- Christian McCaffrey delivers another elite fantasy football season: McCaffrey once again delivered as the top fantasy running back for the third-time in his career, bouncing back after a nightmare 2024 season.
- Justin Jefferson disappointed like no other: When it comes to fantasy options who weren’t injured, there might not have been a more disappointing player this year than Jefferson, who finished as just the PPR WR25 in 2025.
- Get PFF+ for 30% off: Use promo code HOLIDAY30 to unlock the PFF Player Prop Tool, Premium Stats, fantasy dashboards, the PFF Mock Draft Simulator, industry-leading fantasy rankings and much more — everything you need to win your season.
Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes
With the 2025 fantasy football season wrapped up (Weeks 1-17 only — sorry, Week 18 players), it’s time to dole out the awards to the standout players who delivered, and some who didn’t, throughout the year to help fantasy gamers secure the most important award of all — a fantasy football championship.
- Data referenced is from Weeks 1-17.
- Scoring referenced is full-PPR from PFF for scoring totals and averages.
- Average draft position (ADP) is taken from Fantasy Pros composite ADP which uses multiple site’s data.
MVP
Starting with the big one, this award will go to the most consistent player throughout the year, delivering high-end fantasy performances and providing the greatest points edge over his peers in 2025.
The fantasy season’s MVP is always a close call, and depending on which top finisher fantasy managers had on their rosters, the answer will almost certainly vary depending on your team’s result. However, it’s difficult to pick anyone other than Christian McCaffrey this season. He is coming off one of the most disappointing fantasy seasons in 2024, where he barely played despite being the consensus No. 1 overall pick in fantasy drafts, but he then instantly regained that value now that he was healthy in 2025.
McCaffrey finished as the overall top fantasy performer across all positions in 2025 with 404.9 PPR fantasy points – 40 points more than the next closest player, Josh Allen (364.62). It isn’t often that the top fantasy quarterback of the year is outscored by a running back in PPR scoring, as this is just the third time in the past eight years that this has occurred – McCaffrey accomplished this feat all three times (2019, 2023, 2025).
McCaffrey’s elite fantasy 25.3 points per game mark also created a 3.0 PPR points per game gap over his closest competition at the position (Jonathan Taylor, 22.3), which was the largest gap in per-game scoring outside of tight end, where Trey McBride averaged 3.5 points per game more than the next closest player at his position this season. While McBride is a worthy candidate for MVP as well, McCaffrey’s overall production on the year puts him well over the top of everyone else as the only 400-plus point scorer on the year in 2025.
Runners up
Rookie of the year
This award is given to the first-year player who performed above and beyond the expectations of a rookie and delivered an MVP-like performance in their own right. There were several worthy candidates, but only one can take home this specific hardware.
This year’s fantasy rookies didn’t necessarily dominate in the ways that have been the case in previous years, with Brock Bowers and Jayden Daniels in 2024, and Puka Nacua and Sam LaPorta in 2023, though we still got some good value from this crop of Year 1 players. Perhaps no rookie fantasy option was more valuable than Harold Fannin Jr., who was largely undrafted this offseason and ended up finishing the year as the PPR TE4.
Concerns regarding the Browns’ offense and David Njoku limiting Fannin’s Year 1 potential were the clear reasons for pessimism heading into the year, though even with both of those still playing a part, Fannin’s talent allowed him to be a key contributor. With Njoku in the lineup (Weeks 1-8 and 10-13), Fannin was still the PPR TE7 during that stretch, and with Njoku out of the lineup (Weeks 9, 14-17), he was the PPR TE4. Fannin led the Browns in targets (104), receptions (72), receiving yards (731) and receiving touchdowns (six), ranking top-six among all tight ends in those categories.
Fannin ended up being a great example of trusting the high-end talent of a top-end prospect coming out of the NFL draft to overcome poor circumstances, especially when the price (ADP: TE34) is right. While there were many rookies drafted ahead of Fannin this year in fantasy drafts, arguably no rookie performed better in Year 1, while also creating a higher return on investment than Fannin.
