2025 Preseason Pro: Jody Smith (Free)

Exclusive preseason picks from some of the world's most successful high-stakes and draft rankers.

McCaffrey Preseason Pro

NFL training camps are underway. That means the fantasy football draft season has finally arrived! Our annual Flagship Feature is called Preseason Pro. This 2025 Preseason Pro: Jody Smith introduces the exclusive insight you can find only at FullTime Fantasy.

Here at FullTime Fantasy, we’ve assembled the very best high-stakes players in the world: many of the Top 10 World-Ranked high-stakes players, and one of the top RANKERS in the country — to help you win your Fantasy Football league.

No one else in the industry can provide you with this type of information. Additionally, we host the Fantasy Football World Championships, and these players are gracious enough to lend us a hand in promoting the very best content in the industry.

Each of them is putting their reputation on the line for all to see and is providing us with their:

ONE Top SleeperONE BreakoutONE Bust

ONE Comebackand ONE late-round Stash & Cash.

to help you with your upcoming draft. However, it’s only one per category! They don’t know what anyone else has submitted, so you’re getting the genuine gut check from the best players in the world. High rollers have offered some of them hundreds of dollars for this kind of private advice. And that’s just one opinion. Here you’re getting no less than SEVEN, and Preseason Pro continues to be the elite product of the fantasy season.

This year’s Preseason Pro picks are included FREE with your FullTime Fantasy Membership!

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What makes their opinion so worthy? Simple. They win. Year in and year out, they’re winners. While some may ask, “Why would they help me?”, there is no question that when their pride and integrity are on the line, they step up and make bold calls to help others. When we have questions on Sunday, this is who we call. We’re essentially bringing our high-stakes connections to FullTime Fantasy.

When your league is on the line, who do you trust? A magazine that contains out-of-date news? No. Those days are over. Not all experts are considered equal

Starting with Jody Smith, who has more than 15 years of content experience. Jody was also previously Fantasy Pro’s Most Accurate Rankings Expert, and he’s fresh off a No. 2 overall finish in last year’s draft accuracy. Additionally, Jody topped the betting leaderboards in 2020 and holds a top-10 overall ranking for multi-year accuracy. He’s consistently been one of the best in the business for a long time!

Finally, Jody recommended Hunter Henry as his late-round stash & cash last August, and Henry posted overall TE11 numbers, making him one of the top values. Let’s see who Jody picks in his 2025 Preseason Pro.

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Jody Smith - PreSeason Pro

— BREAKOUT —

Kenneth Walker (RB) Seattle Seahawks 

It was hard to narrow this down to one single breakout player for 2025. So as a bonus, I chose one position player and a pair of second-year signal callers.

At running back, Ken Walker is already a well-known name in the fantasy community. Last year, he was RB12 in PPR points per game, but missed six games due to oblique and leg injuries. But when he played, Walker was the staff’s preferred backfield option. Zach Charbonnet only averaged four carries in games that Walker started and finished.

Per FantasyPoints Data, Walker led all running backs with 0.50 missed tackles forced per attempt, ranked third with 70.9% of his yards coming after contact, and was RB8 in expected fantasy points per game. Those tell the story of an explosive player whose breakout ability has already been displayed.

Walker’s involvement in the passing game last season was also encouraging. Despite playing just 11 games, he snagged 46-of-53 targets. He’s going to be the featured back in a Klint Kubiak offense that resulted in Alvin Kamara leading all running backs in targets per game last season.🚀

Seattle’s O-line is a concern, but first-round OG Grey Zabel will be a good fit as a pulling guard in Kubiak’s versatile system. A healthy Walker is top-5 upside and can readily be drafted in the 4th round.

I also love J.J. McCarthy and Drake Maye as sophomore quarterbacks with breakout potential.

I was high on McCarthy last year, but his season was over before it began. We saw how Kevin O’Connell’s offense, which has ranked top-6 in passing in every season, led to a career resurrection for Sam Darnold. Now it’s McCarthy who has the keys to O’Connell’s offense, and we’re starting to see some of his potential in camp.

Drake Maye is a dark horse to lead all QBs in rushing. Despite playing in just 10 full games, Maye ranked 9th among QBs last season with 421 rushing yards. He’s also got a strong arm and will be helped exceptionally by the additions of Mike Vrabel, Josh McDaniels, Stefon Diggs, Kyle Williams, and a vastly improved offensive line.

Both of these second-year QBs will contend for QB1 fantasy production and can be drafted in the mid-to-late rounds of most fantasy drafts.

Kenneth Walker

— SLEEPER —

Jakobi Meyers (WR) Las Vegas Raiders

Another season, another year of Jakobi Meyers being overlooked on draft day. He’s been a top-25 wideout in back-to-back seasons and got significant upgrades in coaching and at quarterback. Yet Meyers is still being drafted outside of the top-40 wide receivers, well into the middle rounds.

At that point in drafts, Meyers is the ideal fantasy WR3 for managers who already have targeted a tight end/quarterback, and have both backfield spots occupied. Taking WR/WR to open the draft and targeting Meyers in that range allows for a deep weekly lineup.

Meyers isn’t flashy, but he’s averaged over 13 fantasy points in three straight seasons. Last year, with arguably the worst quarterback play in the NFL, Meyers posted his first 1000-yard campaign. He absorbed 129 targets in 15 games, even with TE Brock Bowers setting NFL records.

Now, the Raiders have made significant changes for the better. Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly will be a boon for an offense that ranked 27th in the league in 2024. Carroll reuniting with QB Geno Smith will be the main catalyst for that improvement, and the addition of superstar rookie RB Ashton Jeanty will only help open things up for the passing attack.

