Get ready for your fantasy football draft with our fantasy football draft day cheat sheets. Our analysts dive into their favorite fantasy football draft targets and sleepers, as well as overvalued players and busts they’re avoiding in drafts. Let us help you prepare for your fantasy football draft with our cheat sheets! And use our Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet Creator to create your cheat sheet using our expert rankings, notes, and player tags.
Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
Tight End Sleepers
Zach Ertz still appears to have gas left in the tank at age 34. He had 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns last season, finishing TE8 in half-point PPR scoring. After scoring only one touchdown over his first 10 games of 2024, Ertz scored six touchdowns over Washington’s last seven regular-season games. He scored another TD in the playoffs and went out with an 11-catch, 104-yard performance in the Commanders’ season ending loss to Ertz’s former team, the Eagles. After playing a full season for the first time since 2021, Ertz agreed to a one-year deal that will keep him in Washington. He and young QB Jayden Daniels developed strong chemistry. Despite his age, Ertz could be a sneaky-good late-round TE option in 2025.
Tight End Busts
T.J. Hockenson missed seven games in 2024 while recovering from the devastating knee injury he sustained in December 2023. Upon his return, he had 41 catches for 455 yards in 10 games but didn’t score any touchdowns. Hockenson has been a trusted brand name at the TE position, but he’s entering his age-28 season and has missed 26 games over the last four seasons. Hockenson must share targets with Vikings WRs Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, and those targets will be coming from a quarterback who’s never started an NFL game, top 2023 Minnesota draft pick J.J. McCarthy.
Check out Fitz’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet 
DBro’s Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
Quarterback Sleepers
Yes, I know we haven’t seen J.J. McCarthy play outside of an abbreviated preseason sample last year, but I’ll be targeting him everywhere this season. This should remain a pass-happy offense after ranking eighth in neutral passing rate and third in pass rate over expectation last year (per Fantasy Points Data). The Vikings remain loaded with skill players and added to the offensive line this offseason to give their new signal caller all the time in the world to dice up opposing pass defenses in 2025. Sam Darnold (yes, that Sam Darnold) finished as the QB9 in fantasy points per game last year, continuing a long history of Kevin O’Connel’s quarterbacks finishing as QB1s. I believe McCarthy will keep that streak alive. He was a stellar prospect who has been airdropped into the perfect situation. In his final collegiate season, McCarthy ranked inside the top 12 FBS quarterbacks in passing grade, adjusted completion rate, yards per attempt, adjusted completion rate with downfield throws, and against pressure (per PFF). It’s wheels up for McCarthy in 2025.
Quarterback Busts
Last year, Jared Goff’s 6.9% passing touchdown rate (third-best in the NFL) carried him to a QB7 finish in fantasy points per game. His previous best finish in fantasy points per game was QB11 in 2023. Goff could be a QB1 again in 2025, but he’ll have to continue to be a touchdown outlier. He doesn’t have the rushing equity to offset a downtick in the passing department. Goff’s previous best passing touchdown rate as a Lion was 5.0%. This isn’t to say Goff hasn’t been and won’t again this year be a damn good starting NFL quarterback. Last year, among 40 qualifying quarterbacks, he ranked second in yards per attempt, 12th in CPOE, and fourth in highly accurate throw rate (per Fantasy Points Data). Goff is best viewed as a top-15 fantasy quarterback who could be a low-end QB1 again in 2025.
Check out DBro’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
Erickson’s Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
Running Back Busts
Saquon Barkley will be popular after arguably the greatest season we have ever seen from the position. Over 2,000 rushing yards as the only skill player to average more than 20 points per game in half-PPR. He led the NFL in touches with nearly 500…running effectively behind the league’s best OL. But as was the case with Christian McCaffrey last season…leading the NFL in touches by such a vast margin is essentially the kiss of death for running backs the following year. Only two RBs finished as RB1s the following year after leading the NFL in touches since 2013. Ezekiel Elliott is the only one over that period to finish inside the top 5.
Wide Receiver Busts
Tyreek Hill was a mega bust in 2024, but so much of his poor performance can be placed on the injury to Tua Tagovailoa. Now, admittedly, even when Tua was healthy, Hill still underperformed vs. draft expectations. In those 11 games with his southpaw starting QB, Hill went over 100 yards twice, averaging 12.4 fantasy points per game (WR18). He had a wrist injury that he dealt with from Week 1 and his yards per route run cratered to a 1.75 mark – less than half of his 2023 yards per route run. Not to mention, the Cheetah just turned 31 years old, suggesting the age cliff might be near. And let’s not forget Hill’s outburst at the end of the 2024 season, which could lead to Miami moving on from the veteran WR.
Check out Erickson’s full Fantasy Football Draft Cheat Sheet
Subscribe: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | iHeart | Castbox | Amazon Music | Podcast Addict | TuneIn
