8 Fantasy Sleepers to Keep a Close Eye On in 2025 NFL Training Camp

Training camps are underway across the NFL. It’s a time of great excitement for fantasy managers, as it means draft season will soon be in full swing. It’s an opportunity to learn quite a bit about teams’ plans for the season to come.

But it can also be a bit perilous. Fantasy managers are genetically predisposed to overreact to anything and everything that happens in camp. A third-string wideout makes a highlight-reel catch? He’s a sure-fire star. A starting quarterback throws three picks? He’s dead to us. That bum.

It’s not your fault—we’re just wired that way.

However, there is valuable information that can be gleaned from training camp. Across the league, there are unresolved position battles, whether it’s quarterback in Indianapolis or running back in Dallas. Players are jockeying for bigger roles. Attempting to return from injury. Looking to make a big dent in season No. 1.

In all of those situations, there is some fantasy “sleeper” appeal. Sleeper may well be the most overused word in fantasy, but essentially it just means players available late in drafts with the potential to blow away their modest asking price.

Every player listed here is available in the double-digit rounds on average. And each and every one of them has the potential to be the kind of late-round gem-turned weekly starter of which fantasy championships are made.

QB Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks

AP Photo/Ryan Sun

ADP: QB28, 178th Overall

It has been quite the past year for Sam Darnold. First came last season’s shocking career season, with Darnold leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record while throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 scores on the way to a QB7 fantasy finish.

Then came Minnesota’s decision that J.J. McCarthy was the future under center in Minnesota. And a three-year, $100.5 million contract to replace Geno Smith as the starter in Seattle.

The fantasy community apparently believes that either Darnold’s big 2024 campaign was a fluke or that he can’t back it up playing for a new team. But Fantasy Alarm’s Andrew Cooper wrote that Darnold’s new team sets him up nearly as well for fantasy success as the loaded offense in Minnesota.

“It shouldn’t just be Seahawks fans who are excited for 2025. Fantasy football gamers should be fired up as well. And it’s not just about what Sam Darnold brings to the table but about what new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak’s scheme will bring as well. This is a smart quarterback jumping into one of the most QB-friendly offenses in the league.”

To be fair, Seattle’s offensive line is a legit concern—Pro Football Focus ranks it as the third-worst unit in the league. And Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp aren’t on the same level as Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

But the drop-off isn’t that precipitous, and it’s not that often that a top-10 quarterback from the season before is available essentially for free.

QB Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts

AP Photo/Michael Conroy

ADP: QB32, 238th Overall

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones isn’t asleep. He’s in a coma—with the exception of deep leagues and superflex formats, Jones isn’t being drafted at all in most fantasy leagues.

It’s not hard to see why—Jones hasn’t won the starting job for the Colts yet, and when last we saw him Jones was barely clearing 2,000 passing yards with just eight touchdown passes in 10 starts for the New York Giants in 2024. Anthony Richardson is being drafted ahead of Jones—especially after news that the former’s injured shoulder is “OK.”

But while Richardson has been sidelined, Jones reportedly built a “significant lead” in the competition to start under center in Indy. And while Richardson is incredibly athletic, he’s also wildly inaccurate, completing just 47 percent of his passes in 2024.

A quarterback who can’t throw the ball is a problem.

Jones has shown the ability to be fantasy-relevant in the past. Back in 2022, Jones had the best season of his career, throwing for 3,205 yards and 15 scores. Those numbers aren’t especially appealing, but when you tack on the 708 yards and seven scores Jones added on the ground you get a top-12 fantasy quarterback.

Is Jones an especially good NFL quarterback? Nope. But he’s a far better passer than Richardson, and the passing game weapons in Indianapolis are significantly better than what Jones had in New York in 2022.

If “Danny Dimes” wins this competition, he’s going to be far more productive than his non-existent draft cost.

RB Javonte Williams, Dallas Cowboys

AP Photo/Jack Dempsey

ADP: RB38, 112th Overall

There was a time when the sky appeared the limit for Javonte Williams—as a rookie with the Denver Broncos in 2021, Williams topped 1,200 total yards, averaged 4.4 yards per carry and led the NFL with 31 broken tackles.

But Williams tore up his knee the following season, and just hasn’t looked the same since. In 2024, he set a career-low with 513 rushing yards and failed to hit four yards per carry for the second straight season.

