Fantasy Football 2025 Preseason Mock Draft Strategy, Rankings and Analysis

With just two weeks remaining before the 2025 NFL season's opening kick, fantasy football drafts are firing up across the digital sphere.

Before heading into your actual talent grabs, though, we'd recommend taking a few test runs in mock drafts.

The information gleaned from mocks can be invaluable—so long as you and your draftmates approach them the right way. To help explain what we mean, we'll let out some mock draft strategies to keep in mind before laying out our top-30 PPR rankings and finishing with some early-round advice.

Mock Draft Strategy

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Step outside your comfort zone.

It's entirely possible that you're far enough along into your fantasy football career that you've created a tried-and-true draft formula that steers your squad the right direction more often than not. While you absolutely should test out that strategy in a couple of mocks, you should also embark down the road less traveled just to get an idea of your alternatives.

If you're someone who believes it's best to wait on quarterbacks, try spending a top-three selection on one of the elites and watch how the rest of your roster takes shape. Maybe you'll discover it's more advantageous to have a difference-maker at real-world football's most important position than you thought.

Mimic your league settings.

Fantasy football leagues come in all sizes and formats, and mock drafts are no different. So, before putting yourself through a draft simulation, make sure the settings are the same you'll be drafting under when it's time for the real thing.

Covering the basics like league size and scoring format (full PPR, half-PPR or standard) should be pretty simple, but you should also try to cover any quirks your home league has. If it's six points for a passing touchdown or a bonus for big plays, those can alter the draft board, so make sure you have that under consideration.

Watch for trends.

While it's helpful to have average draft position, just remember those rankings are set in stone. They might cover what generally takes place, but all it takes is one manager to divert from the norm to warp those numbers in a hurry.

Since these selections boil down the whim of a specific manager, you shouldn't overreact to a surprise pick or two in a mock. What you should note, however, is when those "surprises" start happening more regularly. Remember, draft stocks are fluid, so late spikes or slides could have players going consistently higher or lower than they did earlier in draft season.

2025 PPR Rankings

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Top 30

1. Ja'Marr Chase, WR, CIN
2. Bijan Robinson, RB, ATL
3. CeeDee Lamb, WR, DAL
4. Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, DET
5. Justin Jefferson, WR, MIN
6. Saquon Barkley, RB, PHI
7. Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, DET
8. Malik Nabers, WR, NYG
9. Christian McCaffrey, RB, SF
10. Puka Nacua, WR, LAR
11. Nico Collins, WR, HOU
12. Ashton Jeanty, RB, LV
13. Brian Thomas Jr., WR, JAX
14. Brock Bowers, TE, LV
15. De'Von Achane, RB, MIA
16. Drake London, WR, ATL
17. A.J. Brown, WR, PHI
18. Trey McBride, TE, ARI
19. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, SEA
20. Derrick Henry, RB, BAL
21. Josh Allen, QB, BUF
22. Ladd McConkey, WR, LAC
23. Tyreek Hill, WR, MIA
24. Chase Brown, RB, CIN
25. Lamar Jackson, QB, BUF
26. Tee Higgins, WR, CIN
27. Jonathan Taylor, RB, IND
28. George Kittle, TE, SF
29. Garrett Wilson, WR, NYJ
30. Bucky Irving, RB, TB

Early Round Advice

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Mitigate risks.

Fantasy managers can't afford to be fully risk-averse. Playing it too safe would torpedo your profit potential. Having said that, there are points at the draft in which you should be willing to gamble, and the top of the talent grab isn't one of them.

You need to hit on stars with your early picks, because several of your league mates will be doing exactly that. The draft board should determine how much risk you're willing to absorb. While there are reasons to worry about players like Saquon Barkley (after a 378-touch season) or Christian McCaffrey (seven appearances or fewer in three of the last five seasons), there's also a draft price point at which their upside becomes impossible to ignore.

Build balance (without reaching).

Opinions can differ on this—and if they do, go with your gut since it's your roster—but we're looking to cover multiple positions with our first few picks. If it's the end of round five, and we don't have at least one receiver, one running back and either a tight end or a quarterback on our roster, we'll start getting antsy about being two undermanned at some critical spots.

What we don't (and you shouldn't) do, though, is reach on draft values just to strike that desired balance. If the best values at our first three picks are all running backs or receivers, we'll snag the star power where we can get it, and then trust we'll find enough interesting depth pieces later to shore up our weak spots.

Scoop up bargains.

While average draft positions tend to ring pretty true near the tops of drafts, they aren't universal truths. In certain leagues—perhaps your own—a manager or two might divert from ADP pretty early to take players they feel are being underrated by the masses. If other league mates follow suit, that could lead to some pretty interesting players falling in your leap.

Don't overthink it. Pounce on these discounted picks as quick as you can. While a premature run on quarterbacks or tight ends could thin their elite ranks pretty quickly, you should still pluck the star running backs and receivers who improbably landed in the bargain bin. There's always time to snag sleepers or even work the wavier wire for streamers if needed.