5 NFL Players Who Can Help You Win

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 15: Braelon Allen #0 of the New York Jets scores a second half touchdown against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on September 15, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

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Fantasy football draft season is truly here as the start of the 2025 NFL campaign is just three weeks away. With fantasy draft season comes a collection of mock drafts and fantasy football player rankings from various digital sites to assist draftees in creating their league-winning teams.

The common saying from many veteran fantasy football players is that leagues are won through the draft’s middle rounds and waiver wire. While waivers are a behemoth in itself, your luck boils down to injuries and opportunities. The draft is a selection-based process that fantasy players can more so control.

Below are five mid-round fantasy football players according to their Average Draft Position across standard, half points per reception and full points per reception leagues that could help a draftee win their fantasy championship.

1. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: (ADP 107.7)

Egbuka was the Buccaneers’ first-round selection in this year’s NFL draft and will have a great chance to serve as the team’s primary receiving option opposite future Hall of Famer Mike Evans during his rookie tenure. The reasoning is mainly due to the team’s primary second-option receiver, Chris Godwin, nursing an ankle injury from last season that will likely lead to him missing 2025 regular-season time.

Before Godwin suffered the injury last season, he received 62 targets and amassed 50 receptions for nearly 600 yards and seven touchdowns. With him out, those targets are eligible for Egbuka, who head coach Todd Bowles raved about “even when the ball isn’t coming his way.” Couple that with a phenomenal preseason showing, and all roads lead to the Ohio State standout becoming a valuable top-15 fantasy wide receiver by season’s end.

2. Braelon Allen, RB, New York Jets: (ADP 156)

New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn let it be known during the offseason that he is operating a committee approach with the team’s running back position. Allen is the likely name many see as the beneficiary of New York’s running back rotation, which will feature multi-year starter Breece Hall and fellow second-year tailback Isaiah Davis.

Glenn has not only held to his word during the preseason, but may have confirmed Allen’s expanded regular season role. The former Wisconsin Badger has outcarried Hall through two preseason games and further established himself as the team’s short-yardage back.

Glenn was previously a long-time defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions and saw first-hand the benefits of a multi-player backfield with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Both players finished 2024 as top-12 fantasy running backs in points per game, with each combining for 28 rushing scores.

Hall is far from the player Gibbs is, and there have even been rumblings of how the Jets could pivot from his services during the season as he enters the last year of his rookie deal. Even if the former second-round pick stays, Allen has a direct alleyway to finish as this season’s David Montgomery in terms of a high-ceiling RB2 fantasy option that propels teams to a title.

3. Ricky Pearsall, WR, San Francisco 49ers: (ADP 96.2)

The 49ers will enter the 2025 season with Debo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk not in the fold week 1. Samuel was dealt to the Commanders during the offseason, while Aiyuk will reside on the PUP list as he recovers from an ACL surgery.

That means the receiving trio of Ricky Pearsall, Jauan Jennings and Demarcus Robinson will compete for targets alongside All-Pro tight end George Kittle in the passing game. Kittle is for sure likely to receive a hefty dose of the attention, but out of the receivers, Pearsall may be primed for a breakout season that smashes his mid-round ADP.

Last year, Jennings emerged as the Niners top receiving option with Samuel floundering Aiyuk on the mend and Pearsall recovering from an offseason gunshot wound. He had career-highs in targets (113), receptions (77) and receiving yards (975). During the offseason, Jennings missed time with a calf injury and has requested a contract extension from the team for his prior season services.

Jennings’ transgressions reopen the door for Pearsall, who, a season ago, was a highly touted rookie, who was viewed as a potential replacement for either Samuel or Aiyuk. In his lone 2025 preseason action, he collected Brock Purdy’s first three passes for two first downs and a seven-yard gain. All signs point to him emerging as one of the more unheralded flex options of the fantasy season if health permits.

4. Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers (ADP 111.4)

It’s another season of the unknown as it pertains to the lead guy within the Packers receiving game. Jayden Reed will likely miss time due to injury as will big-play threat Christian Watson. That leaves rookie Matthew Golden as the expected wide receiver one, but as a first-year player, he’ll likely have his fair share of growing pains before he emerges as a go-to target quarterback Jordan Love can trust.

Enter Tucker Kraft, an ADP projected mid-round tight end who could finish the season as Green Bay’s leading receiver when it’s all said and done. Last year, he nearly totaled 10 fantasy points per game in PPR leagues on just fifty catches and finished his sophomore campaign with more double-digit PPR scoring performances (7) than from his rookie season (4).

A pass-catching uptick north of 70 targets is imminent for Kraft as he figures to factor in as the team’s early-season primary pass target. As the year goes on, he’ll have the chance to be a potential league winner with the elevated target share.

5. Rashid Shaheed, WR, New Orleans Saints (ADP 147.4)

Shaheed played just six games last season due to a torn meniscus and returns to the lineup in 2025 with even more questions at quarterback as a member of the New Orleans Saints. Gone is Derek Carr and the franchise has yet to decide who will lead the team into 2025 between second-year pro Spencer Rattler and second-round rookie Tyler Shough.

Regardless of who it is, Shaheed is still primed to explode his average ADP in 2025 if health is on his side. He recorded four games of at least 11 fantasy points per game a season ago and even had three matchups where he averaged at least 21.5 yards per reception.

Shaheed’s breakthrough fantasy comp may be akin to what Lions wideout Jameson Williams manifested a season ago where his uptick in targets (42 to 91), receptions (24 to 58), receiving yards (354 to 1001) and touchdowns (2 to 7) allowed him to finish as WR19 in fantasy land. While Shaheed may not have the offensive stability Williams profited from a season ago, he’ll for sure have the enhanced target share and creative play calling of head coach Kellen Moore to free him up some opportunities to smash his ADP.