Welcome to the 2025 fantasy football season! Sure, it’s only June, but with the NFL draft, free agency, and even OTAs in the books, drafts for the 2025 NFL season are already heating up. This is why we’ve launched Fantasy Alarm’s 2025 Fantasy Football Draft Guide earlier than usual. We still may be a month away from training camp, but with Best Ball and High Stakes fantasy football tournaments open, we felt it was important to launch our 2025 fantasy football player rankings and get an early start on the draft strategy articles.

The funny thing about doing player rankings is just how polarizing they can be. If you rank a player who did well the year before too low for those who owned him in fantasy, they start coming at you with torches and pitchforks in hand. If you rank someone’s favorite player below a player on a team they hate, they’ll come at you from all angles. Heck, if you rank one of their supposed sleepers too high, they’ll tell you you’re ruining the guy’s ADP. It’s the old adage of pleasing some of the people some of the time, none of the people all of the time, or whatever it’s supposed to be. Rankings are rankings and, just like fantasy football ADP, they should be considered a guideline, not the gospel.

But the reason my rankings have been so successful over the years is that I rank players based on what I expect the players to do, not what they did last year, and certainly not what I want them to do. I look at the player, his skill-set, what his offensive system looks like, how he fits into the scheme, his defensive match-ups each week, and what I expect him to do. What a player did the year prior is really only relevant if his coach, the scheme, and his surrounding players are the same, and considering free agency in the modern NFL, that’s a rarity. I look at what he did with what was around him and simply file it as part of his skill set. Everything else is so scheme-dependent and match-up based that you always want to look forward, not behind.

As I sat down to finalize my 2025 fantasy football player rankings, I noticed there were some players, based on a variety of circumstances – coaching changes, personnel changes, injuries, etc. – who became a little more difficult to rank. I’m a big fan of all of them, but we have a lot of questions that need to be answered. Here are some thoughts.

 

 

Top 5 Most Difficult Players to Rank in Fantasy Football

Josh Allen, QB Buffalo Bills

Why is he here? Because I didn’t rank him first overall. I know that may come as a shock to all of you, considering he is routinely the first quarterback off the board in drafts according to fantasy football ADP, but I just don’t know if I’m onboard. I don’t like the offensive scheme for him, and I don’t like the fact that he lacks a true alpha receiver. Yes, he managed to post strong numbers in this same situation last year, but guess what…? He did not rank first among fantasy quarterbacks, despite winning the NFL MVP award.

Beginning with the scheme – Joe Brady loves his crossing routes, and he loves his QB hitting pass-catchers in stride and allowing them to pick up yards after the catch. That’s all well and good for reality purposes, but it’s not doing anything for Allen’s numbers. Dinking and dunking your way downfield is fine, but Allen’s passing totals have diminished over the last two seasons in comparison to what he was doing from 2020 through 2022. He’s had fewer big passing games (300+ passing yards), fewer passing touchdowns and fewer rushing yards as well. His rushing touchdown total has increased, but with how often we are hearing about him running less and him putting the ball into his playmakers’ hands, it seems difficult to rely on double-digit rushing touchdowns.

Lacking a true alpha receiver is also a problem. He’s managed to get by just fine without Stefon Diggs, but not having that go-to-guy is a big deal. Yes, we’ve seen offenses succeed without a true alpha receiver. The Patriots did it for years, but that’s not to say there aren’t difficulties that come with it. Tom Brady with Randy Moss or without? What’s your preference for fantasy? It’s like Patrick Mahomes after Tyreek Hill left. He was certainly able to lead the Chiefs' offense and find real-life success, but ask anyone who drafted Mahomes in fantasy and see if they’ve been happy outside of that one year in 2022. 

It’s not that I dislike Allen. I like him a whole bunch, and if I can draft him in fantasy, I will. But he is not the No. 1 quarterback for me, and I don’t think he should be blindly taken first at the position. I like him a couple of spots lower. 

 

 

 

Alvin Kamara, RB New Orleans Saints

There is no need to talk about the Saints tanking or how bad their quarterback situation is right now. Yes, we could see more defenses stacking the box to force Tyler Shough into a heavier passing attack, but that’s not why I am having trouble ranking Kamara. The issue I have is the same reasoning as to why I told people not to draft Austin Ekeler back in 2023 – Kellen Moore.

If you just want to sit back and listen, check out this SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio video where I explain it all. If you want to just stay on this page and keep reading, here you go:

Kellen Moore doesn’t like to throw to the running backs. His goal is to have his quarterback looking downfield at all times. When he was the OC in Dallas, everyone whined and cried that Tony Pollard wasn’t active enough in the passing game. When he went to the Chargers in 2023, I warned you about how Ekeler doesn’t fit the scheme. And then, finally, last year – Saquon Barkley, the studliest of stud running backs – saw a career-low 53 targets last year. OK, he had one year where he had less, but he also only appeared in two games that season. 

