There’s always a focus on the best landing spots for exciting offensive rookies: Ashton Jeanty immediately takes over as an alpha RB1 in Las Vegas, Omarion Hampton is Jim Harbaugh’s heir apparent runner in Los Angeles, Tet McMillan is Bryce Young’s new target hog, etc. But often, the positions teams don’t draft tell us just as much about how they feel about their own veteran players. Which veterans sneakily emerged from the 2025 NFL draft as fantasy football winners?
TL;DR:
- D’Andre Swift is Ben Johnson’s featured back (only added a 7th-round RB) on a vastly improved offense with a run-heavy playcaller, especially in the red-zone
- Chris Olave‘s promising start to his career was derailed by 2024 injuries, but he’s now Kellen Moore’s WR1 after the only offseason WR addition was Brandin Cooks
- Jerry Jeudy can continue his 2024 fireworks with Joe Flacco and Co., and only Cedric Tillman/Diontae Johnson as his WR target competition
Editor’s Note: Are you ready to get Swift, Olave, and/or Jeudy on discounted dynasty teams? We have many excellent orphan dynasty teams available, which are half the price of a new dynasty startup! You can look at each team’s roster and 2025 rookie draft picks on our Orphan page.
D’Andre Swift
After an extremely promising start to his career, nagging injuries and underwhelming performances made D’Andre Swift somewhat of an afterthought leading up to the 2024 fantasy season. His 2024 ADP plummeted to the 7th/8th round as the RB22 after spending the early parts of his career as a perennial top fantasy pick.
Even the depressed ADP seemed high after a disastrous start to last season. But some forget he was sneaky good for the remainder of the year (thank you to RotoViz’s Game Splits app):
His 237 PPR point-pace from Week 4 and onward would have made him the RB7 on the year, right between Kyren Williams and James Cook. This accomplishment is made even more impressive by the Bears’ significant offensive woes in 2024. Only eight teams scored fewer touchdowns, highlighted by an epically disastrous Shane Waldron-led “offense” that ranked 31st in yards with a total of nine touchdowns in his Week 1-10 tenure.
In one of the largest possible coaching upgrades in recent memory, Chicago hired old Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as head coach. Johnson led one of the most prolific offensive attacks during his time as the Lions’ play-caller from 2022-2024. This included one of the most potent rushing attacks in the league, especially when the game was close or the Lions were winning. Here are the Lions’ 2022-2024 rushing splits when they either won a game or lost by 3 points or fewer (another hat-tip to RotoViz and their Team Splits app):
This is confirmed by their consistently top-tier basic rushing stats as well as incredible RB usage in scoring position:
| Year | Rush Atts | Rush Yds | Rush TDs | RB1 Att Inside 10 | RB2 Att Inside 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 13th | 11th | 3rd | 1st | T-17th |
| 2023 | 7th | 5th | T-1st | T-6th | T-15th |
| 2024 | 3rd | 6th | T-2nd | T-2nd | 11th |
Notice that multiple of the Lions running backs from 2022-2024 received an ample amount of carries inside the 10-yard line. Most will remember just how much work their main goal-line back received (Jamaal Williams and David Montgomery), but just as notable is how many carries their goal-line RB2 received.
Their goal-line RB2 never ranked lower than 17th in inside-the-10 carries among all running backs in the NFL! This is significant because of the Bears’ fickle usage at the goal-line last year: even if Swift isn’t their main goal-line back (it’s still likely he is), his floor is buoyed by just how often Ben Johnson’s teams run in the “green zone”.
