2025 Fantasy Football Awards: Is Christian McCaffrey or Trey McBride the MVP?
Fantasy

2025 Fantasy Football Awards: Is Christian McCaffrey or Trey McBride the MVP?

Ian Hartitz presents the 2025 Fantasy Football Awards, featuring season MVP, playoffs MVP, Most Improved Player and much more.

The 2025 fantasy football season has come and gone. We occasionally laughed, definitely cried and hopefully brought home some championship hardware for our efforts.

Of course, earning that first-place prize wouldn’t be possible without championship-level performances from the actual NFL players involved. Kudos to you, a scholar, on making some great start/sit decisions this season—but let’s not forget the Jimmies and Joes have a bit more to do with the outcome than any X’s and O’s.

Today, Fantasy Life honors the 2025 season’s best fantasy performers with awards spanning across seven different main categories–and also some superlative wild cards at the end.

More than ever: It’s a great day to be great.

Fantasy Football 2025 MVP: Cardinals TE Trey McBride

Four playmakers from the NFC West were worthy of this honor this season, but McBride gets the nod thanks to, you know, literally scoring over 100 additional PPR points than any other player at the TE position.

Consider: The difference between Trey McBride and TE2 Kyle Pitts (+103.4) is the same as Pitts and TE28 Evan Engram! The Cardinals' fourth-year star posted a top-2 weekly finish on eight occasions in Weeks 1-17—no other TE had more than three!

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And hey: It's not like McBride simply dominated relative to a down year from the rest of the position—he's now on the TE Mount Rushmore when it comes to the best fantasy seasons ever.

TE most PPR points per game in a single season in NFL history (min. 8 games):

  1. 2020 Travis Kelce (20.9)
  2. 2011 Rob Gronkowski (20.7)
  3. 2013 Jimmy Graham (20)
  4. 2025 Trey McBride (18.6)

Yes, CMC is the obvious choice for *BEST* fantasy player of 2025 thanks to scoring the most points. Also yes, McBride's display of superior positional dominance at a third-round price tag seems like a worthy enough tiebreaker when considering the valuable part of the equation.

Honorable mention:

Fantasy Playoffs MVP: Falcons RB Bijan Robinson

Four players scored at least 90 PPR points during the final three weeks of the fantasy season, but it was Bijan Robinson who really seemed to rise to the occasion each and every time out.

  • Week 15: 19-93-1 rushing, 8-82-0 receiving, 29.5 PPR points (RB4)
  • Week 16: 16-76-0 rushing, 7-92-1 receiving, 29.8 points (RB4)
  • Week 17: 22-195-1 rushing, 5-34-1 receiving, 39.9 points (RB2)

The latter performance was good for the position's fifth-biggest performance of the season and just so happened to serve as a Monday Night miracle for many desperate fantasy managers. Is there really anything better than winning your fantasy championship on an electric 93-yard TD?

Robinson's preposterous league-high 2,298 total yards from scrimmage weren't quite enough to break Chris Johnson's NFL record (2,509), but still: The 23-year-old baller deserves credit for putting together one helluva season–and he likely cemented himself as Mr. 1.01 in 2026.

Honorable mention:

Best Fantasy Championship Game Performance: Ravens RB Derrick Henry

Who else? King Henry's 45.6 PPR points were 5.7 more than any alleged mortal could attest to having during fantasy championship week. It's just the fifth time that someone has crossed the 40-point barrier in Week 17 in five seasons since the NFL added the 17th regular-season game.

Most PPR points in Week 17 since 2021:

  1. 2022 Ja'Marr Chase (55.6)
  2. 2023 Mike Evans (48.7)
  3. 2025 Derrick Henry (45.6)
  4. 2023 CeeDee Lamb (40.2)
  5. 2024 Tee Higgins (40.1)

While all of 2025 wasn't exactly smooth sailing for Henry, he ended the season on an absolute tear with 100+ total yards in each of his final six games.

And why shouldn't we have expected the 32-year-old monster to ball out down the stretch? The world has changed a lot over the years, but one of the few certainties that remains: This man is f*cking TOUGH to tackle once the weather gets cold.

