Fantasy Football Bold Predictions for 2025: Nico Collins, Kenneth Walker, and More

Fantasy football success favors the bold.

Or does it? There's really no way to know for sure. Either way: It's fun to go through fantasy footbal; bold predictions before the season, so let's do that!

What follows are seven bold fantasy predictions ahead of the 2025 season—and I'll be adding one more per week throughout the rest of July and August!

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

Bold Predictions For The 2025 Fantasy Football Season

Justin Fields finishes as a top-five QB

For all the grief that Fields catches as a passer, we probably don't give him enough love for what he's capable of doing on the ground. After all, Fields joins Jackson and Jayden Daniels as the only QBs in NFL history to average at least 50 rushing yards per game during their career.

This dual-threat element has really helped Fields consistently rack up rather great numbers in fantasy land, even if his progression as a real-life passer hasn't exactly been awesome:

Fields fantasy points per game:

2022: 19.7 (QB5)
2023: 17.7 (QB11)
2024: 18.9 (QB8)

It remains to be seen if Fields will turn into the first overly successful Jets QB since … Chad Pennington? Mark Sanchez? Joe Namath? Yikes, it really has been rough. But yeah: I wouldn't count on Fields necessarily being confused with some of the league's more elite pure passers anytime soon (have you SEEN this WR room outside of Garrett Wilson?); just realize Fields putting up quality numbers in fantasy land would be par for the course considering how dominant high-volume dual-threat QBs have been over the years.

Consider: 31 QBs had 100-plus carries in a season from 2014-2024, and …

13 (42%) finished as top-three fantasy QBs on a per-game basis
20 (65%) finished as top-six fantasy QBs
Only 3 (10%) finished outside fantasy's top-12 QBs (2014 Kaep, 2018 Lamar, 2020 Cam)

Fantasy Life Projections have Fields pegged for *drum roll please* 138 carries. Barring a complete face-plant collapse that leads to 35-year-old veteran Tyrod Taylor getting the starting job, it sure looks like Fields will have a tough time busting in *fantasy* football.

Kenneth Walker stays healthy, works as a top-12 RB

Walker looked like he had the potential to be the next big thing at the position after racking up 1,215 total yards and nine TDs in 15 games as a rookie. Unfortunately, injuries have prevented the Michigan State product from getting rolling for too long, basically every step of the way.

2022 (two missed games): Hamstring, hernia, ankle
2023 (two missed games): Groin, abdomen
2024 (six missed games): Abdomen, calf, ankle

Here's a shocker: Walker has already been limited in early summer sessions due to an ankle issue. Not great!

And yet, there's something special about the way Walker runs the football. He's got the speed to take any touch the distance, breaks ankles in the open field with the best of 'em, hurdles finely tuned athletic machines: This is one of the most fun RBs to watch in all of football when things are going right.

Kenneth Walker pic.twitter.com/0Hs57CZ4dH
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) April 18, 2025

The tackle-breaking ability is quantifiably absurd. PFF charted Walker with a whopping 39.9% tackles avoided rate on rushes–that's the highest mark since at least 2020 among RBs with at least 150 carries in a season!

I'm buying the Walker breakout hype ahead of 2025. He was already the RB7 in Utilization Score last season, thanks in large part to breaking out as a receiver: Walker's 7.4 PPR points per game from just passing game production was good for the sixth-highest mark at the position! One year's worth of blessing from the Injury Gods could help produce cinema inside Klint Kubiak's wide-zone rushing scheme—he's my RB12 ahead of guys with lower ADPs like Chase Brown and James Cook thanks to the potential for this elite tackle breaker to handle a true every-down role inside this new and (hopefully) improved Seahawks run game.

Jaylen Wright emerges as the best zero-RB pick in all of fantasy football

Wright landed on my list of underrated veteran winners after the draft. While he didn't exactly boom in his rookie year, he deserves credit for finishing first among Dolphins RBs in yards after contact per carry (3.3), tackles avoided per carry (23.5%), and explosive-run rate (10.3%) alike. Yes, this still didn't result in much work or fantasy fireworks in 2024. Also, yes, the Dolphins largely refrained from adding any sort of meaningful competition this entire offseason.

Consider:

Miami released Raheem Mostert back in February and did not re-sign current free agent Jeff Wilson.
The only free agent addition was career backup Alexander Mattison on a tiny one-year, $2-million deal.
General Manager Chris Grier waited until pick 179 to select Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon in Round 6.

Now, Gordon is more interesting than your usual day three pick due to his plus size (6'1", 226 pounds) and huge 2023 campaign (2,062 total yards and 22 TD!), but c'mon: The only competition the Dolphins have added against Wright this entire offseason is Alexander f*cking Mattison and a sixth-round rookie–that's a win.