Now, much of this is due to just how potent the Lions’ offense has been the past few seasons, with elite players all over the offensive side of the ball to gain and maintain leads. But even after Caleb Williams started his career in arguably the best situation of any top quarterback selection, the Bears have overloaded their offense with top-end talent in anticipation of Johnson’s inaugural season as head coach:
- Traded for two-time Pro Bowl guard Joe Thuney, formerly of the Chiefs
- Signed top free agent center Drew Dalman, formerly of the Falcons
- Drafted slot/YAC maven receiver Luther Burden at 39th overall
- Drafted tackle Ozzie Trapilo at 56th overall
Remember, this is all in addition to standout guard Jonah Jackson, 2023 first-round tackle Darnell Wright, 2024 first-round receiver Rome Odunze, as well as D.J. Moore. With the vast majority of the offense possessing a first or second-round pedigree along with Ben Johnson’s genius, it would be shocking if the Bears were not at least an above-average scoring offense in 2025.
It’s no secret that D’Andre Swift fell out of favor with Ben Johnson and the Lions back in 2022, who chose not to re-sign him and subsequently drafted Jahmyr Gibbs. With only 2023 fourth-round disappointment Roschon Johnson (regressed to a mere 55 carries for 150 yards as a sophmore) behind Swift entering the offseason, many believed the Bears would draft a running back on Day 1 or 2 of the 2025 draft.
But despite such buzz, they didn’t draft one until seventh-rounder Kyle Monangai: an inefficient, five-year college player who will already be 23 years old when training camp begins. Monangai is also a poor athlete who caught a mere 38 passes during his career, setting up Swift for a familiar receiving role:
Most screen targets per game with Ben Johnson as OC
[2022-2024]1. D’Andre Swift (1.4)
2. Jahmyr Gibbs (1.2)
3. Amon-Ra St. Brown (1.0)
4. David Montgomery (0.6)— Fantasy Points Data (@FantasyPtsData) April 30, 2025
While Swift is a far cry from Jahmyr Gibbs (his replacement and Ben Johnson’s former RB1), the fact that the Bears did not add any real competition in free agency or the draft says plenty about their satisfaction with him. Still in line for a peak season (turned 26 in January) and the clear RB1 for a likely excellent offense, Swift’s ADP of RB30 at the 8th/9th round (somehow worse than 2024) turn is too low as one of the 2025 NFL draft’s clear veteran winners.
Chris Olave
Despite average (at best) quarterback play to begin his career, Olave still showed a promising WR1 trajectory after a 119/72/1,042/3 rookie season and an improved 138/87/1,123/5 sophomore campaign. This wasn’t all that surprising after he achieved rarified air as a prospect coming out of Ohio State:
Nine FBS receivers since 2018 have cleared a 60th percentile adjusted career receiving yards per attempt AND an 80th percentile QB target rating.
Travis Hunter
+
Ja’Marr Chase
Justin Jefferson
CeeDee Lamb
DeVonta Smith
Garrett Wilson
Chris Olave
Marquise Brown
Marvin Mims— Dwain McFarland (@dwainmcfarland) March 10, 2025
While Olave’s concussion history is concerning, he fully practiced most of January 2025 and would have returned if the Saints were in contention. Until his concussion-laden 2024, he had played in 31 out of a possible 34 games.
His 2024 counting stats were underwhelming, but much of that was due to early-game injury. Take a look at his splits when he saw more than four targets and didn’t leave the game with a concussion:
The Saints were a potential candidate to add a target-earning wide receiver during free agency or the draft, especially after Rashid Shaheed’s mid-October meniscus injury (which required a full repair instead of a trim). But after adding only 32-year-old (in September) Brandin Cooks, they emerged from the draft without adding a single pass-catcher until the seventh round (tight end Moliki Matavao).
This is evidence of new head coach Kellen Moore’s confidence in Olave as their WR1:
Kellen Moore: “Chris Olave has had a huge impact on this team, he’s going to have a huge impact (this season).”
