My Guys: The 3 Players I Can't Stop Drafting This Season

Don't you just love the concept of "My guys"? We all have sleepers, targets, fades, but none of those dudes stack up to MY GUYS.

What does the concept of "My guys" even mean? I'd argue nobody knows, but damnit if it's not provocative. It gets the people going!

Presenting...

MY GUYS ahead of the 2025 fantasy season that I'm attempting to get in drafts of all shapes and sizes

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

Titans WR Calvin Ridley

ADP: ESPN (WR27, 71 overall), Sleeper (WR32, 71.6), Yahoo (WR30, 76.8)
My rank: (use code "Ian" for 20% off a premium year-long sub if you're into that kind of thing) WR24 (48 overall)

I've been pestering Fantasy Life Director of Analytics Dwain McFarland all offseason about upping Ridley's projected targets total (still only at 113, what the f*ck man!). After all, Ridley went for 120 targets last season while sharing the field with guys like DeAndre Hopkins (for six games) and TD machine Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (now in Miami). And that was also with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph feeding him the football–it's no wonder he led the league in total unrealized air yards last season by 179! There were PLENTY of occasions of Ridley creating all kinds of downfield separation

Fast forward to 2025, and this profiles as one of the more sad WR rooms in the league when looking at everyone past the franchise's $92 million man. Van Jefferson and 33-year-old Tyler Lockett are tentatively expected to join Ridley in three-WR sets. Seriously. If they get beat out, it'll probably be by day-three rookies Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike.

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.

Any WR evaluation usually boils down to four factors: 1.) Talent, 2.) Age/injury concerns, 3.) Volume, and 4.) QB play. While points 2 and 4 aren't exactly assured to be amazing for Ridley, few players going in his range of the draft are sure-thing locks anyway, and I'm comfortable enough with his WR1-caliber history to largely buy into the possibility that this man should be looking at eight-plus targets on a weekly basis.

Bottom line: Ridley's consensus WR30 ADP bunches him alongside clear No. 2 options like Jaylen Waddle, Jameson Williams, George Pickens, and DeVonta Smith. Obviously a superior overall passing game is capable of producing big counting numbers on less 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. Ridley is 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.

Vikings RB Jordan Mason

ADP: ESPN (RB39, 140.3), Sleeper (RB36, 103.8), Yahoo (RB32, 97.1)
My rank: RB27 (79)

I wrote this in my "late players with big upside" piece, but Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell has informed us Mason is fully expected to be featured alongside incumbent starter A-aron Jones in a 1.B/goal line role. This seems good considering:

Mason regularly made the most out of his opportunities with the 49ers last season, racking up more rush yards over expected per carry than anyone not named Derrick Henry or Saquon Barkley.
The Vikings' revamped offensive line comes in as ETR's Brandon Thorn's fifth-best unit entering the season. PFF ranks them seventh. This is now the sixth-most expensive group in the league in terms of 2025 dollars.
KOC's offenses have ranked seventh, 10th, and 12th in total yards over the past three seasons, scoring the 11th-most points in the league along the way.

Basically, Mason profiles as a (far) cheaper version of David Montgomery: A "FLEX with benefits" capable of providing weekly top-30 value thanks to goal-line duties on top of weekly 15-plus-touch upside and sky-high handcuff upside should the starter ever miss any time. Hell, it seems at least possible that Mason supplants Jones as the most fantasy-friendly RB in Minnesota at some point, something not exactly in D-Mont's potential range of outcomes this year.

Bottom line: I get not going out of your way to take Mason as a borderline RB2 when there are still clear-cut starters on the board, but man, we're talking about RB39 ADP (pick 139.9) over at ESPN! That is criminal! Some of these near-RB40 ADPs are pretty wild–Mason is going in the same range as guys like Rachaad White and Trey Benson, who simply don't have the same likelihood of carving out anything close to solid standalone value. Run, don't walk, to scoop up Mason at a triple-digit ADP whenever possible.

Bills WR Keon Coleman

ADP: ESPN (WR46, 121.8), Sleeper (WR52, 119.5), Yahoo (WR54, 128.9)
My rank: WR44 (90)

Coleman appeared to be coming on strong as a rookie with 4-125-0 and 5-70-1 performances in Weeks 7-8, but a midseason hand/wrist injury sidelined the second-round pick for four weeks, and he would only catch 10 total passes during his final seven games upon returning.

That said, Coleman sure seemed to earn Josh Allen's trust as a jump-ball specialist (look at this shit!) and he also displayed some surprisingly fun after-the-catch ability on his way to joining some pretty damn good company to lead the position in Next-Gen Stats' YAC above expected per reception.

Yes, Coleman's targets per route run and overall counting numbers as a rookie weren't great. Also yes, the 21-year-old talent deserves credit for ranking third in yards per reception and 12th in yards per target among 89 qualified WRs last year.

Does this look like a WR who is simply bad and incapable of improving in year two?

The departures of Mack Hollins and Amari Cooper solidify Coleman as a near every-down player ahead of 2025. Throw in an existing hamstring injury to Khalil Shakir, and there's a non-zero chance that it's actually Coleman who winds up leading this offense in targets. Hell, even the return of a perfectly healthy Shakir would still likely leave the 2024 NFL Draft's 33rd overall pick as the front-runner for team-high marks in fantasy-friendly red-zone and deep-ball opportunities.

Bottom line: Coleman is available at sub "prime" Gabe Davis prices across the industry. This is about the last tier where I'm down to draft a WR with any level of high expectations, why not make it the second-year contested-catch artist expected to see the most fantasy-friendly end-zone and downfield opportunities from, you know, the reigning NFL MVP?