Ian Hartitz takes an early look at 2025 fantasy football rankings, pointing out players like Davante Adams and Najee Harris who moved up because of NFL free agency.

Fantasy football rankings? In March? In this economy?

*Best Walter White impression* You're goddamn right!

What follows are seven key takeaways from my way-too-early rankings, which you can see in their entirety over at the Fantasy Life rankings hub.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

1. Put some respect on Brock Purdy's name

  • My rank: QB7
  • Early Underdog ADP: QB12

Purdy has been nothing short of fantastic since taking over as the 49ers' starting QB.

Brock Purdy among 49 QBs with 500-plus dropbacks 2022-24:

  • EPA per dropback: +0.254 (1st)
  • Completion percentage over expected: +3% (7th)
  • Success rate: 53.3% (1st)
  • Yards per attempt: 8.9 (1st)
  • Passer rating: 104.9 (2nd)

The real-life success has translated to fantasy land: Purdy has worked as the QB9, QB7, and most recently QB10 in fantasy points per game over the past three seasons. And mind you, the latter performance came with prolonged absences from Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, Ricky Pearsall, and Trent Williams alongside an essential disappearing act from Deebo Samuel.

Now, Aiyuk's return from injury and the loss of Deebo hardly guarantees Purdy will be blessed with the world's best supporting cast in 2025, but his ability to still provide borderline elite efficiency numbers alongside high-end fantasy production during last season's relative mess of a situation gives me more than enough confidence to treat the rising fourth-year talent as a legit top-8 option at the position.

2. Justin Fields is BACK in the QB1 conversation

  • My rank: QB12
  • Early Underdog ADP: QB20

It's true: Justin Fields isn't the best thrower of the football in the world. That said, he joins Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels as the only QBs in NFL history to average at least 50 rush yards per game; the 25-year-old talent is a legit threat to take it the distance anytime he takes off.

Historically, QBs that run the ball as much as Fields seldom bust in fantasy land. Consider: 31 QBs had 100-plus carries in a season from 2014-2024, and …

  • 13 (42%) finished as top-3 fantasy QBs on a per-game basis
  • 20 (65%) finished as top-6 fantasy QBs
  • Only 3 (10%) finished outside fantasy's top-12 QBs (2014 Colin Kaepernick, 2018 Lamar, 2020 Cam Newton)

$40 million sounds like enough money to virtually guarantee Fields will have every shot to make things work as the Jets' clear-cut QB1. As long as the starting job is his, it's tough to see a fantasy finish outside the position's top 12 signal-callers.

3. Najee Harris, running back, THE running back, y'all

  • My rank: RB19
  • Early Underdog ADP: RB27

The NFL's only RB with 1,000-plus rush yards in each of the past four seasons, Najee Harris has three-down ability (caught 74 passes as a rookie!) and is fresh off a season in which he racked up a 24% missed-tackle rate—good for the eighth-highest mark among all RBs with 150+ carries.

Enter: The Chargers, who recently cut Gus Edwards and now presumably won't be bringing back 2024 leading rusher J.K. Dobbins. This leaves a barren depth chart featuring only Hassan Haskins (73 career touches) and Kimani Vidal (48) inside an offense that ran the ball at the 10th-highest rate last season. And they just signed Mekhi Becton to beef up the interior of the offensive line.

While an early-round pick on another RB could change things and turn this into more of a committee, at the moment it's hard to rationalize dropping Harris too far down the ranks thanks to his potential for a true every-down role inside of an offense that figures to be, you know, good. Is Harris really that much worse of a talent than guys like Kyren Williams or Joe Mixon?

4. So … Jaylen Warren RB1 szn?!

  • My rank: RB22
  • Early Underdog ADP: RB28

The Steelers tendered Gen-Z Austin Ekeler at a second-round level already, making it fairly unlikely that Jaylen Warren will be wearing anything other than black and yellow in 2025. Shoutout to Warren for ranking first in tackles avoided per carry (29.8%) and sixth in explosive-run rate (9.5%) since entering the league in 2022.

