Matthew Berry's updated and expanded positional rankings for 2025 fantasy football season
Here are my updated and expanded 2025 positional rankings for PPR leagues.
While these rankings are intended for full PPR leagues, a switch to half PPR or standard scoring would not result in very many significant changes. These rankings are also intended to be used primarily for managed re-draft leagues. If you're playing best ball, they can still serve as a good reference, but keep in mind that players with extremely high single-week and late-season upside move up significantly in those formats.
As always, a lot will change during August, so these rankings are extremely fluid. I'll continue to adjust as news comes out and depth charts change, so definitely keep checking back in for the latest updates to both these rankings as well as my Top 200 overall. In the meantime, let me know who you think I'm either too low or too high on for this upcoming season!
And don't forget I will be revealing my 'Ride or Die' player for this year on Thursday, July 31 at 7 p.m. ET during the 2025 NFL Hall of Fame game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Detroit Lions on NBC and Peacock!
QB Rankings
RB Rankings
WR Rankings
TE Rankings
Matthew Berry sifts through pitches from Rotoworld football writers for his 2025 'Ride or Die' pick, making cases for and against Bucky Irving, Puka Nacua, Travis Hunter, and several others.
Matthew Berry details what makes Nico Collins a prime candidate to be his fantasy 'Ride or Die' this year, with ascending stars Brian Thomas Jr. and Drake London also looming as possible options.
In the first Fantasy Football Happy Hour episode ahead of the 2025-26 NFL season, Matthew Berry revisits his 2024 pick before detailing how he approaches his selection process every year.
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New York Times
13 hours ago
- New York Times
Tre' Harris, Justin Herbert chemistry takes big step in Chargers rookie's breakout practice
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Tre' Harris' rookie training camp has been somewhat of a slow build. The second-round pick reported late for camp while his representation ironed out his contract with the Los Angeles Chargers. The rest of the rookies reported July 12. Harris missed the opening practice of camp and did not take the field until July 18. Advertisement Harris flashed at times in his first 11 practices, but he had not yet put together a breakout day. That changed Sunday. With Ladd McConkey sitting out his third straight practice, Harris was quarterback Justin Herbert's go-to target on multiple third-down snaps for the starting offense. Herbert and Harris connected for three third-down conversions on the day — two in seven-on-seven and one in 11-on-11. In total, Harris caught four of his five targets from Herbert. The chemistry is starting to percolate, as Harris has grown more comfortable and familiar with Herbert's style of play. 'It honestly just tells you to win on every route,' Harris said of playing with Herbert. 'One thing about him I've learned is that he's constantly surveying the field, and you might think, 'Oh, I have a run-off route right here, I could ease up.' But he's actually looking at you to get open, and he might see something that you don't see in the back end. So it's really just taught me to win every route that I'm running because you never know when that ball is going to come, and nine times out of 10, he's going to put it right on the money.' The first conversion reception Sunday came on a third-and-7 in seven-on-seven. Harris came open on a deep crossing route, and Herbert fit a throw into a tight window. Cornerback Tarheeb Still drove on the route from his zone, but Harris made the catch through contact. Three plays later, the starting offense faced a third-and-5. Harris found a soft spot against zone coverage on another crossing route, and Herbert hit him in stride. Harris' best catch of the day came on a third-and-5 in 11-on-11. Harris was matched up on the outside against rookie cornerback Nikko Reed. Harris ran a go route down the right sideline. Herbert threw to Harris' back shoulder. Harris saw Herbert's ball placement, slowed his route and made a smooth adjustment. He caught the pass before getting both feet inbounds for an explosive gain. Advertisement Harris also had a catch from Herbert in 11-on-11 off play action, screaming wide open across the field on a dig route. 'He continues to kind of blow my mind, just the throws he makes on the field,' Harris said of Herbert. 'He's not scared to go into that gunslinger mode and fit it into a tight hole.' Though Harris was practicing throughout the spring, he did miss valuable time at the start of camp. When asked about the holdout Saturday, Harris said, 'I hired an agent for a reason.' 'I don't know too much about the whole situation,' he added. 'I just let that be what it is and be what it be. I got out there and I'm here to just play ball. I'm not here to worry about contracts and stuff like that. Let the businesspeople handle that and go do what I got to do on the field.' Now he is doing what he needs to do on the field. The next step will be making plays in game action. He was held without a catch in the Hall of Fame Game against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. Harris has watched fellow rookie KeAndre Lambert-Smith emerge as one of the most consistent playmakers for the Chargers in camp. Lambert-Smith, whom the Chargers drafted in the fifth round, caught two passes for 43 yards and a touchdown Thursday night. This is a tight receiver competition. Lambert-Smith and Harris, who have grown close since they were drafted together in April, are potentially battling for starter snaps. Harris said he and Lambert-Smith have been rooming together. More practices like Sunday's will help Harris keep stride with Lambert-Smith. 