The fantasy football focus coming out of every draft is rightfully on the rookies.
Which first-year players are set to shine?
Which rookies could be buried on the depth chart?
However, the draft often dramatically affects the veteran landscape as well, and the 2025 NFL Draft was no exception.
Find Rich Hribar's analysis of every Round 1 skill player in our 2025 Fantasy Football Draft Kit
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Fantasy Football Winners, 2025 NFL Draft
Fantasy Football Winner: D’Andre Swift
Expected to be one of the biggest losers of draft week after the Bears were strongly linked with Ashton Jeanty, Swift suddenly finds himself in a great spot.
Chicago’s only offseason at running back was seventh rounder Kyle Monangai, and Roschon Johnson is coming off a season in which he averaged 2.7 yards per carry and did not have a run of longer than 10 yards on 55 attempts.
As it stands now, Swift’s spot atop the depth chart and behind an improved offensive line is secure, but how long will that remain the case?
The Bears have already been linked with Nick Chubb, and capable backs such as J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards, and Cam Akers remain free agents.
There is also Jamaal Williams, who scored 17 touchdowns under Ben Johnson while playing with Swift for the 2022 Detroit Lions.
None of those backs are as scary as Jeanty would have been had the Bears been able to land them, but Chicago adding even someone like Edwards or this version of Williams would be a big dent to Swift’s touchdown projection.
As will be the case with all of the running backs listed here as winners, Swift is in a more secure spot than he was heading into draft weekend, but there is a long way to go until Week 1.
Fantasy Football Winner: Isiah Pacheco
Like Swift, Pacheco escaped draft weekend with his team only adding a seventh-round pick to the running back room – Brashard Smith.
Smith profiles as a passing-down back more than a real threat to the No. 1 spot on the depth chart, and Kansas City’s only other offseason addition was the perennially injured Elijah Mitchell.
All of that is promising, but Pacheco will simply have to be better this year than he was after returning from injury in 2024 to establish himself as the lead back.
Among 52 qualified running backs from Week 13 on last season, Pacheco ranked 49th in yards per touch, 45th in rate of gaining five yards or more per carry, and 51st in rate of gaining 10 yards or more per carry.
The extremely fair response to those numbers is he was recovering from an in-season injury, and we have seen Pacheco be more explosive in the past.
Still, the fact the Chiefs drafted Smith (4.39 40) and signed Mitchell (13.5% career explosive run rate) suggests they are looking for more big plays in the running game.
Pacheco will need to prove he can deliver those, but his arrow is still pointing up coming out of the draft.
Fantasy Football Winner: Calvin Ridley
Ridley got two big boosts during the 2025 NFL Draft.
First, he got a new quarterback with the Titans selecting Cam Ward No. 1 overall.
Among 103 qualified receivers last season, Ridley ranked 69th in the percentage of his targets that were off target, and that number includes the comparatively on target throws from Mason Rudolph.
Ridley’s off target rate with Will Levis at quarterback was 18.6%, a number that would have ranked 92nd among that same group.
Ridley’s usage pattern played some role in that inaccurate rate.
He ranked fourth in that group in air yards per target, and 26.7% of his targets traveled at least 20 yards in the air (11th).
We would like to see Ridley get more usage near the line of scrimmage to smooth out his efficiency, but Ward’s ability to push the ball down the field accurately should help regardless of that change.
After adding Ward, the Titans did not select a wide receiver until the fourth round, picking both Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor in that round.
Ayomanor in particular looks like a value where they got him, but those are two Day 3 picks joining a roster that has Van Jefferson and the shadow of Tyler Lockett on the depth chart.
Ridley finished 15th among qualified receivers in team target share last season, and it is reasonable to expect him to dominate targets again this year as long as he is on the field.
Read more about Ridley in Rich Hribar’s look at his 2025 Fantasy Football Projections
Fantasy Football Winners: Javonte Williams & Miles Sanders
Look…I also am not happy about this, but the fact is that Dallas’ two draft additions to the backfield were Jaydon Blue, a fifth-round pick that profiles as more of a complementary back, and seventh-rounder Phil Mafah.
Our own Ryan McCrystal thinks Blue can be more than that, a notion I support, but even if we are right, he was still drafted in the fifth round.
That leaves Williams and Sanders as the two most likely to lead the Dallas backfield in 2025, barring another free agent addition.
Williams’ stats make me sad because he was so much better before his injury, but he finished 45th among 51 qualified backs in yards per carry last season and 39th in explosive run rate.
Perhaps the situation could be blamed, but Jaleel McLaughlin was 23rd and fifth in those metrics.
Sanders is coming off two lost seasons with the Panthers, but it should be noted he averaged 4.9 yards per carry with an explosive run on 13.1% of his carries for the Eagles in 2022.
He also closed last season with 116 yards from scrimmage and 2 touchdowns in a start against the Falcons in the season finale.
It is not out of the question one of these guys finds their form and gives Dallas what they need at running back, and Dallas appears to have some faith in that happening given how they approached the draft.
Fantasy Football Winner: Marvin Mims
There was some thought the Broncos could add a field stretching receiver in the draft, perhaps even Matthew Golden in the first round.
They passed on Golden, though, and the only receiver they added came in Round 3 when they selected Pat Bryant.
Bryant ran a 4.61 at the Combine and does not profile as a receiver who can take the top off the defense.
2024 fourth-round pick Troy Franklin does, and he ran a handful more routes than Mims over the final five games of the season.
Mims earned the targets, though, and led the team with 341 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns over that stretch.
