2025 NFL Draft: Dynasty Fantasy Football Winners and Losers from the NFC South

With the 2025 NFL Draft now over, we can accurately reassess the depth charts of teams around the NFL. In this series, we’ll be taking a look at players who either gained or lost value based on what their team did during the draft.

Atlanta Falcons

Draft Class

• Round 1, Pick 15: Jalon Walker, LB Georgia
• Round 1, Pick 26: James Pierce Jr., EDGE Tennessee
• Round 3, Pick 32: Xavier Watts, S Notre Dame
• Round 4, PIck 16: Billy Bowman Jr., S Oklahoma
• Round 7, Pick 2: Jack Nelson, OT Wisconsin

Winner: Darnell Mooney, WR

The Falcons did absolutely nothing to move the fantasy football radar during the NFL Draft. They used their first four picks on the defensive side of the ball, and then they used their final pick on an offensive tackle. Quietly, the Falcons were actually a decent offense last year. They were sixth in the league in yards per game (369.8) and 13th in points per game (22.9). Meanwhile the defense was 23rd in defensive yards per game allowed (345.2) and points allowed per game (24.9). It may not be the most exciting draft for fantasy managers, but after years of targeting offensive players in the early rounds, they decided to focus on the defensive side of the ball for 2025.

So, the Falcons’ offense looks very similar to the one we saw on the field last season. The biggest change from this time last year is that Michael Penix Jr will enter the year as the presumed starter. In this offense last year, Darnell Mooney broke out to post some of the best numbers of his career. After four up-and-down seasons in Chicago, Mooney finished as the WR31 in his first season in Atlanta. The deep threat posted his best YPC of his career (15.5) and caught a career-high five touchdowns.

Mooney’s ADP history through April (pre-draft).

Despite an underwhelming wide receiver room, the Falcons did nothing to address the position. That means that Mooney, if he’s healthy, should be the number two option in the passing game behind Drake London all season long, with (hopefully) a much better quarterback under center. In the two games that Mooney played with Penix, he caught seven balls for 119 yards (17 YPC). He is a steal in dynasty leagues right now, going off the board 135th overall as the 60th wide receiver off the board. The DLF Expert Rankings have him as the 112th player overall, WR53.

Loser: Kirk Cousins, QB

Free agency is over. The draft is over. Off-season programs are starting up. Cousins is still on the Atlanta Falcons. Anyone who has him in a superflex league, hoping he’d end up starting for a team like the Browns or the Steelers are beginning to lose hope. It’s starting to sound like the Falcons will hold onto Cousins as an extremely expensive backup option.

There are still teams out there that could use an upgrade at starting quarterback, but Cousins probably can’t be considered much of an upgrade over anyone. If the Steelers can’t bring in Aaron Rodgers, is Cousins really a massive upgrade over Mason Rudolph? Considering the massive price tag associated with him, I’d say no. At this point, fantasy managers may need to hope for a training camp injury if they want a Cousins trade.

Carolina Panthers

Draft Class

• Round 1, Pick 8: Tetairoa McMillan, WR Arizona
• Round 2, Pick 19: Nic Scourton, EDGE Texas A&M
• Round 3, Pick 13: Princely Umanmielen, EDGE Ole Miss
• Round 4, PIck 12: Trevor Etienne, RB Georgia
• Round 4, Pick 20: Lathan Ransom, S Ohio State
• Round 5, Pick 2: Cam Jackson, DT Florida
• Round 5, Pick 27: Mitchell Evans, TE Notre Dame
• Round 6, Pick 32: Jimmy Horn Jr., WR Colorado

Winner: Bryce Young, QB

If Young doesn’t succeed this season, we can no longer point at the supporting cast around him. For the second season in a row, the Panthers used a first-round pick on a wide receiver. Tetairoa McMillan (who you could argue was a big winner of this draft as well), will be the Panthers’ starting X receiver from the jump this season, and he should immediately be the number one receiver on this team. He’s a receiver who does everything well and should be a reliable target for Young to look for. All of a sudden, the Panthers have an impressive group of pass-catchers.

