Being on a winning team and Fantasy football success don’t necessarily need to correlate. Often in weeks, you’ll find the exact opposite with a top quarterback or wide receiver coming from a team that lost and was trailing big early in the game and needed to throw. The Bengals missed the playoffs last year after going 9-8, yet Joe Burrow was QB2 and Ja’Marr Chase was WR1 in Fantasy football. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Justin Jefferson followed Chase on winning teams, but then it was Brian Thomas, Drake London and Malik Nabers, all players on sub-.500 teams, as the next top-scoring wide receivers in Fantasy football last year. According to the latest 2025 Fantasy football ADP, Nabers, who hauled in 109 receptions for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns last season, is being drafted in the second round on average.
Should your 2025 Fantasy football draft strategy include targeting receivers on teams you expect to struggle? The Giants are one of four teams with an over/under win total at 5.5 on betting sites, but should that actually move Nabers up in 2025 Fantasy football rankings due to likely often being in pass-heavy game scripts? Before finalizing your 2025 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2025 Fantasy football rankings and cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model accurately predicted that Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert would fall well short of his ADP (RB23). The result: A season after rushing for over 1,000 yards and scoring 21 total touchdowns despite sharing time with De’Von Achane, Mostert fell out of favor in Miami and finished as RB60 after managing only 439 scrimmage yards and two touchdowns.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, identifying A.J. Brown as a sleeper in 2020, nailing Jonathan Taylor’s monstrous season in 2021 and correctly predicting C.J. Stroud would take a step back in 2024. Additionally, it’s called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.
The model is powered by the same people who generated projections for all three major Fantasy Football sites, and it beat human experts last season when there was a big difference in ranking. The 2025 Fantasy football PPR rankings and 2025 Fantasy football standard rankings update multiple times daily, so you’re always getting the best Fantasy football advice.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2025, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2025 Fantasy football busts
One of the 2025 Fantasy football busts the model is predicting: Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who has an ADP of No. 18. The 26-year-old is coming off another Fantasy RB1 season, finishing as the RB7 overall with 1,567 total yards and 12 touchdowns. There are major concerns for Fantasy owners to be aware of though, such as an extensive injury history that includes 16 missed games over the last three seasons.
Taylor also does not provide much value as a receiver out of the backfield, tallying fewer than 20 receptions in each of the last two campaigns. He ranked 37th among 45 qualifying running backs in target share last year, so his ceiling is lower than other players with a similar ADP. In fact, the model has him ranked outside the top 15 at his position, so he is a Fantasy football bust to avoid this year.
Another bust that SportsLine’s Fantasy football rankings 2025 have identified: Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden. This is another example of hype overinflating someone’s draft position, as the Green Bay Packers finally took a wide receiver in the first round of an NFL Draft for the first time since 2002. Golden was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and the third receiver selected, however, he’s being put into a crowded receiver room that includes Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson, who will be out for the start of the season (ACL) but should be back at some point this year.
Golden never broke 1,000 yards in his three college seasons, but he did lead the SEC with nine touchdown receptions last year at Texas. Golden is a speedy, big-play threat, so there could be some games where he puts together top-20 Fantasy football performances. However, the model isn’t expecting that to happen consistently in Year 1. He could be a boom-or-bust candidate on a weekly basis, one of those guys who seems to perform better on your bench than in your lineup, and based on where he’s going in 2025 Fantasy football drafts, the model views safer, veteran options to add to your squad. See which other Fantasy football busts 2025 to pick here.
How to find proven 2025 Fantasy football rankings
SportsLine is also fading one of the first five running backs off the board in early 2025 Fantasy football drafts. The model ranks this player falling outside the top 10 entirely and failing to live up to his first-round price tag. You can only see who it is, and the 2025 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2025 Fantasy Football busts should you be steering clear of? And which first-round RB shockingly falls out of the top 10 of the positional rankings? Visit SportsLine now to get 2025 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that helped managers avoid a disastrous Raheem Mostert season in 2024.
2025 Fantasy football ADP
(PPR, via CBS)
1. Ja’Marr Chase (1.81)
2. Bijan Robinson (2.25)
3. Saquon Barkley (3.69)
4. Jahmyr Gibbs (4.81)
5. CeeDee Lamb (5.88)
6. Justin Jefferson (6.25)
7. Christian McCaffrey (9.31)
8. Ashton Jeanty (10.62)
9. De’Von Achane (10.75)
10. Amon-Ra St. Brown (10.75)