The man is a capital D DOG with the football in his hands.

While part of this is the reality that Warren's pass-catching prowess leads to him often getting to attack lighter boxes, a featured role consisting of around 200 carries with bunches of targets (similar to what Ekeler had in Los Angeles) could be borderline erotic for fantasy purposes. I'll be VERY high on Warren should the Steelers refrain from making a meaningful investment at the position during the offseason—even then he'd be a strong zero-RB candidate due to the potential for fireworks should something close to a three-down role fall in his lap.

5. Does Davante Adams still have some gas in the tank?

  • My rank: WR14
  • Early Underdog ADP: WR21

It took Adams a bit to catch his groove with Aaron Rodgers last season, but things actually went quite nicely down the stretch. Overall, only Ja'Marr Chase (151.3) and Brian Thomas (137.2) scored more fantasy points (PPR) than Adams (136.6) during the final six weeks of 2024.

While there has been some sign of decline when it comes to Adams' ability to separate, even a lesser version of the longtime stud is still pretty damn good relative to most players at the position.

Davante Adams "Open Score" since 2020:

  • 2020: 99 (1st)
  • 2021: 85 (6th)
  • 2022: 81 (8th)
  • 2023: 71 (15th)
  • 2024: 77 (14th)

Enter: Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay, who have helped engineer some glorious campaigns from Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp in recent years: Rams WRs as a whole rank second in both receptions and receiving yards since McVay and Stafford joined forces in 2021.

Ultimately, it's hard to dispute the Rams as one of, if not the single best, landing spot for Adams: I'm comfortable treating him as a legit borderline WR1 alongside younguns like Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson, and Ladd McConkey.

6. Don't sleep on Chris Godwin putting forward a nice encore

  • My rank: WR22
  • Early Underdog ADP: WR33

Chris Godwin was nothing short of excellent in 2024 before unfortunately dislocating his ankle in Week 7.

Godwin among 84 WRs with 50-plus targets:

  • Yards per route run: 2.36 (No. 10)
  • Targets per route run: 24.6% (No. 19)
  • Passer rating when targeted: 127.5 (No. 6)
  • PFF receiving grade: 85.7 (No. 10)
  • PPF points per game: 19.7 (No. 2)

The longtime Bucs WR just turned 29, and his timetable for recovery is unclear, although Todd Bowles' assertion that he had a chance to be back for a late playoff run is intriguing. Dr. Deepak Chona believes Godwin will likely be playing in Week 1 of 2025, although WR ankle data favors a moderate dip that recovers midseason.

Still, last season proved that Godwin is plenty capable of racking up production from the friendly confines of the slot when given the opportunity. Things were certainly going incredible to start the year: Ja'Marr Chase (138.1) was the only WR with more PPR points than Godwin (137.8) in Weeks 1-7 last season!

7. Is David Njoku being slept on?

  • My rank: TE6
  • Early Underdog ADP: TE10

Yes, the Browns offense will probably be among the league's worst units in 2024.

Also yes, that's been a reality for more years than not in recent history, and it hasn't stopped David Njoku from working as one of the more productive players at the position.

Njoku among 40 TEs with 100-plus targets 2022-24:

  • Receptions: 203 (tied for 5th)
  • Receiving yards: 2,015 (7th)
  • Yards per route run: 1.55 (11th)
  • Targets per route run: 23.1% (4th)
  • Yards after the catch per reception: 5.8 (6th)

Add it all together, and Njoku has worked as the TE7 in PPR points per game. This includes a TE4 finish last season, and yet the 28-year-old veteran is (again) being treated more so as a borderline TE1 than someone who should be prioritized in drafts.

BUT NOT HERE. NOT ME. Njoku's QB situation is enough of a concern to keep him out of the top 5, but give me the clear-cut No. 2 pass-game option in Cleveland over the elderly Travis Kelce as well as guys like Mark Andrews and Jonnu Smith, who don't seem to have nearly the same level of stability inside their respective passing games.