James Conner, Aging Veterans to Target as 2025 Fantasy Football Draft Values

Aging veterans may not be the most exciting players to select in fantasy football drafts, but these proven names can be the perfect way to round out your lineup with consistently effective weapons.

Every year it seems established vets tumble down the fantasy rankings and have ADPs far below where their finishes from the previous campaign would normally indicate.

While some experienced players do experience a rapid decline due to age, there are many instances where veterans have remained productive well into their 30s.

This won't change during the 2025 fantasy season, where there are a handful of grizzled contributors who stick out for a clear incongruence between recent production and ADP. While many are projecting these elder talents to fall off, shrewd managers can roll the dice and capitalize on them staving off Father Time for at least one more year.

With that in mind, here's a look at the aging players with high floors you should be targeting for their immense value during your upcoming fantasy football draft.

Fantasy stats, rankings and average draft position (ADP) are based on FantasyPros PPR data.

QB Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

AP Photo/Rey Del Rio

2024 Finish: QB6

2025 ADP: QB11 (No. 97 overall)

Jared Goff's path to becoming a top-tier fantasy signal-caller has been a winding one.

After falling out of favor with the Los Angeles Rams, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick wound up being a perfect fit with the Detroit Lions. His reemergence culminated with a career-best QB6 finish last year, building on the QB11 performance he posted in 2023.

Despite Goff flourishing at the helm of a high-octane Detroit passing attack—one that features an abundance of elite pass-catching weapons and is supported by both a strong offensive line and ground game—he is still being vastly underrated by fantasy managers.

The four-time Pro Bowler is coming off the board as the QB11 on average, a spot that should be considered his floor. He hasn't finished below that point since 2021, his first year in Detroit that coincided with the Lions' final rebuilding campaign.

When Detroit broke out as a contender in 2022, Goff rated as the QB10. He's since gone on to notch QB11 and QB6 finishes while overseeing a passing game that ranked No. 2 in the league in each of the last two seasons.

While detractors might point to the loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as a key reason for an impending decline, replacement John Morton has experience in Detroit's offense stemming from his stint with the team in 2022. He most recently helped Bo Nix develop into fantasy's QB7 as a rookie while working as the Denver Broncos' passing game coordinator in 2024.

With all of Goff's top seven targets from last year returning—and being further augmented by dynamic third-round rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa—the passer is a lock to rate as a top-10 fantasy QB with a great shot at notching the first top-five finish of his NFL career.

WR Mike Evans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AP Photo/Peter Joneleit

2024 Finish: WR14

2025 ADP: WR17 (No. 41 overall)

Mike Evans may be the safest fantasy pick a manager can make.

The receiver has never finished a season with fewer than 1,000 receiving yards and has continued to play at a superstar level despite being on the wrong side of 30. For fantasy purposes, he's finished below WR15 just once in the last seven years.

Evans is coming off another signature campaign, earning the sixth Pro Bowl nod of his 11-year career while putting up 1,004 yards and 11 touchdowns on 74 receptions. That was good for a WR14 finish, one that would have been even better had he not missed three games with injury. His 17.2 fantasy points per game average tied him for the 10th most at the position.

While health issues have caused the 31-year-old to be limited at times, he has missed a relatively meager five games since the start of his age-29 campaign in 2022. He's just over a year removed wrapping up one of the best fantasy seasons of his career, a WR7 performance in 2023 during which he appeared in all 17 games and led the league in receiving touchdowns.

The departure of offensive coordinator Liam Coen, the architect behind the NFL's No. 3 passing offense last year, is cause for some concern but shouldn't impact Evans too negatively.

First-round wideout Emeka Egbuka's presence may also result in a slight reduction from the 110 targets Evans garnered in 2024, but the veteran should remain atop the Bucs' pecking order and those below will likely see a far larger dip in volume.

Evans has found consistent success in a variety of systems with a litany of signal-callers and fellow pass-catchers throughout his time in the NFL. There's no reason to fear he will do anything but continue to dominate with Josh Grizzard now coordinating the Tampa offense and Egbuka competing for looks.

Expect Evans to produce like a top-15 fantasy receiver even if he does end up missing a handful of games with injury. If he can stay on the field, the top 10 will be well within striking distance.

WR Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

2024 Finish: WR19

2025 ADP: WR41 (No. 90 overall)

Jakobi Meyers was one of the few bright spots for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024. The team's offense was abysmal, but he made the most of his opportunity to prove himself following Davante Adams' early exit from the club.

The veteran finished as a top-25 receiver for the second consecutive year, putting up career highs of 87 receptions and 1,027 receiving yards on 129 targets.

