5 Dynasty Rookie Draft Picks Experts Target (2025 Fantasy Football)

We’ll have you covered as you prepare for your 2025 dynasty rookie drafts. In order to dominate your dynasty rookie draft, check out our expert consensus dynasty rookie draft rankings. And sync your dynasty league to practice with fast and free dynasty rookie mock drafts. Below, we dive into dynasty rookie draft picks our analysts are higher or lower on compared to our expert consensus rankings.

Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Players to Target

DJ Giddens (RB – Kansas State)

D.J. Giddens isn’t lightning-fast, but he’s such a smart runner. Giddens has good vision and patience. He’s a smooth mover who changes direction without gearing down. Giddens sets up linebackers with feints and dekes, then cuts sharply in the opposite direction once those LBs commit. Giddens also has good contact balance, which – let’s face it – you need to have if you’re an NFL running back with ordinary speed.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Jaylin Noel (WR – Iowa State)

Noel is an impressive route runner. He adds subtle jab steps, pacing shakeups, and head fakes to his routes. Noel was primarily a slot receiver in college (72.7% slot), but he also has the skills to win from the perimeter. Noel can also win downfield and has solid ball tracking. Noel attacks defenders with a varied release package. He has smooth, easy acceleration with the raw speed to nail big plays downfield. He can pull away from corners in routes and in the open field. Noel plays through contact well. He has the upper body strength and the route skills to beat physical corners and press coverage. Noel flashed an increasingly dependable set of hands in college, with a 4.8% drop rate in his final season and a 52% contested catch rate. His play strength shows up at the catch point as he has more than a few snags with multiple defenders competing with him for the ball. He attacks the ball outside of his frame with aggressive hands.
– Derek Brown

Jayden Higgins (WR – Iowa State)

Jayden Higgins was the peanut butter to Jaylin Noel‘s jelly at Iowa State. The two flavors worked well together, and it’s hard to say which was the more valuable component of the sandwich. The 6-4, 217-pound Higgins moves well for a bigger receiver and has sure hands. He had 87-1,183-9 receiving for the Cyclones last fall.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

RJ Harvey (RB – UCF)

R.J. Harvey is small (5-9, 208) and overaged (24). But holy-moly, what a fun player to watch. Harvey has outstanding quickness and lateral agility. His jump-cuts are something to behold. Harvey also has great vision, quickly discerning where holes are and decisively dashing through them. He’s also a capable pass catcher and a high academic achiever. The production at UCF the last two years was absurd: 42 touchdowns, just under 3,000 rushing yards, and more than 500 receiving yards. The ageists and sizeists aren’t going to like Harvey, but open-minded dynasty managers might fall in love with him.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Kaleb Johnson (RB – Iowa)

Johnson is a fluid mover. He glides across the field with good bend around the edge. Some have questioned Johnson’s speed, but I have no worries about his raw speed. Johnson hits the gas as soon as he sees a sliver of daylight and can hit dingers. Johnson has a great feel for pressing and flowing through a run in sync with his offensive line. He can stop on a dime in the second level, pivoting and then hitting the gas again as he blows past a defender. He can make people miss in a phone booth. Johnson can stiff-arm a defender into the ground, but he isn’t a dominating physical runner. He excels with vision, footwork, bend, and speed. He isn’t a pile-pushing physical presence as a rusher, but he does keep his legs moving through contact. Johnson is still a work in progress in pass pro, but he has all the tools to become a serviceable option in this realm. His hands are strong like magnets. Once he gets his mitts on a rusher, he isn’t letting go of them. He needs to improve his pass-blocking technique by utilizing his lower half and setting up lower, but the raw intangibles are there. Johnson was utilized as a receiving option in a limited capacity. He was a trustworthy option, though, with only two drops in his collegiate career. He was mostly used as a check-down option running flat or swing routes from the backfield. He did get the occasional angle route or outside alignment with a slant route. His loose hips and short-area agility give hope that he offers more in the NFL as a receiver than he showed in college.
– Derek Brown