7 NFL Players Set to Go From Fantasy Duds to Studs

Few things sting more in fantasy football than watching a highly-drafted player flop.

The 2024 season wasn't short on busts. The first overall pick on average in 2024 was San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. The third was Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.

Both plummeted in value, leaving fantasy managers reeling.

Now, sometimes those bust years signify the beginning of the end for a player. Age catches up to them—Father Time is undefeated. Others suffer an injury and are just never quite the same again.

But some players can (and do) rebound from a down year—to once again scale Mount Fantasy and stand upon its summit as a truly elite asset.

Those players aren't always cheap in drafts—fantasy managers both hold grudges and have trouble letting go.

But any discount you can get on a top-five fantasy producer is value. And value wins leagues.

QB Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott wasn't regarded as an elite fantasy option last year. In fact, his average draft position of QB10 a year ago was essentially the same as this season.

But many fantasy managers saw value in that asking price. After all, he was third in fantasy points at the position in 2023 thanks to 4,516 passing yards (third-most in the NFL) and a league-leading 36 touchdown passes.

Instead, what fantasy managers got was mediocre production when Prescott was healthy and nine missed games due to a hamstring injury.

However, the 32-year-old is primed for a rebound—for a couple of reasons. Not only does he have one of the best wide receivers in the league at his disposal in CeeDee Lamb, but free-agent arrival George Pickens also gives Prescott his best No. 2 receiver in a while. Dallas also has a quality tight end in Jake Ferguson.

Also, the Dallas offense could skew pass-heavy this year. The Cowboys' ground game this season is shaky. Javonte Williams is the best running back on the roster, and he's not especially good. He's also the only healthy back on the roster—both veteran Miles Sanders and rookie Jaydon Blue are entering the regular season with nagging injuries.

If Dallas ranks inside the top five in pass attempts in 2025, it won't be surprising.

RB Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco 49ers

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

No player in fantasy is more boom-or-bust than Christian McCaffrey.

When McCaffrey is good, he's really good. Two years ago, he surpassed 2,000 total yards and won Offensive Player of the Year honors. In 2019, he had 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards. Both years, he wasn't just the No. 1 running back—he blew every other back out of the water.

However, when McCaffrey is bad, he's a season-killer. Three times, he has missed at least 10 games, including 13 last season with an Achilles issue.

Simply put, McCaffrey is the king of risk/reward picks. He will either make or break your season. There is no middle ground.

This is going to be a "make" season. From all indications, he is 100 percent healthy. And while some fantasy managers have been made skittish by San Francisco's acquisition of Brian Robinson Jr., the reality is that given all the injuries the 49ers have at wide receiver McCaffrey could easily see his highest target share since joining the team.

We've seen McCaffrey fall from the first round of fantasy drafts altogether.

Late in Round 1 or early in Round 2? McCaffrey is a league-winner.

WR Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams

AP Photo/Ryan Sun

Puka Nacua has been one of the biggest steals of the NFL draft in recent years.

The 2023 fifth-round pick broke a 60-plus year-old rookie record for receiving yards on the way to a fourth-place finish in PPR points among wide receivers. He backed that big year up in 2024, posting 18.8 PPR points per game—fourth-best among wideouts in the league.

However, that "per game" caveat was an issue for fantasy managers—Nacua missed six games due to injury and finished outside the top 25 in PPR points.

Earlier in the offseason, fantasy drafters didn't appear worried about last year's missed time—Nacua was a first-round pick and a top-five selection among receivers. But as Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford missed time over the summer with a bad back, Nacua's ADP fell a bit.

Stafford's back is a concern, and the arrival of Davante Adams could mean additional competition for targets—Adams has topped 140 targets in six of the past seven years. But Stafford has shown the ability to support multiple elite fantasy wideouts more than once, and all Nacua has done when healthy is post top-five numbers at his position.

As long as he stays healthy, Nacua should return to elite form.

WR Tyreek Hill, Miami Dolphins

AP Photo/Noah K. Murray

Life comes at you fast in the NFL.

Two years ago, Tyreek Hill received a career-high 171 targets. The 31-year-old caught 119 passes for the second season in a row. He paced the NFL with 1,799 receiving yards and scored 13 touchdowns on the way to the most PPR points among AFC wideouts.

