Devy Fantasy Football Sleepers – 2025 and Beyond
In Devy and Campus to Canton fantasy leagues, the youthful college stars rightfully hold plenty of value as they enter the NFL. Blue chip prospects such as Trevor Lawrence and Ja’Marr Chase were Devy lineup mainstays well before their NFL careers started. Today, we’ll break down some Devy fantasy football sleepers for 2025 and beyond.
Those top players showed early consistent production in their college careers. More importantly, that production appears to have translated well to the NFL. Especially for fantasy football purposes. Other players such as Puka Nacua and Isiah Pacheco had to wait until day 3 of the NFL Draft but have made their mark in the NFL early on.
Devy Fantasy Football Sleepers for 2025 and Beyond
In this article, we’ll examine and attempt to identify a few of those sleepers in the mold of the Nacua’s, Pacheco’s, and Amon-Ra St. Brown-type of players. Maybe that player needed a change of scenery in college or an upgrade in an offensive role. However, they currently appear on track to reach the next level.
Now let’s take a look at some 2025 NFL Draft-eligible Devy fantasy football sleepers who can help bolster your Devy rosters. More importantly, players who will improve their team’s roster when they get that chance in the NFL. Continue reading to discover these sleepers.
RB Tawee Walker (Wisconsin)
Former Oklahoma Sooner Tawee Walker is the newest running back in the Wisconsin lineage. He joins starter Chez Mellusi as the one-two punch for the Badgers this 2024 season.
The 2024 season started with the two backs both playing well against Western Michigan. Notably, Walker (15 carries, 66 yards, and 1 TD) and Mellusi (19 carries, 74 yards, and 1 TD) posted similar stat lines.
This backfield will be one to watch as both are 2025-eligible backs, and it’ll be especially interesting if either takes control in the receiving game. The pedigree and speed of Walker should allow him to step up in a full-time role for the Badgers. Additionally, this will allow him to improve on his career-high, 513-yard season for the Sooners last year. He can make big plays for fantasy football and Devy teams. Not to mention, he already found the end zone for this Badgers team in his home debut. Walker may not rise farther than a late Day 3 NFL pick, but he’s a name to watch for in fantasy football and dynasty league football.
RB DJ Giddens (Kansas State)
Kansas State’s 2023 starting running back DJ Giddens was joined by another talented back in the transfer portal this offseason, former Colorado Buffaloes starter Dylan Edwards. While both contributed to the Wildcat’s opening week win, Giddens announced his starter supremacy with a 13-carry, 124-yard performance. That was good for a 9.5-yard average, per carry.
As a true Junior, Giddens also finds himself as one of the youngest talents on this list, a welcome positive at the running back position. Not only is Giddens a fantastic between-the-tackles ballcarrier, but he also showed the ability to make big plays in the receiving game in 2023, when he would go for 329 yards on only 29 catches. Giddens has been in competitive backfields, is soon eligible for the draft, and has done nothing but contribute in three years for Kansas State. Notably, going for 518 yards as a Freshman while sharing touches with Deuce Vaughn.
Giddens has the speed, strength, and ability to become a solid option for NFL and fantasy football teams. Ultimately, he should be particularly productive this upcoming season as he solidifies his draft position with Kansas State.
RB Makhi Hughes (Tulane)
Makhi Hughes has an eerily similar track record compared to the aforementioned DJ Giddens of Kansas State. Both are starting running backs who could find short-yardage roles at the next level. Also, both are star running backs who had to sit behind a current NFL player, with Tyjae Spears starting in 2022 for Tulane. Meanwhile, Hughes took a medical redshirt that season. Hughes then stepped in as the starter for 2023, instantly racking up 1378 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground for the Green Wave.
While he hasn’t shown much in his receiving repertoire last year or to date, Hughes’s stout running style should at least allow him to find goal-line work early in his career. He could still add that receiving ability in his game. Similarly to Giddens, he is a relatively young prospect as a redshirt Sophomore.
