Fantasy Football Daily - 2025 Fantasy Rookie Rankings: Must-Draft Players at Every Position! (Top Picks & Sleepers) | With Brett Whitefield and Theo Gremminger

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Fantasy Points begins the March to the 2025 NFL Draft with Brett Whitefield and Theo Gremminger taking a look at the top rookies at each position, underrated landing spots, and expectations for QBs and WRs drafted in round one. #FantasyFootball Fantasy Points Senior Bowl Fantasy Notes article here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/nfl/articles/2025/senior-bowl-fantasy-notes#/ Where to find us: http://twitter.com/BGWhitefield http://twitter.com/TheOGFantasy Find Our Podcasts Here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/podcasts#/ Subscribe to FantasyPoints for FREE - https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ FantasyPoints Website - https://www.fantasypoints.com NEW! Data Suite - https://data.fantasypoints.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FantasyPts Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts #fantasypoints #nfl #fantasyfootball #dynastyfantasyfootball #FantasyFootballAdvice #dynastypoints #dynasty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When planning for life's most important moments, sometimes the hardest part is simply knowing where to start. That's why we're here to help. When you pre-plan and prepay a celebration of life with us, every detail will be handled with simplicity and professionalism, giving you the peace of mind that you've done all you can today to remove any burden from your loved ones tomorrow. We are your local Dignity Memorial provider. Find us at DignityMemorial.ca. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral cremation and cemetery providers owned and operated by affiliates of Service Corporation International. 2025 rookie rankings. Theo Greminger and Brett Whitefield for fantasy points. We're breaking down each and every position for fantasy football in the 2025 class. We are very excited about this 2025 class.

Brett and I just got back from Mobile, Alabama. We broke down the senior bowl. Now we're going to break down the overall rankings. Brett, before we start, you've sort of been grinding the film. Your process is a little bit different than some in the fantasy football space. how does your process go and what are a few things that maybe you do differently than other prospect evaluators? Well, first and foremost, it's all, it's mostly tape-based, right? So I have a weighted scoring system. It works on a zero to 100 scale. There's four weighted buckets. Film production,

production score is data and analytics, athleticism and intangibles. And so the film score, I'm looking for things like certain techniques and skills that players deploy. And I actually, I watch every single snap of a player's career. It's one of my rules about evaluating players. It takes me a little bit of time. I start grinding the tape in November and I don't finish until the draft. So it's, it's a long process. I'm I basically sort players into positional archetypes. And then from there, I have benchmark traits and skills and techniques that I want to see deployed. From there, I score them based on all of those techniques and traits. And then I have a giant, you know,

formula that cranks out a zero to 100 score when it's all sudden done all these different weighted buckets. When it's all sudden done, it probably takes into account 50. different factors. And then I get that zero to 100 score. And then within that score, I have, you know, like anything higher than an 87.5 is considered a first round grade. Anything higher than a 75 is considered a day two grade. And then below that is a day three grade. So then there's round barriers within that as well, which we don't have to get into right now. But long story short, I watch every snap. And I'm, you know, it's a traditional scouting approach. I'm grading this based on traits and, you know, how guys project to the NFL, what a developmental

runway looks like and all of that stuff. Absolute sicko mode to watch every single game of, of a player. I'm not going to get to every single game, but I've been diving into this class as well. I'm super excited about it. Brett and I've sort of been talking about this. Strengths of the class, great running back class. This is a year where if you're watching this and you're a dynasty manager, running back, running back, running back, running back. And if you're doing early best ball drafts, there's some tremendous values at the running back position.

Brett and I talked about like Ollie Gordon being running back number 49 on underd dog, go get some, let Brett and I know how that works out for you the end of the year. It's going to work out pretty well. So, Brett, before we get into this, we're also diving deep into the NFL draft. And the NFL draft is going to reshape a lot of our rookie values. It's just as good as we think we are at evaluating talent. We're going to find out a lot of truths about these players in terms of draft capital as well. We'll have a little bit more of an idea after the NFL combine.

We'll get some athletic measurables that are invaluable. but when it's all set and done, it's that three-day period in the NFL draft that's going to move the needle for a lot of guys. From the draft capital players get to the landing spots and the schemes that they get to play in, all those sort of things add up. So let's talk about it.

Right now, who is a team that's maybe not being projected to select a running back that could in the NFL draft? Sometimes we love the landing spots. Sometimes we don't. but this year it seems odd because a lot of people are penciling in the stud running backs to teams that need a running back. Who's a team that you could see saying, you know what? I'm just taking a running back here.

It doesn't matter what I have my roster. Chicago. I know they have DeAndre Swift, Rochon Johnson. I don't think it matters. I think what we learned from Ben Johnson in his time of Detroit is like they'll upgrade any position they can. And that run game is going to be such a big part of what they do. especially with the development of Caleb Williams and protecting him.

Yeah, man, I think maybe people are projected them to take a running back. I don't know. I think Janty, that might be his floor there, is Chicago or maybe even his ceiling. I'm not sure, but yeah, I think Chicago is the first one that stands out to me. Yeah, and I think they will.

And I think that there's the picture that leaked on social media with Caleb Williams and Ashton Genty and everybody's like sort of maybe associating them with taking him. then you get the, there's like the little smoke screens and rumors coming out that Ben Johnson views Caleb Johnson as his David Montgomery in this offense. And that certainly seems like a good fit. So Chicago has two picks in the second round. So they could be a team that could maneuver and get to the back end of the first round, maybe get a Caleb Johnson. I love that answer.

I'll say a little bit more sort of out of nowhere pick, New Orleans, who picks right before Chicago. just says, you know what, I'm taking Ashton Genty. We've been messing around for years here. You know, it's been sort of a musical chair as of coaches now. It looks like we're not quite sure who's going to be coaching New Orleans next year. But Ashton Genty is the best player on the offensive side of the ball in this draft class. And New Orleans also might get boxed out at the quarterback position sitting at nine. So I could see New Orleans taking Genty at nine and sort of throwing everybody for a loop.

year one it would not necessarily be the nuts landing spot because alvin kamara is still locked up contract wise it would be sort of a double-headed monster sort of like a Detroit lion's uh south with way worse guys around them uh but i could see that happening gentie would still be the number one pick in our in our dynasty rookie drafts even if that was the landing spot was there and it would be sort of a handing of the torch from kamara to genti probably in year two uh but definitely i think like you mentioned the floor. I think Dallas at 12 is the floor. I don't see Gentie getting past Dallas.

