The 2025 NFL Draft is nearly here, so we’ll know every rookie’s landing spot very spot. But until then, let the speculation continue! From a fantasy football standpoint, where do we want the top prospects to land? Here are the best landing spots that would set up this year’s rookies for fantasy success.
What Are the Top 5 Rookie Landing Spots For Fantasy Football?
Every year, the top draft analysts do their best to make sense of an ever-changing landscape. In the fantasy community, we often have a tendency to project players into obvious landing spots. Team X needs a WR2 — they will draft one in the second round. Team Y lost its running back to free agency — they will take one on Day 2 to perfectly fit into that starting role. In reality, it’s never that straightforward.
While we can’t know for sure where any of these players will land (except perhaps Cam Ward as the Tennessee Titans’ new starting quarterback), we know where we want them to land.
Top Running Back: Dallas Cowboys
Remember, this is projecting a realistic best-case scenario. The Dallas Cowboys pick No. 12 overall. We did not see a single running back go in the first round last year. We also have several years of data suggesting the Cowboys do not have interest in investing premium draft capital (or money, in general) into the running back position.
With that said, for fantasy purposes, Dallas would be an ideal landing spot for Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty or North Carolina RB Omarion Hampton.
Last season, we saw 2020 undrafted free agent Rico Dowdle average 12.4 fantasy points per game, good for a top-24 finish at the position. Prior to the 2023 season, Dowdle had seven career rush attempts. In 2023, he carried the ball a mere 89 times. Then, in 2024, Dowdle handled 235 carries for 1,079 yards.
Dowdle is certainly better than your average UDFA. But let’s not pretend like this is a top player. Yet, merely being competent while serving as the Cowboys’ lead back was enough to make Dowdle highly fantasy relevant. And this was during a year where the Cowboys were not a good team and their offensive line only generated 0.87 adjusted yards before contact, 21st in the league.
Dowdle is now in Carolina. If the Cowboys enter the season with Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders as their two best running backs, it could go down as the worst running back duo in NFL history.
Whoever the Cowboys draft at running back has a very clear path to a three-down role. For fantasy purposes, we want the Cowboys taking a running back on Day 1 or Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Top Running Back: Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos entered last season with a three-headed committee featuring Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, and Audric Estime. Head coach Sean Payton has made it abundantly clear he wasn’t overly pleased with any of their performances.
We can be pretty confident the Broncos are going to take a running back on the first two days of the draft. They don’t pick high enough to get Jeanty. Denver would be a great spot for Hampton, but he may be gone, too. If that’s the case, they probably wait until the second round, at which point they’d be looking at someone like TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, or possibly Kaleb Johnson.
With 27 receptions for 284 yards as a senior, Henderson is a proven quality receiver. His low target share of 7.5% shouldn’t be held against him, as he split a backfield with Judkins, and Ohio State was deploying a projected first-round WR in Emeka Egbuka.
We know Payton’s history with pass-catching backs. Even with a mobile rookie QB in Bo Nix, the Broncos led the league with a staggering 32% running back target share in 2024. Henderson fits perfectly in Payton’s system. But even if it’s not him, a Day 2 Broncos back would be a very desirable fantasy asset.
Day 2 Running Back: Cleveland Browns
It’s not exactly ideal for a running back to go to a bad offense. However, we’ve seen good fantasy backs come from bad offenses. Look at 2024 Chuba Hubbard as an example. Or even the production we got in 2023 from Jerome Ford on the Cleveland Browns.
Nick Chubb is gone. The Browns are probably comfortable moving forward with Ford as their lead back — they’ve done it before. But this could end up being a sneaky-good landing spot.
What if the Browns end up acquiring Kirk Cousins? Sure, he might be done. But he also might have been nowhere near 100% in 2024.
Even if Cousins is a shell of his former self, any percentage of Cousins is an unfathomably large upgrade over Deshaun Watson or Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Plus, Cousins is a statue at QB. He’s not running. That means when he gets into trouble, he’s checking it down to his running back. Bijan Robinson’s 13.4% target share ranked fifth in the league last year.
Obviously, Robinson’s talent played a big role in his receiving volume. But the fact remains that a capable rookie satellite back on the Browns Cousins could be a solid RB3 in PPR, particularly if they land Cousins.
Top Rookie Wide Receiver: Dallas Cowboys
Once a loaded offense, the Cowboys suddenly have multiple holes. In addition to needing a starting running back, they are in desperate need of someone to threaten defenses outside of CeeDee Lamb. They need a WR2.
At No. 12, multiple PFSN mock drafts have projected Texas WR Matthew Golden to stay local and go to Dallas. He looks like an excellent complement to what Lamb provides. I don’t particularly like Golden as a prospect, but that fact doesn’t detract from the quality of the landing spot.
If the Cowboys take a wide receiver on Day 2, someone like Elic Ayomanor or Jayden Higgins both make a lot of sense opposite Lamb.
The Cowboys do have a new coaching staff led by Brian Schottenheimer, which makes it more difficult to project in terms of passing volume. But under Mike McCarthy, even with Cooper Rush starting half the season, the Cowboys had a 56% neutral game script pass rate last year. In 2023, with a full year of a healthy Dak Prescott, they were at 61%.
Jalen Tolbert, Brandin Cooks, KaVontae Turpin, and Jalen Brooks combined for 215 targets. The right rookie could easily end up second on this team in targets and immediately emerge as a viable fantasy asset.
Top Rookie Wide Receiver: Carolina Panthers
It’s unclear if Tetairoa McMillan will make it to No. 8. If he does, Carolina is a much better landing spot than it might’ve been a year ago.
Bryce Young played considerably better in 2024 after his benching for Andy Dalton. He needs to build upon that to prevent the team from moving on after this season, but I’m optimistic he is an NFL-caliber starter.
Right now, the Panthers do not have a WR1. When he was drafted last year, Xavier Legette had all the hallmarks of a bust, and his rookie season did nothing to dispel those notions.
Beyond Legette, the Panthers have 2024 UDFA Jalen Coker, who surprised but is not exactly WR1 material, and Adam Thielen, who is 35 years old this year.
McMillan would be an immediate target vacuum in this offense, which is severely lacking in playmakers outside of Chuba Hubbard. Even if it’s not McMillan, any Day 2 wide receiver would have a ton of opportunities.