Hughes has fought back from injury and improved his game seemingly game by game in 2023 and going into 2024. In the end, he should remain a solid running back option in Devy leagues.
RB Ja’Quinden Jackson (Arkansas)
The player on this list with the best stat line in Week 1 is none other than Utah transfer running back Ja’Quinden Jackson. While Jackson battled injuries and struggling performances for the Utes over the last few seasons, he appeared healthy and explosive in his first game for the Arkansas Razorbacks against Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Jackson would only need eight carries to go for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, showing an explosive big-play ability all Devy and fantasy football managers crave.
Volume is hardly ever predictable. However, when players show the ability to turn a game on its head with their athleticism, it makes both fantasy managers and NFL general managers take a second look.
If Jackson can stay healthy this Senior year and continue to produce in an upgraded SEC conference, we could be looking at a future playmaker for our fantasy teams and in the NFL. He’s shown a nose for the endzone in the past, going for 9 touchdowns on only 79 touches in his first season for Utah. Overall, Jackson’s health could be key to staying in fantasy football lineups.
WR Mario Williams (Tulane)
Mario Williams has had a long road to Tulane in his college career. However, his four-catch, 124-yard performance in his Green Wave may signal the consistency Williams has needed.
Williams began his career at Oklahoma and exploded when Caleb Williams started. Then he was expected to be USC’s second receiving option but was overtaken in volume by pro prospects such as Jordan Addison, Brendan Rice, and Tahj Washington.
Recently, Williams then transferred to Tulane for this upcoming season. Here, he should have less competition for targets as he rehabilitates his professional draft stock. His speed is matched by very few in the collegiate game and he has the makings of a depth NFL receiver that can take the top off a defense. While it may have taken some time for Williams to find his program, consistent production is what will allow him to again be a draftable asset for the next level.
WR Dane Key (Kentucky)
This 2024 season is the third for Dane Key with the Kentucky Wildcats program. It’s a program in which he has been near the top of the depth chart since 2022. He’s joined in the receiving core by the noteworthy Barion Brown, a top prospect in his own right. Both of these wide receivers should see an opportunity at the next level, but Key is a player who could excite managers in the way Jalen McMillan has with the Buccaneers this offseason.
Furthermore, Key moves the sticks and has plenty of routes in his arsenal. This lets him get open and make big plays when assembled in an offense with other stars (Ray Davis and Will Levis). If Key can find an NFL job where he can supplement an offense, or takes a big enough leap this year to raise his stock even further, he may very well be the biggest sleeper we’ve discussed in the 2025 NFL Draft class.
WR Xavier Restrepo (Miami)
Miami’s Xavier Restrepo finally broke out in his 2023 Senior season, cementing himself as the Hurricane’s top wide receiver both last year and for this upcoming year. He finished his 2023 season with an 85 catch and 1092-yard stat line and he did that during a down production year in the Hurricanes quarterback room.
Meanwhile, prized transfer portal and Heisman candidate Cam Ward was brought in this offseason. Restrepo responded in Week 1 with a 7-catch, 112-yard performance while also getting in the end zone. Without a doubt, he is a skilled route runner, which is a running theme for these smaller Day 3 type NFL talents.
What he may lack in physical size, Restrepo makes up in quickness and football savvy. As long as Ward and Restrepo continue to build a rapport as the season goes on, we could be talking about both of these players less as sleepers and more as ascending assets in the pre-draft process.
Devy Fantasy Football Sleepers – Final Thoughts
While every Devy team is searching for that future star to manage, we can’t all draft Quinshon Judkins or the next Luther Burden with each pick. Taking a look around the changing college landscape allows us to look at player’s opportunities through a lens not dissimilar to the NFL.
With an open transfer portal, players can find a role in an appealing system and restart what could be seen as a deflated fantasy value. With players transferring out, it allows players such as Restrepo to make a name in the room they started in, while a player like Jackson will have a bigger stage to show off his skills in the SEC.
Not every future NFL starter is a stud in college. In the end, selecting smaller prospects who produce should allow a manager flexibility as they swing for more stars each year in those Devy drafts.
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