Henry career yards per carry by month:

  • September: 4.3
  • October: 4.8
  • November: 4.9
  • December: 5.3
  • January: 5.5

Credit to Henry for the amazing championship-winning performance—and his loyal fantasy managers for believing in a non-pass-catching RB on the wrong side of 30 in the first place. 

Honorable mention:

Most improved fantasy player: Bengals RB Chase Brown

This is based on the player's improvement from the first half of 2025 onto the second half of the season–and boy, oh boy, did Brown do his best 2024 impression by going from a middling RB3 … to a world-beating top-5 option at the position down the stretch.

Brown PPR points per game in 2025:

  • Weeks 1-8: 12 (RB25)
  • Weeks 9-17: 21 (RB4)

Like in 2024, it took an injury to seemingly nonconsequential competition in Zack Moss and Samaje Perine to spark the breakout, but Brown's late-season excellence ultimately came with Perine back in the lineup–at that point the genie was out of the bottle and Brown became a key cog inside a Cincy offense suddenly back to firing on all cylinders with Joe Burrow back under center.

Throw in the reality that Brown ripped off consecutive massive performances in Week 16 (RB1) and Week 17 (RB3) with the fantasy season on the line, and he's an easy pick for the most-improved fantasy player of 2025. Don't be surprised if the bell cow speedster inside one of the league's perennial high-scoring offenses flirts with a first-round ADP in 2026.

Honorable mention:

Comeback Fantasy Player of the Year: 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey

Christian McCaffrey probably could have taken home about three of these awards, but unfortunately the committee (me) decided Notre Dame wasn't going to be the only one getting screwed this year.

But yeah: Turns out CMC is still CMC when given the blessing of the injury gods, who sadly/ironically took it upon themselves to take out pretty much every relevant CMC teammate at one point or another during the 2025 season.

McCaffrey career PPR points per game and finish:

  • 2017 (16 games): 14.3 PPR points per game (RB13)
  • 2018 (16): 24.1 (RB3)
  • 2019 (16): 29.5 (RB1)
  • 2020 (3): 30.1 (RB1)
  • 2021 (7): 18.2 (RB5)
  • 2022 (17): 21 (RB2)
  • 2023 (16): 24.5 (RB1)
  • 2024 (4): 12 (RB27)
  • 2025 (17): 24.5 (RB1)

While McCaffrey's 3.9 yards per carry (lowest since 2020) reflected the reality that we didn't see a lot of big-play fireworks on the ground, it's hard to overstate just how ridiculous the man was as a pass catcher. Consider: CMC would have finished as the overall PPR RB14 without a single rush attempt this season! His 236.4 PPR points from purely receiving production were the eighth most among any player in 2025 and are good for the third-highest mark since 2000 among RBs.

Congrats to CMC on another masterpiece. Reminder when getting ready for 2026 drafts: It's easy to wonder "What if McCaffrey gets hurt?" Though also keep in mind: "What if he doesn't?”

Honorable mention:

Waiver Wire Addition of the Year: Cardinals WR Michael Wilson

There were several deserving candidates here, but none were more constantly dominant than Michael Wilson down the stretch when things mattered most in fantasy land.

Yes, Wilson benefited from Kyler Murray getting injured/benched and from Marvin Harrison Jr. being in and out of the lineup with various injuries. Also yes, the third-year talent emerged as a legit stud on his way to clearing the 1,000-yard mark, turning in big game after big game upon being trusted with a legit No. 1 WR role in mid-November.

  • Week 11: 15 receptions-185 yards-0 TD, PPR WR1
  • Week 12: 10-118-0, WR9
  • Week 13: 3-36-0, WR51
  • Week 14: 11-142-2, WR1
  • Week 15: 5-54-1, WR17
  • Week 16: 2-52-1, WR25
  • Week 17: 5-89-1, WR8
  • Week 18: 5-99-1, WR5

Overall, Wilson was the WR2 in PPR points per game during this stretch—only Puka Nacua was more productive! Getting force fed the football in an injury-riddled offense regularly playing from behind certainly helped matters, but give Wilson credit for regularly winning in tough spots: Once again Puka (71%) caught a higher percentage of his contested targets than Wilson (65%) among 55 qualified pass catchers.

The times they are a-changin' in Arizona at head coach, offensive coordinator and most likely QB—but Wilson's second-half heroics give him a VERY compelling case to be the first Cardinals WR drafted in 2026.

