6 Dynasty Veterans to Target Following the NFL Draft
The 2025 NFL Draft didn't just shake up the rookie ranks — it created new buying windows for several veterans as well. Whether through added support, a cleared depth chart, or simply surviving their team's draft without major competition, a handful of players now look like smart Dynasty targets heading into the summer.
Below, we’ll highlight six veterans you should be looking to acquire, along with their current positional ranks from our friends at Dynasty League Football.
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C.J. Stroud, Texans
DLF Positional Rank: QB12
The drop from C.J. Stroud’s QB9 (18.3 FPPG) rookie season to his QB28 (13.4 FPPG) sophomore season was a tough one to stomach for Dynasty managers. Did his receivers have terrible injury luck? Yes, but it doesn’t quite excuse his catchable ball rate dropping from 83.3% to 80.3% or his on-target rate falling from 71.8% to 69.5%. The Texans did what they could to overhaul the offensive line through free agency before adding OT Aireontae Ersery and Iowa State wide receivers Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel in the second and third rounds of the Draft.
I still question if the o-line overhaul is going to pan out in 2025, but Stroud is still worth targeting as he looks to bounce back closer to a bottom-end QB1 in Year 3.
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars
DLF Positional Rank: QB15
It feels like we’ve been taking a “wait-and-see” approach with Trevor Lawrence for half a decade now, at least since his Pro Bowl, 4,113-25-8 2022 season, and all we’ve got since then is a QB17 (16.4) and QB27 (14.5) fantasy season in terms of points per game. With the passing offense more or less running through Evan Engram for 16 of those 26 games, we’ve been scratching our heads wondering if “it” will ever happen.
The Jaguars took a step in the right direction to make this offense more explosive over the last two months, though, allowing Engram to walk in free agency, adding more speed to the running back room with Bhayshul Tuten, and most importantly, trading up to grab Travis Hunter with the second-overall selection. There’s a non-zero chance that Lawrence was gifted the best wide receiver(s) in both the 2024 and 2025 classes, which will go a long way toward finding out if the former first-overall pick is the real deal.
With Fred Johnson, Chuma Edoga, Robert Hainsey, and Patrick Mekari all signing with the team to bolster the offensive line earlier this offseason, it’s worth taking a stab at Lawrence if your leaguemates are looking to sell high.
Chase Brown, Bengals
DLF Positional Rank: RB13
After quite an expensive offseason on Cincinnati’s offensive side of the ball, they almost entirely focused on defensive prospects through the NFL Draft. Those additions were met by criticism ranging from disappointment to outright derision, but it also meant that the team refrained from adding to the backfield until the sixth round (and possibly got themselves a new starting LG in the third), which keeps Chase Brown in the conversation as a fantasy RB1 for at least one more season.
If it weren’t for a freak ankle sprain when Brown was trying to stay out of the end zone to run the clock out in Week 17, he likely would have finished even higher than third in opportunities/game in the second half of the season. We should expect more of that in ‘25.
D’Andre Swift, Bears
DLF Positional Rank: RB34
The prospect of the Bears trading up into the top-5 or top-6 of the NFL Draft to grab Ashton Jeanty had most of us carving D’Andre Swift’s Dynasty value into a tombstone. In fact, according to DLF’s startup ADP, he fell all the way out of the top-100, bottoming out at 131.8, or, the 11th round. Not only did Chicago stick and pick TE Colston Loveland at tenth overall, they didn’t address the running back room until pick 233 for Rutgers’ Kyle Monangai.
Let’s not get over our skis and label Swift and Roschon Johnson as new head coach Ben Johnson’s Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Still, there’s no denying that the possibility of Swift finishing as an RB2 in 2025 isn’t stronger than it was prior to the Draft.
Xavier Worthy, Chiefs
DLF Positional Rank: WR23
Depending on your specific team needs, and how the rookie draft is falling, this could be a good year to get out of the middle of the first, and Xavier Worthy is exactly the type of WR your leaguemates might be overlooking. The Chiefs made their typical mid-round selection at the position (Jalen Royals), but there’s nothing they’ve done this offseason that points toward Worthy’s target share dropping in Year 2.
Sure, Hollywood Brown looks ready to suit up for the entirety of the 2025 season, and the same might be said for Rashee Rice with no recent news on his off-the-field issues, but Worthy did plenty enough in Year 1 to potentially lead the team in target share as a sophomore and beyond.
Theo Johnson, Giants
DLF Positional Rank: TE27
At first, I felt as if I were forcing a name in here, but it feels more natural when I see that Theo Johnson’s startup ADP is sitting around 220, as the TE34. The Giants were briefly tied to a potential move up for Travis Hunter, and after deciding on Abdul Carter at third overall, they traded back into the first, using their 34th-and-99th overall picks to do so. That’s the most likely area(s) that they would have grabbed another pass-catcher, so the Giants receivers —and Johnson— left the Draft unscathed outside of a seventh-round selection of Thomas Fidone, who has two torn ACLs on his injury ledger.
In addition to the lack of added target competition, the Giants are moving from a Tommy DeVito/Drew Lock/Daniel Jones quarterback room to Russell Wilson or Jaxson Dart (or Jameis Winston). Frankly, any of their three new quarterback options would be a boon to the passing attack, which makes Johnson an interesting target for you TE Premium sickos out there.
