Fantasy Football 2025 Sleeper Cheat Sheet and Strategy Tips for Mock Drafts

The pads are on in NFL training camps, and fantasy football drafts are launching into high gear.

Perhaps you have a keeper who's the envy of your whole league. Perhaps you have the first pick in your draft order. These are good positions to be in—but they're not enough to keep you afloat until December.

Every year, thanks to injuries, trades, overperforming rookies and other unforeseen circumstances, sleepers are the fuel that propels a given fantasy team over the finish line. You can secure them now with some savvy drafting or watch the waiver wire like a hawk, but either way, you need to know which of these players should be on your shortlist as you round out your roster.

Here are the top sleepers at each of the FLEX positions—running back, wide receiver and tight end—as well as overall mock draft tips and strategies.

Sleeper Cheat Sheet

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Running Back Sleepers

1. J.K. Dobbins, Denver Broncos (ADP: 40)
2. Bhayshul Tuten, Jacksonville Jaguars (ADP: 46)
3. Austin Ekeler, Washington Commanders (ADP: 47)
4. Jaydon Blue, Dallas Broncos (ADP: 44)
5. Jaylen Wright, Miami Dolphins (ADP: 55)
6. Isaac Guerendo, San Francisco 49ers (ADP: 45)
7. Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears (ADP: 59)
8. Jerome Ford, Cleveland Browns (ADP: 50)
9. Tyler Allgeier, Atlanta Falcons (ADP: 54)
10. Nick Chubb, Houston Texans (ADP: 48)
11. Brashard Smith, Kansas City Chiefs (ADP: 63)
12. MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers (ADP: 61)

Wide Receiver Sleepers

1. Tre Harris, Los Angeles Chargers (ADP: 54)
2. Jayden Higgins, Houston Texans (ADP: 53)
3. Marvin Mims Jr., Denver Broncos (ADP: 56)
4. Cedric Tillman, Cleveland Browns (ADP: 66)
5. Kyle Williams, New England Patriots (ADP: 64)
6. Jack Bech, Las Vegas Raiders (ADP: 59)
7. Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens (ADP: 65)
8. Jalen McMillan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (ADP: 62)
9. Marquise Brown, Kansas City Chiefs (ADP: 57)
10. DeMario Douglas, New England Patriots (ADP: 74)
11. Jalen Coker, Carolina Panthers (ADP: 94)
12. Jaylin Noel, Houston Texans (ADP: 76)

Tight End Sleepers

1. Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts (ADP: 12)
2. Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons (ADP: 17)
3. Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars (ADP: 23)
4. Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders (ADP: 20)
5. Hunter Henry, New England Patriots (ADP: 19)
6. Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens (ADP: 18)
7. Mike Gesicki, Cincinnati Bengals (ADP: 22)
8. Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers (ADP: 24)
9. Elijah Arroyo, Seattle Seahawks (ADP: 32)
10. Mason Taylor, New York Jets (ADP: 26)

Mock Draft Strategies

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First, we must define the term sleeper, as it can mean different things to different people.

For our purposes, a sleeper is a player who has an average draft position (ADP) below 40 for running backs and wide receivers and below 12 for tight ends.

For one reason or another, these players have not yet reached their full potential. Some have had bad injury luck and have struggled to remain on the field. Others haven't been able to carve out a role in their respective offenses. Others still have done everything possible but are being poorly deployed or underutilized by their coaching staff.

Running backs have an outsized role in fantasy football, and the same is true heading into the 2025–26 season. However, there are a few unique factors at play heading into this year. One is the deep pool of 2025 rookie backs. Another is the relative age of the tried-and-true backs who are sure to come off the board early in drafts, such as Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon, Derrick Henry and Alvin Kamara, all of whom will be 29 or older heading into the season.

If you're managing a team in a keeper league, drafting a rookie running back is a must, not a tip. But even if you're in a redraft league, reserving a bench slot for a player you think may break out midseason is a savvy move.

Rookie running backs to keep an eye on include Omarion Hamptonm Quinshon Judkins, RJ Harvey, TreVeyon Henderson, Kaleb Johnson and Cam Skattebo. (You can and should expect standout rookie Ashton Jeanty to come off the board even in Round 1 of your redraft league.)

As for wide receiver, once you have your WR1 locked down, don't fret about who's going to fill your WR3, FLEX and bench slots. There are plenty of options.

Sleeper rankings and projections courtesy of Fantasy Pros and use Half PPR scoring