Fantasy Football Today: Free agent & trade scenarios that would shock the landscape during the 2025 offseason

It’s the calm before the storm in the 2025 NFL offseason with free agency on the way, trades that will spark the new league year, and of course the 2025 NFL Draft in April. Plus, the NFL Combine is coming and that will kickstart the connections of prospects to teams. On Fantasy Football Today, Adam Aizer, Jamey Eisenberg, and Dave Richard previewed the coming 2025 NFL Free Agency (and the trades that will come along with it) and how it will impact their rankings and the Fantasy Football outlook for 2025. 

Jamey, Dave, and Adam kicked things off by filling in the blank with their wishlist for the No. 1 thing they hope to see happen during the new league year in free agency and the trade market:

• Jamey can see Najee Harris signing with the Browns, but it wasn’t something any of the analysts wanted to see. Dave said it would lead to Harris dropping into Round 7 or further of our 2025 Drafts.
• Adam wants to see Chris Godwin go to the Steelers. Adam doesn’t believe in players coming off major injuries in their first year and believes a union with the Steelers will take away opportunities in the pass game while also providing a clear path for Jalen McMillan to break out in his sophomore year with the Buccaneers. 
• Dave is calling for a big play — Tee Higgins leaves the Bengals and joins the Bills. This would put him “easily” in the top-10 conversation at receiver in 2025 Fantasy drafts. Higgins is an excellent fit for Josh Allen’s skill set as we’ve seen him find glimmers of success with big-bodied receivers who can win above the rim (Gabe Davis and at times Keon Coleman). 

They also broke down what they hope to NOT see happen once the new league year begins:

• Dave doesn’t want to see Harris sign with the Cowboys because he still believes in Dallas’ offensive line, Harris’ workload (1,000+ yards in each of his seasons), and a new head coach who wants to lean on the run game. He thinks this will make Fantasy managers draft him higher than we should and it could have a negative impact on the pass game weapons.
• Adam doesn’t want to see Higgins — or any of the top receivers available via trade or free agency — land with the Commanders. Despite the glamour of joining Jayden Daniels, Adam believes it would be a big hit for Terry McLaurin and he doesn’t envision this offense taking a massive jump in pass volume in 2025. He sees this offense continuing to be a low-volume pass game.

Scenarios that would change the Fantasy landscape

1. Tyreek Hill traded to the Chargers: Jamey thinks this would lead to Hill being drafted in Round 4 and Waddle drafted in the same round. Dave thinks that they would both be Round 3 draft picks and be drafted within just a couple picks of each other. Dave made the case that it wouldn’t be a negative move because it would allow the Chargers to become a more pass-heavy team. Jamey was skeptical, mentioning their most successful stretch of football came when J.K. Dobbins was healthy. The Chargers did become a pass-heavy team in the final stretch of the season, however, it coincided with Dobbins’ injury. Both Jamey and Dave said Waddle would be the highest-ranked Fantasy receiver over Hill and Ladd McConkey if this trade were to happen. 

2. Higgins signs with the Patriots: Jamey hates this potential and realistic scenario. He would drop him from a Round 3 to Round 5 draft pick. Dave also agrees this will hurt his value, but believes that the nine targets per game Higgins averaged in 2024 would remain similar in 2025 with the Patriots. He also mentions the game script shouldn’t change too much going from a porous Bengals defense to what should be a porous Patriots defense. 

3. Harris signs with the Bengals: In this scenario, Jamey is dropping Chase Brown — a hot commodity in our early mock drafts — to a Round 4 draft pick. He would rank Jaylen Warren then as a Round 5 draft pick with upside and Harris would fall into the Round 7-8 range. Adam agreed and noted that Harris has zero carries of 40 yards since he entered the league four seasons ago despite having the second-most rushing attempts. 

4. Chris Godwin signs with the Rams, Cooper Kupp trades to the Texans: Dave loves the move for Godwin as long as Matthew Stafford remains quarterback of the Rams. This would move Godwin into the Kupp role with the Rams and his volume could reach exciting levels. Jamey views Kupp as a fit with the Texans assuming the Tank Dell is not ready to play for a large chunk of the 2025 season and if Stefon Diggs walks in free agency.

5. Stafford is traded to the Giants, and Rodgers signs with the Rams: In this scenario, both Dave and Jamey are ranking Rodgers ahead of Stafford. His main takeaway is that this would be a good thing for Malik Nabers and Puka Nacua. Neither player would drop in Dave’s rankings and Nabers could even take a jump forward. 

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