That performance made Hill the average No. 2 wide receiver drafted in fantasy, just behind CeeDee Lamb.

That didn't turn out so well. For the first time since an injury-marred 2019 campaign, Hill failed to record 1,000 receiving yards. He was WR34 in PPR points per game.

That's not great.

It was also a tumultuous offseason for Hill, who wanted out of Miami until he didn't and attributed last year's struggles to not knowing an offense he has played in for three years.

However, Hill is saying all the right things now, and Dolphins general manager Chris Grier told reporters that Hill and Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa "are closer than I've ever seen them before."

Hill was second in PPR points among wide receivers in back-to-back seasons before last year's backslide.

Don't completely discount the possibility of a bounce-back in 2025.

WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Arizona Cardinals

AP Photo/Doug Benc

Marvin Harrison Jr.'s rookie season with the Arizona Cardinals wasn't what fantasy managers had hoped for—the 2024 fourth overall pick had a 50 percent success rate and a catch percentage of 53.4.

And the Ohio State product finished outside the top-40 wide receivers in PPR points per game.

However, at least part of the disappointment felt by fantasy managers last year was brought on by themselves: Harrison was flat-out overvalued as a rookie.

That's water under the bridge now, and Cardinals quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork told reporters that all the work Harrison and quarterback Kyler Murray have done in the offseason is going to pay dividends come Week 1.

"I think what people are going to see is this offseason of training," he said. "Those guys throwing after practice, those guys communicating like, 'Hey, I felt this. That's why I ran a route this way.' 'Hey, there's a guy underneath you, so the ball had to be here. I know it got on you pretty fast, but this is what I was thinking.'"

Harrison's talent isn't in question, and target share won't be an issue in 2025. If his efficiency improves, he may well hit that lofty ceiling so many projected a year ago.

TE T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings

AP Photo/Matt Krohn

Two years ago, it all appeared to be coming together for Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson.

In his first full season in Minnesota, he caught 95 passes for 960 yards and five touchdowns. In terms of PPR points per game, only Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs was more productive.

However, near the end of that season, Hockenson tore his ACL. And last year, the 28-year-old looked a shell of his usually formidable self—just 41 catches for 455 yards and zero touchdowns.

ESPN's Eric Karabell sees a big-time rebound coming for Hockenson this year, though:

"Hockenson was always likely to disappoint eager fantasy managers in 2024 as he fought back from a serious knee injury late the prior season. Frankly, we should ignore Hockenson's 2024 numbers and remember his impact in 2022 and 2023. Don't worry about new QB J.J. McCarthy. A healthy Hockenson will easily eclipse 100 targets."

Given the affinity McCarthy has shown for targeting the middle of the field and the "safety valve" that a high-end tight end can afford a young quarterback, Karabell may be on to something.

And Hockenson is one of the best bets among the Tier 2 tight ends to crash the "Big 3" at the position.

TE Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars

AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez

Like so many of the players listed here, Evan Engram's entry could have started with, "Two years ago."

In 2023, Engram had the best season of his career. His 114 receptions were more than every wide receiver in the AFC except Tyreek Hill.

Engram didn't average a lot of yards per catch and only scored four times, but by season's end, he had more PPR points than every tight end in the AFC not named Travis Kelce.

Last year, though, Engram (like just about everyone in Jacksonville) turned back into a pumpkin. The soon-to-be 31-year-old missed almost half the season, and his numbers free-fell across the board—just 47 catches for 365 yards and a single touchdown on the way to finishing 33rd in PPR points at the position.

That is a dud year.

That didn't stop the Denver Broncos from paying Engram over $11 million a season to head west, and his role with his new team could be highly favorable from a fantasy perspective.

Engram is effectively the No. 2 pass-catcher for the Broncos behind Courtland Sutton. He is expected to fill the "Joker" role in Sean Payton's offense—an offense that produced more than one big fantasy season in the past.

Engram may not be Jimmy Graham, but the potential is there for him to crash the party at the top of the tight end leaderboard in 2025.

Gary Davenport is a two-time Fantasy Sports Writers Association Football Writer of the Year. Follow Gary on X at @IDPGodfather.