It’s almost draft season and to get the juices flowing we are running some mock drafts and posting the results with commentary. Let's talk about all the tough choices, ADP and rankings sleepers, players you have to have and players you'll never draft.
As we are not yet to mid-July, the first mock draft is a full PPR dynasty startup. This mock is on Sleeper, it's a normal snake draft, no round reversals, and the rosters are 1QB/2RB/3WR/1TE/1FLEX/7BENCH. For the drafters we have a mixture of Fantasy Index staff and members of the Fantasy Index Discord server. If you would like to participate in upcoming mock drafts, please comment below!
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For this exercise I’ll be discussing the Fantasy Index dynasty positional rankings, Fantasy Index projected scoring and Sleeper dynasty ADP (Average Draft Position).
Let’s get into the first two rounds of this draft:
| 2025 Fantasy Index Mock Drafts | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynasty Startup, Draft Board | |||||||||||||
| Pos | Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | ||||||||||
| 1 | Ian Allen | J. Chase | J. Burrow | ||||||||||
| 2 | Bryce | B. Robinson | M.Harrison | ||||||||||
| 3 | Falchion | J. Jefferson | O. Hampton | ||||||||||
| 4 | Lou | M. Nabers | T. McBride | ||||||||||
| 5 | Ben Prator | J. Gibbs | T. McBride | ||||||||||
| 6 | Jessel | C. Lamb | L. McConkey | ||||||||||
| 7 | Gibbsy | P. Nacua | B. Hall | ||||||||||
| 8 | Breece | A. Jeanty | J. Daniels | ||||||||||
| 9 | Alex | A. St. Brown | D. Achane | ||||||||||
| 10 | Andy Richardson | B. Thomas | B. Irving | ||||||||||
| 11 | Luke Wilson | B. Bowers | D. London | ||||||||||
| 12 | Tabby | S. Barkley | N. Collins | ||||||||||
The first six picks were all the top player available at the position and within one spot of ADP. Puka Nacua at pick 7 was the first that might be considered a reach. Concerns about Stafford’s age and Davante Adams stealing targets have Puka’s value a bit depressed but he’s just 24 and has maintained an elite 9+ targets per game in his career. Last season the Rams threw nearly 75% of their passes to their wide receivers, so there should be plenty of targets to go around.
The rest of the round stuck close to the rankings, Luke took the first tight end at 11th overall, Brock Bowers. That’s good value at three spots after his ADP. Pick 12 was Saquon Barkley, also 3 spots after his ADP, but three spots ahead of his RB7 ranking. Saquon’s dominate 2024 season easily has him in the conversation as a top 3 back. The issues to consider with Barkley are that the tush push remains and Hurts is going to continue feasting at the goal line. He also has limited passing upside compared to the other top ranked backs. The Eagles have been below average in RB targets the last four seasons including the 28th lowest total in 2024.
Round 2 got a bit looser. Andy Richardson selected Bucky Irving at 2.03, seven spots ahead of ADP and 3 spots ahead of his RB8 ranking. After drafting Brian Thomas in the first round, it looked like Andy was eschewing the higher ranked vets to pair him with another young ace. Asked about Devon Achane Andy said Bucky was the only RB he considered for the pick and his lack of faith in Miami’s offense is causing him to steer clear. Achane is an electric player but concerns about his QB and head coach going forward are discouraging in this format.
Two picks later Breece Hall was another bold pick; six spots above his ranking and a full 10 spots ahead of his ADP. Justin Fields is likely to poach goal line carries and his struggles as a passer don’t bode well for Hall as a pass catcher. This is a contract year for a player who remains one of the most talented backs in the league. His elite upside potential has a ton value at 3.06 but comes with a fair bit of downside risk in the second.
At the 2.10 Falchion skipped some heavy hitting vets to get his guy with Omarion Hampton. The RB1 for Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers ought to be one of the premier fantasy spots and Falchion is not alone in thinking that Najee Harris isn’t going to be the one to stop Hampton from claiming it. Though it was 4 spots too early in the FI rankings Hampton’s ADP is only two spots later, so if you want him the price appears to be a second-round pick. Ian Allen finished off the second by selecting Joe Burrow to pair with Ja’Marr Chase in the best fantasy stack in the league, maybe of all time.
I’ll continue to post these updates as the draft progresses. I’m also going to share this roster construction view of the draft as we go along. I think it should be interesting to see how each manager prioritizes dynasty value and competitiveness as the player pool dwindles.
| 2025 Fantasy Index Mock Drafts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynasty Startup, Roster Construction | ||||||
| Pos | Name | QB1 | RB1 | WR1 | WR2 | TE |
| 1 | Ian Allen | J. Burrow (2.12) | J. Chase (1.01) | |||
| 2 | Bryce | B. Robinson (1.02) | M.Harrison (2.11) | |||
| 3 | Falchion | O. Hampton (2.10) | J. Jefferson (1.03) | |||
| 4 | Loujo22 | M. Nabers (1.04) | J. Smith-Njigba (2.09) | |||
| 5 | Ben Prator | J. Gibbs (1.05) | T. McBride (2.08) | |||
| 6 | Jessel94 | C. Lamb (1.06) | L. McConkey (2.07) | |||
| 7 | Gibbsy | B. Hall (2.06) | P. Nacua(1.07) | |||
| 8 | BreeceIndex | J. Daniels (2.05) | A. Jeanty (1.08) | |||
| 9 | Alex | D. Achane (2.04) | A. St. Brown (1.09) | |||
| 10 | Andy Richardson | B. Irving (2.03) | B. Thomas (1.10) | |||
| 11 | Luke Wilson | D. London (2.02) | B. Bowers (1.11) | |||
| 12 | Tabby_Slime | S. Barkley (1.12) | N. Collins (2.01) | |||
Which picks were your favorites? Which ones did you hate? Who are your favorite 2025 Dynasty targets? Do you want to participate in the next mock draft in this series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.