There’s no rest for the weary fantasy football manager these days. Every time you turn around, an event in the NFL affects player values. First came the mayhem of free agency, followed closely by the NFL Draft. As if there weren’t enough changes to digest in advance of fantasy football drafts, out comes the NFL schedule just in time to throw existing veteran and rookie values into a meat grinder. While the common practice for the average manager is to draft the best player available in Redraft, make no mistake: Ignoring the winners and losers thanks to the schedule release is a fool’s errand. Below are a few of the fantasy winners based on the schedule, whom you may want to target before your opponents. Let’s get into it.
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Fantasy Football Winners after 2025 NFL Schedule Release
Josh Allen | QB, Buffalo Bills
Josh Allen is already one of the first quarterbacks off the board in Redraft leagues, but it might be worth kicking that quarterback run off before one of your league mates does. The reigning MVP and 2024 QB2 gets a tough schedule thanks to their finish in 2024. The AFC East games are rarely a “gimme,” and the Bills will also face off against the AFC North, a historically hard-nosed division. They do get a respite by facing off against the NFC South, with those games all coming prior to Week 12.
Those games will likely feature a lot of James Cook and Ray Davis, but they also ensure that Allen will have plenty of opportunities to attack defenses with his legs as well. You can bet your life that Cook won’t lead the league in rushing touchdowns again this season, but those staggering 16 rushing scores are going to go somewhere. Expect Allen to pilfer more than his fair share of goal-line scores in those affairs if for no other reason than giving Buffalo a reason to flip Cook the bird when he asks again to be the highest-paid running back. However, that’s not even the most intriguing factor in Allen’s 2025 success.
Let ‘er Rip!
After Buffalo opens with a slugfest against Baltimore, the waters (and the run game) will be smooth sailing for weeks. Then, starting in Week 9, the Bills face the following quarterbacks: Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, C.J. Stroud, Joe Burrow, Drake Maye, and Jalen Hurts. Upgraded weapons galore make this an absolute wrecking crew of high-scoring affairs. Allen’s respectable 2024 passing stats of 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns don’t stand a chance.
All of those passing yards come to a head in the back third of the schedule, when fantasy managers are trying to push for the playoffs. If you needed another reason to draw a big fat circle around Allen’s name at draft time, here it is: 40 touchdowns airborne and another 10-plus on the ground is easily attainable. On top of that, the Bills’ first two opponents in the fantasy playoffs are New England and Cleveland, in that order, before the fantasy finals feature what will likely be a barnburner against the Eagles as Allen cements his repeat as Most Valuable Player.
Drake London | WR, Atlanta Falcons
Again, this name should come as no surprise after Drake London‘s breakout 100/1,271/9 line last season landed him at WR5 in full-point per reception (PPR) leagues. However, he’s still being undervalued to the tune of an ADP barely cracking the wide receiver top-10 in PPR leagues. A fantasy manager doesn’t need an early first to secure London, but maybe they should.
The case can be made that London grew “by the book.” It used to be that wideouts were excused from a breakout until their third year in the league. Fantasy managers have been spoiled by the likes of guys like Ja’Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, and Puka Nacua (one could go on and on) because they hit the ground running. Fantasy is a notoriously “What have you done for me lately?” affair. London is stepping square into the spotlight to add another season to the answer.
London Calling
In all three games with new field general Michael Penix Jr. at the helm, London commanded a target on a jaw-dropping 34 percent of his routes, leaving his yards per route run (YPRR) at 3.52. If he maintained that number for a full season, in 2024, that would have plopped him down third among wide receivers. That’s just an example of the immediate rapport he had with his new quarterback, and the sky’s the limit for London now that there is stability at the position. London averaged eight more PPR points per game with Penix than he did with Kirk Cousins. Let him cook.
The Falcons’ schedule is awash with exposed secondaries in Tampa Bay (x2), Indianapolis, New England, LA Rams, etc. Most of those are sprinkled throughout, meaning consistency is on London’s side as a “set it and forget it.” Weeks 9-12 (read: the meat of the schedule) is a run of Pats, Colts, Panthers, and Saints. That leads into the possibility of league-winning performances, as Atlanta will face the Bucs, Cardinals, and Rams in the fantasy playoffs. Snatch London up, and this goes for Penix as a streaming option with another starter, too.