Wright regularly goes outside the top-50 RBs in early drafts—I LOVE this price tag for someone with an outside chance for standalone FLEX value and sky-high handcuff upside should Achane ever miss any action.

Nico Collins scores more fantasy points than any WR not named Ja'Marr Chase

All Collins has done with C.J. Stroud under center is work as one of the game's single-best receivers both in fantasy and real life.

Collins in 2023-24:

PPR points per game: 17.4 (WR8)
Yards per route run: 3.0 (WR1)
Targets per route run: 27.1% (WR9)

Collins should be in any top-10 real-life WR argument and earns top-five consideration in fantasy land thanks to the potential to breeze past 150 targets in an offense led by a young QB who has at least flashed the ability to operate at an elite level. It's tough to watch his highlight mixtape and not see some level of semblance to the great Julio Jones.

Collins is my overall WR4 and someone I am taking ahead of guys like Puka Nacua, Brian Thomas Jr., and Malik Nabers due to his relative lack of high-end target competition compared to the former two receivers and a superior QB situation relative to the latter stud. I would not be overly surprised if Collins finished as THE WR1—he's that good.

DK Metcalf racks up 130-plus targets, returns top-10 production

The former second-round pick has never quite fully managed to turn his exceptional physical skills into consistently elite fantasy production.

Metcalf PPR points per game since entering the NFL:

2019: 11.7 (WR41)
2020: 17 (WR10)
2021: 14.4 (WR22)
2022: 13.3 (WR25)
2023: 14.1 (WR22)
2024: 12.8 (WR31)

Of course, Metcalf figures to face less competition than ever in Pittsburgh, as Robert Woods, Calvin Austin, and Roman Wilson are the only three WRs expected to somewhat battle for targets in this Aaron Rodgers-led passing attack.

Reminder: Metcalf signed a five-year, $150-million contract with Pittsburgh, tying him for fifth in terms of annual earnings at the position behind only Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, A.J. Brown, and Amon-Ra St. Brown. We've seen Arthur Smith provide quality 17-game target paces for guys like George Pickens (125, 2024), Drake London (117, 2022-23), Russell Gage (114, 2021), and A.J. Brown (129, 2020); the aforementioned lack of high-end target competition could help the 27-year-old talent set a new high here.

Priced alongside clear-cut No. 2 options like Xavier Worthy, Jameson Williams, and DeVonta Smith, I'm a big fan of prioritizing Metcalf thanks to his superior potential to work as the engine of his passing game.

Cam Ward force-feeds Calvin Ridley, who posts top-15 numbers

Ridley led the league in total unrealized air yards last season by 179! There were PLENTY of occasions of him creating all kinds of downfield separation, only for Will Levis or Mason Rudolph to not manage to get him the ball. The former Falcon and Jaguar also actually finished fourth in this category last season.

Let's get Ridley an accurate QB and see what happens. I maintain the 30-year-old veteran (younger in football years!) is good at the game and still capable of putting up some big-time numbers when paired with something close to a plus QB.

Calvin Ridley pic.twitter.com/Y3YAEf2mIs
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) March 18, 2025

Ridley's current WR32 ADP bunches him alongside clear No. 2 options like Jaylen Waddle and Jordan Addison, among others. Obviously a superior overall passing game is capable of producing big counting numbers on fewer opportunities; just realize Ridley will look like a gem of a pick at this cost should Ward be anything close to, you know, good at football. He's one of my most-drafted WRs of the offseason and someone I especially love targeting when leaving the first four to five rounds with multiple RBs.

David Njoku turns in his third straight top-five finish

Sure, the Browns' obvious black hole under center doesn't make for the highest upside, but the reality that Njoku is essentially the check-down option in Kevin Stefanski's offense adds some stability here. The veteran TE has been a bit of a target hog ever since former starter/high-priced free agent addition Austin Hooper left town.

Note that Browns TEs rank third in screen targets while carrying the fourth-lowest average target depth during this span. Translation: Njoku is being schemed up plenty of easy hitting targets in the underneath areas of the field, AKA the sort of opportunities that should be a bit easier to come by regardless of who is under center.

Throw in some borderline erotic splits, specifically with Flacco under center, along with a top-five target projection at the position, and Njoku (again) looks undervalued relative to his current ADP. The one potential red flag is the newfound presence of third-rounder Harold Fannin, although I wouldn't be surprised if he's used as more of a big slot complement as opposed to someone actively stealing Njoku's snaps.