Two key offseason events shake up the fantasy football world. The first is free agency, and the second is the NFL Draft, which wrapped up Saturday. With new players threatening the playing time and productivity of established veterans across several teams, let’s look at the fantasy football losers from the 2025 NFL Draft.
Fantasy Football Losers
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England Patriots
Last year, Rhamondre Stevenson signed a four-year, $36 million contract, seemingly locking him in as the Patriots’ RB1 of the future. One year later, they spent a second-round pick on TreVeyon Henderson.
There’s no way to spin this as anything but a massive negative.
The last time Josh McDaniels coached Rhamondre Stevenson, he played just a 34% overall snap share
Ran fewer routes than both Damien Harris and Brandon Bolden
And received just six carries inside the 5-yard line all season.@FantasyPtsData pic.twitter.com/twCIS70LeD
— Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) April 26, 2025
While I don’t expect Stevenson to lose goal-line work to the 202-pound rookie, he can kiss his receiving volume goodbye. For context, Stevenson’s career-best 14.7 fantasy points per game in 2022 were primarily fueled by outlier receiving numbers. He saw a 17.3% target share and caught 69 passes. Last year, his target share dropped under 10%, and he’s caught just two more balls total over the last two seasons combined.
Stevenson isn’t suddenly irrelevant. He’ll still have a role and be worth drafting in fantasy leagues. But he won’t be the first running back taken from his team anymore, and his fantasy value will hinge mainly on the upside he brings if Henderson gets hurt.
Najee Harris, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
Honestly, I’m not sure Najee Harris even qualifies as a “loser.” He signed a one-year deal with the Chargers after the Steelers let him walk. That didn’t exactly scream, “This is our guy.”
Still, there was a chance the Chargers would hold off on drafting a running back until the third or fourth round, or maybe target a prototypical satellite back. Instead, they took Omarion Hampton, the consensus RB2 of this class and a guy built to handle all three downs.
Hampton has an ideal size at 6’0″, 221 pounds. He clocked an impressive 4.46-second 40-yard dash, giving him a 94th percentile speed score. Harris might very well open the season as the starter, but it’s only a matter of time before he’s backing up the talented rookie.
Jerome Ford, RB, Cleveland Browns
For most of the past decade, the Browns leaned on Nick Chubb as their RB1, favoring the downhill power runner. With injuries catching up to him and his age becoming a factor, Chubb’s time in Cleveland appears to be over. It was always unlikely they’d roll into the future with Jerome Ford as their lead back.
Ford falling behind a rookie was expected. It’s not like he was some highly valued asset. At 6’0″, 220 pounds, Quinshon Judkins has the size to be a feature back, and his 4.48-second 40-yard dash puts his speed score in the 92nd percentile. Judkins is the guy.
What makes Ford one of the biggest losers from this draft is that the Browns didn’t stop with Judkins. They also spent a fourth-round pick on Dylan Sampson.
While Sampson isn’t exactly exciting, neither is Ford. Sampson could easily leapfrog Ford for the RB2 job, wiping out Ford’s handcuff value and rendering him fantasy irrelevant.
Christian Kirk, WR, Houston Texans
When the Texans traded for Christian Kirk, I was bullish on his fantasy outlook. Not because I expected anything spectacular — certainly not a league winner — but a viable WR3 for a WR4 price? That was absolutely in play, and something I was ready to push hard this season. Well, that’s all out the window now.
Kirk should still be viewed as the favorite to be the Texans’ WR2 behind Nico Collins, but the competition just got a lot tougher.
The Texans not only spent an early second-round pick on Jayden Higgins, but they also traded up to get him. Then they took Jaylin Noel in the fourth round. Part of this stems from last year’s struggles at wide receiver after the team lost Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell for the season, leaving Collins as their only reliable option. Understandably, they wanted depth, especially with Dell not playing football this year.
But it’s not just depth. Higgins and Noel both have legitimate WR2 upside. Meanwhile, the Texans gave up only a seventh-round pick to acquire Kirk, and he’s entering the final year of his four-year, $72 million deal, which coined the phrase “Christian Kirk money.”
I still think Kirk is a talented player who’s been undervalued for most of his career. But he no longer has a clear path to being C.J. Stroud’s second option in the passing game. Even if he is the WR2, Higgins and Noel will be on the field, and their targets won’t be coming from Collins. Kirk’s fantasy outlook has taken a big hit.