— Nick Underhill (@nick_underhill) April 1, 2025
This is excellent news for his fantasy prospects, as Kellen Moore’s previous WR1s have provided fantasy fireworks during his previous tenures as an offensive coordinator:
| Season (Moore's WR1) | Targets | Rec | Yds | TDs | WR Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 (Amari Cooper) | 119 | 79 | 1,189 | 8 | WR10 |
| 2020 (Amari Cooper) | 130 | 92 | 1,114 | 5 | WR16 |
| 2021 (CeeDee Lamb) | 120 | 79 | 1,102 | 6 | WR19 |
| 2022 (CeeDee Lamb) | 156 | 107 | 1,359 | 9 | WR5 |
| 2023 (Keenan Allen)* | 150 | 108 | 1,243 | 7 | WR3 (PPG) |
| 2024 (A.J. Brown)* | 97 | 67 | 1,079 | 7 | WR11 (PPG) |
*missed 4 games with injury
Currently being drafted as the WR31 (!) in the middle of the 6th-round, Olave’s risk is overly baked into his price as a potential target hog on an improved offense. Even if Derek Carr doesn’t don a Saints uniform in 2025, Moore’s handpicked replacement in 2nd-rounder Tyler Shough (arguably the 2nd-most pro-ready quarterback in the draft) shouldn’t be too big of a downgrade. There’s no reason he shouldn’t see 140+ targets if his health cooperates.
Jerry Jeudy
Those who still held onto their Jerry Jeudy “stock” after a bust-like start to his Bronco career were laughing all the way to the bank in 2024. Jeudy put together one of the least likely WR1 (WR12 overall) performances of the 2024 season, slashing 90/1,229/4 line with 138 targets (7th-most in the league).
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Unsurprisingly, averaging single-digit fantasy points per game with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and mega-failure Deshaun Watson at the helm, he went nuclear when slinger Jameis Winston started from Weeks 8-15:
A top-12 season despite playing over half the year with horrifically inept quarterback play is no small feat, and his 359 PPR point-pace would have made him the easy WR2 on the season (42 points ahead of actual WR2 Justin Jefferson).
No longer hamstrung by ownership’s insistence on starting Deshaun Watson after his Achilles injury, Kevin Stefanski brought back 2023 hero Joe Flacco (323 yards per game and 13 TDs in the final 5 weeks) as well as drafting Dillon Gabriel in the 3rd round and Shedeur Sanders in the 5th. Gabriel and Sanders will likely battle it out in training camp and pre-season for a top-two spot on the depth chart, with Flacco as a trusted executor of Stefanski’s offense (we’re not considering Kenny Pickett as a legitimate option here).
When he has a capable passer, Stefanski has not been afraid to sling it all over the yard. Here are the Browns’ offensive splits the past two years when Winston and Flacco played:
While Gabriel or Sanders are likely to make 2025 starts, Stefanski won’t be afraid to switch either out for an alternate if the passing offense is inadequate. Flacco can maintain his receiver’s floor (2024 Josh Downs) as well as help them elevate to their ceiling (2023 Amari Cooper and 2024 Alec Pierce), but it would be an added bonus if one of the rookies proves themselves as a startable option.
The Browns lost 2024 starter Elijah Moore in the offseason, leaving fantasy owners wondering if they were going to rely on Cedric Tillman as their WR2. But they neither signed nor drafted a wide receiver (DeAndre Carter is a return specialist) outside of Diontae Johnson.
Anyone who was still holding out hope for Johnson as a fantasy contributor put those aspirations to bed after he was traded at the 2024 deadline. He proceeded to catch a total of three passes with the Ravens (who released him shortly thereafter) and Texans (who desperately needed a receiver to step up after losing Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell). Johnson has zero guaranteed money on his deal, and the 28-year-old isn’t going to take looks from the 26-year-old Jeudy.
Again, a candidate to be among the league leaders in targets, Jeudy needs only for one of the many quarterbacks in the Browns’ stable to be average in order to return WR2 numbers. Being drafted after the aforementioned Chris Olave as the WR34 in the late 6th/early 7th round of early fantasy drafts, his ADP is due to rise as one of the biggest veteran winners of the 2025 NFL draft.