Honorable mention:

Fantasy Rookie of the Year: Browns TE Harold Fannin

This was the trickiest one to pick …

  • WR: The top performing rookies (Emeka Egbuka, Tetairoa McMillan) certainly flashed some high-end upside, but neither did so with any level of consistency throughout the season. Should plenty of the fault be placed at the feet of their QB? Absolutely, but unfortunately that's not something that we get fantasy points for.
  • RB: The best backs missed a bunch of time (Omarion Hampton, Cam Skattebo), needed injuries to really boom down the stretch (TreVeyon Henderson, RJ Harvey), or traded exciting multi-game stretches with ROUGH droughts throughout the middle of the season (Quinshon Judkins, Jacory Croskey-Merritt). The actual top-performing RB who played double-digit games was Ashton Jeanty, but obviously he struggled to fulfill sky-high preseason expectations–and his Week 16 explosion sadly happened on a lot of consolation-bracket rosters.
  • QB: There were moments where Jaxson Dart was being ranked as a legit top-6 option at the position thanks to his ridiculous rushing upside (he trailed only Josh Allen in total fantasy points from rushing!), but injuries to himself and the entire offense limited full upside being reached. His Week 16 DUD (0.02 fantasy points) didn't help matters.

So why not Fannin? After all, the rookie carried the lowest ADP of any party involved, outscored his rookie class' first-round options, and rose to the occasion late with PPR TE9, TE1, TE11, TE2 and TE13 finishes during his final five games!

Oh yeah, and Fannin looked f*cking GREAT doing it.

Throw in the reality that Fannin was doing this inside a consensus bottom-3 offensive environment, and I'm happy to crown the 21-year-old talent as THE top fantasy rookie of the 2025 season.

Honorable mention:

  • Giants RB Cam Skattebo
  • Broncos RB RJ Harvey
  • Panthers WR Tetairoa McMillan
  • Colts TE Tyler Warren
  • Giants QB Jaxson Dart

Fantasy Football Superlative awards

I asked the Fantasy Life team if they had any quirky superlative type awards that came to mind when digesting the 2025 season.

*Law and Order musics*

These are their stories:

1. Kevin Ogletree Award for going off in Week 1 and then doing absolutely nothing the rest of the season: Bills WR Keon Coleman (Ian Hartitz)

2. They had us in the first half, ain't gonna lie: Buccaneers WR Emeka Egbuka (Joe Metz)

3. Most likely to get a carry in the Steelers backfield: Literally anyone not named Kaleb Johnson (Pete Overzet)

4. Most likely to score 40 points or quit football for good in a fit of rage: Cowboys WR George Pickens (Pete Overzet)

5. Most likely to be in menopause because I've started more weeks this season than him: Texans RB Joe Mixon (cooterdoodle)

6. Biggest goal-line vulture: Rams WR Davante Adams (cooterdoodle)

7. Most likely to have more Kohl's Cash than Kirk Cousins: Colts QB Philip Rivers (Matt Swing)

8. The Limp Bizkit this aged poorly award for a player that hit the age cliff: Saints RB Alvin Kamara (Jake Trowbridge)

9. The does he even go to our school award: Titans RB Tony Pollard (Jake Trowbridge, who noted Pollard eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards without any of us noticing)

10. Most likely to be a third-round pick after one good game: Bears WR Luther Burden (Matt Swing)

11. Most likely to have more rushing TDs than his own teammate: Falcons RB Tyler Allgeier (Sam Wallace)

12. Biggest psych-out player (big performance tha\en psych you out with a dud): Chiefs TE Travis Kelce (Kendall Valenzuela)

13. The Jameis Winston award for QB who succeeded in spite of himself: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold (Marcas Grant)

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Trey McBride
    TreyMcBride
    TEARIARI
    PPG
    9.81
  2. Christian McCaffrey
    ChristianMcCaffrey
    RBSFSF
    PPG
    17.24
  3. Jaxon Smith-Njigba
    JaxonSmith-Njigba
    WRSEASEA
    PPG
    11.78
    Proj
    15.67
  4. Bijan Robinson
    BijanRobinson
    RBATLATL
    PPG
    15.67