Biggest Fantasy Football Rankings Risers: Justin Fields, Davante Adams, And More

Ian Hartitz released his updated fantasy football rankings, highlighting players who have risen since earlier this offseason.

Shit happens in life and especially fantasy football. From injuries, to suspensions, to some coach messing up our best-laid plans: Our great American pastime causes all kinds of grief all year round.

But not today, Satan. Today we celebrate offseason glass-half-full optimism by breaking down seven of my biggest rankings risers since initially putting together 2025 ranks.

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

Jets QB Justin Fields

Initial rank: QB12
Current rank: QB9

The initial rank was also only that high once Justin Fields actually signed with the Jets—the man was going outside the top-20 QBs in drafts before free agency!

But yeah: I was diddling around with Fields as more of a borderline QB1 before rising him up inside the top 10 upon fully realizing three key factors at play:

Say what you will about Fields' standing as a real-life passer, but his rushing has made him a fantasy machine on his way to QB5, QB11, and QB8 finishes on a per-game basis over the past three seasons.
The two-year, $40 million contract with $30 million guaranteed seemingly locks in Fields as the no-doubt starter ahead of 35-year-old Tyrod Taylor, particularly after New York declined to draft anyone at the position.
28 of 31 QBs (90%) to have 100-plus carries in a season from 2014-2024 finished as a top-12 fantasy QB on a per-game basis. Of those, 20 (65%) posted top-six numbers. Fantasy Life Projections have Fields tabbed for … 131.7 rush attempts.

The potential cherry on top would be new OC Tanner Engstrand bringing some Ben Johnson/Lions voodoo magic into the equation; either way it's AWFULLY rare for archetypes like this to bust in fantasy football land–accordingly I'm drafting Fields ahead of guys like Bo Nix, Brock Purdy, and Caleb Williams.

Bears RB D'Andre Swift

Initial rank: RB36
Current rank: RB22

D'Andre Swift had an interesting 2024. The career-low 3.8 yards per carry wasn't ideal, but there were some fun flashes, and ultimately enough volume produced an RB21 finish in PPR points per game. Looking ahead to 2025, new head coach Ben Johnson surely would look to upgrade at the position at some point during the offseason, right?

Wrong! The Bears were linked to seemingly every available RB throughout the last four months of player movement, yet at the end of the day ultimately only added seventh-rounder Kyle Monangai.

Reminder: Swift has never finished worse than the RB24 in PPR points per game since entering the league in 2020. He was the RB16 during his only season with Johnson as OC. It's curious that Swift gets cut seemingly no slack for operating behind the same offensive line and porous scheme that apparently was enough to ruin Caleb Williams' rookie campaign.

Give me the RB1 of an ascending Bears offense ahead of Day 2 rookies like Kaleb Johnson, Quinshon Judkins, and TreVeyon Henderson, who aren't guaranteed any additional volume and look to be stuck in far worse offensive environments.

Vikings RB Jordan Mason

Initial rank: RB56
Current rank: RB36

Mason was awesome in place of Christian McCaffrey last season, but the return of CMC and possible ascension of Isaac Guerendo made it tough to look at him as anything more than a pure handcuff stash ahead of 2025.

And then suddenly Mason was a Minnesota Viking. While the late-round draft compensation wasn't exactly a needle mover, the ensuing two-year, $12 million contract extension (including $7 million guaranteed) seemingly adds plenty of potential to earn a weekly role alongside Aaron Jones. After all, head coach Kevin O'Connell has openly spoken about how getting Jones back into more of a "1A, 1B backfield structure" can bring out the best of the eight-year veteran.

It's possible Mason is used as a pure backup, but at a minimum he has a MUCH better chance of pushing for touches in Minnesota compared to San Fran. A-aron turns 31 in December, just averaged a career-low 4.5 yards per carry, and simply wasn't in the same sphere as Mason in terms of his ability to force missed tackles and pick up yards after contact last season.

Jones should still be considered the favorite to lead the backfield, but Mason deserves mid-tier RB3 treatment alongside fellow likely "FLEX with benefits" types like Rhamondre Stevenson and Najee Harris, who should be able to provide some usable performances more weeks than not—and boast legit RB1 upside should their backfield mate ever miss any game action.

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice

Initial rank: WR45
Current rank: WR16

All Rashee Rice did during the first three weeks of last season was score 21.6 PPR points per game—a mark that would have only trailed Ja'Marr f*cking Chase over the course of an entire season! He's in special company when looking at yards and targets per route run during the first two seasons of a career.

Of course, back in February the primary concerns revolved around his recovery from a torn LCL and a possible suspension. Wild but true: Players can't legally score fantasy points if they aren't on the football field.

That said: While we should perhaps exercise caution in expecting Rice's usual level of YAC goodness early on, it sounds increasingly likely the rising third-year talent will be ready to go for Week 1 after Andy Reid said he expects him to be a full participant at the start of training camp. Additionally, legal expert Drew Davenport is on the record guessing that Rice will play all of this year with his case continuing to progress very slowly.