And he could go as high as Vegas, Jacksonville. I mean, he is really, really good. How many quarterbacks are going to get drafted in the first round, Brett? I'm going to say three. My top three, I think we'll all go in the first round. And it will be quiet after that. Yeah, I agree with you. I think it's three as well.

We talked a little bit about Jackson Dart the last time we recorded. And it'll be interesting to see which way these three are selected order-wise by the NFL. I don't think it necessarily matters. For us, as fantasy managers, a lot of its fit, guys around you, guys around these quarterbacks. And immediate success doesn't always happen with the first quarterback selected. Look at last year, Jaden Daniels goes number two, Caleb Williams goes number one. Bo Nix ends up having a tremendous year. He was certainly drafted a little bit later. So I think it's going to be three, but I do think that some people are not mocking all three.

I think for sure. It's almost a lock at this point after the way Dart played down there. Let's keep this going. How many wide receivers are drafted in round one? And I'll put a little caveat here. Let's count Travis Hunter as a wide receiver for this process. For this process, for this process. All right.

If I got to include Hunter, I'll go four. So three plus Hunter. Okay. So I was going to say five. I think we'll see Hunter, Ted McMillan, Luther Burden, Amechagbuka, and then I'll say that there'll be a wild card pick where there's a few guys that could get in there, like Matthew Golden and Eelich Ayman or somebody like that.

So I actually think it'll be an over for me, which I think we'll get more wide receiver selected in the first round than we did in that 2023 class. And I think if we're trying to compare like the values of the the draft classes by like year. I think we're a little bit more 2023 level, maybe with a few guys towards the top. A little different than 2023,

but in terms of like level of NFL draft capital, we're certainly not 2024 levels with this wide receiver class. Would you agree on that, Brett? Yeah, generally I agree with that statement. Okay, cool. We're going to take a quick break and we come back. We're doing it. We're going to reveal our top 10 running backs,

our top 10 wide receivers, top five tight ends, top five quarterbacks after this. Black Friday is here at IKEA, and the clock is taking on savings you won't want to miss. Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from holiday must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.

Black Friday. IKEA, bring home to life. Welcome back, Fantasy Points. Theo Greminger with Brett Whitefield. We're breaking it down. I'm going to give you my rankings fantasy-wise. And Brett, you're going to do it a little bit differently. Why don't you let everybody know?

Yeah, I'm going to give it to you by round grades, you know, how I would draft these guys if I was the GM of every team. And I think that the round grades really matter for us in terms of not only where these guys are going to end up NFL-wise, but when Brett's giving a higher round grade on a guy, that's sort of his blessing for elevating their ceiling. We, as NFL players, we've certainly seen over the years outliers hit, specifically like the wide receiver spot,

the running back spot. There's guys like Aaron Jones, guys like Tyree Khill, guys like Amun Rae St. Brown, Pooka Nakuwa. But you want, you want to have access to the players with the best draft capital. Like, as good as we are in evaluating, guys who are drafted earlier, get more opportunities in the NFL, and they have better hit rates. So pay attention to Brett's grades.

And I think it's very exciting, Brett, because I know we kind of shared with each other on the show sheet. You've got some guys graded a little bit higher than others. And I think that it's going to get fantasy managers very excited. So let's start out quarterback spot. Let's go top five. And maybe you could talk about your big three a little bit and then reveal four to five. Yeah, the big three is really chewing me up inside Theo because I think I had pretty hard takes going into senior bowl week. And then, you know, as I got home, I started really filling out the model.

I pulled a bunch of, I kind of soft charted a bunch of the data points I really like. So my big three are Jackson, Dart, Shedur-Sanders, and Cam Ward. And the really fascinating thing is when you, if you just isolate my score for the 2024 film, just throw out the rest, Jackson Dart is my number one QB in this class. that's mind-blowing, right? Some of the data I charted and was like just blown away by, the things I care most about, are you a guy who throws in rhythm and runs an offense the way it's supposed to be done?

Jackson Dart led the class by a mile in that statistic. Production on third and six plus. Jackson Dart leads. Accurate throw rate in every scenario, Jackson Dart, sorry, not every scenario. He was second in most buckets, should do was number one, but the one that mattered the most was under pressure.

he was the most accurate thrower under pressure. Passer rating from a clean pocket, our most stable metric we have. He looks great there. Pretty much it came back that Dart led in every single category I care about the most. Turn or the throw rate, hero throw rate, all that stuff. Like he's, he's number one.

So that's crazy. When I add the 2023 tape back in, that bumps Shadour to the front of line. I do think Shadur went through a little bit of a regression in 2024, which is a little concerning because his offensive line was better. So there's some concerns with Shadoor's game for sure. And then Cam Ward is such a wildcard to me because when I watch him, he scores like Caleb Williams level good with arm talent and creative playmaking ability

and things of that nature. But you're going to live with a big consequence of this guy's going to make, you know, 15 to 20 backbreaking plays a year that just kill your team. Until he gets that coached out of him, it's just really tough for me. And we see these guys that have trouble playing with Instructure. It's a recipe that hasn't worked lately. And I know we got Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, who are great right now,

Lamar Jackson, but since that, we've been chasing the next one and it hasn't worked. And so I worry about his profile a little bit, even though he did score just the 2024 tape alone. He did score as my QB2 actually, which also blew me away. Yeah,

so I will take a chance here. I know you bring up certain red flags with Cam Ward, but Cam Ward for me is my number one quarterback. He's got absurd arm talent. I think athletically he's there. And, you know, these guys with the gunslinger mentality, sometimes that really, really works out for us in fantasy football. Potentially can get you in trouble in terms of wins and losses.

