Fantasy Football Draft Guide 2025: A FansOnlySportz Report

By Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen of FansOnlySportz-6/22/2025

C/O to espn.com

This Sunday FansOnlySportz Reports brings you Zak Drapeau's and Matt Hylen's guide for Fantasy Football for the 2025 season.

From 2 sports reporters with a combined 20 years of Fantasy Football experience including multiple Championship teams, our skills, tips and tricks will help you in the most important aspect of your season; Drafting.

With Fantasy Football Drafts closing in on 2 months away, Matt and Zak thought it would be best if we published our thoughts on the upcoming season. In this article, we will go over our personal thoughts on player evaluations, some strategies we use for drafting our teams, and personal tips we believe will set you apart in your Fantasy leagues.

If you find these tips and tricks useful make sure you continue to view fansonlysportz.com/news for continued coverage on the 2025 Fantasy Football season from Matt Hylen and Zak Drapeau.

Let's get started...

Zak's Drafting Tips

1. If you draft a QB high, only take Lamar or Josh.

   
   

   Lamar and Josh Allen's production over the last two years make them the only QBs you should draft early. With almost every other QB in the Top-15 getting ready to score 270-315, you're better off getting skill positions until around round 6 or 7 and take a QB in 7 or 8.

2. Draft a Kicker and Defense With Your Last Picks

So many times in my leagues over the years I have seen people draft the best defense in the 9th or so round and set a trend of 5-8 teams doing the same after them. Meanwhile, I'm still drafting WRs and TEs including Brock Bowers last year. These late rounds are full of so many high-potential players that taking a Defense you will likely drop by Week 5 is COMPLETELY FOOLISH. Take extra skill positions until the last two rounds then draft whatever Defense or Kicker has a favorable Week 1 matchup. Then, do the same for every week after that.

3. Pay Attention to PPR

This should go without saying but if you play in a PPR league, the difference between a pass-catching RB and a run-heavy RB is INCREDIBLE. For all of our New England sports fans especially, the difference TreVeyon Henderson will have as a pass-catching RB will make him so much better in PPR leagues than his current value. For WRs, look for the guys that will catch 100+ catches more than guys that MIGHT get 10+ TDs for some extra guaranteed points that may eb the difference between getting into the playoffs or not.

4. Look at Coaching as Much as Players

A personal favorite of mine, hear me now and hear me loud:

COACHING IS IMPORTANT

Offensive coordinators like Ben Johnson and Liam Coen have been the difference for guys like Jahmyr Gibbs, Chris Godwin and so many more over recent history because of dynamic play calling. Current coaches like Sean McVay for the Rams, Ben Johnson for the Bears, Todd Monken in Baltimore and Greg Roman for the Chargers have their specific positional-players poised for BREAKOUT 2025 season. Better coaching will OFTEN lead to WINS, but Better coaching will ALWAYS lead to more FANTASY POINTS.

Matt's Drafting Tips

1. Draft running backs early!!

   
   

   Especially in PPR leagues, it is super important to have a certified RB1 on your team. After the first wave of running backs go, there is a pretty big fall off, so get one you can rely on while you can! In my eyes, there are a TON of receivers that could be late-round steals that end up breaking out, which makes it all the more necessary to grab a running back or two in the first 4 rounds.

   
   

2. Draft an every-week starting tight end earlier than you think.

   
   

   With the depth at wide receiver being so large this season, getting a TE that can contribute to a wide receiver-type level will be key when drafting. If you can snag a player within my top two tiers between rounds 2-5, I highly suggest you do so and draft another receiver in the later rounds.

3. If you don't get a top-tier quarterback, wait until the last 3 or 4 rounds to draft one.

   
   

   This may sound a little crazy, but if the top-tier quarterbacks are off the board (a.k.a. Allen, Jackson, Daniels, Burrow, and Hurts), focusing on stacking your WR/RB room and drafting a sleeper QB in the late rounds is my suggestion. Guys like Drake Maye, Justin Herbert, or Bo Nix are all QBs not expected to go early in drafts, but have the potential to break out. It is a risk, but I believe it is the strategy with too large of a potential reward to pass up.

4. Draft at least one rookie sleeper in your draft.

   
   

   The incoming rookie class is absolutely LOADED, with potential to make waves right away. With that in mind, there are plenty of guys you can take a flier on in the mid to late rounds (roughly rounds 5-9) that could help carry your team. Guys like Tetairoa McMillan, Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson, and Omarion Hampton are all guys that may not give you what you are looking for right away, but given a few weeks, could become weekly lock starters for your squad.

