lost in the shuffle of Jahmyr Gibbs’s excellent finish, with Montgomery out due to injury.
From Weeks 1-14, Montgomery was the RB11 in PPR points per game (16.5) while averaging just a 42.4% snap share. In 13 games, Montgomery had 180 carries for 771 yards and 12 touchdowns while racking up 32 receptions (on 34 targets) for 310 yards. In two seasons with Detroit, the veteran running back has 25 touchdowns on 404 carries.
DAVID MONTGOMERY WENT BEAST MODE ON THIS PLAY 🔥
WHAT A HIT STICK ON WITHERSPOON 😱#SEAvsDET | ABC, ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/tg9UO9965l
— ESPN (@espn) October 1, 2024
Everybody is ready to bury Montgomery due to Gibbs’s performance in an expanded role. However, Montgomery is still a highly valued member of Detroit’s offense that will have a clear, defined role in 2025. He has averaged over 14.0 PPR points per game in his two seasons with the Lions, with back-to-back finishes as RB15 and RB16.
A new offensive coordinator and losses on the offensive line are baked into his price (RB22), which doesn’t fully consider Montgomery’s role if Gibbs misses time. He will be a set-and-forget RB2 in fantasy that has weekly RB1 upside given his offensive environment.
Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans
ADP: 67.5, WR30
Just one year ago, Calvin Ridley and the Titans’ offense in general were being hyped up with Will Levis under center. Unfortunately, Levis was terrible, and the offense fell flat, taking all of the fantasy production (with the exception of RB22 Tony Pollard) with it.
Despite that, Ridley had a solid season in real-life football that didn’t consistently translate to fantasy points. The veteran receiver caught 64 of 120 passes for 1,017 yards and four touchdowns, finishing as the WR37 in PPR points per game (11.7. Most of his struggles were tied to erratic passes from his quarterback.
Ridley finished first among qualified receivers in air yards (1,883), third in deep targets (32), fourth in air yards share (44.1%), and fifth in average depth of target (15.3). Unfortunately, he was also first in unrealized air yards (1,097) and 40th in yards per route run (1.89).
The Titans drafted Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to upgrade their quarterback room. He and Ridley have wasted no time building rapport in the summer, frequently connecting downfield. Ward was also one of college football’s most accurate deep passers last season.
Tennessee’s offense will be even better in 2025 with a good quarterback and a further upgraded offensive line. 2024 was an underwhelming season for Calvin Ridley, but buying the dip in 2025 with an improved offensive environment is perfectly fine.
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers
ADP: 56.5, WR26
Tetairoa McMillan was scrutinized during the pre-draft process for his lack of speed and breakaway ability. However, there was no denying he was the best X receiver in the 2025 NFL Draft class.
McMillan was highly productive over his final two seasons at Arizona, catching 174 of 266 targets for 2,721 yards and 18 touchdowns with an average target share of 29.6% over his final two years. He calmed down the concerns about his speed by running a 4.58 40-yard dash at 6’4″, 219 pounds at his Pro Day.
McMillan was selected with the eighth overall pick by the Carolina Panthers to serve as the WR1 for Bryce Young in the team’s improved passing attack. McMillan immediately becomes the top target in Carolina and has wasted no time this summer building a connection with Young all over the field. Young has continued to grow after a rocky start to 2024 throughout the summer.
Carolina has plenty of interesting pass catchers, but McMillan will command most of the targets thanks to his frame and contested catch ability. More importantly, Carolina may have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, so the team will be in plenty of negative game scripts to keep the passing volume elevated. That will give him plenty of opportunities to score fantasy points and finish as a WR2 in his first season, making him valuable in redraft settings.
Evan Engram, TE, Denver Broncos
ADP: 88.0, TE8
Evan Engram is coming off three straight seasons as a top 12 tight end with the Jacksonville Jaguars in PPR points per game. Engram was the TE7 in 2022 (10.4 PPG) and the TE4 in 2023 (13.6), but struggled to stay healthy in 2024. Despite that, he still finished as the TE12 (9.9)Â playing nine games.
The veteran tight end has shown the ability to earn targets at a high rate throughout his career, even if his consistency has been up and down. Engram was the TE2 in target rate (33.2%) and the TE3 in target share (25.1%) in 2024, but finished as the TE28 in average depth of target (5.6) and the TE37 in yards per target (5.7).
MORE:Â Free Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
Engram was signed by the Denver Broncos as a free agent this offseason, giving him an opportunity to once again be a top-end target earner with a head coach (Sean Payton) who has shown the ability to maximize athletic tight ends in the past. Engram has the ability to stretch the middle of the field while complementing wide receiver Courtland Sutton on the perimeter and should be targeted frequently when he is on the field.
It doesn’t take much to be a top-eight tight end in fantasy football, and Engram has landed on an offense searching for a secondary weapon in the passing attack. He is poised for another big season and could finish as a top-five tight end in 2025.