Young was on track to be one of the biggest busts in NFL history after he was benched last season. After only 18 career games, the Panthers were ready to hand the reins over full-time to Andy Dalton. Six weeks later, after a Dalton injury, Young got the starting job back and went on to finish the season with the job. He ended up as the QB20, despite only starting 12 games.

Young’s ADP history through April (pre-draft).

Prior to the NFL Draft, Young was going off the board as the 22nd quarterback in dynasty, 181st overall in one-QB drafts. He’s only 23 years old, and the Panthers seem committed to building an offense around him. With Dave Cannales running the show, a career renaissance seems like it’s in the cards for Young. The former number one pick could see his ADP jump way up this season if he can keep the job, and take advantage of his new number one receiver McMillan. The DLF Expert Rankings have Young as the QB22, same as the ADP, but they move his overall ranking up nearly 40 spots to 143rd overall.

Loser: Jonathon Brooks, RB

The hits keep coming for Brooks and his dynasty managers. Despite tearing his ACL late in his college career, Brooks was still widely considered the number one running back in rookie drafts last season. The return from the ACL took much longer than expected, and when he did finally return, it only took him a few games to tear his ACL once again. Now, after selecting Trevor Etienne in the fourth round, the Panthers have placed Brooks on the reserve/PUP list, officially ending his 2025 season before it even started.

At this point, it’s tough to see Brooks ever coming close to paying off the early first-round pick dynasty managers used on him in 2024 rookie drafts (his ADP a year ago was seventh in one-quarterback drafts). He won’t see the field again until 2026, coming off two devastating injuries on the same knee. Running backs often struggle with explosiveness after this injury, especially when they suffer it twice on the same knee. Now the Panthers are moving forward with Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle (who is only signed through 2025) and Trevor Etienne. Even if he does return in 2026 and he isn’t a shell of his former self, he’ll likely be stuck in a committee. He’s ranked as the RB40 by the DLF expert rankers, I’d sell him for whatever I can get at that price.

New Orleans Saints

Draft Class

• Round 1, Pick 9: Kelvin Banks Jr., OT Texas
• Round 2, Pick 8: Tyler Shough, QB Louisville
• Round 3, Pick 7: Vernon Broughton, DT Texas
• Round 3, Pick 29: Jonas Sanker, S Virginia
• Round 4, Pick 10: Danny Stutsman, LB Oklahoma
• Round 4, Pick 29: Quincy Riley, CB Louisville
• Round 6, Pick 8: Devin Neal, RB Kansas
• Round 7, Pick 32: Moliki Matavao, TE UCLA
• Round 7, Pick 38: Fadil Diggs, EDGE Syracuse

Winners: Tyler Shough, QB

I try to avoid writing about rookies in this article series. We write so much about the rookies this time of year, but this series is a great chance to take a look at the veterans and the impact on their value in the draft. You’ll see momentarily why I had to choose Shough in this spot.

The Saints were one of the first teams to draft a quarterback this year when they took Shough 40th overall in the second round. The Saints knew that Derek Carr’s shoulder was a problem at the time, so they had to know that retirement was in the cards for their veteran QB. So, they decided to target experience with Shough, who will turn 26 in September and who played SEVEN years of college football between Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville. If anyone in this draft class has the “experience” (quotes to emphasize he only really started one full season in college) to start in week one, Shough has to be the guy.

With that being said, I’m not sure he has the talent to make it work in New Orleans. The roster is an absolute disaster right now, and he won’t be able to do much to elevate this team. The pass catchers are often hurt, the running back is getting older, and the offensive line is mediocre. He’s a winner because Spencer Rattler will likely be his competition for a starting job this season. With that being said, I’ll pass on this prospect. We have him ranked as the QB31, 219th overall in one-quarterback leagues and 158th overall in superflex.