Runners up
Waiver-wire addition of the year
This award goes to a player who was largely undrafted heading into the start of the season but had worked his way into starting lineups regularly by the time his rostership caught up to his role. Several players fit this billing as they increased their value once the season began, but only one can take the crown this year.
Lawrence has been on Nathan Jahnke’s waiver-wire target list several times throughout this season, including up until Week 16, where he was still widely available early in the fantasy playoffs. Lawrence’s dominant fantasy performances from Week 15-17 – the most important fantasy weeks of the year – put him as the clear winner of this year’s award and arguably the fantasy playoff MVP as well. As highlighted, Lawrence’s run during the fantasy playoffs was a historic mark, as his 98.6 fantasy points were the most in the Super Bowl era during this specific and important three-week period.
Lawrence didn’t just deliver in the fantasy playoffs, but he has been a solid fantasy starter for most of this season for those who added him early following the many quarterback injuries suffered this year. Lawrence finished the year as a top-five fantasy quarterback, earning a top-15 weekly finish in 12 of his 16 games, a top-12 finish nine times and a top-five finish three times this season. For a quarterback often undrafted or drafted well outside the top-15 players at his position heading into the year, Lawrence was a pleasant surprise for fantasy managers this year.
Lawrence’s waiver value was increased due to quarterback injuries in 2025, where seven of the 19 quarterbacks drafted ahead of him (Lamar Jackson, Jayden Daniels, Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray, Brock Purdy, Justin Fields, J.J. McCarthy) all played just 12 or fewer games this season. Depending on whether fantasy managers picked up Lawrence and started him throughout the playoffs, those injuries may have even been a blessing in disguise, considering how effective he was during the most important stretch of the season.
Runners up
Most improved player of the year
This award goes to the player who saw the biggest jump in value from last season to this season, delivering a high-end fantasy performance in 2025. This player will have increased their points per game total by a significant margin and overall positional finish just the same.
Maye entered Year 2 as a top potential breakout candidate for the quarterback position after a solid rookie season and enough overall improvements to his roster to allow for another step forward in his progression. The hope was that Maye could crack the top-12 fantasy quarterbacks on the season, which would still make him a value compared to where he was being drafted, typically well outside that range (QB18 on Sleeper). Not only did Maye prove to be a value based on his ADP, but with all the quarterback injuries and his breakout, Maye delivered a top-three finish at his position, averaging a strong 21.0 points per game – up significantly from his 13.6 in 2024.
Maye not only greatly improved as a fantasy asset, but his overall performance jump as an NFL quarterback was also arguably the best in the league this past season. Maye went from a 64.9 passing grade as a rookie, which ranked 31st among qualifying quarterbacks in the regular season, to an 85.0 passing grade in 2025, a top-five mark at the position.
Maye delivered just over 400 rushing yards to go along with his 4,203 passing yards – both of which were top-six marks for the position. Thanks to his consistent production, Maye only finished outside of the top-15 weekly fantasy quarterbacks twice all season long. Maye’s rushing ability was always a big part of his fantasy potential, but seeing him deliver as an elite passer in Year 2 should only add to his encouraging long-term fantasy profile now heading into 2026 and beyond.
Runners up
Playoff MVP
Weeks 15-17 are the most important weeks of the season for fantasy managers — a time when a small three-week stretch can make or break an entire season. This award is given to the player who consistently delivered high-end fantasy performances for all three weeks of the fantasy playoffs and ended up being the primary reason a championship was secured once all the smoke had settled.
Heading into Week 17, Nacua had scored more fantasy points than any other wide receiver through the fantasy playoffs (74.4), and his performance in the final Monday Night Football game of the fantasy season only put him over the top as this year’s fantasy playoff MVP. Nacua finished the season as the PPR WR(1 or 2) despite missing one game due to injury, he was every bit as efficient and dominant as he has been through his previous two years in the league, earning both a league-leading 96.0 receiving grade and an elite 4.02 yards per route run, making up for the fact that he scored just eight touchdowns on the year.
