receiving leaders among first-year players this season<\/a>, four of the top six names are tight ends (Tyler Warren, Harold Fannin Jr., Oronde Gadsden II, Colston Loveland).<\/p>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n
There was ebb and flow, of course \u2013 Warren was better early in the season (before Daniel Jones got hurt), Loveland came on late. But we need to permanently scrap the idea that rookie tight ends can\u2019t be fantasy-relevant in their debut seasons. The offensive schemes in college and pro football continue to move closer together, which gives these talented rookies a better chance at quick success.\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Scott Pianowski<\/p>\n
Draft Year 3 and 4 wide receivers<\/p>\n
The wide receiver position in 2025 was dominated by Year 3 to Year 4 players. Six of the top 12 scorers on a per-game basis were receivers in their third or fourth season. The fantasy community has a blind spot to these types of players breaking through to new heights. Because the space has become overly influenced by dynasty content, we have in some way become less patient with young players than ever.<\/p>\n
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There is a sense that a player \u201cis what he is\u201d after just a couple of seasons. This leads to elite discounts on guys like Chris Olave and JSN this year and Nico Collins a few years back. This will be an archetype of receiver to heavily target in the mid rounds next season and beyond.\u00a0\u2014 Matt Harmon<\/p>\n
The late-round QB approach should never be doubted<\/p>\n
While I touted drafting elite QBs like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson this summer, their advantage over other fantasy passers wasn\u2019t as notable as in recent seasons. Allen still averaged two points per game more than other QBs, but he was closer to the pack than last year. Meanwhile, Jackson had his campaign derailed by injuries.<\/p>\n
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At the same time, we had nine quarterbacks \u2014 drafted outside the first 100 picks in fantasy drafts \u2014 who were strong starters. Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Brock Purdy and Trevor Lawrence made up four of the top six fantasy QBs in per game scoring. Other deep values like Jared Goff, Justin Herbert and Caleb Williams also finished as top-12 QBs. We even saw Daniel Jones post QB8 numbers through 13 weeks before getting hurt, and Jaxson Dart emerged as a top-10 fantasy option once he began starting in Week 4.<\/p>\n
Though I was tempted by the high-end passers in 2025, the general focus should always be on trying to uncover the late-round quarterbacks with a path to significant production. \u2014 Justin Boone<\/p>\n
If last year\u2019s busts have a new situation, hurt feelings = value<\/p>\n
I did a research study this offseason looking at fantasy players’ recent ceiling seasons compared to their ADP. I didn\u2019t know what the result would be, but it did reveal one thing: emotions can drive down ADP too far. Travis Etienne Jr. was the RB3 in 2023; one bad season later and he\u2019s ADP RB30 \u2014 right behind Kaleb Johnson. A new coach who produced two fantasy RB2s the year before insisted Etienne would be the starter and it seemed nobody wanted him because he hurt their 2024 team.<\/p>\n
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Michael Pittman Jr. was very similar. The ADP WR46, even though he\u2019d been a top-20 fantasy WR from 2021-2023. Javonte Williams, Chris Olave, Christian McCaffrey \u2014 the list goes on. This doesn\u2019t mean to draft Justin Jefferson, Kenneth Walker III or Garrett Wilson no matter what, but rather if their situation changes.<\/p>\n
Because if nothing changes, nothing changes.\u00a0\u2014 Joel Smyth<\/p>\n
Be patient with a player if the right signs are there<\/p>\n
I know we want all of our players to come out of the gates firing, but situations can change, forcing us to lower expectations. However, if the usage undersells the production, I\u2019d be willing to wait next season. Take Chase Brown, for example.<\/p>\n
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After Joe Burrow went down, the Bengals ranked dead last in yards per game, but Brown was not only sitting at a 15% target share, he also had a lock on the backfield with a 59% rushing share and all of the goal-line carries.<\/p>\n
Knowing HC Ben Johnson\u2019s effect on Detroit\u2019s running game, D\u2019Andre Swift\u2019s 61% rushing share entering their bye at least had him in the pole position should the Bears\u2019 offense find its rhythm.<\/p>\n
From George Pickens leading the Cowboys in end zone targets before CeeDee Lamb\u2019s injury to Zach Charbonnet taking 90% of the goal-line carries before Kenneth Walker III\u2019s pre-season foot injury became a larger story, we tend to value perceived certainty over the potential for a week- or season-winning player.<\/p>\n
So while I\u2019ll still bet on my stars to perform, I\u2019ll be more willing to look into the guys with lackluster starts to 2026. \u2014 Chris Allen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yahoo\u2019s Fantasy football analysts get together to reveal the biggest lessons they learned throughout a raucous 2025 season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[1303,797,2644,1036,1121,4132,6000,4124,590,4903,2772,833,702,7,467,1029,1274,13,872,1159,2780,9295,895,446,32,11808,533,7472,10018,12673,18837,314,589],"class_list":["post-648654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-ashton-jeanty","tag-brock-bowers","tag-brock-purdy","tag-caleb-williams","tag-ceedee-lamb","tag-chase-brown","tag-chris-olave","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-colston-loveland","tag-dandre-swift","tag-daniel-jones","tag-drake-maye","tag-emeka-egbuka","tag-football","tag-george-pickens","tag-jared-goff","tag-javonte-williams","tag-jaxson-dart","tag-josh-allen","tag-justin-herbert","tag-justin-jefferson","tag-kenneth-walker-iii","tag-lamar-jackson","tag-luther-burden-iii","tag-matthew-stafford","tag-michael-pittman-jr","tag-nico-collins","tag-sam-laporta","tag-seasons","tag-tight-ends","tag-travis-etienne-jr","tag-trevor-lawrence","tag-tyler-warren"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}