Everyone loves an underdog, right?
In the NFL Draft, those scooped up in the last few rounds have slim chances of becoming impact players. Some could find spots as special teamers while others serve well as backups if the time arises. The NFL has 50 spots to roster players both vitally important and incredibly niche.
But we in the fantasy football world don’t have that luxury. We are looking for the few players that can lead us to the promised land from the get-go. We don’t typically care for later round names until they’ve shown us what they can do. Frankly, we care a ton about draft capital. If the NFL thinks they are worth the investment then so should we.
So, with that in mind, I want to take this time to talk about a few guys that the NFL has signaled to us, the fantasy football community, that they don’t value these players highly. These are Day 3 rookies that we could easily forget about in August. Guys that we will cut and say “well, obviously this didn’t work out”.
I’m not throwing these players out just yet. I think there’s something here with this batch of rookies. The journey for these underdogs will be windy, brutal, and trying. And maybe it might just work out for fantasy.
Riley Leonard, QB, Indianapolis Colts
It’s tough to convince folks that a sixth-round draft pick is someone worth watching. That task becomes even harder when the QB selected was ninth off the board, heading into a QB room with two former 1st rounders there already.
On paper this sucks for Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard. However, in practice, I do think this could be a fun landing spot for the dual-threat QB.
The murky quarterback situation presents a unique opportunity for any newcomer – doubly so for a draft pick with unknown potential. The incumbent Anthony Richardson and the offseason-add Daniel Jones both have found themselves struggling to find consistency in their games. According to ESPN there’s also Jason Bean, who I learned exists while researching this article. It’s a quarterback that only rivals the Cleveland Browns in terms of being incredibly strange.
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Leonard joins Indianapolis as the only QB that surpassed 2500 passing yards in 2024. He’s also the only QB to rush for over 500 yards. And, well, the only QB that started the entire season for his team. Comparing NCAA stats to NFL stats is a little flukey but it does highlight just where we are at with both Richardson and Jones.
Neither of these quarterbacks can stay on the field. Whether it’s injury or performance, both players struggle mightily to complete a full season. That type of uncertainty will have coaches and GMs looking for other answers at the position. For the Colts it was Joe Flacco. For the Giants it was about 5 other backup options. It’s this air of chaos that gives Leonard my attention as we all figure out what this Colts offense is going to look like.
Jaydon Blue, RB, Dallas Cowboys
I wish I could peer into the enigmatic mind of Jerry Jones. I doubt it would shed any light into how the Cowboys have decided to handle their running back room the past few years, but I’m sure it would be quite the adventure.
From losing Tony Pollard, to welcoming back Zeke, to signing Dalvin Cook before stumbling upon a productive Dowdle, only to let him go after signing the struggling Javonte Williams – it’s clear the Cowboys are scrambling to find anything to help Dak and Ceedee on offense. When they passed on offensive weapons for the first two days of the draft, it was a nice surprise to see Dallas select running back Jaydon Blue as their first pick on day 3.
Blue isn’t the typical grinder that we’ve seen Dallas feature in the past. He’s smaller at 5’9’’ 195 lbs, and he didn’t have the most productive season at Texas in 2024. He’s not special between the tackles. Blue played second-fiddle to sophomore Tre Wisner. All of this adds color as to why he fell to the 5th round. These don’t seem like glowing endorsements of a prospect that I supposedly like. But this is what I like to call “building suspense”.
You see, Jaydon Blue’s speciality is his 4.3 speed and his passing-game prowess. In a depth chart of Javtone Williams, Miles Sanders and Deuce Vaughn, those are two key skills that can propel Blue to a prominent role on this offense. He serves as a much needed threat to score from anywhere on the field alongside Lamb. He’s very solid running routes out of the backfield, which can give Prescott another viable option on those third down situations.
Sadly, Blue doesn’t get any additional points for being a new running back coming in with a new head coach, as the whole RB room was revamped this offseason. I’m still interested to see where the scatback lands in the depth chart when August comes around.
