Fantasy Football Biggest Draft Steals of 2025: Drake Maye, Travis Etienne and More

The end of the NFL season brings sadness but also excitement about the playoffs ahead. It is a time for reflection, as we see from NFL teams firing coaches on Monday.

In fantasy football, that means reflecting on the players who were the best and worst draft picks based on ADP and where they finished the season. On top of the misery (or jubilation) of past decisions, there are always lessons to learn.

Let's look at some of the biggest fantasy steals of the 2025 season. We will focus on guys who were drafted in fantasy and overperformed more than those who came out of nowhere due to injury, but we will also include some players from the latter category when applicable.

Most stats are from NFL.com. Fantasy ADPs and final rankings are from our FantasySP bust data, and rankings are accurate through Week 17, when most fantasy leagues finish their season.

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Quarterback

• Drake Maye, New England Patriots
• Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
• Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
• Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears

This is too many guys to include, but they ranked second through sixth in fantasy points (in the order they are listed), and none of the five were drafted higher than 12th among quarterbacks; Stafford and Lawrence were in the 20s.

Maye and Stafford are the two MVP favorites and finished essentially tied in fantasy points and behind only Josh Allen. Maye has a more sustainable fantasy model, both because he's younger and because of his running (450 yards and four TDs on the ground). Stafford finished with his fourth-highest yardage total and the most touchdowns of his career, a league-leading 46 with just eight interceptions. Maye will be drafted as a top-five QB next year, but Stafford might still sit outside the top 10 if he continues playing.

Lawrence and Williams fit the same mold as former No. 1 overall picks who had shown flashes but also struggles, and they each got a new offensive-minded head coach in the offseason. Williams was expected to improve because it was only his second season, but no one assumed Lawrence was about to burst onto the scene as a top fantasy player. Like Maye, Lawrence helped himself in fantasy by running the ball, finishing with 359 yards and nine touchdowns.

Prescott just threw the ball all season. He finished second in pass attempts, third in passing yards, and fourth in passing touchdowns. Volume helped him stay among the fantasy leaders all season until he sat out the second half in a meaningless Week 18.

Running Back

• Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Javonte Williams, Dallas Cowboys

Etienne was seen as being on the way out of Jacksonville. Though he had found some previous success, he had never really taken off after being a first-round pick in 2021, and a career-worst 2024 had him trending the wrong direction. Tank Bigsby was getting more fantasy attention than Etienne; then the season started.

Jacksonville's top back had 16 carries for 143 yards in a Week 1 win over the Panthers that looks much better now than it did at the time. Bigsby touched the ball five times for 12 yards, and he was shipped to Philadelphia before Week 2. Etienne went on to gain around 1,400 total yards with 13 touchdowns (seven rushing).

There was plenty of consternation around the Cowboys' backfield, as instead of making a big move, they brought in low-level free agents Williams and Miles Sanders. While Sanders played just four games, Williams took the top spot from Week 1, running for over 1,200 yards on 4.8 per attempt with 11 touchdowns (and two more receiving).

Both players are free agents and could return, but given the nature of the running back position, it wouldn't be a surprise to see each guy in a new home next season (maybe Etienne in Dallas if they decide to take a bigger swing).

The best lesson we can take here is that guys in clear RB1 spots are worth their weight in gold. We didn't know that either guy was going to take the reins the way he did, but next year when an underwhelming player seems primed for touches, remember these two, who both finished right around RB10.

Undrafted Star: Rico Dowdle, Carolina Panthers

Dowdle seemed to be joining the Panthers as nothing more than a backup. When Chuba Hubbard missed Weeks 5 and 6, Dowdle did his best Lou Gehrig impression, combining for 389 rushing yards, 84 receiving yards, and two touchdowns in those games.

He kept succeeding over the next month, topping 50 rushing yards every game and scoring three touchdowns in four games, but Dowdle then slowed down over the final seven games, reaching 50 yards only twice, never hitting 60, and scoring just one touchdown.

Dowdle ended up as a top-20 fantasy RB in both standard and PPR. He will be a hotter commodity next season, but it will be hard to pick out the next Dowdle because he got his first real chances due to injuries, which are often random.

Wide Receiver

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks
• George Pickens, Dallas Cowboys
• Chris Olave, New Orleans Saints
• Michael Pittman Jr., Indianapolis Colts
• Wan'Dale Robinson, New York Giants

Again, we have a lot of names here. These guys excelled to different degrees, beginning with Smith-Njigba jumping from an ADP of WR15 to a finish of WR1 in standard and WR2 in PPR behind Puka Nacua. We expected him to improve his numbers with the wide receiver depth chart cleared out around him in Seattle, but Smith-Njigba emerged as one of the best receivers in football.

Pickens always had a little more potential than production, starting in college, when he missed much of his final season. Pittsburgh never had a high-level passing attack while he was there, but Pickens finally got the chance to shine in Dallas, where the team threw it all over the field. He was even able to act as the top guy for a few games when CeeDee Lamb was out.

Olave fell down draft boards because of the seeming dumpster fire that was the New Orleans offense, but rookie quarterback Tyler Shough was capable under center after taking over, and a team without many weapons around him saw Olave stand out: he led the Saints by far in every receiving stat and set new career highs in targets, receptions, yards, and touchdowns before missing Week 18.

Pittman suffered from the same affliction as Olave, seeing his stats decrease with bad quarterback play and entering 2025 with a subpar quarterback outlook. Then Daniel Jones started the season hotter than any other quarterback, and Pittman was a main beneficiary. Things slowed down over the final month once Jones went down, but Pittman showed that he still has it.

Robinson is our example here of the guy who benefited from an injury in front of him. Malik Nabers was lost for the season in Week 4, and Robinson stepped in to top 90 catches and 1,000 yards. Robinson is a free agent and was a second-round pick, so there could be interest around the league given his career-best work this year.

The biggest takeaway here is to trust talent. Each of those five players was a first- or second-round pick, so when you see talented guys sliding down ADP charts in the preseason, remember that skill often wins out.

Tight End

• Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
• Kyle Pitts Sr., Atlanta Falcons
• Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys

These guys were drafted as TE14, 15, and 16 (based on the order they are listed above), but they all finished among the top six at the position. Goedert was a touchdown king, scoring 11 of them after never previously topping five. His other numbers were in line with his career rates, so there is major regression potential next year.

Pitts entered the season as a meme more than a football player, but he was a PPR star, finishing second in that format thanks in part to 88 receptions, 20 more than his previous high and second only to Trey McBride at the position. Pitts is another free agent whose destination will inform much about his fantasy value.

Ferguson was another Dallas pass-catcher able to take advantage of Prescott's massive volume, as he caught 82 passes for a painfully inefficient 600 yards. Eight touchdowns helped him to a TE4 finish in PPR, but like Goedert, there could be major fantasy regression next year.

The lesson here is that volume is the most important thing at a position that often lacks big numbers. It's harder to find tight end production than it is any other offensive fantasy position, so if there are guys who will touch the ball, they should be high on your radar (that might sound obvious, but we tend to ignore the obvious things when we overthink).

I should also give a shoutout to Harold Fannin, the great rookie on the Browns who finished with 72 receptions, 731 yards, and seven total touchdowns (one rushing). Fannin was top-10 tight end and will be drafted as such next year, but he flew under the radar in the preseason and essentially wasn't drafted in any fantasy leagues.