But as a fantasy football talent, I think Cam Ward for me has the highest ceiling of this class. And the numbers were outstanding this year for Miami. This is a guy who had 39 touchdown passes, his only year as a hurricane. number two for me is still going to be Shadur Sanders. We've talked about him now for like a year, Brett. I think it's sort of a little bit of prospect fatigue.

Sanders also has a ton, like you bring up the tape. Watching every game for Shadurr Sanders' career, that's going to take you an awful long time because he's got so many starts. I did it at two schools. This is a guy who took a lot of sacks, but also played with the poor offensive line. I think that will improve as a pro. And then for me, Jackson Dart.

I like Jackson Dart. I just don't like him as much as the other two, but I think all three of them are going to be top 12 picks in the NFL draft. So draft capital, I don't think will matter for any of them. So that's my big three. We have the exact same three. The order is different. We both have standards at two, and we're flip-flop and ward and dart.

Yeah, like honestly, for the order, like these guys all score so close together. It sounds like I'm fence sitting, but it really depends on the team, man. If I'm like the Las Vegas Raiders, I look at, Jackson Dart is the guy that I want to run Chip Kelly's offense. You know, that super vertical heavy, push the ball outside the numbers. We're going to have pro style run game and then hit play action shots. I want Jackson Dart running that offense. But if I'm the Tennessee Titans, maybe I want Shadour because I think Shadour might be the

best rhythm thrower in the class. He's the most accurate guy. I've compared him to Joe Burr. You know what I'm saying? So like I think there is a little bit of pick your flavor here with this group. I also want a caveat. I think you adjust to fantasy. I don't.

So like this is, yeah, fantasy-wise. I'm not going to disagree that Cam Ward probably has the biggest ups. In fact, Shadour might be last if we're talking about it from that perspective, because Jackson Darts got really good legs as well and can make stuff. Let's not to interrupt you, but let's expand on that one, because I've heard some people sort of discussing, is Jackson Darts rushing numbers a result of the Ole Miss system? Or do you think that that's a guy who could be an opportunistic scrambler as a pro?

Because this is a guy like he certainly rushed for more yards than Sanders or Ward. and it wasn't even close. Do you think that this is a guy who's like, you'll see a few design runs, or do you think it's going to be DART is more like opportunistic? You mentioned the Chip Kelly system. That's a system that gets a lot of quarterback runs. Yeah, less and less as he's gone on coaching.

But the Nick Folls scenario here. Yeah, yeah, right? Yeah. No, I think he's more athletic on tape than like a Boe Nix from last year. We saw Bo have a lot of success with his legs year one in the NFL. So I think Dart translates better than, that. Is he Jaden Daniels? No. But yeah, can you, can you scheme up three, four, five QB runs a game? Absolutely. Can he go get you a first down on third and six? Is he a threat in the red zone

to punch it in the end zone by himself? Yeah, absolutely. He checks all those boxes for me. Awesome. Now, how about quarterback four and quarterback five? So quarterback four for me, I went with Will Howard, Ohio State. The thing that really impressive, and I went into his tape thinking I would hate it. I don't know why. I had that just sometimes you get like a bias. and you really got to work it out as you go through the guy's tape. Well, I worked it out with Will Howard, and I ended up really liking this player. The thing that stood out to me is just super impressive.

He got better every single game. The experience isn't huge, you know, not overly, what, he started, what, 25 games in his career or something like that? Not a ton of experience, but the fact that he continually improved, the accuracy got better. By the end of that season, I mean, they won a natty, for God's sakes. It felt like he was in complete control that offense. It was his offense.

He was the dude, the vocal leader, you know, could get his team into the right protections. Dude, I love that's what makes quarterback play. Sometimes the tools don't matter, Thu. It's like how you process things in your mind is really what makes or breaks you as a quarterback. Plus, we know he's a pretty good athlete, not fantastic, but big physical, tough guy. Big arm, too.

So I like a lot of things I saw with Will Howard. And my last one is Kyle McCord, ironically, who Will Howard replaced that Ohio State. Kyle McCord goes on to Syracuse and becomes a Heisman. finalist, who would have thought? McCord, again, a big, physical, tough guy, not a good runner. He'll scramble here and there and pick up first downs, but he's not really a threat to be a weapon there. But he's got a big arm. Can complete a lot. Like his downfield accuracy is awesome. Can, you know, throw the entire route tree, attack you all three levels, very accurate throw the football might be the second or third most accurate quarterback in this entire draft class.

Yeah, McCord was, you know, we talked about the senior bowl for Dart. McCord had that at the Shrine Bowl, best quarterback at the Shrine Bowl. A lot of people really like McCord right now. I have Jill and Milrose still as my quarterback for because in terms of fantasy football, you're talking about a guy who's a 4-4 runner, and he hit 22-2-5 miles per hour in the game for Alabama.

So I feel pretty strongly that he's going to get somewhere in that four or five flat or lower range in the 40. And Brett, we've talked about it, sort of, and all it takes is one type guy. If a team drafts him with a little bit of capital, I think he'll be a value for us in Dynasty Superflex drafts, because if he gets on the field, he's in your starting lineup. I understand the red flags.

And five for me is Howard. This has been a guy where I've been high on him. We've talked about him before. Brett, he's got the size. He also has mobility, and he's a winner. He won. I love how last year you talked about J.J. McCarthy, how much winning he did in your evaluation.

and how winning quarterbacks is something that NFL teams want. With Howard, you're talking about a guy who not only won the Natty at Ohio State, but also won the Big 12 championship with Kansas State. So this guy's been winning, winning, winning. And I do think the draft capital will be there for Howard. Third round pick, but when I say third round pick, he could be a second round pick. Thoughts on that? I think he could slide into the second for sure.