'I'm just ready to keep going,' Harris said. coach likes what he sees — Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 3, 2025 • Edge rusher Caleb Murphy is making a strong case for the 53-man roster. He continues to play on the first-team special teams units. Sunday, he was on first-team kickoff and first-team punt. Murphy had a solid showing in Thursday's preseason opener. He had two run stops and two pressures as a pass rusher. He also contributed to a forced fumble on the opening kickoff of the game. Advertisement The big question: Where does Murphy's ascension leave fourth-round pick Kyle Kennard? Kennard did not practice Sunday. He has shown up as a physical run defender. But Kennard has yet to flash as a pass rusher in camp. The Chargers' top three edge rushers are set: Khalil Mack, Tuli Tuipulotu and Bud Dupree. Dupree had two sacks in Sunday's practice. Kennard had a clear path to being the Chargers' fourth edge rusher heading into camp. But Murphy's presence on special teams is undeniable. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said Sunday that 'it's possible' the Chargers would keep five edge rushers on the 53-man roster. Minter also acknowledged Kennard is 'still kind of figuring out the best way for him to rush.' • Second-year receiver Brenden Rice had perhaps his best training camp practice in a Chargers uniform Sunday. He caught two touchdowns in 11-on-11. The first came in a situational red zone drill. The second-team offense, led by quarterback Trey Lance, faced a second-and-goal from the 5-yard line with 12 seconds on the clock. On the first snap, Lance attempted a fade to receiver Dalevon Campbell. Campbell nearly made an impressive one-handed catch, but he ran out of room in the end zone. That set up a third down with seven seconds remaining. Lance attempted another fade, this one to Rice. Rice jumped over cornerback Deane Leonard and made a contested catch for the touchdown. Later in practice, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei connected with Rice on a deep-shot touchdown. Rice ran a post. Uiagalelei threw into double coverage, and Rice came down with the reception in between safety Kendall Williamson and cornerback Eric Rogers. Rice also had a conversion reception on a third-and-6 from Taylor Heinicke. Rice ran an out route. Heinicke's throw came in behind Rice, who adjusted to make the catch. Advertisement • Chargers who did not practice Sunday: McConkey, right guard Mekhi Becton, Kennard, linebacker Denzel Perryman, linebacker Junior Colson, defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe, safety Jaylen Jones, defensive lineman Josh Fuga, receiver Dez Fitzpatrick, receiver Jalen Reagor. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman said Saturday that McConkey and Becton are dealing with 'extremely minor' injuries. McConkey participated in walk-through Sunday but then worked off to the side once practice began. Becton was not on the field, and he has not practiced since July 28. • The first-team offensive line for Sunday's practice: LT Rashawn Slater, LG Bradley Bozeman, C Zion Johnson, RG Jamaree Salyer, RT Joe Alt. • Herbert was excellent in the deep part of the field Sunday. On top of the back-shoulder throw to Harris, Herbert also completed explosive passes to tight end Oronde Gasden, receiver Derius Davis and receiver Jaylen Johnson. Johnson's reception went for a 55-yard touchdown down the seam. • Defensive lineman Teair Tart had a tackle for loss against the first-team offense. He shot a gap and tagged off running back Omarion Hampton in the backfield. • Edge rusher Tre'Mon Morris-Brash had a sack in 11-on-11. • Running back Najee Harris, who remains on the non-football injury list after injuring his eye in a July 4 fireworks accident, is making some progress in his attempted return. Sunday, he had his helmet on while he did walking laps around the practice field. • The first-team offense faced the first-team defense in a situational red zone drill. The offense took over at the 10-yard line with 18 seconds on the clock. On first-and-goal, Herbert hit Hampton on an angle route out of the backfield. He was marked down 3 yards short of the goal line. The offense then rushed to the line to spike the ball. The clock stopped with seven seconds remaining. On third-and-goal, Herbert tried to hit Lambert-Smith on an in-breaking route in the back of the end zone. Cornerback Donte Jackson was in tight coverage and forced the incompletion. Advertisement The defense had six defensive backs on the field for the start of this drill: Jackson, Cam Hart, Tarheeb Still, Elijah Molden, Derwin James Jr., Alohi Gilman. Reed, fresh off his interception Thursday night, joined the first-team defense later in this series. Reed has been a playmaker so far in camp. 'I've proved that I belong,' Reed said. (Photo of Tre' Harris: Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Lions game film review: Breaking down Detroit defensive players vs the Chargers
