Fantasy Football: Ideal landing spots for 8 pending NFL free agents

Before the 2025 NFL offseason kicks off in earnest, it’s always fun to go over some hypotheticals in an effort to move around this year’s crop of free agents to suit our fantasy football needs best.

As things stand right now, there are plenty of key NFL players set to hit free agency, and while there are sure to be franchise tags and players re-signing in the next month or so, the way things look right now allows us to get creative and imagine best case scenarios for fantasy purposes.

For the purpose of this article, all players will be going to new teams and, for the most part, salary implications are thrown out the window, as we shuffle things around.

QB JUSTIN FIELDS

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Tennessee Titans

Russell Wilson and Sam Darnold might be the most covetable names from an NFL perspective after both led their respective teams to the playoffs, but Fields, arguably, offers the most upside from a fantasy football perspective. The Titans aren’t necessarily in a position to draft a quarterback at the moment, and Will Levis is clearly not the answer in 2025, so this may be an opportunity for an offensive-minded coaching staff, led by Brian Callahan, to bring in a project quarterback with upside to earn a spot as a starter once again potentially.

It’s a low-risk move that could potentially pay off for both sides, where expectations are relatively low, though there are pieces in places that could help this be a success, including Calvin Ridley, Chigoziem Okonkwo and a backfield duo of Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears. The Titans offensive line was a big issue this past season and isn’t likely to be fixed in one year, so having a quarterback mobile enough to avoid a lot of the likely pressure allowed is necessary and will likely lead to the kind of rushing success fantasy managers love from their quarterbacks.

Justin Fields in six games as a starter in 2024 (Weeks 1-6):

RB AARON JONES

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers could potentially lose 90% of their team running back rushing production to free agency if both Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren depart, leaving a significant opening in the team’s backfield. The combination of Harris and Warren gave the Steelers two backs to deploy in specific situations, but there’s an opportunity to give that role to one reliable player and save resources to spend elsewhere.

Jones is coming off a season where he totaled 408 receiving yards and 1,138 rushing yards – both of which are the most among any running back in this year’s free-agent class. At 30 years old, Jones isn’t a long-term option but if they’re looking to compete again in 2025, giving the roster one more go under Mike Tomlin, then a reliable every-down back like Jones makes the most sense. Jones getting one more shot at another full-time starting role after finishing as RB14 in 2024 fantasy football, should be enough to make Jones a weekly fantasy starter in 2025 as well.

RB NAJEE HARRIS

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders were the worst rushing team in the NFL this past season, ranking dead last in PFF rushing grade as a team (56.5) and rushing yards per attempt (3.6). Among this year’s free-agent class at running back, Harris is arguably the top available starter (min. 120 carries) after earning the top rushing grade (77.5) of the group – a career-high for the 2021 first-round pick.

The Raiders have a number of team needs that need to be addressed, potentially in the draft, and saving a crucial draft pick by not spending it on a running back and bringing in the 27-year-old Harris could make sense. Harris has run for over one thousand yards in all four of his NFL regular seasons and offers enough passing down potential to handle a significant workload for a rebuilding franchise and be good enough in that role to deliver weekly starting fantasy production.

RB JAYLEN WARREN

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Minnesota Vikings

Potentially losing Aaron Jones and retaining Sam Darnold at quarterback creates a need at a position that Darnold and the Vikings’ passing game relied on quite a bit in 2024, where they’d be losing 91% of their team running back targets – most of any team prior to free agency. Warren, who has handled the majority of passing downs for the Steelers in recent years, hasn’t been fully deployed as an every-down back and would have a shot to do so for the Vikings.

Warren has flashed potential as an every-down back in his three NFL seasons, but without the opportunity to put that together, he hasn’t been able to deliver as a consistent fantasy asset. The Vikings roster could be the perfect fit for Warren, who owns a strong 83.1 rushing grade and 80.4 receiving grade since 2022 – the only free agent running back to earn at least an 80.0 grade in both categories over that span.

WR TEE HIGGINS

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Los Angeles Chargers

Higgins is going to be one of the most coveted free agents should the Cincinnati Bengals be unable to extend him this offseason, and the Chargers significantly need to provide more weapons to quarterback Justin Herbert after rookie Ladd McConkey was the only one capable of being that option in 2024. McConkey delivered 197 receiving yards and a touchdown in the team’s one playoff game this season while the rest of the roster combined for just 45 yards. This was the case for most of McConkey’s rookie season, which highlighted a glaring hole in the Chargers passing game.

Adding the 26-year-old Higgins to the mix would give Herbert two high-end receiving threats – each bringing different skillsets for the Chargers passing offense to utilize. Higgins is also coming off the highest receiving grade of his NFL career (88.3) and touchdown total (10) despite dealing with injuries and missing time in 2024. Perhaps more importantly, the Chargers had the fifth-highest drop rate (7.6%) from receiving options in 2024, whereas Higgins’ 2.7% drop rate was the best of his career and one of the best marks in the league. McConkey, Higgins and Herbert should all be able to thrive for fantasy purposes in this situation.

WR CHRIS GODWIN

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Carolina Panthers

The Panthers are now in an interesting position where they should feel much better about building around 2023 first-overall pick Bryce Young after he was benched earlier in the 2024 season. He bounced back and flashed that franchise quarterback potential in the back half of the year. While Young’s passing grade and big-time-throw rate greatly improved, he still needs some help around him as his completion rate and yards per pass attempt, while improved, were only about average.

Adding a viable No. 1 receiving threat like Chris Godwin to the mix for Young will put that high-end passing ability to much better use and allow both players to prop each other up. Godwin would be the clear lead target, and Young would have a consistent receiving threat who can succeed at different levels of the field to rely on, as long as he’s healthy. 

Bryce Young’s splits pre and post-benching (2023 and 2024):

WR STEFON DIGGS

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Kansas City Chiefs

The image of Diggs watching the Chiefs celebrate beating his Buffalo Bills in the 2022 AFC Championship game stands out as the catalyst for this “if you can’t beat them, join them” signing that could help both sides. The Chiefs may lose Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquise Brown, Mecole Hardman and DeAndre Hopkins to free agency – accounting for 52% of the team’s wide receiver targets from this past regular season, the most of any team. On top of a potential Rashee Rice suspension, the Chiefs could need Diggs’ services.

Diggs is coming off a season-ending ACL injury and is on the back nine of his NFL career, but he’s not a player that Kansas City will necessarily need for the entire season. Getting Diggs, who was still performing well for the Texans prior to his injury, in this offense should allow for both Patrick Mahomes and Diggs to benefit from one another’s play where they deliver consistent fantasy starter production.

WR KEENAN ALLEN

Ideal fantasy landing spot: Washington Commanders

Zach Ertz’s veteran “know-how” and ability to make himself a quarterback-friendly target for the young Jayden Daniels was invaluable to the rookie quarterback’s development in Year 1, but since Ertz is a pending free agent and potentially nearing retirement, Allen could be that next veteran receiving option to serve as an additional reliable receiving option next to Terry McLaurin.

The Commanders relied on a combination of Olamide Zaccheaus, Noah Brown and Dyami Brown outside of McLaurin and Ertz in 2024, and it just wasn’t consistent enough to work. All three of those players are now also pending free agents, which opens up a big opportunity for someone like Allen to step back into a heavy workload and prove that after a down year in Chicago, he can still be that QB-friendly option in an offense where he doesn’t need to operate as the WR1.