He then ran a route on 74.1% of Denver’s dropbacks in the playoffs, though that only amounted to 20 total routes.
Either way, Mims had a mini-breakout to close the 2024 season, and it is promising the Broncos did not add a direct competitor over draft weekend.
Fantasy Football Losers, 2025 NFL Draft
Fantasy Football Loser: D.J. Moore
Moore is, overall, in a better position heading into 2025 with Ben Johnson leading what projects to be a better offense, but the Bears drafting Luther Burden does put a small dent in his projection.
Moore has not spent much time in the slot throughout his career, playing 20.1% of his snaps there through two seasons in Chicago, but there was some hope Johnson would move him inside more and get some of those Amon-Ra St. Brown targets in this offense – ASRB plays around half of his snaps in the slot.
Burden played over 80% of his snaps in the slot at Missouri last year, and he projects to be a primary slot option in the pros.
So, beyond the target concerns with Burden and Colston Loveland added to the offense in the first two rounds, Moore likely will lose some access to those slot targets that can be valuable.
The positives of a new, exciting coaching staff and hopeful improvements from Caleb Williams are still the story of Moore’s offseason, but it was not an ideal draft weekend for him.
Fantasy Football Loser: Jaylen Warren
The Steelers were always going to add a running back in the draft, so that was not a surprise.
That said, what kind of running back they added would tell us a lot about how they view Warren.
Instead of adding someone who profiles as more of a complementary runner, the role Warren filled behind Najee Harris, they added a back who looks more like an early-down option.
That is a massive concern for Warren, who was routinely more efficient than Harris but has been stuck behind the veteran for his entire career.
Part of the reason for that was how much the coaching staff trusted Harris, which is not a given for third-round rookie Kaleb Johnson.
Johnson could falter early in his career and not earn the coaching staff’s trust, giving Warren a clean path to No. 1 back touches.
Warren is also not built like a normal complementary back.
At 215 pounds, he is not quite as big as Johnson, but still plenty big to be viewed as an every-down option by the coaching staff.
He’s also simply been good in his career, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and an explosive run on 14.2% of his attempts, though both numbers were down last year.
Johnson joining the backfield is not the end for Warren’s fantasy value, and there are still paths to him being the lead back in Pittsburgh in 2025.
That said, this is a bad outcome for Warren true believers.
Fantasy Football Loser: Najee Harris
Like his former teammate, Harris also got some company in his new backfield.
He will share the Chargers' running back room with first-round pick Omarion Hampton.
As mentioned above with Warren, Harris has a history of keeping a more efficient runner behind him on the depth chart, and it is certainly possible Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman trust him too much for Hampton to grab a real foothold.
On the other hand, the team spent a first-round pick on Hampton, and he should immediately take on at least a timeshare role.
That is a concern for Harris, who has not been the most explosive back throughout his career.
He did set a career high with an explosive carry on 11.4% of his runs last season, but he ranked 46th among qualified backs in rushing fantasy points per carry.
Chargers backs combined for 15 touchdowns last season, tied for seventh overall, so there is room here for Harris to retain enough of the backfield share and get goal-line carries.
Still, he now once again finds himself with a likely more explosive teammate behind him on the depth chart, and the Chargers invested a lot more in that backup than they did Harris this offseason.
Fantasy Football Loser: Rhamondre Stevenson
A team spending a second-round pick on a running back is never a great sign for the incumbent, and Stevenson has some other factors working against him.
First, he is dealing with a new coaching staff that at least played some role in the Patriots selecting TreVeyon Henderson in the second round.
Second, he just has not been very effective in the last couple of seasons.
In 2021 and 2022, Stevenson ranked fourth in yards after contact per carry.
In 2023 and 2024, he ranked 35th.
He was not getting any help from his line in that second set of seasons, which certainly plays into that number – it is more difficult to create yards when you are hit in the backfield.
Still, he has not managed to create as much on his own, and he is now sharing the backfield with a back who commanded a lot of draft capital.
Stevenson was the RB29 in fantasy points per game among qualified backs over the last two seasons, and that is with him getting 58.2% of the carries in his healthy games in 2023 and 64.9% last year.
He averaged 3.4 yards per target over that run.
A better offense and offensive line should help, but it is tough to make a strong upside case for Stevenson outside of Henderson simply getting hurt or failing to carve out a sizable role as a rookie.
That is obviously possible, but Henderson’s draft capital gives him a great chance to earn early touches.
Fantasy Football Loser: Quentin Johnston
By all measures, Johnston took a big leap in his second season, catching 55 passes for 711 yards and 8 touchdowns.
It might seem, then, that the former first-round pick was setting himself up for an even better third campaign, but the Chargers have done everything to bring him competition this offseason.
First, they brought back Mike Williams in free agency.
While the aging receiver never got on track last season following a serious knee injury in 2023, the theoretical version of Williams is a replacement for Johnston.
Now, the Chargers have brought in two rookies who profile as outside complements for Ladd McConkey: second-round pick Tre Harris and fifth-round pick KeAndre Lambert–Smith.
Harris is obviously most dangerous to Johnston given his draft capital, and he seemingly fits in perfectly next to McConkey atop the target tree in Los Angeles.
Lambert-Smith has the speed to threaten deep, which is something Johnston was asked to do often in 2024 – 24th among qualified receivers in deep target rate.
Johnston will have to keep building and commit fewer mistakes to hold onto the No. 2 job, but the Chargers’ offseason additions suggest he could be fighting an uphill battle.