Yeah. There's enough QB needy teams out there. It's like especially a team, like Tennessee, for example, say they do, trade back, but they still might want to throw a dart at a quarterback. No pun intended, Jackson, or so say they trade back, grab Abdul Carter or something like that, and then they're sitting there in the second round maybe, I don't know, why not? Especially if they get a late second in that tradeback, you never know. They can absolutely throw a dart at a guy like Jalen Milrow or Will Howard or Kyle McCord or whatever. Yeah, so. Love it. So quarterback wise, just to wrap it up,

Brett's top five were Jackson Dart, Shadur Sanders. I, Cam Ward, and then he had Will Howard, Kyle McCord. For me, Cam Ward, Chedurr Sanders, Jackson Dart, Jalen Milrow, and Will Howard. So we had four out of the same five. Let's talk about running back. And we can get it out of the way. Both of us have talked effusively about Ashton Genty, how great he is. He's our running back one in the class, hands down, probably a little bit of tear behind him.

Brett, you have him as your only first round graded running back. Yeah. Well, because I factor analytics so much, I am a, unfortunately, I am part of the running backs don't matter committee. I'm on the very far outskirts of it. I do think they matter a little bit. But I get labeled as that because of my data backgrounds. So yeah, it's really hard for running back to score as a first round player in my system.

That said, I do think when it's all sudden done, Hampton and Johnson, Amarian Hampton and I don't know both finish with top 32 scores. So do with that information, what you will. I all have 20 first round grades in this class, I think 19 or 20. So I do think they will still finish

in my top 32 when it's all done done. So I'm perfectly fine with the team drafting them in the first round, long story short. But they do have second round grades. So Brett, your current top three essentially are Ashton Gentie,

Omarian Hampton, and Caleb Johnson. That's exactly my top three as well. And I agree with you that I think that one of these guys is going to get inside of the first round. Because I think when you talk about it, you're talking about ideal size, talking about 220 pounds, the ability to handle volume, athletic, and home run hitting ability. And you have a bunch of running back needy teams. And, you know, I'll push back on the, the running backs don't matter crowd is taking some L's right now because Stakemon, Berkeley, Derek Henry, and Jameer Gibbs and Bijon both hit big time. So I think that

getting elite running back production will be in vogue for at least one or two of the next drafts and NFL teams know that this is a very strong class. Let's keep this going because you have four more running backs that'll close out your top six. These guys are all

second round graded running backs. Yeah, we got Quinchard Judkins from Ohio State. Another just complete player. He might not have the top end, you know, 23 mile an hour speed to really break off some long ones. But he's a finisher he does everything well he's agile he can make guys miss he's physical can catch can pass pro love everything about him then i have ali gordon oklahoma state uh he's another one where

i didn't think i'd like the tape the more i watched it the more i loved him the dude has rare movement skills for that size um so i think the nfl also he's the prototype guy that nfl teams love they never let these guys fall never um and then we have martinez from miami Why am I forgetting his first name? Is it Devin? Damien. Jeez. My brain is fried.

Sorry. Well, that's what happens, Brett, when you watch every single game tape, the name starts moving together. You're not wrong. Damien Martinez from Miami. Another guy, just big physical. He weighed in a little light at the senior bowl compared to what he was listed at, 222.

Still big, though. Rare, super rare cutting ability and make you miss moves for a guy that size. I've copped him to Stephen Jackson. I think he has that upside in the passing game, too. And then lastly, Devin Neal. my dude from Kansas here, you know, we've talked about him a bunch the last couple weeks, Theo. And the receiving running combo that he offers is probably second to none of this class. Awesome route runner, awesome hands.

He's also got gas for days, bursty, vision. He kind of just checks all the premium trait buckets that I love, which is why he got into that second round range. So this wraps up Brett's top. That's your, that's essentially your top seven. I'll add a little context onto Damian Martinez and see if you agree with this statement. All of this hype you're seeing for Cam Scadabo, like we both like Cam Scadabo, but it should be Damian Martinez if you're looking for a back with size. In my opinion, like just flip-flop that around.

Martinez is also like just turned 21 years old. And we talked about the size. Like we saw him at the Senior Bowl. He carries it extremely well. This is a very strong back. So he didn't weigh in the 230. but he's like a super, super rocked up 225. We really like Damien Martinez.

Let's go back to my ranking. So I had given you my top three, my RB4 and RB5 are Quinn Sean Judkins and Trevionn Henderson. I'm higher than you, Brett, on Henderson. I think Henderson is a guy that I understand some of the red flags. And I'll give it back to you to kind of share your thoughts on Henderson, because I think those are important because he's steaming up. But those guys kind of round out a clear top five for me. And I'll say that the top five running backs are all like super high level prospects for me that are all locks to go inside of Superflex first round dynasty rookie drafts.

Sort of regardless of landing spot. My RB six is Ollie Gordon. Brett talked about Ollie Gordon. The feet were incredible when you saw him in person. Moves very, very well. And he just completely looks apart. He's like a Naji Harris-sized running back. He's 6'1, 233, very large wingspan.

And he's also another younger back. I think that the steam for Gordon's going to keep moving up as we get through the process. And my RB 7 is Devin Neal, 220. Brett, we talked about him the other day on our Senior Bowl review pod, which we highly recommend you go back and listen to. Neil's going to run very fast in the 40s, very good in the spring game. So I am right there with you in my top, I guess that's my top seven. And then my RBA8 is Damien Martinez.

So we're pretty cut and dry there. How about your next tier of running backs? Your round three graded guys. Yeah. And there's more round three graded guys too, but this is just my top. Oh, actually, before we do that, share your thoughts on Trebion because I know like I've kind of been a little bit higher than you in the process. You still have a second round grade. But there's been some people, a lot of people.

now moving Trayvion up to the RB2 spot ahead of Hampton, ahead of Johnson, sort of in the fantasy football community, and you're not there yet? I have a third drug rate in Henderson. Oh, excuse me. I misspoke. I misspoke on that one. So talk about your Henderson before you go into the rest of your guys. Yeah.

So if I look at sealing outcome, he for sure would be worth the second round pick. I think for what I see on tape, though, and assuming he doesn't have the best developmental curve ever, I see a guy who lacks vision. And so you pair that with, like you love the explosiveness. You love that home run hitting ability. But when you pair it with vision,

I had similar thoughts with the kid Miami drafted last year out of Tennessee. Jalen Wright, jailing right. It's like perpetually running behind soft boxes, five and six man boxes, but couldn't find a gap to save his life. Henderson's vision's not that bad. So don't freak out right now.

