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Fantasy Football 2025 Picks in 2-Round Mock Draft and Top Keeper Rankings Advice

Zach BuckleyAug 19, 2025

It's hard to win a fantasy football league within the first few rounds of the draft.

However, it's all too easy to lose a league within that range, as a botched pick here or an ill-timed injury there can sink an entire squad.

The goal, of course, is to avoid those catastrophic picks early on and then maximize the value of your later selections. We're here to hopefully help with both, as we'll lay out and analyze the first two rounds of a simulated mock before finishing with our top-50 keeper rankings for the 2025 NFL season.

Mock First Round

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Here's a simulated look at how the first round of a 12-team PPR mock draft might play out.

Ja'Marr Chase, WR, CIN
Bijan Robinson, RB, ATL
Justin Jefferson, WR, MIN
Christian McCaffrey, RB, SF
CeeDee Lamb, WR, DAL
Saquon Barkley, RB, PHI
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, DET
Malik Nabers, WR, NYG
Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, DET
Puka Nacua, WR, LAR
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, JAX
Ashton Jeanty, RB, LV

Simulated mocks tend to run short on surprise picks, and this was, for the most part, no exception.

It's a touch earlier than normal for McCaffrey, a 29-year-old who just had a season effectively wiped out by injury issues. Then again, his ceiling is nothing short of being the best non-quarterback in fantasy, so you can certainly understand the optimism.

This is also higher than we'd want to go on Nabers (albeit not by much). While he's a mega-talent with one of the best target outlooks in the league, it's hard not to worry about any pass-catcher in a Russell Wilson-led offense. And even if the Giants eventually hand the keys over to Jaxson Dart, Nabers may not see immediate dividends from an unproven rookie taking over.

Mock Second Round

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While the quarterback position went untouched in the second round of this simulated mock, the first two tight ends came off the board.

De'Von Achane, RB, MIA
Nico Collins, WR, HOU
Derrick Henry, RB, BAL
Brock Bowers, TE, LV
Bucky Irving, RB, TB
Josh Jacobs, RB, GB
Drake London, WR, ATL
A.J. Brown, WR, PHI
Ladd McConkey, WR, LAC
Trey McBride, TE, ARI
Chase Brown, RB, CIN
Jonathan Taylor, RB, IND

If you could guarantee a clean bill of health for Collins, how high would he go? Early enough that we'd be thrilled to add him anywhere in the second round in hopes that he finally stays healthy. He only made it through 12 games last season, and he still cleared 1,000 receiving yards. The year prior, he packed 80 receptions, 1,297 receiving yards and eight touchdowns into 15 games.

Based on this mock—and many others like it—this feels like a great year to be drafting either early or late. While you'd think the middle picks might make for the best balance, we can't say we love the Irving-Jacobs-London-Brown tier.

On the other hand, walking away from the first two rounds with an Achane-Jeanty tandem would be incredible. We're also intrigued by the pairings of Nacua-Henry, McBride-Jefferson, Brown-Robinson and Taylor-Chase.

Top 50 PPR Keeper Rankings

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Keeper and dynasty leagues require fantasy managers to focus on both the present and future. It might be tempting to sell out for long-term upside, but there can often be bargains to be found among the win-now portion of the player pool.

With that in mind, here's how we rank the top 50 players for keeper and dynasty formats.