This Draft Strategy entry names five players who project as good Glue Guys — players who aren't stars but who offer a stabilizing effect at favorable prices. These should be players worth targeting multiple times in your broader portfolio, making them reliable role players for your 2025 fantasy football draft strategy.
Check out the industry-leading fantasy football live draft assistant to get custom rankings for your league and follow along with a live draft on most major platforms!
Josh Downs, WR, IND (90.93 NFFC)
The touchdowns will be scarce for the Indianapolis offense, and with that likely fact there is likely a bit of an upside cap on players like Downs, who otherwise would project as a fine source of touchdowns in an offense actually capable of scoring them.
On the other hand, the blessing in a case like Downs' this year is that the (warranted) pessimism around his offense makes Downs affordable enough to target regularly with minimal concern in fantasy drafts. While Downs' touchdown count might be capped, it would be a mistake to think his reception volume upside is at all limited for the price. Feel free to knock Downs a bit in 0.5PPR or standard scoring, but the catches will be there if healthy.
Downs is a player capable of drawing targets at a blistering per-snap pace, and he's capable of catching a higher percentage of those targets than the vast majority of receivers of his type. Downs is not just a good slot prospect –
This Draft Strategy entry names five players who project as good Glue Guys — players who aren't stars but who offer a stabilizing effect at favorable prices. These should be players worth targeting multiple times in your broader portfolio, making them reliable role players for your 2025 fantasy football draft strategy.
Check out the industry-leading fantasy football live draft assistant to get custom rankings for your league and follow along with a live draft on most major platforms!
Josh Downs, WR, IND (90.93 NFFC)
The touchdowns will be scarce for the Indianapolis offense, and with that likely fact there is likely a bit of an upside cap on players like Downs, who otherwise would project as a fine source of touchdowns in an offense actually capable of scoring them.
On the other hand, the blessing in a case like Downs' this year is that the (warranted) pessimism around his offense makes Downs affordable enough to target regularly with minimal concern in fantasy drafts. While Downs' touchdown count might be capped, it would be a mistake to think his reception volume upside is at all limited for the price. Feel free to knock Downs a bit in 0.5PPR or standard scoring, but the catches will be there if healthy.
Downs is a player capable of drawing targets at a blistering per-snap pace, and he's capable of catching a higher percentage of those targets than the vast majority of receivers of his type. Downs is not just a good slot prospect – he's already one of the best, and now we wait to see what ceiling he can reach.
Through 1,329 NFL snaps Downs already has 205 targets, catching 140 for 1,574 yards and seven touchdowns. This is a guy who will likely log multiple 100-catch seasons in his NFL career.
Downs currently goes as the WR43 in the NFFC ADP. As a player with likely WR3 utility in PPR scoring, it makes sense to cut out some space for Downs in your NFL fantasy football draft strategy.
It admittedly would be better for Downs if Daniel Jones starts rather than Anthony Richardson (shoulder) — Jones would likely check down to Downs regularly if only due to his inability to throw downfield, or most places really. Richardson wouldn't tank Downs entirely, but Richardson definitely prefers to chuck it downfield if he has the option. You can basically assume that Jones is good for Downs, while Richardson is good for Alec Pierce.
Check out our fantasy football ADP report for a comprehensive tool with live-updated ADP data for multiple league formats and sites.
Jaylen Warren, RB, PIT (102.06 NFFC)
Warren has a good shot at ending up the fantasy RB1 for Pittsburgh, especially in full PPR scoring, yet Warren goes several rounds later than rookie third-round pick Kaleb Johnson (73.67). This is understandable enough – Johnson can withstand more max volume than Warren and therefore in theory might have the most best-case upside of the two, but the likely outcome has been disregarded at this current ADP.
There is no way the Pittsburgh offense can work this year without giving Warren 500 or more snaps. He's not just their best passing-down back, he's one of the best passing-down backs in the league, be it in blitz pickup or as a receiver. Free agent pickup Kenneth Gainwell is not comparable in either regard and is more likely to take playing time from Johnson than Warren (though Gainwell is more likely yet to just not steal time from either of Warren or Johnson).
In the meantime, Johnson is especially untested on passing downs, particularly in blitz pickup, so if the Steelers can only use Johnson on run designs then it will tip off the play call to the defense. There is no objectively solid reason to think Johnson is a better pure runner than Warren, because Warren has proven good at it already. That Warren never tips off the play call is probably one of the reasons why Warren has proven consistently tough for NFL defenses.
