2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.08
For many dynasty players, the highlight of the off-season is the annual rookie draft, and we’re now days away from kickoff for many of those drafts. Since sometime in late winter — or earlier for those of us deep in rebuild mode — we’ve shifted our fantasy attentions to the incoming class, and delusions of grandeur have begun to form. The rookie draft is our gridiron and we’re sitting at our locker, head down, with “Remember the Name” blasting in the headphones.
In this twelve-part series, our team will use the latest data available here at Dynasty League Football, namely our most recent Superflex Rookie ADP and the Dynasty Trade Finder, to ensure you’re as prepared as possible when your draft begins. Based on our most recent ADP data, we’ll suggest the “best player available” at your respective slots, along with some potential pivot options for those with more specific needs. In addition, we’ll include options based on the updated 1QB rookie ADP for those who play in that format. Finally, using the Trade Finder, we’ll highlight the kind of trades you could expect to make with your pick, if you’re more interested in moving it.
We all know the first round of rookie drafts includes the players we’ve been hearing about for months, if not years, but difference-makers can also be found in the second round and beyond. Consequently, we’ll also address the picks that accompany each respective first-round draft slot in the ensuing two rounds.
Rookie Selection 1.08
The Pick: Tyler Warren, TE
In a twist of fate, this exact article last year (the 1.08 edition) recommended a tight end — Brock Bowers — and one year later, he’s one of the best values in the class and the overall TE1 in dynasty. While we may not get quite that ceiling from Penn State tight end Tyler Warren… we legitimately might not be far off.
Warren had a decent showing in his 2023 junior season, with seven touchdowns on 34 catches, but it was his 2024 breakout that has positioned him as a potential top-ten pick in the NFL Draft. The former quarterback turned athletic monster of a tight end racked up 104 catches, 1,233 yards, and eight touchdowns … plus 218 yards and four scores rushing. His receiving yards mark set a Big Ten tight end record, and his 1,451 scrimmage yards are among the most by any tight end in a season in college football history (alongside another prospect in this class). His 31.4% target share was absurd for a tight end and legitimately elite for any pass-catcher, and when you narrow the sample size to the Power Five, his numbers become even more untouchable.
Meanwhile, production aside, the 2024 John Mackey Award winner (nation’s best tight end) clocks in at a terrifying 6-foot-5 1/2, 256 pounds and runs with every ounce of that violent size but a contradictory quickness that makes him tough to cover or catch. He has just about every tool you could want from a receiving TE: hands, route savvy, toughness through catch and contact, laughably broad versatility, competitive edge, the list goes on. He’s most commonly compared to Jeremy Shockey, but in today’s NFL, he’ll almost certainly be even more productive than the former All-Pro.
In superflex ADP, Warren is currently going a little later than 1.08, as both quarterbacks, all five top-end running backs, and three wide receivers are coming off the board ahead of the TE1. However, Warren is the number seven overall player in the DLF consensus rankings and cracks the top five or six on multiple individual big boards (including mine). His ADP could jump in the (likely) event that he’s selected early in the first round later this month, but you should still be able to snag him amid the bevy of RBs and WRs clogging the middle of the round.
Trade Value
- 1.08 for Rashee Rice, Breece Hall, Michael Penix Jr, or George Kittle
- 1.08/Brock Purdy for Caleb Williams
Possible Pivots
1QB Options
- Still possibly Tyler Warren (or pivots above)
- Matthew Golden
Rookie Selection 2.08
The Pick: Jayden Higgins, WR
Higgins is one of a trio of big-bodied wideouts worth consideration in the second round, but despite being my personal favorite and sliding in at 17th overall in the DLF consensus rankings, he’s readily available at 2.08 (with a current ADP of 23rd overall). Both Tre Harris (16th) and Elic Ayomanor (19th) are going well ahead of Higgins, so getting him here feels like the best value.
Higgins has prototypical size at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, with an 80-inch wingspan, but he still managed to run a 4.47 in the 40-yard dash and post a 39-inch vertical jump at the combine. That size-speed-burst combo is already pretty tantalizing, but throw in the monster catch radius and exceptional ball skills, along with solid route running, and you have a strong possession receiver with upside downfield and in the red zone. He was also Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded FBS receiver in 2024, with a 90.5 mark that outstripped Marvin Harrison Jr‘s 89.6 the year prior. While he doesn’t have the release package or agility to be a “stud X” separator, Higgins profiles as an excellent red-zone-maven WR2 for a squad like the Lions or Chiefs and could go to such a team at the end of day one or early on day two. That could make him a very solid fantasy WR3 with the potential to crack the top 24 in touchdown-heavy years.