Geno Smith has a history of heavily targeting his wideouts. Although the Raiders added some ancillary pass-catching weapons, Meyers is the clear WR1 and will play the league’s 7th-easiest WR strength of schedule.

It all points to another WR2 season for Meyers, who can be targeted in WR4/5 territory.

jakobi meyers

— BUST —

Aaron Jones (RB) Minnesota Vikings

By the numbers, 2024 was the best season of Aaron Jones’s long career. He stayed healthy for all 17 games and posted career-best totals in rushes (255) and rushing yards (1,138). He also ranked 8th at the position with 51 receptions and had his most receiving yards (408) since 2019. It all resulted in an RB1 finish in his first season with the Vikings.

So what’s the problem?

First, Jones will be 31 in December. That’s well beyond the age of decline for running backs. Particularly backs who have missed multiple games in five of their eight seasons.

Secondly, advanced metrics tell the story of a player who is fading. In 2025, Jones ranked 5th among all running backs with 100-plus carries by averaging 3.36 yards after contact per attempt. Last year, he dipped down to 2.97 YCO/A (27th). He also had a steep decline in yards per route run and had a career-worst 18.3% breakaway rate.

Per PFF, Jones’s 48.0 Elusive Rating ranked 37th. That paints the picture of an aging player who has lost a step.

Furthermore, the Vikings traded for Jordan Mason, who averaged 5.2 yards per carry and outshone Jones in most metrics in limited action with San Francisco. Mason rushed for 100-plus yards in three of San Francisco’s first four games and now will get the chance to carve into Jones’ workload.

While Jones is not being drafted as an RB1, he is still a popular mid-round RB2 target for fantasy managers who choose to load up on pass-catchers early. I think Mason is a candidate to play his way into the starting role, and Jones will see his touches limited as the season progresses.

Jones has been good, but the end is near. He’s not a player I’ll be targeting in 2025.

Aaron Jones

— COMEBACK —

Christian McCaffrey (RB) San Francisco 49ers 

Fortune favors the bold. In the case of McCaffrey, it favors risk-adverse fantasy managers willing to gamble a first-round pick on a player who has already posted top-2 fantasy numbers four times, but one that torpedoed millions of drafts one year ago.

McCaffrey led all fantasy players in scoring in 2023, where he topped the NFL in rushing, scrimmage yards (2,023), and touchdowns (21). However, CMC’s 2024 campaign was an unmitigated disaster after an offseason Achilles injury cost him half the season. Then, when McCaffrey finally debuted, he suffered a PCL sprain in Week 13, ending his season with only 65 touches in four games.

Anyone who believed Kyle Shanahan and invested a first-rounder on McCaffrey likely struggled to win. It would be understandable not to want to take that risk again for an oft-injured running back who is now 29.

But McCaffrey says he’s in the best shape of his career, and local media have noticed that he looks noticeably faster.

The 49ers also traded away Deebo Samuel and Jordan Mason, which shows confidence in McCaffrey’s health. A healthy McCaffrey will see a huge workload and is a proven cheat code in fantasy lineups. If he slides into the top of Round 2 of your fantasy draft, it will be hard to pass up the league-winning ceiling that Christian McCaffrey offers.

Christian McCaffrey

 

— STASH & CASH

Brashard Smith (RB) Kansas City Chiefs

2024 wasn’t a great fantasy showing for Kansas City’s backfield. Isiah Pacheco missed most of the season, and Kareem Hunt showed no burst or elusiveness. Enter seventh-round SMU rookie rusher Brashard Smith, who blazed a 97th-percentile 4.39 40-yard dash and showed plenty of big-play ability as a runner, receiver, and returner.

Smith is a converted wide receiver who stands out as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. The Chiefs have been using him in the slot this summer, and he’s already taken first-team reps with the red-zone unit.

 

The Chiefs struggled in that area last season. Smith can give Patrick Mahomes a dual-threat weapon that he hasn’t had since Jerick McKinnon.

With Rashee Rice potentially facing a suspension and TE Travis Kelce fading, the Chiefs could employ Smith as a slot weapon. But Smith can also make an impact as a runner. He rushed for 1,329 yards, caught 39(!) balls for another 327, and totaled 18 touchdowns for the Mustangs in 2024.

The reports out of KC’s training camp have been glowing. Smith is forging a strong red-zone rapport with Mahomes and appears to be carving out a role.

Going undrafted in many fantasy leagues, that makes Smith a fine stash & cash option.

Brashard Smith

 


These high-stakes fantasy legends put their reputation on the line just in time for your big draft!

 PreSeason Pro (a $29.95 value) is INCLUDED for FREE with Your FullTime Membership!

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Plus, all summer long, these high-stakes players will be releasing their picks. Stay tuned as the PreSeason PRO Hub comes to life for the 2024 season and you’ll see who the very best of the best are taking in their fantasy drafts.


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About Jody Smith 681 Articles
With over a decade of winning experience, Jody is a well-known fixture in the fantasy football community. He was named Fantasy Pros’ **Most Accurate Ranker** previously and was the site’s Top NFL over/under totals picker with a record 65% accuracy in 2020, while also ranking 5th in the country with a 55% against-the-spread hit rate. His draft rankings finished No. 2 in 2024. Jody has written for many sites over the years including Pro Football Focus, FantasyPros, CBS Sportsline, FantasyData, and is a regular contributor to the Fantasy Index magazine expert’s poll and draft. Jody’s experience ranking and projecting player performance will help prepare the Fulltime Fam for their big draft days as well as answers they can trust on Sunday for those ever crucial Who Do I Start questions.