Welcome to my Five Fantasy Risers From the Preseason (2025)!
The 2025 NFL Preseason has concluded, and we are now just a little over a week away from the 2025 NFL season officially kicking off. Many preseason games this year gave us a bunch of clarity on various situations across the league, so in today’s discussion, we will be going over five of the biggest winners/most positive situations from the 2025 NFL Preseason and break down each situation’s fantasy outlook for this season.
New England Patriots Offense
As we all know, the New England Patriots’ offense has been quite frustrating and underwhelming over the last few years, to say the least. With Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels coming in this year, though, this offense should be significantly improved from what it has been over the last two or three seasons. It all starts with second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who is an extremely popular fantasy breakout candidate for this season, rightfully so.
Maye has legit rushing upside in the NFL, has a legit alpha #1 receiver in Stefon Diggs, and has a much-improved offensive line compared to last year. If you are someone who likes to wait on the quarterback position in drafts, this is the premier candidate to target with that strategy.
Speaking of Stefon Diggs, the veteran receiver is seemingly on track to play week 1 this season after tearing his ACL last year in Houston, and he should see a TON of targets weekly throughout the season. I like DeMario Douglas as a deep sleeper in drafts and Hunter Henry as a nice floor play at the tight end position, but for all intents and purposes, Stefon Diggs is the only exciting weapon in this passing game as things stand right now.
Fantasy managers should draft Diggs with confidence over the next week or so, as the player seems to be fully healthy and is set up for a massive amount of opportunity in this New England offense this season.
At the running back position in New England, TreVeyon Henderson is the talk of the town right now, and it seems that he has almost completely pushed Rhamondre Stevenson to the side as a rookie. Henderson may not get a ton of carries weekly throughout the season, but that is ok, because the rookie is highly explosive and can take it to the house on literally any given play. At the end of the day, there is a lot of promise with this New England Patriots offense, and a lot of underrated value to be found in fantasy drafts over the next week or so as well.
Cleveland Browns Passing Game Weapons
The Cleveland Browns may be in a very rough spot as a team, but there is no denying that all of the team’s passing game weapons just got a big fantasy boost when Joe Flacco was named the starter at the quarterback position. Flacco may be old, but he has shown in the past that he can absolutely support high-level fantasy producers. Just go back to 2023 and look at what he did with David Njoku down the stretch that year. Njoku was literally a league winner with Flacco at the helm for those handful of games.
Flacco may not remain the starter in Cleveland for the entire season due to the team’s overall struggles. Still, for now, at least, Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman, and David Njoku all benefit significantly from Flacco being the one to throw them the ball on a weekly basis. I personally tend to think that last year was a bit of an outlier season for Jerry Jeudy.
I have never really been the biggest fan of David Njoku over the years, but Cedric Tillman is a value right now heading into the year, and someone that you should be targeting late in drafts to fill out the bottom of your roster. Plus, Quinshon Judkins still has yet to sign his rookie contract in Cleveland, so Joe Flacco might have to pass more than anticipated this year, to start the season at least.
Indianapolis Colts Passing Game Weapons
No matter what you think of Daniel Jones as a real-life player in the NFL, there is no denying that he is a much more stable and consistent passer than Anthony Richardson at the quarterback position at this point in each of their respective careers. Due to this, more stable passing and Jones recently being named the starter in Indianapolis, every single one of the Colts’ passing game weapons has just received a massive boost in potential fantasy production.
The weapon that I am personally most excited for is Tyler Warren. Although the touchdown upside might be a bit capped here due to the overall slow pace of the offense this year, Daniel Jones has shown in the past that he loves to pass over the middle of the field, which is where Tyler Warren thrives at the tight end position. Just look at what Jones did with Wan’Dale Robinson in New York last year and how much he fed the young slot receiver throughout the year.
Additionally, the Colts have been trying to find every way possible to get Tyler Warren the football during this training camp and preseason, as the team has given him screens, jet sweeps out of the backfield, and even deployed him as a true downfield target. This signals that big things are coming for the star rookie tight end in this offense this season.
I am not nearly as excited about guys like Josh Downs and Michael Pittman as I am with Tyler Warren. However, those two are still worth taking shots on in drafts as well, now that the offensive ecosystem and environment are more stable for everybody with Daniel Jones at the helm as opposed to Anthony Richardson.
Denver Broncos Wide Receivers Outside of Courtland Sutton
Courtland Sutton is clearly the alpha in the Denver Broncos’ passing game. Still, the three receivers outside of Sutton just got a massive vote of confidence from Sean Payton and his coaching staff when the team decided to trade away second-year receiver Devaughn Vele to the New Orleans Saints last week. This move signaled that Payton and his staff have a lot of confidence in their young receiving core outside of Courtland Sutton, and all of them should contribute to at least some extent.
Troy Franklin looks primed for a year two leap in the NFL, Pat Bryant will likely contribute sooner than expected as a rookie this season, and Marvin Mims is seemingly finally ready to break out in this offense.
I personally will be targeting Marvin Mims late in drafts, because I expect him to eventually step up as the WR2 next to Sutton here in Denver this season, as Mims showed elite explosiveness and downfield separation ability across the second half of the season last year. Whichever guy you believe in out of the three, take them, and see how it all plays out. You never know who will step up and who won’t. Might as well take a chance and see what happens.
Washington Commanders RBs
With the trade of Brian Robinson Jr. to the San Francisco 49ers, the entire Washington Commanders backfield has been shooting WAY UP draft boards over the last few days. Rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt has obviously been getting all the buzz and hype throughout training camp and preseason this summer, but other guys provide good value in this Washington backfield as well. I slightly prefer Austin Ekeler over Croskey-Merritt this year, because we have actually seen it before from Ekeler, and Croskey-Merritt is only a seventh-round rookie. Plus, the rookie is not necessarily known for his pass-catching ability, and that is where Ekeler absolutely thrives.
However, if both Austin Ekeler and Jacory Croskey-Merritt are off the board but you still want a part of this Washington Commanders backfield, take Chris Rodriguez with the very last pick of your draft, and see how it plays out to start the season. It literally will not cost you anything. Rodriguez showed some very nice flashes whenever he actually got on the field last year for the Commanders, so he is absolutely worth a stash if you ask me.
