The 2025 NFL Draft is finally upon us, and prospects are now rookies with NFL cities to call home. Follow along for real-time analysis of the opening round’s impact on fantasy football plans for the upcoming season and beyond.
Fantasy draft season may not be close to hitting its crescendo, but hardcore gamers have been selecting players prior to the conclusion of the collegiate bowl season. It’s time to let the real fun begin!
Also see: Day 2 | Day 3
Round 1 fantasy football reaction
1) QB Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Tennessee moves on from the brief Will Levis era to take another strong-armed passer in Ward. Like Levis, the Miami (Fla.) product has mobility and a gunslinger mentality. Avoiding injuries and the meme-worthy blunders that plagued Levis the past few years will be a welcomed sight for Titans fans and fantasy gamers. Ward stands 6-foot-2, 219 pounds — a little smaller in stature than the man he replaces — but another similarity is poor decision-making under pressure. That needs to be reined in, and Ward must be coached to play less hero ball. All of that established, he has crazy upside, especially in fantasy, and this passing system has proven it can be dominant with the right pieces in place. Tennessee has a few capable veterans but still needs to get more explosive at wide receiver and continue to grow along the line. As a rookie, Ward is a late-round flier for 2025 but has top-five upside over the long haul.
2) CB/WR Travis Hunter, Jacksonville Jaguars
A trade with Cleveland put Jacksonville in position to select the explosive Hunter, a rare two-way asset. The former Colorado star becomes an instant No. 2 opposite last year’s smash hit of a first-rounder in wideout Brian Thomas Jr., putting more weapons around Trevor Lawrence in what has to be considered a make-or-break campaign. The Jags will utilize Hunter as a cornerback and wide receiver, which comes with serious durability and utilization questions for fantasy purposes, especially as the season wears on. To Hunter’s credit, he has elite ball skills and unparalleled endurance. He’ll draw single coverage most of the time, aiding to big plays from a lesser target share. He’s a No. 4 wide receiver in smaller, more casual fantasy leagues, but deeper pools with highly competitive owners will position him in borderline WR2/No. 3 territory.
6) RB Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas Raiders
Nearly every mock draft on Earth nailed this pick … Jeanty, who was reportedly the apple of Vegas’ eye throughout the draft process, winds up in Sin City as the premier back in a run-centric, outside-zone design under OC Chip Kelly. The rookie rusher gets to pick the brain of longtime veteran Raheem Mostert, and quarterback Geno Smith is a viable option to keep defenders from loading the box every snap. Jeanty runs with ridiculous contact balance, has been extremely productive (2nd-most rushing yards in any season), and is versatile enough to contribute regularly in the passing game. The offensive line is respectable, and Jeanty will have no shortage of touches to immediately warrant an RB1 selection in fantasy drafts. With Pete Carroll being in win-now mode, he has no reason not to put the team on Jeanty’s back.
8) WR Tetairoa McMillan, Carolina Panthers
A large, physical receiver who possesses sneaky fluidity in the open field, McMillan will be an easy find for quarterback Bryce Young. Look for McMillan to settle in on the outside as a pro, likely manning the X receiver spot, and he could develop into a ball hog early on in his pro career. The 6-foot-4, 219-pounder, presents a dangerous matchup for jump-ball situations. He’s not the fastest or most athletic pass catcher, but Young will enjoy relying on McMillan in the red zone and when moving the chains is necessary. Will that translate into Year 1 fantasy success? Dicey. McMillan is a WR4, at best, in most conventional formats, and he has high-end No. 2 potential down the line.
10) TE Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears
A developing theme early in this draft is putting weapons around young quarterbacks, and Chicago did just that with the selection of Loveland. The Michigan star is fluid, can line up anywhere on the field, and sports awesome hands to help bail out Caleb Williams. Loveland isn’t just a security blanket, though, and he’ll contribute across all three levels of the route tree. Tight end Cole Kmet presumably will remain on the roster. We could see enough two-TE sets that both players are diminished, but there’s no way a team spends the 10th pick on a player of this caliber to let him watch. Recent success from the position could have him a tad overvalued, but the creativity and history of positional use by Ben Johnson in Detroit translates nicely here. Loveland is a low-end TE1 for frisky gamers but an ideal No. 2 gamble.