But I do see vision concerns sometimes. He'll run right up the back of an offensive lineman for literally no reason. But the gas is there. for sure and he can make guys miss. But for me, it's the vision concern and the availability concern. He's always dinged up. Always kind of reminds me of DeAndre Swift doesn't play particularly well when he plays injured

as well. So I think he leaves a lot of meat on the bone in that regard. I also have concerns in pass pro. I'm not going to kill him for that because like I've, I've preached religiously. Pass pro is not a thing they learn in college. That's a skill you learn after college. So, yeah, those are the big things. I like him though.

I mean, he, like, I love Dylan Samson, who I see that you have to talk about coming up here. I love Samson and I got Henderson ahead of him. So, like, people are going to see me having Henderson as my RB10 and a third round grade and think I'm a hater. I do really like him. And there's other very good backs that didn't make this list. Just to throw them. This, this class is literally insane. I mean, it's, there's so many good backs.

It's crazy. Yeah, it's actually, like, it's really, really difficult. Once you get passed for me, like, Devin Neal, I could have. have included like four more guys in the top 10. Guys that we would have really loved to talk about. But again, we'll have plenty of time this offseason to dive deeper into the running back class. So that sort of rounds out your, let's, let's, let's, are we missing anybody here?

Oh, there's two more guys, yeah, two more, two more guys to talk about, talk about Woody Marks and LeQuint Allen, two big time past catching backs. Yeah, exactly. You nailed a big time past catching backs. the thing with both these guys. So like you get to a certain point where when you're drafting, when a team's drafting in that late second to third to early

fourth, it's like, well, what do we need and what do we like in the backfield? You know, those are the two things. So like, again,

like quarterback, it's going to be a pick your flavor. A team very much might prefer a Henderson over one of these guys, but they might need the past game juice. So they'll go with the, you know, Woody Marks.

But Woody Marks and Liquid Allen are the two most accomplished receivers in the draft. I really liked, Woody Marks finally got a role as a runner this year. and he showed out pretty good. Really good burst, good vision. Doesn't have the best make you miss stuff, though, Theo. So he's real like, you know, boom or bust kind of runner,

not overly physical, great receiver. LeQuitt Allen, the only real thing with him that's a concern is he doesn't have an NFL running back frame. Like he weighed in fine, right, 207 or whatever it was, or 212 even. But he just doesn't look like, he's skinny. Like he looks like a watch receiver. And so you worry, like, I know he was a Belkow at Syracuse. Can he go be not even a Belkaw in the NFL, but can he be an Army 1?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure that his frame will allow him to do that. But he is an elite receiver, awesome route runner, great hands. And he has legit make you miss moves. He reminds me of Kerry on Johnson. I've been invoking that name since before the senior ball there. Yeah, and both of those guys are very exciting. LeQuint was one where didn't do a whole lot, day one at the senior bowl.

Brett and I really liked day two. and day three. And the tape at Syracuse big time catches a ton of passes. He does not crack my top 10. But again, there's a lot of backs I like that did not crack my top 10. So sort of to round out my top 10, I gave you my top eight. Woody Marks comes in at RB9. And Woody Marks, I had probably a little bit higher before the Senior Bowl.

But I think I'm definitely Ollie Gordon and Devin Neal and Damien Martinez ahead of Woody. Woody marks is an older back. I think that he's sort of like a ready to plug and play into a running back by committee. He has more receptions collectively than any back in this class. And this year took a big step forward as a runner at USC. Also was a guy that weighed in well at the senior bowl. I believe he's 208 pounds, Brett. And that's a win for the way that he plays.

And then for me, running back 10, Dylan Samson, who I do think is going to be a day two pick. I think that he's like you brought up Jalen Wright. Jailen Wright was the guy that the fantasy football community was really, really excited about. He had one of the, I think he had one of the top three 40 yard dash times at the combine behind guys like Isaac Arendo only. Jailen Wright, I don't think was as good a prospect as Dylan Sampson. Samson's a little bit lighter, but this is a perfect running back by committee type.

Tennessee listed him 201. I think he's going to weigh in sub-rength. 200. I've had a little bit of mixed. I talked to, you know, Cody Carpenter thought he could get about this weight. Curious what you think there, Brett. But I think when you look at Samson's production this year and his production last year, playing next to Jalen Wright, I think that this is a guy that it's sort of a popular thing to fade Dylan Samson right now in the fantasy football community because a lot of the Tennessee volunteers guys that produce big time numbers in college just haven't hit his pros, guys like Jalen Hyatt, guys like Jalen Wright.

But I think Samson will be the one to do it. He's also very young, Brett. He's 20 years old, big time, big time producer. I like him. I think NFL teams will as well. Yeah, he's a better prospect for me than Jalen Wright was. So I'll just say that very clearly. I think he's a little landing spot dependent.

You're going to want that inside zone heavy team, a lot of RPO read option stuff. I think that would really help him. But yeah, no disagreement there. Yeah, and we will dive into the running back class way more deeply over the next few weeks. We're going to talk about guys like Scadabot, talk about guys like Breschard Smith, talk about guys like DJ Giddens. I mean, Brett, we've got about 10 more running backs we need to cover.

We've got to cover every single position. When we come back, Brett and I are going to reveal our wide receiver rankings after this. Welcome back to Fantasy Points. Brett Whitefield and Theo Griminger, breaking down the 2025 draft class. positional rankings. We gave you quarterback, gave your running back. Now the wide receiver class. And it's been sort of a popular thing to pick apart this wide receiver class because of the quality of the 2024 class. And people are like, eh, this class really isn't it. I think this class is sort of underrated at this point. I think that we talked about the number of players draft in the first round. Brett thinks there'll be four of them.

I think there'll be five of them at the wide receiver position. And there was a number of players that helped themselves down in Mobile. Let's start out at the top. And Brett, for this exercise, are you including Travis Hunter? No, I'm not. He's a corner. Okay. So we're going to go back and forth on this one as well. I will include Hunter in mine. So why don't you reveal the very top of your rankings?

