Fantasy Football: Let us present to you — the 2025 All-Sleeper Team

Yahoo

6 hours ago

After putting together the All-Renaissance Team and the All-Breakout Team, it's time to dig deep and close out the series here in late August. They're a little harder to find, you may not even know their names, but sleepers are a cornerstone of fantasy football. There's nothing quite like your 12th-round pick suddenly becoming a top-12 player and carrying your stars to the playoffs.
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So who are these under-the-radar values for 2025? May I present the 2025 All-Sleeper Team.
(Note: The definition of "sleeper" can change depending on the context, but for this column, I'm sticking with players in the double-digit rounds, according to Yahoo ADP.)
Quarterback
C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
: 11th Round (QB17)
I considered recycling a player from the 2025 surprises piece (Trevor Lawrence), the All-Breakout Team (Bryce Young), or the All-Renaissance Team (Jordan Love), but you already know they're solid picks, so here's a new one: post-hype "sleeper" C.J. Stroud. After clocking in as the fantasy QB8 in points per game his rookie season, Stroud took a big step back last year, finishing as the QB28 with 5.4 fewer fantasy points per game. He saw a discouraging drop-off in touchdown rate and yards per attempt, threw more than twice as many interceptions and rushed for zero touchdowns (after scoring three as a rookie). So which version of the young QB should we expect in 2025: the "next great star" from Year 1 or the "What happened to him?" fantasy bust from Year 2?
Let's consider the environment. In both seasons so far, Stroud lost his starting receivers for various stretches of time. But in 2024, that included five missed games from WR1 Nico Collins and nine missed games from WR2 Stefon Diggs. In the six games both receivers were active at the start of the season, Stroud averaged 54% more fantasy points per game than he did the rest of the year. While health remains fickle, Houston picked up the reliable Christian Kirk and two intriguing Iowa State rookies in Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel to bolster their depth. Meanwhile, Stroud was also sacked 52 times last year (second-most in the NFL) after taking just 38 sacks in 2023. His offensive line earned PFF's seventh-worst overall grade and was almost completely reworked for 2025 (of the starting five, only RT Tytus Howard remains).
Ultimately, Stroud is one of the league's best young quarterbacks, and another year of development should help hone him further. He's being drafted around his floor, but if he finds that rookie form and takes another step forward, Stroud has the potential to join the tier with Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes.
Running Backs
RB1 Cam Skattebo, New York Giants
: 10th Round (RB37)
As of this week, Cam Skattebo is back on my short list for rookie sleepers in 2025, as he returned to practice on Tuesday following an extended injury absence (hamstring) and was immediately involved. It's not impossible he plays in Thursday's preseason action against New England — if he does, my eyes will be taped open. Skattebo was one of the most fascinating and polarizing players in this draft class after breaking college football in 2024 — specifically, 1,711 rushing yards and 21 TDs on 293 carries, plus 45 receptions for 605 yards and three more scores. On tape, he's an untacklable wrecking ball with elite contact balance who Daniel Jeremiah comped to "a Plinko chip from 'The Price is Right' ... just bouncing off everything and everybody." He also has great vision, bell-cow toughness and major three-down, pass-catching upside.
The range of outcomes on Skattebo is Grand Canyon-wide. On the one hand, he fell to the fourth round, went to a suspect Giants offense "behind" Tyrone Tracy Jr., lacks game-breaking speed and has hamstring concerns heading into the season. On the other hand, he was unstoppable at Arizona State just a few months ago, Tracy is a fifth-round pick himself (and has no vice grip on the starting job) and New York is going to be playing catch-up a lot in 2025, which might synchronize well with Skattebo's skill set. Should the rookie flash in preseason or camp the next couple weeks, it could reverse his ADP slide and bounce him back above "legal" sleeper territory, but for now, he's slotting in as the RB1.
RB2 Braelon Allen, New York Jets
: 12th Round (RB45)
The drumbeat for Braelon Allen in "deeper" fantasy circles is impossible to ignore, so it's always surprising to see his ADP still stuck down here in the double-digit rounds. He's gaining steam as a 1B to Breece Hall's 1A, in both training camp and preseason. The word among insiders is that he's beloved by the coaches, too talented to ignore and potentially in for a monster year. Oh, and he's 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, with a 96th percentile PlayerProfiler speed score. Allen is just about the only creature on the planet to draw frequent comparisons to Derrick Henry (maybe outside of a rhinoceros).
The "worst case" for Allen, based on all the signs, is that he's one of fantasy's best handcuffs, with 20-touch-per-game upside if Hall were to suffer an injury. The middling case, and probably the most likely, is that Allen is sort of a David Montgomery Lite to Hall's Jahmyr Gibbs Lite in this Jets offense (which, admittedly, won't be as good as Detroit's). And the optimistically wishful case is that Allen plays so well that he prompts the Jets to slide him above Hall on the depth chart ... or potentially even trade Hall early in the season. Honestly, Allen is a value pick in the 12th round regardless, but his legitimate league-winning upside makes him arguably the best sleeper in this range of drafts.
Wide Receivers: 11th Round (WR48)