14) TE Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
The old adage of a tight end being an inexperienced quarterback’s best friend immediately comes to mind here. The Colts brought in Daniel Jones to push Anthony Richardson for the starting gig, but we all know the executive team hopes Richardson makes a huge leap this offseason. Regardless of the winner, Warren will be heavily involved in the offense. He is fresh off a monster season and can be lined up anywhere, offering truly rare movement traits for someone of his size (6-foot-6, 256 pounds). The Penn State standout comes to Indy as the school’s leader in just about every meaningful receiving category for his position, and he’s NFL-ready from the jump. Warren’s outlook might be a tiny bit brighter if Jones were to start, but we’re still talking fringe TE1 utility being well within reach.
19) WR Emeka Egbuka, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
While one could argue the Bucs have bigger needs, Egbuka proved too talented to pass up. He’s coming off an 81-1,011-10 season for Ohio State and brings a level of toughness to this offense that reminds of Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown. A smooth operator all over the field, Egbuka will butter his bread from the intermediate route tree. It may take a year or two before he becomes a regular contributor given Mike Evans remains a top-flight performer and a healthy Chris Godwin returns under contract, but the future is extremely bright for Egbuka — perhaps teamed up with the promising Jalen McMillan for years to come. One more Godwin injury and we could see this former Buckeye thrust into a regular slot role. For now, treat him as a late-round flier, but Egbuka will need some help to venture into regular fantasy utility.
22) RB Omarion Hampton, Los Angeles Chargers
The good: Jim Harbaugh loves to pound the rock. The bad: Just how many carries can we reasonably expect for Hampton when sharing a backfield with Najee Harris? The North Carolina rusher is a north-south workhorse who adds a pass-catching element, but that’s more or less what Harris brings to the table, too, albeit at a much less explosive rate per touch. Can we bank on 200 touches for the rookie? That’s probably his ceiling, and it likely will require Harris missing time to get over that statistical plateau. On raw talent alone, Hampton is an RB1 in fantasy, but the aforementioned time share kneecaps him to something of a weekly matchup play or consolation flex. One X-factor that’s tough to bank on is the possibility he simply outplays the plodding Harris, whose contract isn’t lucrative enough to suggest he’s guaranteed even a 50/50 split. We’ll closely follow this one throughout the offseason, but the current thought process: 1) Handcuff the two when possible, 2) Hampton will go earlier than Harris, because fantasy gamers love a shiny, new toy.
23) WR Matthew Golden, Green Bay Packers
For the first time since 2002, Green Bay selects a wide receiver with its first-round pick. Golden’s trademark is raw speed, running a 4.29-second 40, though he isn’t just a vertical threat. The Texas product can be lethal with manufactured, short-area touches — something we’ll see early and often. Golden’s hands ought to help Packers fans forget about a receiving corps that struggled with drops in 2024. He led FBS action with 23 grabs of 20-plus catches a year ago, and the play-action passing of Green Bay’s offense will let Jordan Love rip plenty of deep ones to his new target. The offense still remains reliant on the run, and spreading the ball around isn’t going away, so a low-target, big-play role is Golden’s clearest path to fantasy production. He’s a WR4 or even No. 5, depending on league size, entering ’25 drafts.
25) QB Jaxson Dart, New York Giants
The G-Men traded back into the round to select their quarterback of the future. Presumably, he’ll be the third-stringer to open the year behind Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. The pressure to play Dart right away might increase if either of those two struggle and the team is out of the hunt, but there’s no need to force him into the lineup in 2025. Dart is an athletic quarterback, who plays with unteachable moxie, and makes a ton of plays throwing over the middle of the field. He’s not ready out of the box, so grooming him under Brian Daboll’s tutelage and behind two capable veterans is a must. Dart has QB1 potential in time, but that season won’t begin with “2025.”
