With NFL training camps in full swing across the league, the start of fantasy football season finally lies on the horizon. While player movement in dynasty formats often never truly stops during the offseason, the growing hype around the upcoming season means managers start ramping up the transaction cycle as the hunt for value intensifies.
In this article, we’re taking a look at some under-the-radar dynasty assets who are worth pursuing via the trade market or waiver wire. However, if you’re lucky enough to already roster some of these guys, they’re worth holding on to in hopes they tap into their upside (unless you can flip them for a significant talent upgrade).
With that said, let’s dive in with these eight sleepers to add before the 2025 fantasy football season gets rolling.
Eight dynasty fantasy football sleepers to add
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers (QB20)
We start this list with a quarterback who rightfully earned plenty of memes about his play, but not as many people realize the improvement he made over the latter half of last season. Now armed with a potential alpha receiver in first-round draft pick Tetairoa McMillan, the Carolina Panthers seem primed to take a step forward on offense with Bryce Young entering his third season under center.
The No. 1 selection in the 2023 NFL Draft, Young posted a dismal rookie campaign with just 9.8 FPPG after completing 59.8% of his passes for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Panthers experiences some highs and lows last season, as did their young quarterback, but the Alabama product took a slight step forward with 2,403 yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 14 games while completing 60.9% of his throws. More importantly for fantasy production, Young also rushed for 249 yards and six scores, showing some upside with his legs that he didn’t put on display often in college.
Now, his raw fantasy numbers still don’t look the most impressive since he finished as the overall QB20 with 13.9 PPG, but Young actually did show some growth over the second half of the 2024 season. From Week 12 onwards, he averaged 20.71 FPPG which would’ve placed him firmly as the QB7 on a per-game basis. Young completed 61.5% of his passes for 1,583 yards, 11 touchdowns and just three picks over that sample, so he closes the year out strong. If he can roll that success into the upcoming season, the 24-year-old should see more growth alongside a pass-catching corps that now includes No. 8 pick McMillan, who profiles as a top option in the receiving game. Young makes for a great buy-low.
Jaylen Wright, Miami Dolphins (RB43)
This might not end up a popular pick, but it feels like Dolphins halfback Jaylen Wright enters the new season with the opportunity to carve out a real role in this offense. The Texas A&M product didn’t make much of an impact as a rookie last year with just 249 scoreless yards on 68 rush attempts, but the Miami backfield remains wide open behind De’Von Achane. As the dynasty RB48 right now, Wright presents a cheap and potentially-valuable handcuff with upside to see some work in year two.
The Dolphins utilized a two-back system over the last couple of seasons while rotating Achane and veteran Raheem Mostert as the 1A and 1B. The latter averaged 17.8 FPPG during the first campaign alongside Achane, granted that mark was inflated by an astounding 21 total touchdowns. While Mostert fell off last season with just 5.5 FPPG, he wasn’t healthy and appeared in just 13 games.
If Miami does shift some work off Achane’s shoulders and onto the backup, the 5-foot-10, 208-pound Wright looks like a prime candidate to see those touches in a complimentary role thanks to breakaway speed that fits well in Mike McDaniel’s system and negates some of the drawbacks of a poor offensive line. Wright is a candidate to acquire for cheap and stash on dynasty rosters for depth with a shot at more.
Trey Benson, Arizona Cardinals (RB27)
An even more valuable handcuff than Wright, the Cardinals’ Trey Benson didn’t get many chances to show his skills during his rookie campaign but looks like a screaming buy in dynasty formats for the right price. The former Florida State star was selected by Arizona in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft and played backup to veteran James Conner last season while learning from the elder statesman. Benson saw just 63 carries on the year but took those for 261 yards and a touchdown while hauling in all six of his targets for an additional 59 yards.
Benson’s 3.6 FPPG in 2024 undersells the potential he brings to the table. At 6-foot-flat and 216 pounds, he’s built to handle a workhorse role in the event that Conner goes down. The veteran’s injury history isn’t particularly clean at 30 years old, and while he signed a two-year extension with the Cardinals, the team can get out of that contract after the upcoming campaign. In the event of an injury to the team’s backfield bell cow, Benson becomes a top target in any fantasy format.
Regardless, he remains positioned to take over the starting job eventually and could do so sooner rather than later. If anyone with the backup on their roster gets impatient and decides to move on, their loss becomes your gain. He’s not a deep sleeper, but Benson may be someone you can snag cheaper today than you could during rookie drafts a year ago.
Woody Marks, Houston Texans (RB66)
Ooh man, does this selection look like it may pay off. The Houston Texans traded up in this year’s draft by sending a future third-rounder with the No. 179 pick for No. 116 and No. 224, the first of which they used to select Woody Marks in the fourth round.
Sure, many of the running backs in this deep rookie class had just been taken off the table, but the Texans clearly saw something they liked enough to surrender a pick that would likely become a future contributor. Marks, a former Mississippi State recruit who transferred to USC for his fifth collegiate season, racked up 4,562 scrimmage yards and 36 touchdowns in his NCAA career. His lone campaign at USC was his best, posting 1,133 rushing yards (5.7 Y/A) and nine scores on the ground while hauling in 47 receptions for 321 additional yards. At 5-foot-10 and 207 pounds, Marks’ build doesn’t stand out, but he ran a 4.54 40-yard dash with a 4.24 shuttle.