Film review sessions are always tougher after a loss, even in the preseason. Though the final score of Thursday night's Hall of Fame game against the Los Angeles Chargers doesn't matter whatsoever, the path to the Lions' 34-7 loss does. The game left me with a few questions about certain players and decisions when watching in real-time, and my focus in poring over the All-22 was in finding answers to those questions. As such, this film notebook takes on a different format than normal. The focus is on players who made strong initial impressions during the game and ascertaining if those snap judgments hold up under deeper scrutiny. We'll split these between the offense and defense, with the defenders up first. Ennis Rakestraw The second-year CB stood out in real-time for getting torched on a deeper route where he couldn't turn and run with Chargers rookie KeAndre Lambert-Smith. A deeper look shows Rakestraw was riding the struggle bus well before that. First drive: Rakestraw is the LCB. Chargers motion the TE pre-snap, leaving him at end with no receivers. Rakestraw makes the right read and shoots the B-gap on a handoff and has a chance for a TFL, but his half-hearted tackle attempt fails. Didn't use his arms, didn't control his momentum. After the play, it's clear his recent chest injury (a contusion from the Lions first practice) is bothering him. The Chargers flash the same basic set a couple of plays later and Rakestraw again makes the proper read but doesn't get to the point of attack until after Grant Stuard has swallowed the ball carrier in the backfield. Now, the coverage loss... No. 9 is in press-man coverage, but he fails to use his arms at all at the line. This allows Lambert-Smith, a fifth-round rookie, to get outside leverage. Note that Rakestraw's safety help is high and inside, meaning that Rakestraw (likely--we don't know the call) was supposed to use outside leverage and steer the route inside to his help. We see this concept in practice quite a bit. Rakestraw loses two steps in the ensuing footrace in under 10 yards and gets somewhat bailed out by Trey Lance's looping throw, allowing safety Loren Strickland to finally get there. Add in a later penalty for illegal hands to the face, and it was a very rough night for No. 9. Rock Ya-Sin Rakestraw's presumptive primary competition for the No. 3 outside CB role was, by contrast, arguably the Lions' best player in the game. Two great, solo open-field tackles, the first of which prevented a touchdown (for one play). Lance didn't try to throw at No. 23 in part because Ya-Sin properly used his physicality at the line and controlled his leverage and assignment proactively. He looked very much like a veteran playing against unsavvy younger players. Throughout his NFL career, Ya-Sin has struggled with penalties. He's done a better job throughout training camp of knowing when to let go, and that translated to the field against the Chargers. The only flaw was a poor outside contain block on the second kick return. Stock way up on Ya-Sin. Zach Cunningham The veteran LB has had a great training camp, but that did not show against the Chargers. From the opening drive, when No. 52 ran past two would-be tackles, it was a rough go for Cunningham. On the play before the Chargers missed field goal, even after Lance gets flushed to the right side, Cunningham remains too deep and stuck in the middle in no-man's land in coverage (this was Rakestraw's best play of the night, effectively covering two receivers at once because Cunningham and safety Loren Strickland aren't where they're supposed to be). As was the case with nearly all of the LBs (Grant Stuard being the notable exception), Cunningham was a step slower in game action than we've seen on the practice field. Whether it was holding inside a count too long before attacking an edge run, or being a half-step tentative in picking up a tight end releasing from the line, Cunningham and the rest of the LBs struggled more than expected. That was especially true of the next player... Anthony Pittman Pittman is entering his seventh NFL season in Detroit (and a brief interlude in Jacksonville). He's been a longtime special teams contributor, but his work as an off-ball LB has been hit-and-miss throughout his preseasons and brief (under 200 snaps) regular-season defensive appearances. So it's frustrating when No. 41 remains almost completely devoid of instincts, and that's what we saw on Thursday night. I counted five different run defense reps where Pittman guessed wrong. Wrong gap, wrong angle, wrong containment lane, it was a little bit of everything. Just for good measure, he also missed a tackle opportunity on Jack Fox's first punt. Trevor Nowaske Another linebacker who didn't have a great night, Nowaske's struggles were most evident in coverage. The first play of the Chargers' second drive is a great example. Nowaske does a nice job of initially identifying his responsibility on the play, which was RB Jaret Patterson leaking out to his side. But Nowaske inexplicably drops away and leaves plenty of room for Lance to find Patterson in the flat. That was one of a couple of instances where Nowaske overreacted to the offense and lost his assignment. Had he stuck with the design of the defense, it would have gone much better. There's a fine risk/reward line between going to try and make a play and leaving your post, and Nowaske was on the wrong side of those decisions too much in this game. Earning two encroachment penalties doesn't help Nowaske, either (though he wasn't the only guilty part on the second one). There were some positives for