Thankfully, the 2025 fantasy football season is just around the corner. Each year, fantasy players want to construct their team with a proper mix of good-value players and upside sleepers while avoiding players with high bust potential. Here are fantasy football draft notes on a few relevant players from the AFC North.
Fantasy Football Draft Advice
ADP via FantasyPros
Fantasy Football Sleepers to Target
Jerome Ford (CLE): ADP 185.6 | RB55
Fantasy players should have had high hopes for Quinshon Judkins earlier this offseason. Unfortunately, the rookie is away from the team after getting arrested on domestic violence charges, putting his status for the season in doubt. Whether Judkins misses a few games, half the year, or the entire season, Ford and Dylan Sampson have received an uptick in fantasy value because of the situation. While many will rush to draft Sampson, I’m putting my money on Ford.
Last year, he was the RB33, averaging 9.6 PPR fantasy points per game. However, Ford averaged 14 touches for 78 scrimmage yards and 14 fantasy points per game in the six contests he played more than 20% of the snaps without Nick Chubb. Ford would have been the RB18 over a 17-game pace and the RB21 on a points-per-game basis with that fantasy average. Furthermore, the former Cincinnati star was one of the more efficient running backs.
According to Fantasy Points Data, Ford ranked fourth in yards per attempt (5.43), seventh in yards after contact per attempt (2.7), eighth in explosive run rate (6.7%), and 17th in missed tackles forced per attempt (17%) among 46 running backs with at least 100 rushing attempts last season. While Sampson will have a role in the passing game, don’t be surprised if Ford is the lead guy on the ground if Judkins gets suspended.
Cedric Tillman (CLE): ADP 186.2 | WR65
Many fantasy players will target Jerry Jeudy this year despite the Browns’ quarterback situation after the veteran finished last season as the WR13, averaging a career-high 14.2 PPR fantasy points per game. However, 16.8% of his fantasy production for the year came in the revenge matchup against Levi Wallace and the Denver Broncos. By comparison, the veteran averaged 12.5 fantasy points per game in the other 16 games, which would have ranked as the WR31 on a points-per-game basis.
Therefore, Tillman is an underrated late-round pick for fantasy players despite the team’s quarterback situation. Cleveland made minimum additions to their wide receiver room, signing kicked-around-the-league veteran Diontae Johnson. Hence, Tillman has no competition for the No. 2 wide receiver role despite missing significant time last season with a concussion. More importantly, the former Tennessee star was the team’s top wide receiver following the Amari Cooper trade before suffering a season-ending concussion in Week 12.
After totaling 3.4 fantasy points over the first six weeks, Tillman had 18.1 in his first game without Cooper. According to Fantasy Points Data, he had a better target per route run rate (22% vs. 18%), yards per route run average (1.69 vs. 1.67), first-round target share (25.7% vs. 23.5%), and fantasy points per route run (0.41 vs. 0.30) than Jeudy during the five weeks where both were healthy following the Cooper trade. Tillman is one of my favorite late-round draft targets.
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Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.