Earlier this week, Josh Downs (and all his fantasy managers) got the best news of the 2025 offseason: Daniel Jones has been named the Colts' starting quarterback. Last year, Downs averaged a 17% target share from Anthony Richardson (solid), but that translated to just 2.9 catches, 43.6 yards and 8.1 fantasy points per game (not solid) thanks to Richardson's historically poor volume and accuracy. However, with Joe Flacco at the helm in 2024, Downs saw an elite 27% target share and averaged 7.0 receptions, 64.9 yards and 11.7 fantasy points per game. Only five wide receivers saw more targets per game than Downs did with Flacco: Ja'Marr Chase, CeeDee Lamb, Puka Nacua, Malik Nabers and Davante Adams with Aaron Rodgers. Downs saw eight or more targets in an absurd six of seven games with the aged QB. In the eight-game span quarterbacked primarily by Flacco from Weeks 4-11 (basically half the season), Downs was the WR17 in half-PPR points per game. On the season, regardless of QB, he saw a target on 27.9% of his routes, fourth-highest in the league behind Nacua, Nabers and Nico Collins. Getting the picture?
Now, Jones isn't Flacco — and no one should project Downs for nine or more targets per game following this news — but he's a much better solution for every Indy pass-catcher than Richardson would have been. Nabers was just an 11-target-per-game sponge with Jones last year, and we've seen stretches of WR1 volume from guys like Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson with Jones at the wheel. All of this bodes well for Downs, who's gearing up for a career year in just about every relevant statistic. He's probably the "sleepiest" lock for triple-digit targets in all of fantasy, and has legitimate WR2 upside if he and Jones find productive chemistry early on.
WR2 Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos
: 13th Round (WR60)
Marvin Mims Jr. has made a splash as a returner through two seasons (two Pro Bowl nods and an All-Pro selection) and managed to score six receiving touchdowns last year, but he's totaled just 61 catches and 880 yards over that span and was the WR41 in 2024 (even with the touchdowns). So why the excitement? Because Mims could be primed for a classic Year 3 wide receiver breakout. Mims ran just 196 routes last season, but was targeted on 25.5% of those routes and averaged 2.57 yards per route run. Among the 130 wideouts to hit 150+ routes, those metrics ranked 13th ... and fourth, respectively. The only receivers to average more YPRR were Puka Nacua, A.J. Brown and Nico Collins. And it seemed head coach Sean Payton finally recognized it the last three weeks of the season, when Mims jumped from 10 to 18 routes per game, and proceeded to rack up 16 catches for 216 yards and four touchdowns.
Bo Nix really turned it on towards the end of his rookie year and is a favorite to continue that progression into 2025. Mims' only real target competition in Denver — should he start seeing significant snaps — is Courtland Sutton (not a true target hog for most of his career) and tight end Evan Engram. All Mims needs is opportunity, and he could very quickly become what Brandin Cooks once was for Payton in New Orleans: a small-but-speedy deep threat with the ability to land between low-end WR2 and fringe WR1 in fantasy.
Tight End
TE Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
: 10th Round (TE14)
After using Brenton Strange as my All-Breakout tight end, I'm pivoting to a less "sleepy," potentially league-winning tight end in Colts rookie Tyler Warren. Clearly, the decision to start Jones has made an impact, as Warren is the second Indy pass-catcher to make the All-Sleeper Team ... and for good reason. All of their ADPs have been depressed by the "threat" of Richardson, and all will likely rise over the next couple weeks before the season. Fortunately, Warren still squeaks past the threshold as I write this, making him an easy pick.
A year ago, Brock Bowers was the TE11, in roughly the eighth or ninth round, by Yahoo ADP. Back in 2023, Sam LaPorta was the TE24 all the way down in the mid-teens. Both finished as the No. 1 tight end in fantasy as rookies. And while I'm not projecting that for Warren, it has set a new precedent for uber-talented, highly-drafted tight ends in Year 1. Warren was the 14th overall pick in April (one spot later than Bowers in 2024), is a 6-foot-5, 256-pound athletic specimen of near-Gronkian proportions and just posted one of the best tight end seasons in college football history. Specifically, 104 catches, 1,233 yards and eight receiving touchdowns on a 31.4% target share ... oh, and 218 yards and four touchdowns as a rusher, just for kicks. He's drawn comparisons to Jeremy Shockey — who was the fantasy TE4 as a rookie — and will very likely fit into the elite tight end tier for most of the next decade. It's just a question of whether he does it in Year 1. Warren will not remain a sleeper for long, but he makes the team without hesitation here in August.
FLEX
RBs Javonte Williams & Jaydon Blue, Dallas Cowboys
: Williams - 143 (RB42) / Blue - 166 (RB49)
Some would say that having two guys in the All-Sleeper FLEX is cheating. I say it's intelligently hedging, and allowing you, the reader, to make the pick you prefer. Plus, it's a FLEX. As in flexible. Options. You get me.
Right now, heading into Week 3 of the preseason, Javonte Williams figures to be the opening day starter for the Cowboys, while fifth-round rookie Jaydon Blue profiles as the pass-catcher and change-of-pace back. However, the depth chart remains more or less wide open, which is why both backs are being drafted this late. If Williams does secure the starting job, he'll be the cheapest RB1 in all of fantasy, playing in a borderline elite offense. Considering he's been held out of preseason action alongside other key starters like Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb, George Pickens and Jake Ferguson, his chances are looking better by the minute.
Meanwhile, Blue is set to make his preseason debut against Atlanta on Friday, after working through a foot/ankle injury the past couple weeks. The injury deflated what was a growing sense of sleeper hype earlier in the offseason, but he's probably the most explosive back on the depth chart and has three-down upside if Williams flops. Unless Miles Sanders sees a Year 7 resurgence (doubtful), one or both of these running backs should have value in the Dallas offense. Feel free to pick your favorite, or honestly just scoop up both until we get clarity in Week 1. Odds are you'll get an unheralded RB2/RB3 out of it, as we did with Rico Dowdle last season (RB24).