Fantasy Football 2025 - Sleepers, breakouts and busts - ESPN

As fantasy football draft season inches closer and closer, it's time for our annual predictions of sleepers, busts and breakout players. Interpretations of the terms can vary for each, but here are the definitions for our purposes:

• Sleeper: A player who is being overlooked and will outperform his average draft position (ADP) in 2025.
• Bust: A highly regarded player who will underperform in 2025, relative to his ADP/ranking.
• Breakout: A player who will put up career-best numbers in 2025 and make a huge impact.

Stephania Bell, Matt Bowen, Mike Clay, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Daniel Dopp, <a href=«https://x.com/Tyler_Fulghum?ref_src=» https:>Tyler Fulghum

, Eric Karabell, Eric Moody and Field Yates each contributed a sleeper and a bust for the major offensive positions, as well as one breakout candidate. You can find their picks below, as well as their analysis and insights on a selection of players they felt most passionate about in each category.

Editor's note: This story will be updated throughout the preseason.

Jump to: Sleepers | Busts | Breakouts

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Cockcroft: While we've seen nothing yet from J.J. McCarthy at this level, as he missed his entire rookie season recovering from multiple knee surgeries, he is in one of his position's best situations in which to succeed. Coach Kevin O'Connell's offensive scheme heavily favors quarterbacks, with the position averaging 17.8 fantasy points per game (that's 302.4 in a 17-game season) in his three years in the role. And McCarthy has one of the most talented groups of receivers, led by Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson, with whom to work.

Bowen: At 6-foot-1, 224 pounds with straight-line