Kyle Monangai, RB, Chicago Bears
If you don’t mind, I’m going to talk about a player that probably has the longest shot of being relevant in 2025 as though he has the juice to play over D’andre Swift. I’m going to talk about another very angry runner, Rutgers’ own Kyle Monangai (muh-nun-guy)
After playing behind Isiah Pacheco as a red-shirt freshman, Monangai took over lead-back duties for the Scarlet Knights and logged 445 yards on 109 carries. Not super exciting, but in his defense the opposition was most likely stacking the box as the passing attack was non-existent (QB Noah Vedral barely threw for 1,800 yards, and tossed 7 picks alongside 7 TDs. Sorry for the stray buddy). Monangai’s junior season is where things started to get real interesting.
Monangai burst on the scene with 1,262 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. This was in spite of another lackluster passing attack as starting QB Gavin Wimsatt had a 47.8% rating and only 1735 yards on the year. This back was forged by fire, averaging 5.2 yards a carry and 97 yards a game. He improved on those numbers last year, racking up 1,279 yards on 256 carries, good enough for 116 yards per game. In 2024 he was 8th in missed tackles force – tied with Kaleb Johnson. Production is important for a running back and 2,400 yards paired with 21 touchdowns are some real-deal numbers.
Oh and most importantly, Ben Johnson write this down, Monangai had zero fumbles in four years. Ball security is king, and this knight is ready to hold court. (I’m so sorry).
Anyway, Monangai does have the longest journey ahead of him. I’d absolutely throw a late round rookie draft pick on him, if to at least have another angry Rutgers runner on the roster.
Tory Horton, WR, Seattle Seahawks
I discussed why I liked Horton pre-draft in another article, and following the draft my optimism has not waivered. He landed in a great spot with the Seattle Seahawks as they are transitioning away from the Metcalf/Locket era and into a younger WR core headlined by Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Learning from Cooper Kupp is going to go a long way for Horton and I do think he will easily step past Jake Bobo for targets. Then of course there’s Marquez Valdes-Scantling hanging around as well. Maybe this wide receiver room is a little more crowded than I initially thought.
Now the real question is how much this new Seattle OC will believe in a 5th round wide receiver. Wide receivers in the past few years have found a way to ascend in their first year, breaking the mold of the “year two breakout” that we fantasy managers have longed held true. If Horton doesn’t splash in his rookie year, I won’t be mad, maybe just a tad disappointed. As a 5th rounder, it could be tough to see enough playing time to even have a shot to be the new hotness.
Maybe even then my expectations may be too lofty. After all we do have to remember this is all based on the continued success of surprise breakout Sam Darnold. Whether you believe he can do that or not will probably shape how you think about Horton’s future.
When Horton has an awesome preseason game, feel free to come back to this article and be amazing. If he is super quiet then, well, sorry about that.
Xavier Restrepo, WR, Tennessee Titans
Xavier Restrepo going undrafted and signing with the Tennessee Titans is the best thing that could have happened for his potential fantasy football relevance after his disastrous athletic testing. Most folks would just call him DOA, but I believe that there’s still some hope for the senior out of Miami.
He reunites with his college QB where the duo connected for 1,127 yards and 11 TDs. As the primary target, he led the team in receptions catching 69 of his 95 targets, primarily doing so from the slot. He was named an All-American in 2024 alongside his current and former QB. Everything about his college production says he probably should have been drafted somewhere on day 3. But the NFL cares a ton about speed, so his shockingly slow time most likely scared off teams.
Because I’m not an NFL GM, I can afford to overlook this and believe in the football talent of a back-to-back 1,000 yard receiver.
Restrepo, much like Monangai, has a long, long road ahead of him to become a fantasy viable asset. The Titans’ wide receiver room, though led by Calvin Ridley, isn’t exciting. However, he still will have to wait behind Tyler Lockett and battle the pair of fourth round selections in Chimere Dike and Elic Ayomanor for playing time. Not to mention he will have to share targets with not only the wideouts, but Chig Okonkwo and the tandem of Pollard and Spears as well.
He may not end up being much of anything. That 4.8 at his pro day just may have completely removed any sort of hope he had of making this team. If Restrepo does manage to suit up come September, I’m thinking he just may be a reliable outlet for Cam Ward throughout the year.