Trade Value
- 2.08 for James Conner or Mike Evans
- 2.08/Theo Johnson for Mark Andrews
Possible Pivots
1QB Options
- Still Jaylin Noel
- Shedeur Sanders/Jaxson Dart
- Bhayshul Tuten/RJ Harvey
Rookie Selection 3.08
The Pick: Savion Williams, WR
Deep in the third round, I’m almost always targeting risky upside over “safer” bench assets. So, while we could go for slot-specialist Xavier Restrepo or plodding big-back Damien Martinez, I’d rather take a shot on an underdeveloped physical freak. Williams ran a 4.48 at 6-foot-4, 222 pounds, and boasts 10-inch hands and an 81-inch wingspan. His size-adjusted Speed Score falls in the 96th percentile. His receiving production was limited at TCU, but he did log 51 rushes for 322 yards and six touchdowns last year, bolstering a common comparison to Cordarrelle Patterson.
It would be more encouraging if Williams weren’t already 23 years old; he has a lot of room for growth, but may not have the time to realize that growth. Still, he has such impressive raw tools that he’s worth the low investment of a late third-round pick on the off chance that he blossoms as an NFL wideout. You’ll find him very polarizing in individual rankings — as high as 20th overall and as low as 49th within the DLF team alone — but the consensus at 26th makes him a value here at 32nd overall.
Trade Value
- 3.08/4.08 for Alec Pierce
- 3.08 for Adonai Mitchell
Possible Pivots
- Xavier Restrepo/Jack Bech
- Damien Martinez
- Harold Fannin/Mason Taylor/Elijah Arroyo
- Tyler Shough
1QB Options
- 2025 NFL Draft Class by Position: Tight Ends - April 20, 2025
- 2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.08 - April 14, 2025
- 2025 NFL Draft Class by Position: Wide Receivers, Part Two - April 12, 2025
For many dynasty players, the highlight of the off-season is the annual rookie draft, and we’re now days away from kickoff for many of those drafts. Since sometime in late winter — or earlier for those of us deep in rebuild mode — we’ve shifted our fantasy attentions to the incoming class, and delusions of grandeur have begun to form. The rookie draft is our gridiron and we’re sitting at our locker, head down, with “Remember the Name” blasting in the headphones.
In this twelve-part series, our team will use the latest data available here at Dynasty League Football, namely our most recent Superflex Rookie ADP and the Dynasty Trade Finder, to ensure you’re as prepared as possible when your draft begins. Based on our most recent ADP data, we’ll suggest the “best player available” at your respective slots, along with some potential pivot options for those with more specific needs. In addition, we’ll include options based on the updated 1QB rookie ADP for those who play in that format. Finally, using the Trade Finder, we’ll highlight the kind of trades you could expect to make with your pick, if you’re more interested in moving it.
We all know the first round of rookie drafts includes the players we’ve been hearing about for months, if not years, but difference-makers can also be found in the second round and beyond. Consequently, we’ll also address the picks that accompany each respective first-round draft slot in the ensuing two rounds.
Rookie Selection 1.08
The Pick: Tyler Warren, TE
In a twist of fate, this exact article last year (the 1.08 edition) recommended a tight end — Brock Bowers — and one year later, he’s one of the best values in the class and the overall TE1 in dynasty. While we may not get quite that ceiling from Penn State tight end Tyler Warren… we legitimately might not be far off.
Warren had a decent showing in his 2023 junior season, with seven touchdowns on 34 catches, but it was his 2024 breakout that has positioned him as a potential top-ten pick in the NFL Draft. The former quarterback turned athletic monster of a tight end racked up 104 catches, 1,233 yards, and eight touchdowns … plus 218 yards and four scores rushing. His receiving yards mark set a Big Ten tight end record, and his 1,451 scrimmage yards are among the most by any tight end in a season in college football history (alongside another prospect in this class). His 31.4% target share was absurd for a tight end and legitimately elite for any pass-catcher, and when you narrow the sample size to the Power Five, his numbers become even more untouchable.