Now, Williams is trying to revive his career in Dallas, and he told reporters he feels fully healthy for the first time since that rookie season.

"I feel completely like myself. I probably can get more flexible and things like that, but as far as healing up, that I feel like is done. It just depends on who you are, it depends on your body… mine might take this amount of time, but somebody else might be different. It's a lot that goes into it that people don't really understand. Just to be back out here and have another opportunity and chance to show myself, I can't ask for nothing else."

Williams isn’t guaranteed the lead job in Dallas—he’s competing with veteran Miles Sanders and rookie Jaydon Blue. But Sanders was awful the past two years in Carolina (just 55 carries in 2024), and Blue is an undersized back.

If Williams truly is healthy again, he should win this competition—and Dallas got a 1,000-yard season and low-end fantasy RB2 numbers out of Rico “Not Exactly Barry Sanders” Dowdle last year.

RB J.K. Dobbins, Denver Broncos

AP Photo/David Zalubowski

ADP: RB40, 119th Overall

When he was on the field over five NFL seasons, J.K. Dobbins has been a solid player—he has averaged a robust 5.2 yards per carry and topped 1,000 total yards last year with the Los Angeles Chargers while ranking 18th among running backs in PPR points per game.

But Dobbins has also struggled to stay on the field, including a lost 2021 campaign and four missed games a year ago.

Dobbins languished in free agency for some time before landing with the Denver Broncos—after Denver used a second-round pick in April’s draft on R.J. Harvey. Dobbins has been relegated to late-round dart-throw status, but as Jon Heath wrote for Broncos Wire, Denver head coach Sean Payton has a history of using a two-headed backfield.

“In 2017, then-rookie New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara played in a shared backfield with veteran Mark Ingram, who rushed for 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns that season, adding 58 receptions for 416 yards. Kamara also had a notable role as he rushed for 728 yards and eight touchdowns while adding 81 receptions for 826 yards and five scores.

Splitting reps, both RBs stayed healthy for all 16 games that season. Ingram (1,540 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns) ended the year ranked sixth among RBs in both standard and PPR fantasy football leagues. Kamara (1,554 yards and 13 touchdowns) ranked fourth in standard leagues, and his 81 receptions helped him rank third in PPR that year.”

That’s admittedly a best-case scenario and then some. But it wouldn’t be even a little surprising to see Dobbins get a lot more run with the starters in training camp than many appear to expect.

And if that’s the case, fantasy managers should be ready to pounce before Dobbins’ asking price in drafts starts to increase.

WR Tre Harris, Los Angeles Chargers

AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea

ADP: WR54, 135th Overall

Tre Harris’ was the second-round pick of the Chargers in April after averaging over 17 yards a catch the past two seasons and topping 1,000 receiving yards in just eight games at Ole Miss a year ago. Harris possesses an intriguing combination of size and speed, and with the sudden retirement of Mike Williams a number of targets (and a path to becoming the Bolts’ No. 2 wide receiver) have opened up.

In fact, Derek Brown of Fantasy Pros was on board with the idea of Harris ascending the depth chart even before Williams decided to hang them up.

“Once training camp opens, he’ll go zooming up boards, so I’ll take another opportunity to hype him up here. Harris, the soul-snatching route savant, landed with the Bolts in the second round of the NFL Draft. He should quickly become Justin Herbert‘s trusted second option in the passing game opposite Ladd McConkey. If the Bolts remain a pass-happier team than people realize in 2025, Harris could be one of the best values in fantasy football drafts this season. Last year in Weeks 7-18, the Bolts ranked eighth in neutral passing rate and sixth-best in pass rate over expectation. If that continues and Harris can spread his wings in this offense, he could crush his average draft position (ADP) in 2025.”

McConkey’s status as the top wideout in Los Angeles appears safe. But as things stand now, the only player standing between Harris and that No. 2 wideout role is Quentin Johnston, who has been a massive disappointment since being drafted in the first round in 2023.

If Harris puts on a show in camp, he could wind up fantasy’s most productive first-year receiver in 2025.

WR Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns

AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman

ADP: WR65, 169th Overall

It’s understandable that fantasy managers aren’t especially excited about players for the Cleveland Browns this year. If the Browns aren’t the worst team in the league, they are on the short list. The team has four quarterbacks on the roster (five if you include Deshaun Watson) and no idea who the Week 1 starter will be.

