Who Should You Draft with the 8th Pick in 2025?

Aug 17, 2025

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Being awarded the eighth pick in a 12-team fantasy football draft makes one thing certain. Actually, it makes six things certain. Assuming no strange shenanigans in your draft, you will not have Ja’Marr Chase, Bijan Robinson, Saquon Barkley, Justin Jefferson, Jahmyr Gibbs, or CeeDee Lamb on your team. Those are the consensus top six picks in 1QB leagues and will likely be gone when it is your turn to draft.

Should that make us panic or worried? Absolutely not. The next group of five players consists of some of the best skill position players the NFL has to offer. The caveat to that list is that this is the range where questions (some minor, some major) start to emerge.

Personally, I love the eighth pick in standard half-PPR drafts. I know that I am getting one of the players below, and then I only have six picks before it is my turn again. In some drafts, that means securing two of these five players on my team. The fantasy football teams drafting in those top few slots just cannot claim that.

Is there one silver bullet candidate that should always go with the eighth pick in half-PPR drafts? I don’t think so, but depending on your format and league’s tendencies, any one of the players below has a case. Read on to find out why.

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The Candidates (in ADP Order)

RB Christian McCaffrey, 49ers

As of mid-August, Christian McCaffrey is going at pick eight or later in five of the seven sites that are tracked on the 4for4 Multisite ADP Tool. That means we can consider the former number one overall player with this pick on sites except for Underdog and ESPN (and he is going seventh on those platforms).

McCaffrey has been discussed plenty on this site, including the player profile and the discussion about who to take with the number one overall pick in drafts. If Christian McCaffrey is there at eight, just understand he might have the greatest pure odds to finish number one this year above all the other options here. McCaffrey might be the most dominant fantasy football asset of the last five years, and it feels like stealing if we get the healthy version in 2025.

WR Malik Nabers, Giants

How can wide receiver Malik Nabers possibly improve upon a rookie season where he had 170 targets, 109 receptions, 1,204 yards, and seven touchdowns? The answer is easy, and it comes with a two-part answer.

First, Nabers needed an upgrade at quarterback. While Russell Wilson might be on his last legs, he is miles better than Daniel Jones, Tommy DeVito, or Drew Lock. Wilson should connect with Nabers for plenty of deep shots this season. And if Wilson doesn’t work out? Gunslingers Jameis Winston and Jaxon Dart are waiting in the wings.

The second thing that can be done is for the Giants to ACTUALLY USE NABERS IN THE RED ZONE. RED. ZONE. Nabers was second in overall targets last year with his 170. But, according to the 4for4 Red Zone Stats Tool, Nabers was 26th. His 15 targets tied with Dontayvion Wicks and Cade Otton. Nabers was first in the NFL in target share (34.9%), but is just 18th in red zone target share.

If the Giants start using Nabers more in the red zone, watch out. He could jump to the top spot or two in next year’s drafts.

WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, Lions

The knock on Amon-Ra St. Brown heading into the 2024 season was that he was a brilliant PPR machine in terms of receptions and yards, but he was not a touchdown scorer. St. Brown had 11 in his first two seasons combined and then crept up to 10 in 2023. In 2024, he put those concerns to rest with 12 touchdowns to go along with 115 receptions and 1,263 yards.

Those touchdowns were largely the product of 32 red zone looks last year, which was second-most at the position. There will likely be some regression there as Jameson Williams emerges and David Montgomery comes back healthy. But in any kind of point-per-reception format, Amon-Ra St. Brown is certainly in play.

RB Ashton Jeanty, Raiders

Drafting rookie Ashton Jeanty in 2025 is really just a statement about how much you believe in him and his talent. In 2024, no rookie running backs finished in the top 12 in fantasy scoring. In 2023, two running backs did (De’Von Achane and Jahmyr Gibbs). In 2022, no rookie running backs finished in the top 12 in fantasy scoring. In 2021, Najee Harris did.

Highly touted rookies can be hit or miss in their rookie season, even ones as talented as Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty’s numbers in college were like they were coming straight from a video game, but the most important number for him might be one that Jeanty had nothing to do with.

That number is 166.4. That was the number of rushing yards per game Chip Kelly produced as offensive coordinator at Ohio State last season. Kelly wants to pound the running game with his shiny new toy now that he is working underneath run-happy coach Pete Carroll. Now heading the rushing attack for Las Vegas, Kelly should unleash Jeanty as a workhorse in his rookie season.

WR Puka Nacua, Rams

The ADP on Puka Nacua is starting to slip a little bit, and it’s down to an average of pick 10 across all sites, including 14 on CBS and 15 on Yahoo. This is no fault of his own, of course, as drafters are starting to get concerned about Matthew Stafford’s back injury.

Last season, Puka Nacua was fourth in target share (29.9%), second in fantasy points per game (18.8), and number one in yards per route run (an outstanding 4.07). He has not developed into a red zone weapon yet and had just 13 red zone targets in 2024 (28th among wide receivers).

There is no doubt that Nacua is going to get all the yards and receptions he can handle in 2024, but Davante Adams and Kyren Williams are the ones likely to get the touchdowns.

Who Should You Draft?

There is a case to be made that, depending on your format, other players like Derrick Henry, Nico Collins, or even Brock Bowers could go in this spot. But these five players represent the most likely outcomes of a home draft if you were to repeat the exercise over and over.

At this point last season, Ja'Marr Chase’s ADP was about pick number eight on various fantasy football sites. He finished the year as the top non-quarterback scorer because of a historical offensive season for the Bengals, the absence of Tee Higgins for much of the year, and a pitiful defense on the other side of the field for Cincinnati.

Can we duplicate that success with the 1.08 pick this year? Perhaps, but depending on format, there are a couple of players who seem to be the best choices here.

My pick at the 1.08 in each format:

Considering his eye-popping numbers with horrific quarterbacks in 2024, I am buying Malik Nabers on full-PPR sites with a 2025 quarterback upgrade. On other sites, I just don’t want to be left behind on the Christian McCaffrey hype train. We know he can be the number one overall player. His health and performance reports out of camp are phenomenal. And considering the sheer number of offensive injuries the 49ers have right now, there is not much separating McCaffrey from being a workhorse again.