We Put Our Money On These Players
It really feels like we've reached the official start of the 2025 fantasy season.
Our new-look Guillotine leagues have rolled out and our friend Scott Fish's massive pro-am tournament (SFB) is underway as well.
But for those of us who draft best ball teams, this is actually the midway point of the summer. We've been drafting teams since the second the NFL Draft was finalized, which means it’s a great time to take stock in how we've been drafting.
It's always interesting to review player exposures (aka how much of a specific player you’ve drafted across all of your teams). Not only do exposures reveal our player targets and preferences, but they also reveal our risk tolerance.
As you will see in Dwain's piece below, he has no problem approaching 40% on a single player (I love the conviction on the rookie, by the way). 40% means he's taking a player in nearly every other draft!
I'm a bit more conservative in my approach with none of my top exposures eclipsing 25%, but neither approach is wrong.
When you concentrate your bets, you open yourself up to more variance (big wins and big losses) and when you spread out your bets, you cap your upside but also limit your downside. Regardless, I appreciate seeing exposures from analysts I trust because it means they have skin in the game backing up their takes.
If there is one thing Dwain and I certainly agree on, it is that rookies represent the highest upside selections for our teams.
Here are my top four currently:
Bhayshul Tuten: 24.4%
Luther Burden: 19.4%
Pat Bryant: 18.1%
Jaylin Noel: 16.9%
For more rookie propaganda, check out Dwain’s favorite players below, as well as a deep dive on rookie RB sleepers from me.
Fantasy
Dwain’s Most-Drafted Players (So Far …)
We’re at the midway point of the offseason (by the best ball standards hit on above). While there’s a lot more offseason to go, the midway point represents a great point to check in and evaluate which players you can’t … stop … drafting.
While these aren’t official “My Guys” for 2025, they’re players that Dwain has conviction in. Ones that he’s gone out of his way to draft, for one reason or another. Most of these names come as no surprise if you’ve been following Dwain’s work this summer (read: you HAVE been following his work).
From a pair of Jaguars in an ascending offense (Trevor Lawrence and Travis Hunter) to a rookie WR who has other fantasy managers a bit hesitant based on landing spot (Emeka Egbuka), Dwain highlights seven total players he’s currently loading up on.
Who are the remaining four? Let’s dive in. ⤵️
The 2025 Fantasy Life Draft Kit Is Here!
Rankings? Oh, how we’ve got you. Sleepers? Wake up and check these out. Risers? Fallers? Yes, yes. Team previews? Forget All-22, we have all 32. Mock Drafts? We have them, and more to come.
The Fantasy Life Draft Kit is ready as the calendar turns to the second half of the year. Yup, we can start to see fantasy football draft szn coming, which means we’ve consolidated all the information you’ll need in one place. Make sure to bookmark this page, because we’ll keep adding to it. ⤵️
Best Ball
You Want Sleepers? What About Super Deep Rookie Sleepers?
Rookies, rookies, rookies. Pete and Dwain rave about them. All of fantasy and NFL Twitter/X does is drool over them from April through July. Are they really worth all the hype and buzz?
While it’s important to sift through the news and differentiate noise from actionable updates, one thing’s for sure—rookies represent the highest upside. Remember Bucky Irving’s finish to 2024? League. Winner.
With a loaded rookie RB class, Pete broke down a dozen rookie running backs, where he stands on them at this point in the offseason, what the coachspeak has sounded like, and how much upside they truly present.
Spoiler alert: you’re going to want to bookmark this list.
Fantasy
Around the Watercooler
The latest NFL news and fantasy football analysis from our merry band of football nerds
📉 In what format is Chris Godwin 40 spots lower in rankings?! Only one answer.
🐠 Kendall’s Scott Fish Bowl draft diary introduces the Zero-QB strategy.
😡 A juicy nugget from Quarterback 2. Kirk Cousins feels slighted.
🐏 Puka Nacua and Davante Adams BOTH as WR1s? It can happen
🚀 Dak is hyped on his shiny new toy. Cowboys ready for liftoff?
😯 A sleeper RB ready for a bigger role? Interesting read on Titans backfield.
🤝 How do we feel about this QB handshake? It’s a bit much?!
👀 Superflex TEP Keeper leagues? No need to ask anymore.
🐆 The Jaguars NEED Travis Hunter to pop. Ask Matthew.
🪓 Yes, it’s Fantasy for the fearless. We are so back!
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