It’s also understandable that Cleveland receiver Cedric Tillman isn’t generating a ton of fantasy enthusiasm. In two seasons, Tillman has caught 50 passes for 563 yards and three touchdowns. But as Jared Smola of Draft Sharks pointed out, those stats don’t tell the whole story with Tillman.

“Tillman had a brief but explosive flash in a full-time role last year, averaging 10 targets, six catches, 75.5 yards and 0.8 touchdowns across four games. Only seven wideouts averaged more PPR points per game over that stretch. Tillman is a good bet for a full-time role in 2025, making him an easy click late in fantasy drafts.”

Over that month-long stretch last season, it was Tillman (and not Jerry Jeudy) who was effectively Cleveland’s No. 1 receiver. A concussion ended Tillman’s season, but he appears to have a clear path toward a starting role this year.

Assuming that’s the case, Tillman should see single coverage with regularity as defenses focus on Jeudy and tight end David Njoku. Don’t be surprised if Tillman turns heads in camp.

And if the Browns can get anything remotely resembling competent quarterback play, Tillman could keep right on turning heads into the regular season.

TE Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

ADP: TE17, 145th Overall

For a moment, it appeared that we were going to see a changing of the guard at tight end in Baltimore last year. In the season opener last year, Isaiah Likely caught nine passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. The fourth-year pro came a fraction of an inch from a second score in that contest.

However, by season’s end Likely had once again taken a back seat to Mark Andrews—Andrews was sixth in PPR points among tight ends, while Likely finished 10 slots lower.

Still, as Theo Gremminger wrote at Fantasy Points, Likely remains one of the more appealing tight end options available outside the top-15—if only because only one thing needs to happen to thrust Likely into fantasy relevance.

Andrews just needs to get out of the danged way.

“When we look further down into the depths of TE2 land and beyond, there are several intriguing players. But no one combines more upside with more downside risk than Isaiah Likely. Yes, Mark Andrews returns to Baltimore, but there are multiple outs for Likely to return value. If Andrews misses time, Likely becomes an instant Top-6 TE. If Andrews regresses and Likely takes over--a possibility that grows more realistic with Andrews approaching 30--Likely is again a Top-6 option, or better. I’ll take it one step further: if Likely fully takes over as the team’s TE1, he could become Baltimore’s No. 1 target over Zay Flowers.”

Both Andrews and Likely are entering contract years. The former is the past at the position in Baltimore. The latter is the future. It makes sense for the Ravens to scheme Likely more looks this year, and the first inkling they are doing so should come in camp.

If that’s the case, Likely could be this year’s surprise breakout at tight end—even if it’s really not that big a surprise.

TE Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars

AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack

ADP: TE21, 177th Overall

The tight end position is fantasy football’s most difficult to figure out. There are three elite options in Brock Bowers of the Raiders, Arizona’s Trey McBride and San Francisco’s George Kittle. A handful of mid-range starters like Kansas City’s Travis Kelce. And then a massive morass of “maybe.”

Brenton Strange of the Jacksonville Jaguars definitely falls into that latter category, although he showed some flashes in 2024 with Evan Engram on the shelf. In fact, Strange showed enough that Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports singled him out as a potential third-year breakout.

“Strange has the physical goods to emerge as one of the most dynamic young tight ends in football. At right around 6-4 and 255-ish pounds, the former Penn State prospect ran 4.70 at the combine with a broad jump and vertical in the 82nd and 91st percentiles at the position. Last year, Strange moved into a more central role within the Jaguars offense post-Evan Engram's injury. Now he has an young, offensive-minded coach calling the plays and defenses focusing on stopping Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter. Strange forced nine missed tackles on his 40 grabs in 2024, which indicates serious tackle-breaking/avoiding capabilities. We'll all consider his former second-round pick as one of the up-and-coming youthful tight ends in football after the 2025 campaign.”

An athletic tight end who can create mismatches over the middle. A head coach in Liam Coen who isn’t shy about throwing to the position. Wide receivers who will draw coverage away. All the ingredients are there.

If Strange can build on last year and shows a good rapport with Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, he could be a season-saver for fantasy managers who are reluctant to pay retail at the position in 2025.

Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow Gary on X at @IDPGodfather.