One of the deeply true yet under-discussed aspects of fantasy football is the fact that the game — as it is most commonly played by millions of us — is just not terribly difficult.
As someone whose livelihood depends on the illusion of the game’s complexity, I am not going to dwell on this subject. But I do periodically like to remind the Yahoo audience that winning in fantasy football is generally driven by a small number of individual players.
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Last season, for example, if you A) drafted Saquon Barkley, B) added Bucky Irving in September and C) picked up Jalen McMillan in December, then you definitely won your league. If you did just two of those things, you probably still won the thing. And if you only made one of those moves, then you still had a pretty fair chance of winning a title.
If you can simply get two or three big things right each year in fantasy football, you are gonna profit. We win leagues with high-upside players who happen to hit at the right moments. In 2024, even if you made dozens of regrettable decisions along the way, you were absolutely still making the playoffs if Barkley was on the squad. That’s the nature of the game.
This is why we need to chase ceilings with basically every pick in our drafts. Get yourself in the habit of imagining what the 90th percentile outcome might look like for any player under consideration.
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In that spirit, today’s objective is to flag one player from the 2025 draft class at each of the primary fantasy positions with an exceptionally high ceiling (which, of course, they may not reach). We are thinking dynasty here, just to be clear. Also, we aren’t messing around with the draft’s biggest names — Ashton Jeanty, Travis Hunter, et al. — but are instead looking outside the top two rounds.
Jalen Milroe, QB, Seattle Seahawks
It’s hardly a scorching take to say that Milroe has the highest fantasy upside among all quarterbacks in his draft class. He has rare rushing ability and his speed is elite by the standards of any position.
Here’s a minute of Milroe forcing bad angles and missed tackles against an SEC defense:
It seems likely Seattle will install a package of plays for Milroe in his first season, which wouldn’t be enough to give him immediate fantasy relevance, but it would at least get him on the field. He has weapons-grade arm strength, so the dual-threat potential is clear.
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Milroe’s various issues include turnovers, touch and timing, but he landed with a team that can afford to give him significant developmental space and time. He’s far from a lock to ascend to the starting role at any point, so we’re making no promises here. But he’s also a guy with cartoonish rushing talent and playmaking ability, which will make him an auto-start in fantasy if opportunity finds him.
Jaylin Noel, WR, Houston Texans
Noel possesses superhero-level athletic traits that you may not typically associate with slot receivers. His combine performance was outrageous: 4.39 speed, 41.5-inch vertical, 11-foot-2 broad jump, 23 bench press reps. Noel was basically at or near the top of his position in all areas. He also had a fantastically productive run at Iowa State, capping his career with an 80-catch, 1,194-yard season.
If you like big-play potential from the slot, this is your guy. And if my enthusiasm for Noel isn’t convincing enough for you, please note the unrestrained excitement of two far more credible analysts:
Houston added Christian Kirk to the receiving room in the offseason, which is certainly a complication for Noel in the near term. The team isn’t committed to Kirk beyond 2025, however. Noel should be dominating slot snaps for the Texans in the not-so-distant future.
Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Here’s another player who absolutely crushed the combine, showcasing 4.32 speed and a ridiculous 40.5-inch vertical. Tuten’s speed and explosiveness definitely translate to the field, too:
Tuten was drafted into an offense in which the incumbent starting back, Travis Etienne Jr., is coming off a horrendous season, so he should compete for touches immediately as a rookie. Also, he and seventh-rounder LeQuint Allen are the only backs on the roster who were actually chosen by Liam Coen and the new coaching staff.
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The potential fatal flaws for Tuten are his fumbling history (nine in two seasons) and less-than-reliable hands. If he can manage to resolve the ball security issues, however, then he has a real shot to lead a backfield committee in an ascending offense.
Oronde Gadsden II, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
In the weeks leading up to the draft, most of us were wishcasting either Colston Loveland or Tyler Warren to the Chargers — a seemingly perfect marriage of environment, need and talent. As it turned out, the team waited until Day 3 to land a tight end, but they still came away with a highly skilled receiving threat.
Gadsden is more of a hybrid WR/TE, which is the nicest possible way of saying he’s a very large receiver (6-foot-5) not known for his blocking. He caught 73 balls for 934 yards and seven scores last year at Syracuse, rarely dropping a ball and winning in contested situations (60.7%). Gadsden had 4.65 speed at his pro day, which is plenty impressive for a player his size.
In a receiving corps in which Ladd McConkey is the only locked-in high-volume target, Gadsden has a chance to carve out a meaningful role.
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