Nowaske. On the Stuard sack, Nowaske was in perfect coverage on FB Scott Matlock as he drifted over the middle as the outlet receiver. He also had a very nice block on the opening kickoff. Loren Strickland In a complex battle for the No. 4 safety, Strickland did not help himself against the Chargers. Much more known for his hitting and box-filling abilities in run defense, the inability to stick with targets in the passing game is to be expected with No. 24, with the tradeoff being that he'll be a big asset against the run. That didn't happen in Canton. Strickland hit but didn't wrap on a couple of occasions. Most notably, the Chargers' second TD play (right after the first Kyle Allen INT). Strickland (and Cunningham a beat later) filled the proper gap in time to make a stop at the 1-yard line, but he just bounced off with a glancing blow to the side. Ian Kennelly The undrafted rookie from Grand Valley State is part of that battle at safety with Strickland, and No. 27 was the best of the combatants, a group that also includes seventh-round rookie Dan Jackson (more on him below) and Morice Norris (a quiet night aside from a missed tackle). Kennelly did miss a tackle, but he delivered the best hit-and-drop of the night for either team. He was very quick to read the offense and showed some anticipation skills in coverage. Kennelly also scored a win on a punt coverage rep, which is vital for depth safeties in Detroit. Dan Jackson Like Kennelly, Jackson saw a lot of diverse action in the game. He was at his best playing in the box, where Jackson offered up a couple of very nice seek-and-destroy quick reactions on short passes. His block avoidance radar needs to sharpen, but Jackson did well in trusting his eyes and striking without losing sight of the bigger play around him. Decent debut for No. 28 overall. Ahmed Hassanein True to what we've seen every day in practices, Hassanein brings the energy and intensity to every rep. I was excited to see him square off against unfamiliar blockers in his pass rush, and unfortunately the same lack of technical prowess showed against the Chargers that we see in Allen Park. If his initial power move doesn't work, his lack of countermoves are glaring. The enthusiastic rookie DE did score a couple of pas-rush wins with burst off the line and beating the blocker's arms from getting into his chest. The run defense was very good from No. 61. His ability to anchor and set a hard edge is something the Lions coaches love, and he was able to do that on a few plays against the Chargers. I liked how Hassanein kept his eyes up and working his way to the point of attack without ceding containment. The violence in his movements gets him off blocks, and he proved to Patterson that he can finish his hits. Dicaprio Bootle Bootle has not had a very good training camp outside of one drill period last Monday, so it wasn't a surprise to see him struggle against the Chargers. The most obvious example is the touchdown catch-and-run by Lambert-Smith, where Bootle opened up the wrong way with his hips, gave away the inside and helplessly lunged at feet that weren't there anymore. Chris Smith and Pat O'Connor I'm lumping the two interior linemen together because that's how they played at their best--together. Smith had a great rep on the Chargers' third series where he saw that O'Connor was pushing his blocker deeper to the inside, so he peeled off to his right and caused chaos in the process. Smith was stout at standing up to the interior run blocking. O'Connor was more active in the pass rush, using his long arms to give himself space to operate an inside move. I like how No. 95 kept his shoulders clean when shooting the gap. His anchor in run defense wasn't great, but paired with Smith, he definitely held his own. His quickness off the snap outshone fellow DT Raequan Williams, who didn't have a bad night by any means, either. Nate Lynn The young defensive end adapted well from what we've seen in practice into the game. His long-arm rush was effective at times, but where Lynn stood out was his ability to mix things up. No. 57 made a very nice display of awareness and hustle on a run play shortly after the Craig Reynolds touchdown. He held the edge against LT Corey Stewart well, then he quickly disengaged and made a nice open-field tackle as the runner cut back his way. Lynn was the Lions' most effective pass rusher on the night, the only EDGE who could consistently win with a move and then follow it with a strong path to the quarterback. He didn't get any sacks or QB hits, but Lynn did force Lance to move off his mark a couple of times. Stock up for 57. This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions game film review: Breaking down defensive players vs. Chargers
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
Detroit Lions Podcast: Breaking down the Lions loss to the Chargers
The latest episode of the Detroit Lions Podcast brings actual football coverage back. It's a time to break down the Lions exhibition debut in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Lions dropped Thursday's game, 34-7, but the score didn't matter at all. This episode breaks down what fans can take away from the game and what's important for the coming season. Recorded Saturday night and after the benefit of film review, Chris and Jeff go over which players helped themselves and which ones left everyone wanting more. As always, an audio-only version of the show is available from your favorite podcast provider.
