The 6 Biggest Fantasy Football Steals of the 2025 NFL Draft

The 2025 NFL Draft is in the books, and once again, the fantasy landscape has shifted in a big way. This year’s class gave us a bit of everything, including a few big-name prospects tumbling much further than expected. A staggering 25 running backs were selected across seven rounds, flooding the depth charts and creating potential value all over the board. On the flip side, this class looks much quieter at quarterback, with far fewer rookies expected to log meaningful starts compared to last year’s wave of newcomers.

Below, we’ll dive into the rookies who, despite some sliding draft capital or crowded depth charts, have found landing spots that could make them steals for both their NFL teams, as well as our fantasy squads.

Luther Burden, WR, Chicago Bears

NFL Draft Slot: Round 2, Pick 7 (39)

In a pure fantasy sense, this is likely to be more of a Dynasty value than a redraft one, but there’s no denying that the Bears got themselves a playmaker for far less Draft capital than Luther Burden was projected to receive. I discussed the potential issues of a crowded pass-catching group in our profile on Colston Loveland, but it’s certainly no lock that either rookie is going to be entirely left out in the cold in Year 1 and/or beyond. Under a new Ben Johnson-led offensive scheme, there could be enough here for everyone to eat in some capacity.

Burden was mostly a slot player over his final two years at Missouri (85.3% slot rate in 2024), but he offers Caleb Williams a ton more explosiveness than what late-career Keenan Allen was able to volunteer in 2024. The rookie will chew up yards after the catch and line up all over the field, including in the backfield, where he racked up 210 yards and four touchdowns on 32 career carries.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 82.9 (WR46)

Burden’s slide down the board and subsequent addition to a WR room that already consisted of DJ Moore and Rome Odunze is very likely to push this price to a more manageable one. The WR46 tag is pretty easy to stomach on its face, but taking him in the seventh round when he could very well start the season as the third or fourth pass-catcher is rough. He’s more of a managed league target where we have a little more flexibility with roster moves.

Cam Skattebo, RB, New York Giants

NFL Draft Slot: Round 4, Pick 3 (105)

A massively productive back at FCS Sacramento State before moving up to Arizona State and doing much of the same, Cam Skattebo finished his college career with a bang, racking up 637 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns against his final four opponents, including very nearly willing his team to a victory over Texas in the Peach Bowl.

He will join fellow crowd-favorite mid-round selection Tyrone Tracy to form a diminutive thunder and lightning duo in New York that should go a long way toward keeping both backs healthy. Devin Singletary (and Eric Gray) are technically both still in this backfield, but the Giants should understand that they should be leaner on their youth behind Jaxson Dart/Russell Wilson.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 105.7 (RB31)

I’m sure Skattebo’s explosive CFP performance has a lot to do with this, but I was honestly a little shocked his pre-Draft ADP was all the way up as the RB31. Even with an above-average landing spot, it’s hard to see it rising further than this, and if it does, I’m begrudgingly staying away. Tracy is more than likely going to out-produce him both on the ground and through the air, which makes Skattebo closer to the RB3/4 fringe than the RB2/3 area.

Jalen Royals, WR, Kansas City Chiefs

NFL Draft Slot: Round 4, Pick 31 (133)

Another year, another Chiefs wide receiver selection that will make us fantasy players hover over their name in the draft room. Jalen Royals was a favorite of many analysts through the scouting process, so his nearly falling into the fifth round likely came as a shock to them. One of those analysts was Dane Brugler, who had him as his WR7 in this class, commenting that, “He has the talent to emerge as a team's WR2 within his first few NFL seasons.”

That’s not out of the question just because he came off the board at the end of the fourth round, but he has an uphill battle to flash that type of upside behind Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice, and Hollywood Brown as a rookie. With that said, we’ve seen our fair share of on-field and off-the-field issues that could clear the way for Royals to see the field more often than we would initially project.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 192.1 (WR79)

It almost doesn’t even matter what the depth chart looks like in front of Royals; when drafters see a big “KC” next to his name, it’s almost assuredly going to boost his ADP, at least a little bit. He should be an easy fade, but it would be hard to talk drafters out of sprinkling him into best ball portfolios, particularly when Patrick Mahomes is already on your squad.

Elic Ayomanor, WR, Tennessee Titans

NFL Draft Slot: Round 4, Pick 34 (136)

If you are unfamiliar with the Tennessee Titans’ WR depth chart (and who isn’t), let me lay it out for you: Calvin Ridley (30 years old), Tyler Lockett (32 years old), Van Jefferson, Treylon Burks, and now Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor. There is still plenty of work to do to help Cam Ward’s development, but it also means a fourth-round rookie could carve himself out a role.

Per Reception Perception’s Matt Harmon, “His Reception Perception profile shows a high-variance prospect with clear strengths you love to see but a few red flag areas where he will need to improve in the pros.” Harmon goes on to highlight Ayomanor as an outside possession option, and if that is indeed the case, we would like to think he can push Van Jefferson (and Treylon Burks) for playing time sooner rather than later. That’s enough to at least put him in fantasy consideration on a team we can expect to be playing from behind plenty.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 180.9 (WR74)

As a redraft option, Ayomanor is going to be a hard sell in Year 1. In best ball leagues? It’s a little more enticing. The rookie has the size and physicality to pop into the box score, but not with enough consistency to be someone we should be going out of our way to be overweight on.

Shedeur Sanders, QB, Cleveland Browns

NFL Draft Slot: Round 5, Pick 6 (144)

Regardless of how you thought he handled the entire pre-Draft process (poorly), the Browns grabbing QB Shedeur Sanders in the fifth round after he was rumored to be going second overall during at least one cycle of the offseason has to be considered a great value grab. The only issue here is that Cleveland had already drafted a quarterback two rounds prior, and both of them are more than likely playing behind Joe Flacco.

It may be a stretch to even include the former Colorado QB in this write-up, but getting a five-round discount in a draft that’s only seven rounds long is a steal by the letter of the law.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 192.7 (QB29)

This ADP will see the single biggest change over the coming months, and Sanders should honestly not be drafted in any sort of season-long league setting at this point.

D.J. Giddens, RB, Indianapolis Colts

NFL Draft Slot: Round 5, Pick 14 (151)

There is no threat to Jonathan Taylor’s monstrous workload, but it won’t take too much to skip over Salvon Ahmed, Tyler Goodson, Khalil Herbert, and most other offseason additions to the running back room, should the Colts make any more moves in that regard. Herbert seems like the biggest on-paper threat to slot into that RB2 role, but let us not forget that the Bengals made the move to bring him in for the second half of last season, and he failed to top two carries in a single game before Chase Brown’s high ankle sprain in Week 17.

Giddens profiles as someone who can add some explosiveness as a complementary back, and could end up taking at least some of the third-down role as a pass-catcher. The issue is that Anthony Richardson will obviously take off with the ball instead of checking it down more often than not, and even if he loses his job, that same issue will present itself with Daniel Jones. So we have someone who will cede a vast majority of the early-down work if Taylor stays healthy, and isn’t likely to get much consistent action as a receiver. Nevertheless, he should be our target if we’re looking for RB2 insurance in Indianapolis.

Pre-NFL Draft Underdog ADP: 149.9 (RB45)

There are certainly worse places Giddens could have fallen, as plenty of his contemporaries landed in backfields with two or three solidified roles ahead of them. In terms of week-to-week fantasy production, the rookie is nothing more than a handcuff who isn’t likely to find your starting lineup.