Warren also has a much better anchor than Johnson, who tends to run tall in traffic. This means that the assumption that Johnson will get short-yardage carries for Pittsburgh is hasty at best. There's a perfectly good chance that Warren ends up the clear RB1 on the Steelers' depth chart in 2025.
Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, NE (120.85 NFFC)
When the Patriots were still pretty good (2021-2022), Stevenson was good. When the Patriots became one of the worst teams in the NFL in the two years since, Stevenson's numbers suffered. The Patriots will be better in 2025 than they were in 2023 or 2024.
The Patriots should also remain a run-heavy offense in 2025, because it's in the nature of head coach Mike Vrabel and even offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels is definitely a little more passing-interested than Vrabel, but Josh Jacobs had the best fantasy season of his career under McDaniels with the lowly Raiders.
Second-round pick TreVeyon Henderson is a big-time addition for the Patriots and one who compels substantial playing time, yet Henderson had durability troubles at Ohio State when they tried to make him a workhorse. The Patriots have reason to use Stevenson extensively in 2025 not just because he's pretty good, but because they might need to use Stevenson extensively just to preserve Henderson's availability.
Given that it's easy to acquire Stevenson at an RB4 price tag, it's worth regularly keeping Stevenson in mind as a potentially cheap flex option in your 2025 fantasy football draft strategy.
Christian Kirk, WR, HOU (128.4 NFFC)
Perhaps fantasy drafters are concerned that Kirk's departure from Jacksonville meant that he was washed up, or maybe they took the 34th overall selection of Jayden Higgins to mean Kirk will get pushed aside in 2025 even if he isn't washed. Either assumption would be hasty.
Higgins is an excellent prospect and Nico Collins is already one of the best receivers in the NFL, but (A) Collins has had persistent injury issues in the NFL and (B) both players line up on the boundary the vast majority of the time. The slot is wide open in Houston, and Kirk is the only guy who can claim it.
Kirk was a very effective receiver in Jacksonville, just too expensive to fit into their long-term plans. The Texans are in a very different position – they want to win now and plausibly can, but they need Kirk to produce now to do so. Rather than the WR3 behind Collins and Higgins, we should expect Kirk to be more like a co-WR2 with Higgins. The sum contributions of Houston's top three wideouts should be substantial not just because they're a strong group, but also because Dalton Schultz is one of the worst starting tight ends in the NFL.
C.J. Stroud is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, even with the struggles of 2024. If Stroud bounces back in 2025 it will almost necessarily require significant contribution from Kirk. Kirk will only be 29 in November and was plainly productive for Jacksonville the last three years, drawing 265 targets on 1,822 snaps and with standout efficiency (63.4 percent completed, 8.6 YPT) despite the persistent dysfunction of the Jaguars offense.
Kirk presently goes around WR53 in the ADP, yet his recent production gives reason to think he could produce more in line with a high-end WR3, making him a solid repeat target in your broader fantasy football draft strategy.
Adam Thielen, WR, CAR (175.65 NFFC)
Thielen isn't an exciting selection and hasn't been for years, so it's understandable enough why fantasy drafters continue to overlook him. That doesn't make it wise, however.
Thielen was one of the league's best flanker wideouts with the Vikings, in part because he was actually a very good athlete out of Minnesota State (4.49 40, 6.77-second three-cone drill). Of course, Thielen lost a step toward the end of his Vikings career, at which point he was no longer viable as a full-time flanker.
Thielen remained more than viable as a slot specialist, however. You don't need to be fast to thrive in the slot, and Thielen continues to prove it despite his prior decline. Very few receivers have been as effective as Thielen the last two years, a span in which he turned 199 targets into 151 receptions for 1,629 yards and nine touchdowns on 1,406 snaps.
For Thielen to produce like that with such poor quarterback play is further proof that Thielen was not just passably functional the last two years, but rather one of the very best slot receivers in the league. While Thielen turns 35 in August and will likely lose another step one of these days, there's reason to believe he can withstand it.
Thielen caught 75.9 percent of his Carolina targets to this point at 8.2 yards per target — almost unthinkable efficiency given his age and the dysfunction of the offense around him. At a WR67 Thielen is one of the clearest no-brainer picks on the board in PPR scoring and a worthwhile repeat purchase for the best fantasy football draft strategy.
Here are some more players with league-winning upside:
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