There's certainly a red flag here in terms of the injury, but man, every WR after Ladd McConkey and A.J. Brown has at least one risk that should concern fantasy managers. Whether it's age (Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, Mike Evans) or overall offensive environment (Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Marvin Harrison Jr.): The WR2 tier is full of guys with one flaw—the difference is that it's possible Rice's issue is actually resolved by Week 1.

Browns WR Cedric Tillman

Initial rank: WR77
Current rank: WR57

The Browns' hilariously sad excuse for a QB room has distracted from their curious decision to largely ignore their WRs this offseason. Sure, Jerry Jeudy deserves some love following his breakout 90-1,229-4 campaign, but the only notable offseason addition was perennial knucklehead Diontae Johnson to replace Elijah Moore. No draft picks were used on the position unless you consider Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin, who's more of a big slot (which is fair).

This should cement Cedric Tillman as an every-week starter. For those unfamiliar with Tillman's game: The former third-round pick was thrust into the starting lineup in Week 7 following the decision to trade Amari Cooper to the Bills. While the newfound presence of DGAF gunslinger Jameis Winston certainly helped matters, Tillman proceeded to make the most out of his opportunities in his only four full games as a starter in 2024 before suffering a season-ending concussion in Week 12:

Week 7 vs. Bengals: 8 receptions-81 yards-0 TD (12 targets), PPR WR15
Week 8 vs. Ravens: 7-99-2 (9), WR3
Week 9 vs. Chargers: 6-75-1 (11), WR11
Week 11 at Saints: 3-47-0 (8), WR50

We're talking about the WR8 in PPR points per game during this stretch! Certainly a small sample, but not too shabby of a ceiling when we could be looking at fellow DGAF gunslinger Joe Flacco under center ahead of 2025. Of course, it could also be Kenny Pickett (ew), Dillon Gabriel (yuck), or Shedeur Sanders (gross); just realize any starting WR with even a little bit of proven WR1 upside is worthy of a WR5-level late-round dart.

Rams WR Davante Adams

Initial rank: WR30
Current rank: WR15

The first question you probably have: Is Adams still even that good anymore?

Answer: Yes. Does this look like a washed WR to you?

It took Adams a bit to catch his groove with Aaron Rodgers last season, but things actually went quite nicely down the stretch. Overall, only Ja'Marr Chase (151.3) and Brian Thomas (137.2) scored more fantasy points (PPR) than Adams (136.6) during the final six weeks of 2024. The 17-game pace was ultimately quite fantastic: We're talking 104 receptions, 1,320 yards, 11 TD, and 17.7 PPR points per game (would have been good for WR8 status last year).

Ultimately, it's not just a bet on Adams at this point. This is arguably the single-most fantasy-friendly offense for WRs in the NFL: Rams WRs as a whole rank second in both receptions and receiving yards since McVay and Stafford joined forces in 2021.

Obviously, Puka Nacua will still see plenty of targets, but don't discount Adams' ability to also flirt with something like 140 or so opportunities across a 17-game season. After all, Cooper Kupp (100 targets in 2024) and Demarcus Robinson (64) are leaving behind plenty of looks, and de facto No. 3 WR Tutu Atwell is more of a field-stretching specialist than someone ready to actively challenge Adams for targets.

Broncos TE Evan Engram

Initial rank: TE32
Current rank: TE9

The former first-round pick didn't exactly live up to the hype during his first five seasons with the Giants, but underwent a bit of a rebirth during his three years in Jacksonville.

Engram among 40 TEs with 100-plus targets from 2022-24:

Receptions: 234 (2nd)
Receiving yards: 2,094 (5th)
Yards per route: 1.52 (13th)
Targets per route: 22.2% (8th)

Overall, Engram averaged a robust 11.6 PPR points per game—the eighth-highest mark at the position. It's rare to see 6-foot-3, 234-pound athletes with this sort of ability to move in space.

Obviously, the Broncos haven't managed to field a player up to Payton's standards at TE over the past two seasons: Denver TEs rank dead last in targets by a whopping 37 pass-game opportunities since 2023. His track record at the position over the years really hasn't been too hot other than the obvious Jimmy Graham booms.

Still, Engram spent more total snaps in the slot or out wide (185) than inline (172) last year, indicating that a role as the starting TE and de facto "big slot" is firmly on the table. The reality that the only proven commodities in the Broncos WR room are Sutton and (to a lesser extent) Mims adds credence to the idea that Engram should have a featured role from Day 1—something reflected in Fantasy Life projections that only have Sutton (117) earning more targets than Engram (108).

Ultimately, Engram is one of my top-three most drafted TEs of this offseason thanks to his previous borderline TE1 price and potential to clear triple-digit targets in a reigning top-10 scoring offense. The Broncos have 23 million reasons to feature the soon-to-be 31-year-old TE as much as possible—he's my TE9 and someone I'd take ahead of guys like Jonnu Smith and the first-round rookie TEs.