In this article, we will feature two players that we want to draft in the 2025 Fantasy Football draft. These are very early predictions, so if anything changes, we will give an update, but the purpose of this is to let you guys know who we are looking to draft and why we think they are going to be league winners next year.
The first player we are looking to draft is James Cook. This is definitely a more controversial take because many people think he very much overperformed his expectations. This is partially true, considering that he did get 16 touchdowns when he was only projected to get into the three-to-five range, but if anything, this only proves just how good of a player James Cook is.
Just to put this into perspective, James Cook has averaged 4.9 yards per carry for the past three years and has gotten over 1000 rushing yards for the past two years. We also finally see James Cook getting in the end zone 18 times, which absolutely eclipses what he did in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
If we look at his competition, the next guys up would be Ray Davis and Ty Johnson. Ray Davis did take away 113 carries from James Cook, which is a significant amount, but he also only got 442 rushing yards, averaging about 3.9 yards per carry, which is not nearly to the standard that James Cook has set for this rushing attack.
Looking at Ty Johnson, he had a better year than Ray Davis. With only 41 carries, Ty Johnson put up 213 rushing yards, which is about 5.2 yards per carry, and added a touchdown.
At the end of the day, no running back is going to get 100% of their backfield, but James Cook has proven that not only is he capable of being the workhorse running back, but he can also do it efficiently.
This goes back to what we have been saying: talented running backs that are on high-scoring offenses tend to produce in fantasy, and James Cook is someone you should be targeting in next year’s fantasy draft, as he finished as the RB8 overall this past year, and believe that he can have a top 10 finish next year as well.
The next player we are big on has got to be Bucky Irving. It is safe to say that Bucky Irving was one of the most significant breakout candidates this past year. Going into this year, Rachaad White was the lead back until Bucky Irving showed what he could do. Bucky Irving had 207 carries with 1122 rushing yards, which is about 5.4 yards per carry; this is already better than anything Rachaad White has done in his career. For the three years Rachaad White has played with the Buccaneers, he has only averaged about 3.8 yards per carry and never had a season with over 1000 rushing yards.
It is safe to say that Bucky Irving is emerging as a top running back in this league and will be the workhorse running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moving forward.