Loser: Everyone

The Saints have been trending towards rock bottom for years, but they’ve never been closer than they are right now. Carr was never a particularly good quarterback for this team, but his injury status for this season plummets them into the basement of the league.

It’s particularly frustrating because of the weapons this team has. What are dynasty managers supposed to do with Chris Olave? Will Alvin Kamara be able to overcome his surroundings, like he’s done nearly every season of his career? Will Rashid Shaheed ever match his outstanding six-game run at the start of last season before his injury? This looks like it will be a wasted season for the Saints’ fantasy weapons. Don’t be surprised if they have the number one overall pick next season in a potentially outstanding quarterback class.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Draft Class

• Round 1, Pick 19: Emeka Egbuka, WR Ohio State
• Round 2, Pick 21: Benjamin Morrison, CB Notre Dame
• Round 3, Pick 20: Jacob Parrish, CB Kansas State
• Round 4, Pick 19: David Walker, EDGE Central Arkansas
• Round 5, Pick 21: Elijah Roberts, EDGE SMU
• Round 7, Pick 19: Tez Johnson, WR Oregon

Winner: Bucky Irving, RB

In a bad running back class last year, Irving was one of the lone bright spots. Coming out of the fourth round, Irving quickly became the top fantasy producer in this backfield, overtaking 2022 third-round pick Rachaad White. He finished the season as the 14th best running back for fantasy and had five top-ten finishes over his final eight games.

Day three running backs are typically very risky investments in dynasty fantasy football. Even when they’re successful, they are often viewed as placeholders who can easily be replaced. Tyler Allgeier and Dameon Pierce come to mind as two recent examples who were replaced after successful rookie seasons. The Bucs did nothing to replace Irving this off-season, so he should be viewed as the most valuable piece in this split backfield going forward.

Irving’s Dynasty ADP history through April (Pre-Draft).

With all of that being said, he’s going too high for my liking. He’s the RB8 in April dynasty ADP, going off the board as the 27th overall player. While Irving was the more productive back last season, White out-snapped him almost all of last season. Even down the stretch, when it was clear that Irving was the better back, White still played about 50% of the snaps. He finished as the RB22 last year in scoring, despite Irving’s breakout. The DLF Expert Rankings have Irving as the RB8 as well, going off the board 29th overall in one-QB leagues.

Loser: Jalen McMillan, WR

McMillan broke out over the final five weeks of the season, after Chris Godwin was put on injured reserve. He averaged 19.82 points per game over that time, scoring seven touchdowns. Over the full season, Ja’Marr Chase (23.7 PPG) was the only receiver in the league to have a higher per-game output (ironically, Chris Godwin finished the season scoring 19.7 points per game, right below that number). On the surface, the first-round selection of Emeka Egbuka is a major blow to McMillan’s value.

Digging a bit deeper, there is some cause for optimism for McMillan managers. He lined up outside on 73.8% of his snaps last season. Even after Godwin hit the IR, he continued to primarily line up outside. Egbuka projects as a slot receiver at the NFL level, 81.1% of his snaps last season came out of the slot. Egbuka likely sees the field early on while Godwin recovers from his dislocated ankle. If he struggles to return, or handle a full workload, Egbuka is there as insurance. I believe that when this offense is at full strength, McMillan continues to play the Z receiver role while Mike Evans is the X and Godwin is the Y. Egbuka will mix in to give 29-year-old Godwin and 31-year-old Evans a rest. I still believe McMillan is in the long-term plans for the Bucs.

McMillan’s Dynasty ADP history through April (Pre-Draft).

In April ADP, McMillan was the WR56, going off the board 122nd overall. I’m fascinated to see what his May ADP will be once that gets released. All of the April ADP drafts were held before the NFL Draft, so they were conducted with the assumption that Egbuka wouldn’t be on the team. Meanwhile, the DLF Expert Rankings are constantly updated, and he’s ranked as the WR58, going off the board 132nd overall. That’s a massive drop-off from his April ranking, where he was 81st overall. If he sees a similar dip in ADP, I’d jump at the buy-low opportunity.