Rhamondre Stevenson | RB, New England Patriots
Bet you didn’t expect to see this one in the fantasy football winners circle. Managers were already at work digging Stevenson’s grave after New England went out and drafted Ohio State rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson. That was before the schedule came out and the Patriots got a manageable ride (albeit bumpy).
It’s fair to assume Henderson won’t take the starting role from Stevenson from the jump. The Pats have invested in the veteran bruiser through the 2028 season, although they can get out of his contract as early as before the 2027 season. The team won’t move Stevenson to the bench after he just had a respectable season in 2024; 800 yards and seven trips to paydirt — along with 33 receptions — isn’t an abysmal performance from behind what was an abysmal offensive line. The Patriots have done work on that aspect of their team, and both backs should reap the rewards.
You Don’t Have to be Paul Revere to Keep this Job…
What difference does the schedule make? There’s no total murderer’s row of games that would reflect poorly on Stevenson. There are some more forgiving games dusted throughout the slate with a couple of aforementioned bumps. Nothing to make a team completely change horses mid-stream, and it’s not worth burning out your prized possession when you aren’t yet ready to compete for the playoffs.
You want an easy schedule? Check out the schedule my @Patriots have
— DTAngryBaked420 (@DTAngryBaked420) May 15, 2025
It’s a committee backfield, and Stevenson won’t have to worry about multiple bad games in a row at any point in the season. Henderson will be utilized heavily in the passing game, but running back production begins and ends with grinding yards in the middle of the field. As long as he doesn’t put the ball on the ground (seven fumbles in 2024), Stevenson should survive another season as New England’s RB1A. He’ll be left for dead in drafts, and the managers that scoop him up in the later rounds will have a reliable (if unspectacular) 2025 investment.
Breece Hall | RB, New York Jets
It would appear that a possible departure of Breece Hall from the New York Jets of New Jersey at the Meadowlands Complex (Central Park adjacent) was premature. Free agency came and went, as did the draft, with no trade.
Now, a wild NFL schedule appears! What’s especially notable about the Jets’ list is that it’s a receiving back’s dream. There are plenty of games where Hall will get to use his field vision to dash through the line, but then it seems that each of those is followed by a team that will surely stack the box.
In PPR leagues, Hall may have his best output yet. He’ll cede carries to Braelon Allen at times, but there’s no replacing his value in the passing game. The Jets’ schedule lays out fairly straightforward, and the running back has the opportunity to lay waste to his 2023 highs of 95 targets, 76 catches, and 591 yards through the air. With the wide receiver room unimpressive after Garrett Wilson and Justin Fields at quarterback, we might well see Hall transform dump-offs into even more of an art. Could he flirt with 100 catches if healthy? That’s a hot take for another day, but I think you know the answer. Go get him in every format that you’re able.
Honorable Mention: Fantasy Managers with “Guys on Byes”
Somehow, some way, the NFL got it right. Week 8 will see six teams on bye, and it will hurt fantasy running back rooms. Ashton Jeanty, Kyren Williams, Kenneth Walker III, James Conner/Trey Benson, and David Montgomery/Jahmyr Gibbs all get the week off, but it’s not a dealbreaker when it happens in Week 8 as opposed to Weeks 12 and 14, like in 2024.
That’s as close as fantasy managers will get to a “byemageddon” this season. The maximum number of teams on bye never gets past four at any other point in the season. In fact, three weeks only feature two teams off (Weeks 6, 7, and 11). Week 14, a must-win for teams hoping for a push to the playoffs, is unlikely to draw a lot of tears: New England, the Giants, the 49ers, and the Panthers are unlikely to be holding your key to the postseason.
Check back soon for the fantasy football losers from the schedule release! Who are those guys that going to have a tougher time than you expected? Make sure to bookmark both posts for pre-draft review later in the summer.
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