dynastyIt’s no secret who the top prospects are from the 2025 NFL Draft. Whether these players pan out remains to be seen, but everyone knows who they are.
What about the lesser-known guys? Each player’s landing spot will ultimately impact this list, but heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, here are a handful of dynasty fantasy football rookie sleepers.
As a mandatory disclaimer, pretty much every “sleeper” in this article is going to be a player going later in the draft. As we well know, the later a player gets drafted, the less likely he is to make an impact in fantasy football.
Some of these guys will never matter. The goal here is to simply get fantasy managers thinking about these names. I don’t want August to be the first time you’re hearing about these guys when we get training camp hype reports or a big play in a preseason game.
The best part about the names you’re about to read is none of them will be expensive. If even one of them ends up hitting, it will be a net positive for your dynasty roster.
Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama
Despite being a big name in college as the starting quarterback for Alabama, Jalen Milroe is not considered a top QB prospect. At best, he will likely be the fourth quarterback selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Of course, there are always outliers, and there always will be. But the vast majority of top fantasy quarterbacks are former first-round picks. It seems unlikely that Milroe will go in the first round (although he did receive a green-room invite, which turned heads).
At the same time, if you look at the archetype of QB who excels in fantasy, especially in the modern NFL, you have a lot of players who play like Milroe.
It’s hard to overstate how prolific of a rusher Milroe is. The kid is an incredible athlete who ran a 4.42 40-time. That is elite. And at 6’2″, 217 pounds, he has the requisite size to play the position and take the hits that come with it.
Milroe rushed for a staggering 20 touchdowns in his senior year. He will immediately be one of the best rushing quarterbacks in the NFL. That, alone, gives him top-12 upside every time he starts. If Justin Fields can be a fantasy QB1, so can Milroe.
The problem for Milroe is he’s not a refined passer, and that’s putting it kindly. Milroe relied heavily on his mobility in college. For fantasy purposes, this fact doesn’t matter. But also for fantasy purposes, Milroe does us no good if he can’t get on the field.
This year’s quarterback class may only have one long-term NFL starter. It might not have any. Fantasy managers in Superflex leagues who need a QB should not take Shedeur Sanders or Jaxson Dart over the top running backs or wide receivers just because. Instead, wait and throw the dart at Milroe.
Tory Horton, WR, Colorado State
I always hesitate to recommend five-year college players. But if guys like Tory Horton had a flawless prospect profile, they wouldn’t be going on Day 3 and qualify as sleepers.
Horton played two years at Nevada, where he posted solid yet unspectacular numbers. Then, as a junior, he transferred to Colorado State and exploded. Horton posted lines of 71-1,131-8 and 96-1,136-8 in his junior and senior seasons. Had he not returned for a fifth year and suffered a season-ending injury after just six games, he might be more highly touted.
Horton did manage to run a 4.41 40-time. Although speed isn’t as important at wide receiver, it speaks to his health, which is admittedly a concern entering this year.
Able to play both inside and out, Horton is very likely to have a role on an NFL team, regardless of when he is drafted. If he lands in the right spot, he could end up being the type of rookie who emerges over the second half of the season and increases his value significantly over the course of the year.
D.J. Giddens, RB, Kansas State
In a different year, D.J. Giddens might be a lock for Day 2 draft capital. But then he might not be a sleeper.
Giddens has the frame to be a three-down back at the NFL level. He’s a solid 6’0″, 212 pounds. With a 4.43 40-time, his speed score is in the 91st percentile. This is a very good athlete.
The key thing to look for in any sleeper running back is a solid receiving profile. Giddens has that. He earned a 9.9% and 9.5% target share in his final two seasons at Kansas State.
I would argue the main reason he’s flying under the radar is because of how deep this running back class is and how much talent there is at the top. Hopefully, Giddens ends up on a team with a climbable depth chart.
Raheim Sanders, RB, South Carolina
Let me start by posing this question: Where would someone like Raheim Sanders, who has pretty much no shot at going on Day 2, have been ranked in the 2023 RB class? He might have been the RB3 or RB4. Yet, in this class, he’s largely an afterthought.
There aren’t many hits when it comes to Day 3 prospects, but there are some. Why not Sanders?
Sanders has good size at 210 pounds. He ran a sub-4.5 40-time. He’s got a good pass-catching profile, with two college seasons of a least a 9.0% target share. Sanders averaged an impressive 11.7 yards per reception in his final year at South Carolina.
The main knock on Sanders is what he did, or rather, didn’t do, with all his athleticism. Sanders struggled to produce big plays and was not an elite tackle-breaker.
Nevertheless, his production profile and metrics suggest that a capable fantasy producer exists. He just needs the opportunity.