Yeah, my first round grades are Tet McMillan, Elyke Yuma, and Jalen Knoll from Iowa State. Starting with Tet, I mean, we don't have to spend a ton of time here because the dude just awesome. I think he's probably your number one as well. Oh, yeah, for sure. He's like on that Drake London, Mike Evans archetype. He's probably more explosive and athletic than London,

but not quite as explosive as Mike Evans. But he's a big body receiver that has legit route running and movement skills. It's a rare combo. These guys are rare, especially in a league that's kind of gone away from that traditional X. So for him, there's a scarcity there. I think teams will highly covet that for sure. And then Elic, a Euminaur, another proto.

type X, not quite his biggest tap, but he's 6-2, 6-3, have, you know, thick, rocked-up frame, 2-15. Missed him at the Senior Bowl, unfortunately, he pulled out, but I don't think this guy lacks a single trait. I think he's awesome after the catch, the body control, ball tracking, route running, hands, it's all there. He has some weird concentration drops, but it's, you know, his hands are pretty good. The technique is good for what I see.

And then Jaylon Noel, man, we've waxed poetically about him, so I won't spend a lot of time here either. If you haven't checked out our senior bowl recap vid, please go do that. He was one of our biggest risers in that video. But Noel, you know, I didn't intend it happening this way, but he scored like real fringe first round grade for me. It's not like a firm first or anything like that, but it was it was right there on the cuss. So he does everything you look for in a, you know, a prototype slot guy that can also play on the outside. He's got enough juice to win vertically, but he's great after the catch, won't drop anything.

awesome route running as well. He's a legit technician. Yeah, and the production's there as well. So a lot of people are like, you know, maybe it's too much of a senior bowl rise for Jalen Knoll. I think that the market will get there. And I think you need to pay attention when Brett gives these first round grades on these wide receivers.

I know last year Brett was ahead of everybody in the fantasy football community on Ricky Purcell and where he would get drafted. Some had Purcell getting drafted in like the third round, him the second round. He ends up being a first round pick. So Brett's usually pretty spot on with his wide receiver round grades. For me, my top three, Ted McMillan, easy one. And then I'm going to put Travis Hunter in there. I'm going to silence all the all the haters out there who want to label Travis Hunter as a cornerback. He's going to make an announcement. He's a wide receiver. He's a wide receiver first. And that's the way I'm going to treat him until we get this like negative news.

again, it's a very frustrating profile for people doing early best balls if you potentially have an early dynasty startup because I could get burned here. But pure talent-wise, Travis Hunter would be my number two wide receiver in this class. So I'm going to put him at wide receiver too. He's sort of like a Garrett Wilson wide receiver. He just happens to be like a Jeyer Alexander level cornerback as well. So big problem there. But do the right thing, Travis Hunter.

Tell everybody you want to play wide receiver in the league. wide receiver three for me a meca egbuka uh this has been a tough one for me to to rank wide receiver three but i think egbuka you've compared him to a rashi rice in terms of stylistic comp and i think that that's going to get a lot of people excited because egbuka is a power slot a lot of times these guys with this sort of profile with size and slot ability mega producer in college he had incredibly difficult teammate target competition every year at Ohio State, and he walks away as the leading receiver in school history. Egbuka's going to run well. He's got yakability. He's got red zone ability. Like, I just am into a mega Egbuka, and I think that he is a very

safe player to draft as well. So he is my wide receiver three. I will turn it back to you for your wide receiver four, I guess four through. What are you feeling here, Brett? will everybody down. 4 through 9, there we go. So these are our second round graded wideouts. I know we don't want to extend the pod too long. Can I ask you a question about Travis Hunter really quick? Ask me.

Are you willing to at least say there's no chance he plays both? I think he's going to play both. But I think that the way that I'm viewing it is he will be a, I think that the way that we were looking at it for the last few months was he's a shutdown cornerback who's a situational pass catcher. Like how situation? I think that there were people that are saying that he was going to be like a 30% SnapShare as a wide receiver. But I think it's going to flip.

I think he's actually going to be a on the field a ton as a wide receiver. And I think that he'll be a situational corner. Maybe he comes in and plays third downs. I understand that he's a unbelievable prospect of cornerback. But my focus here, Brett, is on fantasy football, first and foremost. And second off, players get paid more as wide receivers. So if it's a financial decision for Travis Hunter, the chances of getting a mega deal at wide receiver is a lot more prevalent than with cornerbacks.

Now, maybe he's the type of player that breaks the mold and gets that second contract that's like insane numbers. But I think at the end of the day, I'll go sort of an anti-football pro fantasy take here. Travis Hunter will play wide receiver. And by the time the NFL draft comes along, I think that will also be the, like, the take. I also think that he's a true outlier in terms of athleticism. We see it with the amount of snaps that he played at Colorado. So Brett, we've seen it before.

All it takes is a innovative coach to really embrace this slash type model. And maybe it's unsustainable for a long time. But I do think that there are a few NFL coaches that are looking at Travis Hunt. and saying, I'm going to try to play him as many snaps as possible. And I have self-preservation as a head coach. I want this guy to get the ball on offense and do things like he did in Colorado. Led the big 12 in touchdown catches, led the big 12 in receptions, out produced Ted McMillan in those.

So Travis Hunter, wide receiver. I don't want to pour water on the idea of him playing wide receiver. There's a chance he plays only wide receiver. I don't think there's a chance he plays both, not in a meaningful way. He definitely won't be a full-time wide receiver and a part-time corner. That won't happen. There's a chance he's a full-time corner and then comes in for the occasional screen or jet sweep or decoy. I've talked to several NFL coaches who have told me there is no chance.

He plays both. No chance. So now, listen, I'm not saying he won't be a wide receiver. He very well might make the same call. You just said, I'm going to make more money. I will say, though, he'll get more draft capital as a corner. He'll be a top five pick if he's a corner. He would not be a top five pick if he's a wide receiver.

But I think he'd be a top 10. I think he's a top 10 pick as a wide receiver. I don't think so. You don't think so? No. So this one, let us know what you think in the chat here. Team Theo, team Brett on Travis Hunter. There's a little bit of wishful.