Meanwhile, production aside, the 2024 John Mackey Award winner (nation’s best tight end) clocks in at a terrifying 6-foot-5 1/2, 256 pounds and runs with every ounce of that violent size but a contradictory quickness that makes him tough to cover or catch. He has just about every tool you could want from a receiving TE: hands, route savvy, toughness through catch and contact, laughably broad versatility, competitive edge, the list goes on. He’s most commonly compared to Jeremy Shockey, but in today’s NFL, he’ll almost certainly be even more productive than the former All-Pro.
In superflex ADP, Warren is currently going a little later than 1.08, as both quarterbacks, all five top-end running backs, and three wide receivers are coming off the board ahead of the TE1. However, Warren is the number seven overall player in the DLF consensus rankings and cracks the top five or six on multiple individual big boards (including mine). His ADP could jump in the (likely) event that he’s selected early in the first round later this month, but you should still be able to snag him amid the bevy of RBs and WRs clogging the middle of the round.
Trade Value
- 1.08 for Rashee Rice, Breece Hall, Michael Penix Jr, or George Kittle
- 1.08/Brock Purdy for Caleb Williams
Possible Pivots
1QB Options
- Still possibly Tyler Warren (or pivots above)
- Matthew Golden
Rookie Selection 2.08
The Pick: Jayden Higgins, WR
Higgins is one of a trio of big-bodied wideouts worth consideration in the second round, but despite being my personal favorite and sliding in at 17th overall in the DLF consensus rankings, he’s readily available at 2.08 (with a current ADP of 23rd overall). Both Tre Harris (16th) and Elic Ayomanor (19th) are going well ahead of Higgins, so getting him here feels like the best value.
Higgins has prototypical size at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, with an 80-inch wingspan, but he still managed to run a 4.47 in the 40-yard dash and post a 39-inch vertical jump at the combine. That size-speed-burst combo is already pretty tantalizing, but throw in the monster catch radius and exceptional ball skills, along with solid route running, and you have a strong possession receiver with upside downfield and in the red zone. He was also Pro Football Focus’s highest-graded FBS receiver in 2024, with a 90.5 mark that outstripped Marvin Harrison Jr‘s 89.6 the year prior. While he doesn’t have the release package or agility to be a “stud X” separator, Higgins profiles as an excellent red-zone-maven WR2 for a squad like the Lions or Chiefs and could go to such a team at the end of day one or early on day two. That could make him a very solid fantasy WR3 with the potential to crack the top 24 in touchdown-heavy years.
Trade Value
- 2.08 for James Conner or Mike Evans
- 2.08/Theo Johnson for Mark Andrews
Possible Pivots
1QB Options
- Still Jaylin Noel
- Shedeur Sanders/Jaxson Dart
- Bhayshul Tuten/RJ Harvey
Rookie Selection 3.08
The Pick: Savion Williams, WR
Deep in the third round, I’m almost always targeting risky upside over “safer” bench assets. So, while we could go for slot-specialist Xavier Restrepo or plodding big-back Damien Martinez, I’d rather take a shot on an underdeveloped physical freak. Williams ran a 4.48 at 6-foot-4, 222 pounds, and boasts 10-inch hands and an 81-inch wingspan. His size-adjusted Speed Score falls in the 96th percentile. His receiving production was limited at TCU, but he did log 51 rushes for 322 yards and six touchdowns last year, bolstering a common comparison to Cordarrelle Patterson.
It would be more encouraging if Williams weren’t already 23 years old; he has a lot of room for growth, but may not have the time to realize that growth. Still, he has such impressive raw tools that he’s worth the low investment of a late third-round pick on the off chance that he blossoms as an NFL wideout. You’ll find him very polarizing in individual rankings — as high as 20th overall and as low as 49th within the DLF team alone — but the consensus at 26th makes him a value here at 32nd overall.
Trade Value
- 3.08/4.08 for Alec Pierce
- 3.08 for Adonai Mitchell
Possible Pivots
- Xavier Restrepo/Jack Bech
- Damien Martinez
- Harold Fannin/Mason Taylor/Elijah Arroyo
- Tyler Shough
1QB Options
- 2025 NFL Draft Class by Position: Tight Ends - April 20, 2025
- 2025 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.08 - April 14, 2025
- 2025 NFL Draft Class by Position: Wide Receivers, Part Two - April 12, 2025