Fantasy Football Today - FFT Express - Dave Richard’s All-In List! 12 Must-Draft Players for 2025! (08/12 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

Bid on Draft-A-Thon items here! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tiltify.com/@cbs-sports/fft-draftathon-2025⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We break down Dave Richard’s All-In List — 12 must-draft players for 2025! We kick things off with wideouts like Xavier Worthy and Tetairoa McMillan (3:00), then dive into Jameson Williams and Calvin Ridley (3:40), Ricky Pearsall (4:01), and Emeka Egbuka (4:25). At quarterback, we cover Patrick Mahomes (7:22), Baker Mayfield (7:57), and Jared Goff (8:29). Tight ends include Tyler Warren (9:50), Zach Ertz, and Tucker Kraft. Subscribe now and get ahead for 2025! Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Shop our store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shop.cbssports.com/fantasy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow our FFT team on Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @FFToday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @AdamAizer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @JameyEisenberg⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @daverichard⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @heathcummingssr⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join our Facebook group⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up for the FFT newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dave Richards, all-in-list, must-draft players for 2025 right now on FFT Express. Welcome, everybody. I'm sorry. Now I'm doing this. Draft them, draft them. And your fantasy drafts this year, they're going to be going, going on. They're going to play on Sunday, Sunday. All right.

So these are players that Dave's loving. hopefully they won't be grave diggers for your fantasy team nice okay my throat's hurting me right now who do you want to kick off this list with i've got 12 names we're going to go very quickly through them there are no running backs on this list which is weird for me because you know that i like running backs but i just think that everybody knows about all the running backs and you just target them at ADP and i think you'll be okay there are some sleepers obviously later on i guess we could put Braylon Allen on there now as a guy that I'm excited about. But dealer's choice, Adam,

quarterbacks, receivers, tight ends. Receivers. Six names. And again, these are not sleepers. These are just guys that I'm trying to get on my fantasy team. And none of these receivers are top 12. So these are all guys that I'm excited to get and potentially would view as wide receiver twos for my fantasy team.

And I think it'll help you out, especially because I think there's, it's just kind of a consensus that there aren't a lot of great wide receiver twos and the position drops off a cliff. I think these guys will over deliver. Xavier Worthy in Kansas City. Speed. They want to throw the downfield. Patrick Mahomes is his quarterback. Enough set. Tedaroa McMillan. We saw him look good in the preseason game. He's looked good in practices and joint practices. Unique talent, unique traits, going to be the number one target for Bryce Young. Bryce Young looks good. I would love to have Tederoa McMillan even as soon as round four in full PPR. Jameson Williams. I think there's more that he can do this year after what he did last year, very excited about him, excited about Calvin Ridley. I've seen him practice. I've seen him play. He's in sync with Cam Ward. He's going to be the guy that Cam Ward goes to. Fingers crossed it, he stays healthy. Ricky Pearsall, a little bit worried about the upside for Pears because the 49ers tend to run the ball a lot and spread around targets to their wide receivers. But we talked about this on the main show. A lot of wide receivers are hurt right now for the 49ers. It could mean some

targets going up, up, up for Ricky Pearson, at least to begin the season, and he's a tremendous talent. Last name of wide receiver, a mecca abuka, just someone who continues to make plays for the Bucks in practice and in games, saw him firsthand, talk to him after practice. I just think that he's going to be a unique player for the Bucks in that when Chris Godwin's out, he's going to be an outside receiver, should be second on the team in targets. When Chris Godwin comes back, there's no guarantee that Godwin's going to play a full amount of snaps. And there's no guarantee that Godwin is going to be the same guy that we saw at the beginning of last year. I think Abuka will still be second on the team in targets and receiving

yards and all that good stuff. Love getting him with a mid-round pick. All right. So hopefully it can be more like a late round pick for Abuka whose ADP is still in the hundreds. Yeah, I'd be surprised if it stays that way. So, okay, the names again, Xavier worthy, Teterola McMillan, I might forget one. Jameson Williams, Calvin Ridley. Ricky Pearsall and Emeka, Abuka. And the cool thing about this is that they're all except for, all right, the first three, you might be able to get two of them. You might be able to go round five, six with Worthy,

or if you really want them, you can go four or five. Worthy, McMillan, and James' ADP is kind of settled into about the five-sixth turn. Yep. There's a possibility you can get two of them. You might have to go four or five, rounds four or five. Are you comfortable with that or is that low early? Yes, I'm fine with that because I think that, there's top do I want to say top 15 sure I'll say top 15 upside with worthy and

McMillan Jameson I have a harder time seeing top 15 because I mean St. Brown's there Gibbs is there but top 20 top 24 yeah and maybe you wait a few rounds and then grab Calvin Ridley then maybe wait around or later in that same round you know if you don't get ridley Ricky Pearsall and then wait a round or two and get a buca that's the way it's falling right now so receivers just to keep in mind the position is just a little wonky this year. I think these guys have a chance to get some better than expected target volume.