   
   

5. Make it a priority to get a QB-WR stack.

   
   

   In my eyes, getting a quarterback-receiver duo from the same real-life team may be the most crucial aspect to a successful draft. It may take some strategizing, but in order to make this happen, it may have to be caused by a mid-draft adjustment. Usually, the best stacks always come by selecting a WR in the first 3 rounds. If you do this, do not, I repeat, do NOT wait until the corresponding QB is "supposed" to be drafted. Take that QB a round or two earlier than you would normally. This could be a vice versa situation too. If you draft a top-tier QB, if you have the opportunity to take one of his real-life receivers, do it. I guarantee you, getting the stack and having to reach for it will benefit you more than if you wait to draft the second corresponding player and miss out.

   
   

Players Tiers List

Zak Drapeau's Quarterbacks Tiers List

C/O to ravenswire.usatoday.com

Tier 1 (The Guaranteed Team Makers):

• Lamar Jackson

• Josh Allen

Tier 2 (SHOULD lead you to Playoffs):

• Joe Burrow

• Jayden Daniels

• Pat Mahomes

• Jalen Hurts

• Baker Mayfield

Tier 3 (Could have a Crazy Year):

• Jared Goff

• Caleb Williams

• Bo Nix

• Kyler Murray

Tier 4 (Sleepers):

• Dak Prescott

• J.J. McCarthy

• Justin Fields

• Drake Maye

Matt Hylen's Running Backs Tiers List

C/O to espn.com

Tier 1 (Biggest Overall RB1 Potential):

• Saquon Barkley

• Derrick Henry

• Jahmyr Gibbs

• Bijan Robinson

Tier 2 (High-End RB1s):

• Christian McCaffrey

• Ashton Jeanty

• Johnathon Taylor

• Kyren Williams

Tier 3 (Low-End RB1s):

• Bucky Irving

• Josh Jacobs

• Kenneth Walker 

• Chase Brown

• Devon Achane

Tier 4 (High-End RB2s): 

• James Cook

• Alvin Kamara

• Joe Mixon

• Chuba Hubbard

• Quinshon Judkins

• Aaron Jones

Tier 5 (Low-End RB2s/Flex):

• James Connor

• David Montgomery

• Breece Hall

• Isiah Pacheco

• Omarion Hampton

• TreVeyon Henderson

Zak Drapeau's Wide Receivers

C/O to x.com (@uSTADIUM)

Tier 1 (Best In the Game and 20 Points a Week):

• Ja'Marr Chase

• Justin Jefferson

• Ceedee Lamb

• Malik Nabers

Tier 2 (WR1s in Round 2 or 3):

• Nico Collins

• Brian Thomas Jr.

• Davante Adams

• Tyreek Hill

• Mike Evans

• Amon-Ra St. Brown

• Tee Higgins

• Marvin Harrison Jr.

Tier 3 (If you draft RBs early, get these Guys for your WR1):

• Terry McLaurin

• DK Metcalf

• A.J. Brown

• Rashee Rice

• Ladd McConkey

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba

• Garrett Wilson

• Puka Nacua

• Drake London

• D.J. Moore

Tier 4 (Sleepers):

• Chris Godwin

• Calvin Ridley

• Jakobi Meyers

• Rome Odunze

• Brandon Aiyuk

Matt Hylen's Tight Ends

C/O to foxsports.com

Tier 1 (Wide Receiver Production):

• Brock Bowers

• Trey McBride

Tier 2 (High-End TE1s):

• George Kittle

• TJ Hockenson

Tier 3 (Boom or Bust TE1s)

• Sam Laporta

• Travis Kelce

• Jonnu Smith

• Evan Engram

• Hunter Henry

Tier 4 (Sleepers, but Matchup Dependent):

• Colson Loveland

• Mark Andrews

• Tyler Warren

• David Njoku

• Dallas Goedert

• Jake Ferguson

Tier 5 (Plug-and-Play if Needed):

• Dalton Kincaid

• Kyle Pitts

• Isiah Likely

• Tucker Kraft

Check out fansonlysportz.com for more sports media content posted daily.

Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage of the 2025 Fantasy Football and NFL season regularly.

-Z.D. and Matt Hylen