5 NFL players to get excited about drafting this fantasy football season

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We’re less than 100 days from the first game of the NFL regular season and Yahoo Fantasy Football season-long drafts are now open. With anticipation for football’s return ramping up, Matt Harmon shares five players he’s excited to draft this fantasy season.

Bo Nix, QB, Broncos

My general strategy around quarterbacks this year is, if I don’t land one of the top three to four guys at the position in the early rounds, just to wait. The quarterback pool is deep this year, with players who will come off the board between QB10 and so on, having very similar ceiling and floor projections to those ranked closer to QB20.

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So, it doesn’t make much sense to explore the QB5 to 9 range in single-digit rounds in most circumstances. Bo Nix is the one guy who can get me to change my mind.

While it’s not the most advanced analysis in the world, my enthusiasm for drafting Nix is essentially a reflection of my optimism about the 2025 Broncos offense. And Nix being the cleanest way to get exposure to that unit. The pass-catchers look like they’re headed for another rotation year beyond Courtland Sutton, although Evan Engram could change that equation. Rookie running back RJ Harvey is a guy I want to take but could end up going higher than I’ll have him ranked and may find himself in a slight committee backfield.

Nix is the guy who gets to execute Sean Payton’s well-designed passing concepts and showed well as a downfield passer off play-action last season. He also brings a running element that is needed to bring a weekly floor as a fantasy option.

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Omarion Hampton, RB, Chargers

Despite the desire of the Chargers coaching staff to be a strong running team, they were not such a unit last season. Los Angeles had some big plays on the ground, courtesy of the still-unsigned J.K. Dobbins but weren’t consistent in helping move the offense via the run. The Chargers ranked 27th in rushing success rate last season.

Rookie running back Omarion Hampton should help in both departments. Hampton is an explosive rusher who can rip off chunk gains when he gets a crease. He’s also a capable big-play receiver when he gets the ball on swing and screen passes with space to run. Hampton also demonstrated in college that he’s capable of handling grinder work and profiles as a much more sustaining rusher than many of the 2024 Chargers’ backs.

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If there is any hesitancy by fellow drafters in taking Hampton because of the presence of Najee Harris, I’ll happily take the dip. I’d be stunned if Hampton isn’t the leading rusher for this team by the end of the season and I’m more than capable of exhibiting the patience needed to wait on it. By that time, we’ll be looking at a big-play runner as the lead man for an offense I view as still on the rise.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]

Drake London, WR, Falcons

I’ve long been a massive fan of Drake London’s game and have always wanted to click him in drafts every year. This might be the year in which I feel the most confident in doing so, despite the fact he’s destined to go off the board inside the top-20 overall selections.

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The new Falcons coaching staff got the deployment right with London last season. While he was essentially tethered to the X-receiver spot under Arthur Smith in his first two seasons, Zac Robinson and Co. moved him around and got him plenty of work off the line and in the slot. He took almost 40% of his snaps from the slot in Year 3 and more importantly, when he was inside they peppered him with layup looks.

That usage should continue with Michael Penix Jr. taking over at quarterback and some of those concepts will be critical in stabilizing the second-year passers’ sometimes erratic accuracy. Penix can also provide a shot in the arm to the ceiling of this passing game. Penix went 11 of 15 on out routes with over 9.0 yards per attempt in his three starts last year, per Fantasy Points Data. London made several highlight reel catches on those looks. Penix is the first Falcons quarterback who actually has the juice to get the ball to London on those routes.

London is every bit as talented as young receivers who drafters are eager to take in Round 1 but he goes in the second. When I take a running back with my opening pick, London will be at the top of my list to select next.

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[2025 Fantasy Draft Rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | D/ST | Kickers]

Jameson Williams, WR, Lions

Last season, I tried to keep an open mind regarding the wide range of outcomes for Jameson Williams entering his third season. Most of his career had been extremely rocky, both off the field and, more importantly, on tape. However, he legitimately finished strong in 2023 and looked like he had taken a leap as an individual player. It doesn’t always happen this way but that rise continued when the games kicked off in 2024.

As we enter this season, Williams looks like he’s going to be one of my priority targets for this season. He played quite well in his specific role in the Lions offense and he was much more than just a vertical deep threat. Williams averaged 7.7 yards after the catch per reception, doing most of his damage on in-breaking routes where he got into space. That makes him a bit more of a reliable option than how he’s often framed and I don’t expect his deployment to change this coming season.

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Losing Ben Johnson is some level of a concern for all Lions players but that risk has been more than baked into Williams’ industry-wide ranking. He’s currently the WR27 in FantasyPros consensus rankings. I’ll have him multiple spots higher than that, personally.

George Kittle, TE, 49ers

If early best-ball ADP is any indication, George Kittle is going to be on many of my fantasy teams this season. The 49ers tight end is currently slotted at 45th overall, which is good for the TE3 but is well south of Brock Bowers (15) and Trey McBride (23). He’s older than those two but I don’t see a material difference in his ceiling or floor projection. They’re a part of the same tier to me but early drafters appear to disagree.

Even more critical than his placement among tight ends is where he sits relative to other positions in the overall ADP. Kittle goes in the same range of running backs with some risk in the their profile and right in the alley where wide receiver projections begin to get dicey. He goes behind D.J. Moore and the Chiefs wide receivers, while coming just ahead of DeVonta Smith, DK Metcalf and Courtland Sutton. All of those wideouts have solid outlooks but none present the potential difference-making ability of Kittle.

Overall, this looks like a good year to actually consider some of the top-three tight ends considering the steep drop that occurs at the position well before we get to TE10. Since Kittle goes much later than the other two, he’s someone that looks like a proactive target and the cleanest way to get exposure to a 49ers passing game that we know will be good. San Francisco ranked ninth in dropback EPA last season in a year in which almost everything went wrong for them. I’ll bet on them finishing higher in 2025.

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