I love the list. I would add Cortland Sutton, I think, would be a guy that I really want. Sure. And you know what? His film looked good from his preseason game. He was, he started a little slow, but by maybe like his fifth snap, sixth snap,

he was looking sharp. He looked really good. Okay. Take a break here and find out the other six names on Dave's list. We'll be right back. Okay, Dave is drinking water and he is good to go now, quarterback. Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Jared Gough. Guys that are not going to run for a lot of yards, but guys who should throw for a lot of yards and certainly a lot of touchdowns. Mahomes, it's just weird to not see him as a top five fantasy quarterback.

I think it's simply because of the last two seasons, but we know that those last two seasons have all kinds of asterisks around them. I'm still not sure what this run game is going to look like for Kansas City, but I certainly doubt that they're going to lean on it when they've got Patrick Mahomes as their quarterback. I can see Mahomes having a very good year. And don't forget, like I think it was his last 12 games. He averaged 12, or not 12, 24 fantasy points per game and six point. Baker Mayfield, Monster Year, it took me seeing him in practice and seeing his receivers to realize, okay, this offense isn't going to miss a beat.

Josh Garzart is the new play caller. He's the one that designed their third down plays last year. they want to get the ball to Mike Evans a lot Baker said as much on serious XM NFL radio he's got all these other great receivers young receivers and Abuka and Jalen McMillan yeah I just I think that Baker's going to have another good year and you're getting him a couple of rounds potentially after Patrick Mahomes and Jared Goff is going several rounds after that I think Jared golf is like one of the sleepers that you were talking about on the main show Adam guys who are who are named guys they've already broken out they're just they're they're they're they're names that are just criminally undervalued. And I think Jared Goff is criminally undervalued. Yeah, Mahomes makes me lose sleep at night because, you know, I think the fact that to me, the biggest difference in Mahomes the last two years has just been the lack of explosive plays. They've become a very conservative offense.

They haven't necessarily had the personnel to stretch the field. You know, this was without Tyreek Hill. First year was Juju Smith-Schuster. Obviously, Kelsey is slowing down, not making the explosive plays. but Worthy will hopefully fix that and Marquis Brown could fix that and everything. I mean, we've seen it, seen it so many times, heard it so many times they want to get back to doing that.

If they do, you might again have the fantasy MVP in Mahomes. Let me fix my mistake from earlier. It's 24 fantasy points per game in his last 10 games of 2024. He averaged 25.8 fantasy points in his last three when Xavier Worthy got hot. And then 25.1 in three playoff games. We're drafting a quarterback in round. who's averaging 24, 25 fantasy points per game, man, that's sweet. And he did it for the majority of the year.

I'm going to have a lot of Patrick Mahomes this year. Okay. And let's get on to the tight ends then. Tyler Warren is a name that I've been talking about since before the draft. I'm not backing down at all just because he's in Indianapolis. The quarterback stink, but they need a guy who's a short area target. I think he can do that for them. I've been very bullish on him, certainly trying to get him in the round 10 range,

just like I did with Brock Bowers. last year. He's not going to be as good as Bowers, but I think he can finish as a top 12 tight end. I think Zach Ertz can finish as a top 12 tight end. And the longer that Terry McLaurin holds out, the more I love Zachertz could really be a tight end that begins the season in your starting lineup, whether he ends the season in your starting lineup remains to be seen. But he's going to be the number two target getter, not Debo in that offense. Jane Daniels really leans on him a lot. And then the last name is Tucker Kraft. Talked about him a lot, too. I am losing a little bit of love with Kraft because Matthew Golden has stepped up so much.

Golden should be on this list, Adam, for crying out loud. But Tucker Kraft still has a chance to be the number two target getter. And I think the coaching staff in Green Bay does want to make Tucker Kraft a thing. He's got the type of receiving skill set that George Kittle has as far as making plays after the catch. We saw it last year. He just didn't get a lot of volume last year. So if they flip the switch and they start feeding him six targets per game, you're going to see Tucker Kraft have a very good year.

Yeah, like I'm the one who told you to take golden off the list or something like that. It's all your fault as usual. I didn't do anything. It wasn't, it wasn't me. I should have added him to the list. So there are 13 names. A baker's dozen. There you go.

Call that the shaggy portion of the episode because it wasn't me. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Actually, I think Thursday we're back on Express. We'll talk to you tomorrow on FFT. See you later, everybody. Paramount Podcasts.