Nacua was outscored in the fantasy playoffs by only Trevor Lawrence during these three weeks, though Nacua was significantly more rostered by fantasy playoff teams, according to ESPN, as the second-most rostered player compared to Lawrence, who did not crack the top-50 players in that regard. Nacua was clearly a bigger contributor for fantasy players making the playoffs, even finishing as the PPR WR2 in Week 14 – the final week of the fantasy regular season – adding to his amazing stretch to close out the year.
Robinson never failed to disappoint in the fantasy playoffs, delivering __ top five finishes in these final three weeks of the season, closing out an excellent year as a top-five fantasy running back. Robinson has been one of the most consistent high-end performers at the running back position all season long, delivering eight top-five weekly fantasy finishes on the year as a whole while only finishing outside the top-24 weekly PPR finishers twice all year.
Robinson’s performance on Monday night in Week 17 only solidified his spot among the most clutch fantasy performers at the most important time of the season for fantasy managers and likely helped bring home many fantasy championships. Robinson was also one of the five most-rostered running backs for fantasy playoff teams, according to ESPN, helping carry his many fantasy managers to the finish line in 2025.
Runners up
Comeback player of the year
This award goes to the player who overcame a disappointing 2024 season, whether due to injury, poor play or other circumstances that kept them from being consistent fantasy starters, and delivered an exceptional 2025 that made them a weekly fantasy starter.
While most of the candidates for this award are coming off significantly missed time in 2024 due to injury, Williams is mostly coming off a stretch of multiple ineffective fantasy seasons, as he failed to crack the top-30 PPR running backs in three consecutive seasons. Williams had started his career strong with an RB17 finish as a rookie, but that was feeling like it would go down as the best fantasy season of his career. However, with the running back-needy Cowboys giving Williams a shot to be their starter this season, Williams more than delivered relative to his expectations, ultimately finishing the year as the PPR RB10 after being drafted outside the top-30 running backs on the majority of fantasy platforms.
Williams started the season off incredibly strong with two top-five fantasy finishes, and he was among the most consistent fantasy performers at his position from that point on. Williams delivered top-24 weekly PPR finishes in 12 of his 16 games this season, ultimately finishing as one of the best ADP values in 2025. Williams set new career highs across the board this year, including yards per carry (4.8), rushing grade (81.7), rushing touchdowns (11) and rushing yards (1,201), making this more than just a comeback year after performing even better than his previous best fantasy season.
Runners up
Disappointing player of the year
This award goes to the player who greatly underperformed relative to expectations. Eliminating those who just couldn’t stay healthy, as injuries are part of the game and aren’t necessarily in the player’s control, the focus here will be highly-drafted players who were on the field for the large majority of games and couldn’t come anywhere close to living up to expectations this season.
Winner: WR Justin Jefferson, Minnesota Vikings
Jefferson was a consensus top-three fantasy wide receiver according to ADP heading into this season and had never given fantasy managers any reason to expect much less. Jefferson has finished no worse than the PPR WR7 in each of his previous healthy seasons. Even in the 2023 season, when he played just nine games, he still averaged nearly 19 points per game, which puts him in that WR1 territory when he was active.
Unfortunately, this season was a completely different story than fantasy managers were used to with Jefferson and the Vikings’ passing game as a whole. An unstable quarterback situation and Jefferson’s lack of efficiency, relative to his career norm, led to just a PPR WR25 finish in 2025, despite not missing a single game. Jefferson only finished inside the top-12 fantasy wide receivers in a week twice this season, just never living up to expectations. While WR25 isn’t a disappointing finish for most fantasy wide receivers, it’s a significantly underwhelming season for a player drafted as high as Jefferson, and one who had seemingly solidified himself as a perennial top-three player at his position.
There will be plenty of hope that Jefferson can bounce back in 2026, which will likely depend a lot on his quarterback situation. Jefferson’s 64.6% catchable target rate on the year was one of the worst marks at the position coming out of Week 17. For a player who still saw 130 targets, there was plenty of meat left on the bone for Jefferson to have a better year, and that level of involvement should still create optimism that Jefferson can bounce back. However, for 2025, Jefferson was clearly one of the biggest fantasy disappointments.
