Players Who Could Finish Top-10 at Their Position

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  • By Jon Mosales

    Last Updated on June 27, 2025 3:03 pm by Jon Mosales | Published: June 27, 2025

    Last season I wrote this article and I originally started trying to predict players who could the RB1/WR1/QB1/TE1, but that felt a little too lofty, so I settled on semi-dark horses to finish in the top-10.  I hit with Kyler Murray who was the QB10 and James Cook RB8, but took a giant L on Dalton Kincaid, who I didn’t draft anywhere, but thought had potential.  Kincaid was one of the biggest busts of the season and a big reason why people like to punt on TE.  With one more season under my belt, this feels like I could nail each position this season.  It’s about threading the needle between trying to be right and picking a player that is well outside the top-10 in ADP already.

     

    QB1 in 2024 – Lamar Jackson 25.6 FPPG

    Jackson was clear and away the best fantasy QB last season and had nearly 50 FP more than QB2 Josh Allen.  It’s almost impossible to be the QB1 without being a dual-threat back, so that at least shrinks the competition.  We are going to need a running QB on an up-and-coming offense in order to supplant Jackson (not likely) or crack the top-10.  Jayden Daniels was able to crack the top-five last season after being around the QB12 before drafts.

    Darkhorse prediction for 2025

    Drake Maye, New England Patriots

    Maye is going as the QB17 right now and that just seems crazy every time I do a mock draft.  Maye is by no means a lock to crack the top-10, but he’s a great bet and has an extremely high ceiling.  Maye was the QB7 in fantasy points scored in his full games as a rookie and that was with no coaching support system, a bottom-five o-line and the worst group off pass catchers in the NFL.  No player in the league received less help from his surrounding infrastructure than Maye.  Now with an improved o-line, new coaches with a proven track record and hopefully some better weapons, Maye has the potential take off.  NE has a lot of positive markers trending in the right direction along with muted expectations, they also have one of the easier schedules in the league.

    The raw stats don’t jump off the page and he was a TO machine  (10 INT), but he has a nice balance of knowing when to run and when to throw and if NE can get anything from Stefon Diggs, that will only launch Maye into another stratosphere.  When trying to accurately project his fantasy season, Daniel Jones’ 2022 season comes to mind.  Jones was the QB9 with 15 passing TDs and seven rushing TDs.  Jones was 5th in rushing yards and 15th in passing yards.  The key is for Maye to stay healthy because I think he will crush the passing aspect of his fantasy profile as he had 15 passing TDs in little more than half a season.  The make-or-break is going to be the rushing TDs as he only had two last season and you have to think the coaching staff will try and smash veteran Rhamondre Stevenson or rookie TreVyeon Henderson into goal-line to try and keep their franchise QB upright and healthy.  Maye plays a lot like Josh Allen, aka reckless abandon, so I don’t him sliding short of the goal-line or running out of bounds and HC Mike Vrabel is famous for embracing physicality.  Maybe needs to get about 30 total TDs to crack the top-10 and I could see him having about 25 passing TDs and five rushing TDs fairly easily.  Jayden Daniels’ top-five season is on the table.

    RB1 In 2024 – Saquon Barkley at 21.2 FPPG

    Barkley was the best player in fantasy football last season and there was a good chance you won your league if he was on your roster.  He was third-most rostered player on Yahoo championship teams last season.  It was the perfect mix of an already potent offense, an elite o-line and a run-heavy offense with a mobile QB to confuse defenses.  It will be nearly impossible to supplant him as the RB1, but there are some intriguing options to finish inside the top-10.

     

    Darkhorse Prediction for 2025

    RJ Harvey

    Harvey is going as the RB25 right now as he’s a rookie and thus without a bankable track record.  The good news is he’s going to a potent offense (10th in points) that should be much more run-heavy with a reliable running game.  DEN was 13th in rushes-per-game (27.1) despite being 24th in FPPG at RB.  Harvey had nine games in 2024 with 100+ yards or more for UCF, and while he will be making a big jump to the NFL, he will be put in the best position possible by Sean Payton, who always involves RBs heavily in his game-plan.  DEN targeted it’s RBs at a top-five rate last season (21%) and playing next to a mobile QB will only help open running lanes for Harvey.   Audric Estime, Jaleel McLaughlin, and J.K. Dobbins are the threats to take carries and passing downs away from the rookie, but only Dobbins has proven he can handle a serious workload and even then he’s one of the most injury prone RBs in the NFL.