The bottom line is that pass-catching running backs do not necessarily thrive in Moore’s system, and if you want to say, “you can’t put that back in the bottle,” guess what? Moore does it all the time. If Kamara can’t pick up the points on the ground more, I worry about his overall production in a PPR environment. Catching passes is his thing, but will he get the opportunity this year? 

 

 

 

DK Metcalf, WR Pittsburgh Steelers

I like him a whole lot more with Aaron Rodgers than with Mason Rudolph. That’s undeniable. But how will Metcalf fare as Rodgers’ go-to target? That is still an unknown. Metcalf is a physical specimen, that’s for sure. The guy is lightning-fast, and he’s got great hands. However, if there’s one criticism to make, it’s that Metcalf isn’t the cleanest route-runner in the game, and with the way Rodgers is, will these two find a way to not just coexist, but thrive on the field?

We’ve watched Rodgers for two years (more like one and a partial preseason), and the one thing we can say is that he likes who he likes, and everyone else can go spit. He had Garrett Wilson at his disposal, yet made sure the Jets added Allen Lazard and then forced the team to trade for Davante Adams. Rodgers is a major whiner on the field if he and his receivers aren’t on the same page, and that could be a huge issue with Metcalf really being the only game in town. Are we expecting something out of Calvin Austin? Robert Woods? Come on.

It's nice to hear that Rodgers is in mini-camp to gain some familiarity with his targets, something he refused to do last season, opting instead for another ayahuasca retreat in Egypt, but will he stay with the team after the weeklong June camp and prep with his receivers heading into July training camp? Doubtful. That just means it’s going to be much more difficult for everyone to get on the same page. I love Metcalf and everything he brings to the table, but unless he becomes besties with Rodgers and fast, it could be a long season.  

 

 

 

Stefon Diggs, WR New England Patriots

Here’s someone whom I actually thought about ranking higher than I originally did, but backed off as I wait for more reports from Patriots camp. There are mixed reports regarding Diggs’ availability as he continues to work himself back from a torn ACL. Some say he will be back for training camp, and then there are other reports discussing him missing the first four weeks of the season. I’m genuinely not sure and have been assuming the return lies somewhere in the middle, but missed time is a big deal.

I’m also not a huge fan of the video that was posted of him on a boat with some ladies, passing around “an unidentified pink substance.” People were calling it pink cocaine, which isn’t even cocaine, but a mixture of MDMA and Ketamine, among other potential narcotics. Personally, I don’t care if you like to party in the offseason. Go for it. But when it becomes a distraction, then I have concerns. Wasn’t it Odell Beckham who was on a boat with drugs in play several years back? He spent the rest of his career on and off the field with a variety of ailments. You don’t treat your body like a temple, it treats you like a baby treats a diaper.

Overall, I think things will be fine. Diggs made nice with the coaches by showing up to voluntary mini-camp. It will just be a matter of how he learns Josh McDaniels’ playbook and how well he jells with Drake Maye. I’m bullish, but couldn’t rank him based on hope alone. He is where he is, and I will update once I know more.

 

 

 

Travis Kelce, TE Kansas City Chiefs

Is Kelce still a top-five tight end? That will be the heated debate coming into this season. There were rumors of a possible retirement, his life with Taylor Swift is a distraction, teams are more focused on him in the passing attack, Patrick Mahomes spreads the ball around too much – these are all the arguments against Kelce producing as a top-five tight end. But how much of it are we buying? 

We have seen a major statistical drop-off over the last two seasons. Teams are definitely covering him differently these days, and with the receiving corps getting as banged-up as it has over the last two years, it becomes even more difficult for him to stand out. As it stands right now, Rashee Rice, Hollywood Brown, and Xavier Worthy are all healthy. If it stays like that, perhaps we will see a renaissance year from Kelce as the coverage schemes will have to be different. 

But also keep in mind, it doesn’t take a whole lot for a guy to finish as a top-five tight end. In fact, in full-point PPR scoring formats, Kelce finished the year as TE5.  The top four each surpassed him by at least 25 fantasy points, but he still managed enough targets, catches, and touchdowns to finish in the top five and help fantasy owners to a championship. I won’t be giving up on him anytime soon and will happily draft him where his ADP is currently sitting. Of course, I also won’t be over-valuing him either, so keep a watchful eye on my TE rankings to see where he is ranked today and where he will be ranked in late-August.

If you have not yet purchased the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Football Draft Guide, click here and find out exactly where I’m ranking these and all of the players for 2025!