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How to Value 2025 Rookie Picks

Trading 2025 Rookie Picks

Now that we have completed three weeks of the season, it's time to assess your dynasty roster and its direction.

Are you a contender that should start building depth before bye weeks?

Have injuries ravaged your roster early? Will it contend when players get healthier, so you need some rentals to hold you over?

You may be rebuilding or stuck in the middle and need to make some moves to gain future value. 

That assessment should dictate moves right now, and rookie picks must be a central part of the plan.

How to Value Picks

Whether rebuilding and gathering more picks or contending and using them to strengthen your team, looking forward to the rookie class can help determine when to move those picks -- and for how much.

Rookie picks will generally increase in value over the offseason, peaking right after the Combine when rookie hype hits the masses.

This helps rebuilding teams get value by trading for picks now. Trading away an older performing player for a pick helps a rebuild in two ways:

1. Gain value for the future with additional rookie picks
2. Make your team worse to possibly achieve a higher pick

But, if you are a contender, you may need to cash in a pick or two for immediate help to try and win your league. Knowing the value of your 2025 rookie picks to get impact players is key to building a championship team at the right time.

Even so, you want to get the best value for your picks compared to the future help that a rookie selection at that pick will get you.

Let’s dive into the 2025 class and break down the pick values from our Trade Value Chart.

Early First-Round Rookie Picks 

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 early first-round pick valued at 48.

The 2025 class at the top has many similarities to the 2024 group.

Elite WR prospects like Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan and Missouri’s Luther Burden are high-end athletes who will boast top production and analytics in the class, making them fringe top-10 NFL Draft picks.

If drafted that high, they are the favorites for the 1.01 and 1.02 next year.

RB may finally be viable toward the top of the draft, with one of the best pass-catching RBs in years likely coming out in Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty. If he lands in a good situation, taking him in PPR leagues will be tempting.

If you have what looks like an early first-round pick, holding is the best option right now. There will be elite talent, and most league mates won’t pay early first-round prices this early in the season.

Mid-First-Round Rookie Picks

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 mid-first-round pick valued at 44.

RB depth will be the mark of the 2025 class. From the Ohio State duo of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson to an elite producer in Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon, the right situations could lead to an RB-heavy first-round rookie draft.

As we learned in 2024, however, the NFL Draft doesn’t always go as planned. RB-needy teams like the Cowboys sometimes just pass altogether, while a team like the Jets with one of the best RBs in the league can draft one in the top 140 picks.

Luckily, there appear to be enough RBs that even if a surprise one or two go back to school, we should have a few top landing spots that match the talent.

WR Talent

With increased passing in college football, WR is also ripe with talent. Potential 2024 first-round pick Emeka Egbuka of Ohio State will be a high floor choice, while third-year players like Oregon’s Evan Stewart and Texas’ Isaiah Bond bring the upside. 

If you own a mid-first-round pick but our League Analysis shows you as a top-five team, then moving the pick to enhance your roster could propel you to the championship.

If you have a more middling team, keeping the pick or even moving a player for another first should give you more long-term upside to increase your 3D+ Value next year.

Late First-Round Picks

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 late first-round pick valued at 37.

Contenders looking to move their first-round pick for a run at the championship can do so without worrying about missing out on rookie value.

With the elite WRs and talented RBs in good situations likely gone by the end of the first round, the players left will have some red flags.

For RB, it is likely situations where they are stuck in a committee with an established runner or a Day 3 pick that has a path to playing time.

WRs in this range are likely older players, helped by the additional COVID years, such as Oklahoma’s Deion Burks or LSU’s Kyren Lacy.

TE is on the weak side as well, and there may not be one worth a first-round rookie pick at all. Michigan’s Colston Loveland is the early favorite, but he is a Michael Mayer-type in-line blocker and red-zone receiving type.

Trading To Win A Championship

Offering up a late first-round pick has plenty of trade allure, and if your league mates haven’t studied the draft yet, they may give you a key producer for what will be a dart throw. A late first likely won’t differ much from a mid-second when we get to rookie drafts in May.

For rebuilding teams acquiring late firsts from contenders, know the risk and ensure you aren’t putting a premium on the pick just because it is labeled as first-rounder.

Second Round Picks

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 mid-second-round pick valued at 30.

This is the final season for players using the extra eligibility year they were granted in 2020 due to COVID.

That should make the depth of this class strong (though underclassmen declaring will continue to be down).

This helps the value of second-round picks to be on par with late first-rounders.

The depth at WR and RB will trickle down to the second round, with an upside TE here and there.

One position that hasn’t been noted yet is QB, which still looks like one of the weakest in years. It remains to be seen who the top QBs will be, but whoever gets high draft capital likely settles into the second round of 1-QB rookie drafts.

Second-rounders don’t look as good in a trade proposal as a late first, but contenders can move a late one for an older plug-and-play RB.

Rebuilding teams can acquire second-rounders much cheaper than late firsts and may find a similar return regarding rookie talent. Late seconds also can be critical during the rookie draft to help you move up for that stud that falls too far.

Third & Fourth Round Picks

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 mid-third-round pick valued at 22.

Even with added depth, thirds and fourths are long shots even to make a dynasty roster, let alone be hits.

One or two a year will break out, but the odds are slim.

If adding a third or fourth-rounder helps get a deal done, toss one in. 

For third-round picks, finding a future top-24 RB/WR or top-12 QB/TE has about a 15% hit rate, while fourth-round picks drop as low as 7%.

In deeper roster dynasties where you can let players sit on a taxi squad or end of the roster for a few years, having a bunch of third/fourth dart throws has a little more value. But even then, you will draft far more busts than hits.

Superflex Rookie Picks

Our PPR Trade Value Chart has a 2025 mid-first-round pick in Superflex valued at 37.

Right now, the QB position looks pretty rough for the 2025 NFL Draft. No one has emerged as a definitive top pick like Caleb Williams or Bryce Young/C.J. Stroud from the last two seasons.

The A to Z Sports production model that predicts draft capital has a clear top three early in the season:

• Jaxson Dart, Mississippi

• Cameron Ward, Miami

• Jalen Milroe, Alabama

If we do get rushing QBs like Ward or Milroe taken in the top five of the NFL Draft, they will be high first-round picks in superflex.

If the NFL does not pursue the position or selects less talented quarterbacks based on need, Superflex drafters will need to avoid landmines.

This situation makes Superflex picks slightly overvalued by the consensus due to the risk of no QB emerging as a top option.

Contending teams shouldn’t blink an eye to trade away their first to strengthen their championship chances.

More Dynasty Fantasy Football Tools

This short video previews the Draft Sharks tools ready to help you dominate your dynasty league year after year. 

Shane Hallam, Writer

Shane has over 20 years of experience creating content and playing every fantasy football format including redraft, dynasty, devy, IDP, and more. He is a multi-year winner of $500 dynasty leagues on the FFPC and utilizes deep film and scheme study to enhance his fantasy performance.