    The biggest factor propelling Harvey forward is the fact that DEN has one of the best offensive lines in the league, returning all five starters in Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, and Mike McGlinchey.  We saw last season what a great o-line can do with Barkley going to PHI from NYG and that is why I have Harvey as a near must-draft.  James Cook was the RB10 in FPPG and he finished tied for RB lead with 16 TDs.  Harvey will need double-digits TDs to crack the top-10, but it’s ability to be a dual-threat back that will make the difference.  Harvey has great hands and is a natural receiver, but he’s also a dreadful blocker which could prevent him taking third down snaps.  There were three RBs in the top-three with less than 200 receiving yards, so it’s not mandatory, but it’s the most reliable way to manufacture FPs.  I see Harvey having a similar season to Josh Jacobs last year and while he wasn’t overly dominant, he was just so heavily involved, he fell into the RB5.

    WR1 in 2024 Ja’Marr Chase at 20.0 FPPG 

    It’s going to be near impossible to match all the factors that aligned perfectly for Chase’s WR1 season.  First he was healthy.  Second Joe Burrow was healthy.  Those two alone guarantee a top-five season.  The real secret sauce was how inept the CIN defense was that forced Burrow to pass at the second-highest rate and feed Chase all over the field. WR is the trickiest position to crack the top-10 as outside of surprise rookies like Puka Nacua two seasons ago and Brian Thomas Jr. last season, it’s usually pretty stable and top-heavy.  Nonetheless, Terry McLaurin was able to sneak in as the WR6 in total FP and had nearly as many TDs last season as his last three combined.

    Darkhorse prediction for 2025

    Rashee Rice

    As I just mentioned, you don’t want to go too deep into the well to predict a breakout WR.  Whereas a RB can pad his stats checkdowns or get cheap goal-line TDs, WR need to put in the work and there are no short cuts.  The WR10 last season was Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who finished with 100 catches for 1130 yards and six TDs.  If Rice can stay healthy, I would imagine that will be his floor as he was on pace to average 17.3 FPPG in the three games before he got hurt.  That would have been good for the the WR2 on the season.  It’s a small sample size, but just from watching the tape, Rice wasn’t just open, he was unstoppable.  Dominating with a 31.5% target share, 3.60 yards per route run and a 41.2% first-read share as he was the driving force of the offense in the first three weeks.  KC threw the 7th most passes and don’t figure to pivot to a run-first approach this season.  They are as deep as they have been since Tyreek Hill was a Chief and Rice will be contending with Xaxier Worthy, Hollywood Brown and Travis Kelce.  Kelce is closed to washed up and isn’t really a threat to usurp anything from Rice and Brown has had trouble staying healthy.  The Chiefs stated that they want to get back to being a high-octane, downfield attacking offense.  Per PFF, since 2021, Patrick Mahomes has ranked 21st or lower in ADOT (min. 300 drop backs).  Whereas Rice isn’t really a deep-threat, sophomore Worthy is exactly that and if the Chiefs can start stretching defenses again, that will only further open the crossing routes that Rice thrives in.  If Rice can stay healthy and Mahomes can revert back to his younger self, this KC offense could explode again and Rice will be the tip of the spear.  I see a top-five WR season in his future.

     

    TE1 in 2024 – George Kittle at 13.2 FPPG

    Kittle had the highest FPPG, but Brock Bowers scored the most points.  Either way, you were ecstatic if you rostered either.  I will go to my fantasy grave being a TE fanboy and even I am struggling to find a TE that can make the sort of leap that Bowers did last season.  The three-headed TE monster that is Bowers, Kittle and Trey McBride are unassailable in my opinion, but a top-five season is well within grasp and there’s only one player that comes to mind.

    Darkhorse prediction for 2025

    Isaiah Likely – Baltimore Ravens

    I’m almost getting gun shy writing so much about Likely, but it’s all about draft capital and he’s going as the TE21 after finishing as the TE16 in FPPG.  No one doubts his athleticism or skill, but playing behind/alongside Mark Andrew who led the position in TDs (11) is a giant barrier to overcome.  Andrews feels like he’s been around forever, but he’s still only 29 and had one of the best seasons of his career.  I just can’t get the last game of the season out of my mind where Andrew’s cost BAL the game and Likely was the best receiving threat on the field.  Likely is exponentially more explosive and might have finally earned the trust of Lamar Jackson and the coaching staff.  Don’t forget the first game of the season where Likely was the TE1 and nearly scored the game-winning TD vs. the Chiefs.  When the Ravens need a big play, they turn to Likely and I foresee them calling his name a lot more.  Likely only had two less red zone targets (13) than Andrews (15).  This is what separates the fantasy men from the fantasy boys.  You have to be early in order to be great and predicting the Likely breakout before he does it is where all the value is.  If BAL trades Andrews or he gets hurt and Likely is putting up a monster season, it will be too late.

     

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    June 27, 2025, 3:03 pm