I'm wishcasting this a little bit one. I'll give that one a little bit. Let's reveal your round two wide receivers. And I think that this is going to be sort of a very pro. This class is better than some people think. from from brett you know you had three wide receivers graded as round one but you have more round two grades on the wide receivers that i think a lot of people do at this point and a couple of names that i think people are not necessarily projecting to be round two picks yeah let me uh yeah this

this class is deep to me what we lack in in top end tail it we're getting depth and anyways back bash tc u we've talked about him so much i'm not gonna i'm not going to spend a lot of time there he's a do-it-all player profiles as a power slot that can also win on the outside great matthew golden texas wide receiver this guy's an elite route route runner a down really good downfield threat in fact he's a better downfield receiver than a d mitchell than xavier worthy than isaiah bond combined he was awesome for them so matthew gold is great and mecca egbuka ohio state guy you've already talked about you nailed his profile rashi rice type i keep here and he's going to run really really well which wouldn't necessarily surprise me because he is an Ohio state guy and those they they have track

speed um even if it doesn't translate to the field and I don't see like elite speed with him on the field but I do see a good athlete a really good ball control or ball skills body control uh really high football IQ he is uh you know guy he can he's got a knack for breaking down zone coverages he understands route concepts the way they're supposed to work awesome threat after the catch so really similar to Rashi rice there maybe a more juiced up version of Rashi Savion Williams, the other TCU Out receiver. Really weird production profile. I've made the claim TCU.

We should launch a federal investigation in the why TCU could only get this guy 610 yards receiving last year. Completely criminal. He has everything you want. 65, 230. Super sick athlete. Does everything well. Jalen Royals, another guy we spent a lot of time talking about Utah State,

so I won't do a ton. My working cop for him right now, Theo, is he's somewhere between like if you if you drew a string of two players Debo Samuel and Amari Cooper he is somewhere there he is the route running chops of Amari Cooper

which is scary to think about if you pair that with because the one thing Debo Samuel's never been good at is running routes and getting open versus man if Royals can do that and then give you like 60% of Debo after the catch we're talking about a dynamic player maybe worth more than a second round pick if we're being quite honest

anyways routing out round two grades is Luther Burden. Another one, people will call me a hater because he's my wide receiver nine. There's a lot to like about burden. There's a lot to not like about burden. Really good athlete, twitchy kind of quick mover, gadget player. You can scheme it up for him.

He'll produce similar to Xavier Worthy last year. And guess what? His deficiencies are similar to Xavier worthy as well. He can't track a deep ball, Theo. Has no idea how to find the ball in the air. It's a big problem. Any vertical route or horizontally breaking route at more than 10 yards depth. he really struggles getting separation.

Most of his production profile is flimsy. It was either schemed up or, you know, purposely mismatched schematically to get advantageous alignment. So, yeah, anyways, I like burden. I don't like him as much as consensus. That's okay. I can live with that. I think it'll be a fine NFL player.

Yeah, so that that wraps up your top nine. Yeah. Why don't you give out, just round out your top 10, right? Isaiah Bond. And I don't love Bond's tape. he scores well for me and traits that what I call premium traits. He's a math changer. So if you're a team playing, you know, that traditionally likes to play single high,

if you're going against Isaiah Bond, you got to make a decision because he's going to cook you. He'll beat you deep. He'll get open. He struggles tracking the ball sometimes as well, which is kind of funny. But, man, you know, he's got that vertical speed. He can stack and deliver on the outside. I like some of his press releases. He's got some work to do there, though.

Long story short, he's a math changer. Those guys normally score well for me. you know, if you're a team that really likes to run the ball, go get Isaiah Bond because he's going to force teams to play too high coverages and you're going to be able to run the ball a lot easier. Yeah, so Isaiah Bond, I think that when we're talking about Bond, it's like you have to have him inside this top 10 because he's going to get drafted highly.

And he's also, I would predict, he's the wide receiver that has the fastest 40 time at the combine. Like it's sort of been, he's in that mix of guys. If he's not the fastest 40 among all the wide receivers, then he'll be top three. just off the cuff question, you know, because Bond's one where another, people will definitely call you a hater on burden. And then the, the Isaiah Bond pro argument crowd will call you sort of a hater on Bond as well. Where do you compare him in the process to Jamison Williams, Jalen Waddle, and Bond was a former Alabama speed wide receiver.

So all three of them sort of in the mix. Did you, you'd Waddle and Jameson way ahead at this point in the process? Yeah, I mean, Jameson was a top seven player for me in his draft class. Waddle was a top six player for me in his draft class. So completely different level prospects here. So say no more. That should kind of be a wake up call to some of the Isaiah Bon could be one of those guys. I'll speed up mine.

I have, again, Ted McMillan, Travis Hunter, Emeka, Abuka. I have Luther Burton as my wide receiver four. I will be higher than Brett on him. I think he's going to get very good NFL draft capital. I think we did see the production as a true freshman, as a true sophomore. And I think athletically, this is a guy that compares to a DJ more. So I'm going to be higher on Burden. Eelik Ayamanner, we've talked about him on multiple podcasts now.

We're both very, very high on him. I have Matthew Golden right behind. Then I have Jalen Knoll, our riser from Iowa State, Jalen Royals from Utah State. Jack Betch comes in. Next, then I have Trey Harris from Ole Miss. I have Jaden Higgins and then I have Isaiah Bond. So that sort of wraps up our wide receivers. Quick, quick thoughts on Trey Harris, Brett, because he did not make your top 10.

And a lot of people are very into him in fantasy football, yards per route run guy. And a thousand yards in like eight games this year for Ole Miss. Yeah, the production was nuts, right? People really gravitate towards vertical skill sets. He had a lot of production of vertical routes. So I think that's why people are in on him. I see a guy who's really stiff in the hips, not a good route runner,

and probably doesn't have the ability to get a lot better there, which scares me. He's also, what is this is a fifth year, right? Fifth year. Yeah. He was Louisiana Tech before Ole Miss.

