2025 Fantasy Football Sleepers - WR Targets In Best Ball Leagues

There were plenty of fantasy football wide receivers last season who outperformed their draft-day ADP in best ball. Finding these receivers later in best ball drafts is a huge key to ultimately winning in your leagues.

Finding a handful of mid-to-late-round receivers frees up early draft capital to focus on other positions so you can build a dominant team from top to bottom. That’s where we come in; to help you pinpoint the under-the-radar wide receivers to allow you to stock and fortify your rosters.

Who are these sleeper wide receivers for best ball in 2025? Let’s look into those candidates and who can bolster your best ball squads this season.

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Jauan Jennings, San Francisco 49ers

Underdog ADP – 74.1 (WR40)

We’re going to find out if Jauan Jennings’ 2024 was a fluke or not very early in 2025 because the receiving corps of the 49ers could shake out to be MUCH different than the last few seasons in San Francisco.

Deebo Samuel Sr. could seemingly be on his way out via a trade request. Not only is Brandon Aiyuk recovering from a torn ACL from last October, but he could also be on the move as 49ers GM John Lynch is reportedly listening to trade offers for Aiyuk as well. Jennings has a good chance of being the top receiver for the 49ers to at least start the season.

John Lynch Says #49ers are Listening to Trade Offers for Brandon Aiyuk https://t.co/wQophYhrB3

— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) February 27, 2025

Not much fanfare was given to Jennings when he received a two-year contract last May and that will keep him in San Francisco through this upcoming season. Before last season, Jennings was a seldom-used third receiver for the 49ers who just kind of blended into the background.

But unlike many receivers before him who have gotten paid and their production falls off, Jennings turned in by far his best season as a pro after getting some financial security.

While Jennings caught 77 balls and earned 111 targets as the top receiver last season for San Francisco, the pass-catching group outside of George Kittle was hit hard by injury and ineffectiveness. Samuel was a shell of his former self with his worst season as a pro, Aiyuk was lost after Week 7 after a very tumultuous offseason that ended up getting him paid, and rookie Ricky Pearsall was shot before the season and it took him most of the season to get up to speed before a productive final two weeks.

Jennings was 14^th among wide receivers with at least 150 routes with a 2.26 YPRR and 14^th in TPRR as well, earning a target on over 25 percent of his routes. Frankly, he wasn’t just “third and Jauan,” he was first and second as well.

For what amounted to a lost season for the 49ers in 2024, Jennings turned in by far his finest season and will be a focal point of the team in 2025. As a seventh-round pick in Big Board drafts on Underdog, Jennings represents clear value as a top receiver on a pass-catching group that could be a bit thinner to start the season.

Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders

ADP – 80.9 (WR45)

The Raiders were a sneakily condensed team when it came to target distribution with Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers in 2023, but with the trade of Adams after Week 6 in 2024 and Adams only playing three games, that left the door wide open for Meyers to compile some targets and looks from whoever was throwing the ball to him. And that’s exactly what happened in 2024.

While Meyers didn’t lead the team in targets last season -- that honor went to rookie tight end Brock Bowers -- Meyers did earn a robust 22 percent of targets from the combination of Gardner Minshew II, Aidan O'Connell, and Desmond Ridder. If there’s any sort of improvement here in the quarterback room, Meyers should be able to improve on the efficiency of the huge number of targets he earns.

PPR points during their final 10 games of 2024:

Drake London (157.7)
Jakobi Meyers (157.4)
A.J. Brown (150.5)

— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) January 22, 2025

The presence of Bowers removes a lot of pressure from Meyers, who has always been an underappreciated target dating back to his days in New England. He’s been remarkably consistent with at least 67 receptions and 800 yards in his last three seasons before last season.

In 2024, Meyers broke out with the most targets (126) in his career and parlayed them into 87 grabs for 1,027 yards. He did that as a primary flanker in two WR sets and a slot in three WR sets and should continue that role into 2025.

The Raiders are very likely to add some pieces to their offense; likely a long-term option at quarterback with their sixth pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but also a wide receiver who could come in either the draft or free agency.

No matter what happens, Meyers’ production is like clockwork and just keeps producing no matter what. At the end of the seventh round, he’s a nice target to stabilize your wide receiver room if you took some shots on more volatile players.

Josh Downs, Indianapolis Colts

ADP – 86.9 (WR47)

After not playing the first two games of 2024 thanks to an ankle injury in training-camp practices, Downs (13.1 fantasy PPG) outproduced Michael Pittman Jr. (10.4 PPG) in two fewer games. The 13.1 fantasy points per game bested some of the stalwarts of fantasy like Tyreek Hill, DK Metcalf, Keenan Allen, and Calvin Ridley. Downs might just be the best target-earning receiver on the Indianapolis Colts as we head into 2025.

As a pure slot receiver with 84.5 percent of his snaps on the inside, Downs still got on the field a ton with Pittman and Alec Pierce on the outside. The Colts employed 11 personnel at a top-10 rate (70.3 percent) across the NFL last season, so it’s not like Downs couldn’t get on the field. When he does get on the field, he gets OPEN as well, with the fourth-highest Open Score on ESPN Analytics.

Josh Downs is the same age as Ladd McConkey (23), averaged more targets per-game (7.6-7.0), the same number of receptions per-game (5.1), posted a higher PFF Receiving Grade (85.1-81.2), & had a nearly identical YPRR (2.20-2.38).

Ladd McConkey is valued as a Top-14 WR in Dynasty… pic.twitter.com/fLKQX7GTfc

— David J. Gautieri (@GuruFantasyWrld) January 16, 2025

Downs put up four games of double-digit targets and was by far the most efficient of the Colts pass-catchers with a strong 2.20 yards per route run. In PPR leagues, Downs was the most effective with plenty of PPR compiling as he also led the team in receptions with 72. Of course, hampering things for the Colts was the quarterback situation.

The Colts’ QB rotation of Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco seemed to hold back Downs and Pittman in 2024 and it’s not a foregone conclusion that Richardson will be inserted as the starting quarterback for Week 1 in 2025. The Colts have said they plan on bringing in competition for the starting quarterback job, but Richardson making a leap in play represents a plus for a player like Downs to surpass expectations in 2025.

With a WR47 price tag in early best ball drafts, around players like Ricky Pearsall, Jakobi Meyers, and Cooper Kupp, Downs could be a huge steal in 2025 at his current cost.

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