The soft hands Marks showed off at USC made him a favorite to win a share of passing-down duties in the Texans’ offense. However, a foot injury landed Joe Mixon on the Non-Football Injury list and will sideline him for multiple weeks of training camp, if not the start of the season. With an older and injury-ravaged Nick Chubb the favorite for backup duties along with Dameon Pierce, the backfield seems wide open. If Mixon misses time then Marks could see a chance to start, but it seems the team has a long-term vision for the rookie regardless.
Darnell Mooney, Atlanta Falcons (WR56)
At 27 years old with an upcoming birthday in October, Darnell Mooney is one of the older players on this list. He’s also the least sleeper-y of these wideouts, however, he’s still a few seasons away from the age cliff and remains one of the most ridiculously-undervalued players in all of fantasy football. He came to the Falcons last year and averaged the second-best production of his career with 12.1 FPPG while dealing with lingering effects of a hamstring issue which limited his effectiveness down the stretch.
Mooney caught 64 of 106 targets for 992 yards and five touchdowns in 16 games, all while catching passes from a clearly-not-recovered Kirk Cousins for most of the campaign. The team’s offense looked better once rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. took over late in the season, who should only improve heading into year two. Mooney finished as the overall WR31 in 2024 and can improve on that moving forward as the second option for this Atlanta team behind a good offensive line with a gunslinger who can uncork the deep ball — an option which maximizes Mooney’s skill set with 15.5 yards per reception last season (10th-best at the position) with a catch for 20+ yards on 4% of his routes (third-most of any receiver).
In short, he’s ridiculously cheap as the dynasty WR56 and can play every week in a FLEX spot. There are concerns about the wideout missing a few weeks of training camp with a shoulder injury, but hopefully he’s ready to go for the regular season.
Dyami Brown, Jacksonville Jaguars (WR97)
I wrote extensively about Dyami Brown in another dynasty post a couple weeks ago, so that should tell you how bullish I feel about the former third-round pick. He never posted more than 30 receptions or 308 yards in a season through the first four years of his career with the Washington Commanders, but he only saw the field in a part-time role through most of that sample. 2024 marked Brown’s best season yet, and even then he logged just seven weeks of a 50% snap share or higher, which slotted him as the overall WR97.
Despite his non-flashy numbers, the Jaguars handed Brown a somewhat lucrative one-year, $10 million contract over the offseason. The team has a young alpha receiver in place with Brian Thomas Jr. and traded significant capital to select Travis Hunter in the 2025 NFL Draft, however, there’s reason to believe Brown has a role in this offense as well. Nobody truly knows what kind of snap share Hunter will see on each side of the ball as a two-way player, and it sounds like he may actually see varying workloads based on weekly matchups and available depth at cornerback/wide receiver.
Hunter was listed as a first-string receiver and second-string cornerback on the first depth cart, but camp reports can include disinformation and all it takes is one injury to a defensive back for him to see more action on defense. With that in mind, Brown actually could run more routes on offense than Hunter this season. If that happens, Jacksonville head coach Liam Coen can turn him into a contributor after his Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense ranked third in the NFL in passing yards and second in passing touchdowns last season. Brown got his prove-it deal, so he’s a player to stash if available at just 25 years old for cheap.
Diontae Johnson, Cleveland Browns (WR128)
Does it feel wrong to put a former Pro Bowler on a list of sleepers? Yeah, it admittedly does feel strange. Here we are in 2025, and I’m about to fall for a player who found his way not his first, not second, not third, but fourth franchise withing the last calendar year. Really, Diontae Johnson’s journey from the overall WR8 in 2021 to the overall WR86 last season played out like a horror movie of sorts on the transaction sheet.
A talented route-runner who once tallied 107 catches for 1,167 yards and eight touchdowns in a season as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ top target, Johnson was traded to the Carolina Panthers to begin 2024 due to a looming contract extension. He caught 30 of 58 targets for 357 yards and three scores with his new team over the first seven weeks of the season before another trade sent him to the Baltimore Ravens. Johnson barely saw the field there and was later cut when he allegedly refused to sub into a game, then found his way to the Houston Texans for just one contest.
With his reputation in the gutter, Johnson signed with the Browns this offseason and brings his technical prowess to a thin position group, so he could potentially see snaps as the team’s WR2 or WR3 beginning in Week 1 — if he can earn the trust of this staff. He probably won’t become a star again, but he could flirt with FLEX value if he sees targets and comes with a dirt-cheap price tag of a fourth-round rookie pick (if he’s not already on the waiver wire). Yes, he’s 29 years old but never relied on athleticism to succeed, and if he has a couple of solid games, prudent managers can flip him for a future third.
Ben Sinnott, Washington Commanders (TE24)
Finally, here’s a potential future stud to consider stashing on dynasty rosters. The best part? The hype around Ben Sinnott has long since died down, meaning he could very well end up on the trade block for a pretty cheap price depending on the roster of those who drafted him.
There’s a ton to like about Sinnott. He was drafted in the second round last year by the Commanders, who took the Kansas State product with a top-55 selection. He graded out with a 9.73 RAS score with a 4.68 40-yard dash, 40″ vertical jump and an elite composite agility score — marks which ranked him 33 of 1199 tight ends from 1987 to 2024. Washington’s offense also prioritizes tight end targets as we saw with Zach Ertz’s quality campaign last year with rookie star Jayden Daniels under center.
The only problem is that Sinnott barely saw the field as a rookie and Ertz is still around for at least one more season. However, the sophomore’s profile suggests massive upside if, or hopefully when, he assumes the starting role as soon as next year. Sinnott is a perfect stash.
