Building an "All-Upside" Team: 2025 Breakout Candidates in Each Round

Aug 26, 2025

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Last season, if you drafted Brock Bowers in the eighth round, Brian Thomas Jr. in the ninth, Chuba Hubbard in the 11th, and Baker Mayfield in the 13th, you probably won your fantasy league. Why? Because breakout players — the guys who finish well ahead of preseason ADPs — are the fastest track to big draft day value. Sure, you can hit on the guys that finish where they're supposed to, but that'll just keep you afloat. The "league winners" of any given season are typically the top-10 finishers who were drafted in the later rounds (or picked up off waivers).

And the best way to find these breakout candidates? Drafting for ceiling (or upside) instead of for floor. With the trade block and the waiver wire always on hand to shore up your roster's holes, taking a little risk to hunt for greater reward can often be the superior strategy in fantasy.

So, with that in mind, here are my favorite "upside" targets, or breakout candidates, for the 2025 season ... in every single round of the drafts!

Note: All references to draft round and average draft position are based on 4for4's multi-site redraft ADP aggregate.

Round 1 - Ashton Jeanty, RB, Las Vegas Raiders

Here's a quick review of rookie running backs drafted in the top 10 picks over the last decade.

Todd Gurley (10th, 2015): Missed three games recovering from injury, then was the RB4 from Week 4 onward
Ezekiel Elliott (6th, 2016): Was the RB2 on the season (only behind David Johnson)
Leonard Fournette (4th, 2017): Missed three games, still finished as the RB8 (RB6 in PPG)
Christian McCaffrey (8th, 2017): Was the RB11 on the season
Saquon Barkley (2nd, 2018): Was the RB2 on the season
Bijan Robinson (8th, 2023): Was the RB9 on the season

Assuming health, Ashton Jeanty's absolute floor is still an RB1, but his "ceiling" is somewhere in the clouds (at least as high as RB2 overall). He's the 1.10 and the RB5 in ADP, but could very feasibly lead the league in touches and finish as the top player in fantasy.