Fantasy Football 2025 Mock Draft Strategy, Cheat Sheet Entering Preseason Week 1

The NFL preseason is upon us, and the actual 2025 campaign will arrive shortly behind it.

If you haven't started your fantasy football draft preparations yet, it's getting close to cram-session time.

Coming here was a good start, though. After laying out our top-10 positional rankings cheat-sheet style (for PPR formats), we'll finish with some helpful tips for the getting the most out of the invaluable research tool known as mock drafting.

Positional Top-10 Rankings

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Quarterback

1. Josh Allen, BUF
2. Lamar Jackson, BAL
3. Jalen Hurts, PHI
4. Jayden Daniels, WAS
5. Patrick Mahomes, KC
6. Joe Burrow, CIN
7. Baker Mayfield, TB
8. Justin Fields, NYJ
9. Dak Prescott, DAL
10. Brock Purdy, SF

Running Back

1. Bijan Robinson, ATL
2. Saquon Barkley, PHI
3. Jahmyr Gibbs, DET
4. Christian McCaffrey, SF
5. Ashton Jeanty, LV
6. Derrick Henry, BAL
7. De'Von Achane, MIA
8. Chase Brown, CIN
9. Jonathan Taylor, IND
10. Bucky Irving, TB

Wide Receiver

1. Ja'Marr Chase, CIN
2. Justin Jefferson, MIN
3. CeeDee Lamb, DAL
4. Puka Nacua, LAR
5. Amon-Ra St. Brown, DET
6. Nico Colins, HOU
7. Malik Nabers, NYG
8. Brian Thomas Jr., JAX
9. A.J. Brown, PHI
10. Drake London, ATL

Tight End

1. Brock Bowers, LV
2. George Kittle, SF
3. Trey McBride, ARI
4. Sam LaPorta, DET
5. T.J. Hockenson, MIN
6. Travis Kelce, KC
7. David Njoku, CLE
8. Evan Engram, DEN
9. Mark Andrews, BAL
10. Dalton Kincaid, BUF

Defense/Special Teams

1. Denver Broncos
2. Philadelphia Eagles
3. Pittsburgh Steelers
4. Baltimore Ravens
5. Houston Texans
6. Minnesota Vikings
7. Buffalo Bills
8. Detroit Lions
9. Los Angeles Chargers
10. Kansas City Chiefs

Kicker

1. Brandon Aubrey, DAL
2. Cameron Dicker, LAC
3. Jake Bates, DET
4. Chase McLaughlin, TB
5. Harrison Butker, KC
6. Wil Lutz, DEN
7. Chris Boswell, PIT
8. Evan McPherson, CIN
9. Ka'imi Fairbairn, HOU
10. Tyler Bass, BUF

Mock Draft Strategy

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Try to experiment—within reason.

Since there are no stakes in the mock-drafting world, this is your chance to experiment with different roster builds you may not consider during the actual campaign. If you're someone who always starts with a couple of running backs and receivers among your first three or four picks, try spending one of those picks on a quarterback or tight end instead and see how that impacts your final roster.

This is also your chance to move away from average draft positions, although straying too far risks distorting the data. If, however, you're a round(ish) higher than consensus on a particular player, it's fine to take them where you see fit. Then, you can gain real-time data on the cost of that "reach;" maybe once the draft snakes back around to you, you'll see this wasn't any reach at all.

Use the closest to your home league settings as you can find.

Fantasy leagues offer myriad formats at this point. Your league might reward one, one-half or zero points per reception. It could feature six points for a touchdown pass instead of the typical four. Maybe your league includes a superflex spot or multiple starting quarterbacks.

Regardless of scoring format, though, you should recreate as much of it as possible into the mock draft rooms you're entering. You want to make this as close to the real thing as you can. That way you should have a relatively good idea of what will happen when you're actually on the clock.

Draft from different spots.

If your league doesn't predetermine draft spots based on last year's results, then chances are you may not know where you'll be picking in the first round yet. That's why you should move around mock draft boards, or enter enough different mocks that you wind up with early, middle and late first picks.

This is even more true if you have any control over your selection spot. You might think you want an early star or a late first to stack two picks together quickly, but you won't really know until you've had a chance to see how those rosters look in their entirety.