While his touchdown total was cut in half from the career-high eight he put up in 2023, Meyers cemented his status as a fantasy weapon well worth adding to any roster.

The 28-year-old's performance last year looks even more impressive when you consider the Raiders were saddled with a brutal quarterback rotation that included Gardner Minshew II, Aidan O'Connell and Desmond Ridder all earning time at various points of the year.

With Geno Smith now providing the organization with some much-needed stability under center, Meyers' ceiling has been raised significantly.

The Raiders did add some competition for targets in the form of second-rounder Jack Bech and fourth-rounder Dont'e Thornton Jr., but the presence of these rookies—and the defensive attention they will command—should only help Meyers become more efficient in 2025.

With Ashton Jeanty giving a massive boost to the Vegas backfield, the pieces are all in place for the Raiders to emerge as a much more competent squad this season.

Despite his recent accolades and improved quarterback situation, Meyers is still being drafted in the WR4 range. There are few, if any, established veterans who have as strong a chance to greatly outperform their ADP, making him an excellent value selection in the middle rounds of a fantasy draft.

RB James Conner, Arizona Cardinals

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

2024 Finish: RB11

2025 ADP: RB19 (No. 46 overall)

James Conner just turned in the finest fantasy season of his lengthy NFL career and has shown no signs of slowing down.

Despite finishing just outside the top 10 at his position last year, the Arizona Cardinals back isn't coming off the board until the late-third or early-fourth rounds of most leagues.

Shrewd managers should capitalize on Conner's availability there and land a player who has continually shown he will be on the RB1 radar when healthy.

One of the knocks on the 30-year-old has been his penchant for missing time. Over the first seven years of his NFL career, he was sidelined for an average of 3.5 games per season. He turned in his healthiest campaign yet in 2024, though, suiting up for 16 contests while logging a career-high 283 touches.

That increase in volume didn't coincide with a reduction in efficiency, either. Conner's 4.6 yards per carry was the second-best of his career and his eight rushing touchdowns marked his most prolific scoring campaign since he tallied a whopping 15 during his first Cardinals season in 2021.

Concerns about Trey Benson—Arizona's second-round pick last year—shouldn't scare managers off from making this selection.

The 23-year-old mustered just 291 yards and a single touchdown on 63 carries last year and isn't likely to cut into Conner's goal-line role. Benson went as far as claiming "we're both RB1," a realistic possibility if the duo achieves its goal of becoming the NFL's top rushing attack.

With squads like the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers offering blueprints on how to feature two top-20 fantasy backs within the same offense, the Cardinals could soon join that exclusive group by getting the most out of both Benson and Conner.

Regardless of how Arizona's backfield timeshare plays out, Conner is going to be a safe pick as the starter. He’s poised to continue producing the type of consistent performances managers desire from this position, making the veteran a great anchor for any fantasy running back platoon.

TE Jonnu Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

2024 Finish: TE4

2025 ADP: TE13 (No. 117 overall)

Jonnu Smith further raised the bar on his unusual, late-blooming trajectory by finishing as fantasy football's TE4 in 2024.

It was far and away the strongest finish of the soon-to-be 30-year-old's career, one that not only earned him his first Pro Bowl nod but also resulted in him being a key part in one of the offseason's biggest trades.

After watching Smith break out with an 88-catch, 884-yard, eight-touchdown performance last year—all exceeding or matching his personal-best marks—the Miami Dolphins opted to ship the tight end and cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for Minkah Fitzpatrick and a late-round pick swap.

While the move resulted in Smith's ADP dropping—he's being drafted as the TE13 despite his stellar efforts last year—there's no reason to believe the veteran will fall off that hard with his new team.

With Aaron Rodgers at the helm of Pittsburgh's offense, Smith will have the opportunity to work with one of the best quarterbacks in league history.

Escaping a dysfunctional New York Jets franchise and joining a Steelers squad that made the playoffs last year should help Rodgers turn back the clock.

The 41-year-old will need weapons in an offense poised to pass far more than it did last year. While the Steelers only threw on 51.7 percent of offensive plays in 2024—the fifth-lowest mark in the league—this upgrade under center could see them flip the script. Rodgers' Jets ranked No. 4 in the league in passing percentage last year, throwing on 64 percent of their offensive snaps.

With Smith representing one of the few reliable and recently productive pass-catchers on the Pittsburgh roster outside of star wideout DK Metcalf, it wouldn't be surprising to see the tight end peppered with targets for the second consecutive year.

While Smith may not be a shoo-in for another top-five fantasy campaign, he has immense potential to be on the TE1 radar each week. Expecting a top-10 finish is far from outlandish and should be attainable for the veteran in 2025.