Not that that, I ever really care about that, but when I see a clear deficiency in your game, and then you have a what I call a physical limitation to prevent you from getting better there, that's a little concerning for me. He'll probably still score as a late third round pick for me, or third round player for me,

I'm just a little lower on him the consensus right now. Yeah, and I think this is an interesting one because it doesn't, not to get on a full like tangent here, but we've, it's, it's, we're less concerned about early entry wide receivers in fantasy football since the rise of, of the NIL, guys getting paid to stay in school. COVID.

There's, we don't need to worry about it as much. But when you're looking at Trey Harris, you're looking at a guy who's going to turn 23 years old before the NFL draft, whereas a guy like Matthew Golden is going to be 21 years old. for until like the end of August. So I've seen sort of the Golden versus Harris argument coming up

in fantasy football circles. We are both going to be on Matthew Golden right there. Brett, we're going a little long here. So let's do our, do our tight end top five. Why don't you reveal the entire top five? Yeah, so I have one first round grade that is Tyler Warren. And then I have Colson Loveland, tight end from Michigan, Elijah Arroyo tied in from Miami,

Gunner Helm, tight end from Texas, and Mason Taylor, tight end from LSU. real big notes here. Warren being the only first round grade, it's because he's a do-it-all guy. NFL teams will love this dude, the mentality. They will line up for this guy. You know, Brock Bowers is the 13th overall pick last year. I see Warren going in a similar range. And in fact, the lack of talent at the top of this draft could push Warren

ahead of where Brock Bowers went, even though Bowers is probably a better prospect. That said, I think Warren to the Colts at 14 makes a ton of sense to me. Colson Loveland and Elijah Arroyo, I don't have first round grades on, but just like that running back conversation, I see them probably both ending up in my top 32. And I think they probably go, there's a chance. One of them's for sure going on in the first round. There's a chance both of them do. And I actually think three tight ends will go in the first round. Loveland to the chargers at like 21, whatever that is, makes a ton of sense, obviously, low hanging fruit.

And then Arroyo, maybe to the chiefs that picked 31 or 32. That would get the community excited. That would be nasty. love all those guys. There's, you know, different flavors once you get past Arroyo. Helm is more of a yak, you know, seamball threat, Mason Taylor, who have a prototype inline guy who can kind of do a little bit of everything. No, I love it.

And I think we're pretty much in lockstep. I do think that Warren is not as good as Brock Bowers, but I think he'll get drafted earlier than Brock Bowers. And we see this happen in the NFL all the time where there's going to be teams that are like, why didn't I just draft Brock Bowers? Yeah. So especially in a year where there's not a. much high-end QB talent.

I think Warren's going to end up being a top 10 pick. And I think that will actually help Colston Loveland, because a bunch of the teams that have been sort of associated with Warren will consider Loveland as well. I think Loveland ultimately will be a top 20 pick. I think they'll both be top 20 picks. So Loveland, for me, he's also 20 years old. So it's not necessarily a position we need youth, but Loveland has some room to grow.

Loveland's my tight end, too, behind Warren. Elijah Royo, we've talked about extensively. on our Senior Bowl recap. He's awesome. And we both think he's going to absolutely crush the NFL combine. And then for me, I'm sticking with Harold Fanon Jr. Unbelievable production. I understand that there's guys like Helm, guys like Mason Taylor,

that might get drafted ahead of him. But I think strictly for fantasy football, Fanon has a lot of potential as a move tight end who could catch a lot of passes. And then for me, my tight end five is Mason Taylor. he's an absolute unit. We talked about him as a senior bowl winner as well. He's sort of like a guy where you watch Mason Taylor. He's going to be a starter long term in the NFL.

Great lineage there. And I like Gunther Helm as well. I could have easily put him in the top five. Quickly your thoughts on Fanon Jr. If anybody didn't see or listen to our Senior Bowl show. Yeah. Tident is one of the strongest positions in the draft. So just because I don't have Fanon Jr.

My top five doesn't really mean much. I do have a little bit of concern compared to you where I think the size is, the size to speed ratio isn't there for me to be an elite, you know, pass catch weapon in the NFL. He's small, 2.30. And I don't see that, you know, four, five-ish speed that you want out of an elite pass-catching tie-down. I see more probably four, low four-sixes, which it's not a deal breaker by any means, guys.

I'm not saying that. I just think if we're, if we have to ultimately sealing a lot of times is what breaks some of these ties, right? So like, if I'm comparing him to a gutter helm, I think helm's ceiling might be a little bit higher. So I'm going to go Helm over Faded Jr. That's really it for me. I like him, though. He'd probably be six. If we did six, he'd be by sixth or maybe seventh. So yeah, so we're, we're pretty close to the tight-in position. Last question. Before we wrap it up, who's a player, Brett, that's going

to wow people at the NFL Combine athletically? I'm guessing Savianne on Williams will be Yeah, that's my answer as well. Yeah, I think overall he'll just be the biggest riser through the process where literally no one is talking about him right now. And I think he ends up in the second round. So Savion Williams is 6 foot five. He's like 220 and he hit 22 and a half miles per hour. 600 pound squat, 355 pound bench and power cleans 350. This is like a Cordarral Patterson type athlete, but, but bigger. So this is definitely an exciting one. I'm Theo Greminger with Brett Whitefield. Brett, what do you have coming up? Yeah, stay tuned for the prospect guide, right? That comes out. First edition will come out soon. Mock draft 1.0.

is out on the site, fantasy points.com. Go check that out. And then first read podcast. Find me on Spotify, Apple, NFL, first read. Joe Marino's my co-host there. We talk ball. It's not fantasy related necessarily, but there's a lot of fantasy takeaways from the show

just because we're talking ball at a high level, breaking down X's and O's and bringing a lot of data to the table as well. So those three things, check it out. And check out my 2025 rookie rankings. Single QB rankings are up at fantasy points right now. I'll have a number of rookie articles, a bunch of dynasty stuff as well.

and Brett and I will be back here breaking down this class. Fantasy points is where you need to be to get you ready for the 2025 rookie class and your dynasty rookie drafts after that. We'll see you soon.