Fantasy Football: Hidden MVPs of the 2025 NFL season

Estimated Reading Time: 5minutes

Unheralded, yet valuable NFL players arise each season, helping fantasy football managers replace stars unavailable due to injuries, bye weeks or otherwise.

Some fill-in players end up possessing staying power and remain topical after the season concludes. Others remain unappreciated and underdiscussed. The article below breaks down four hidden MVPs of the 2025 NFL season. Weeks 1-17 and half-points-per-reception (half-PPR) scoring are used as the default settings unless otherwise specified.

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RB Bam Knight, Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals lost their top two running backs to season-ending injuries before the team’s Week 8 bye, allowing backup running back Bam Knight to serve as a helpful waiver-wire pick-up in Weeks 5-14. He notched two RB3 finishes, four RB2 finishes and one RB1 finish in the nine games during that span. He, unfortunately, suffered his own season-ending ankle sprain in Week 15. Knight’s 70.2 PFF overall grade in Weeks 5-14 ranked 21st among 33 running backs with at least 100 touches during that span.

Knight notably delivered two RB3 finishes and one RB2 finish in weeks with at least four teams on bye.

Among 33 running backs with at least 100 touches in Weeks 5-14, he ranked 33rd in rushing attempts (81), seventh in targets (29), 21st in missed tackles forced rate (17.5%), 10th in yards per route run (1.21) and eighth in adjusted target rate (20.3%).

His 0.2 missed tackles forced per rushing attempt tied for 10th, and his 2.6 yards after contact per rushing attempt ranked 28th among those with 80-plus carries.

Knight, 24, stands at 5-foot-11 and 209 pounds, possessing the requisite frame, albeit on the slim side, for high-volume workloads. He proved himself as a capable three-down contributor and enters free agency this offseason. He could be rewarded with a rotational-level contract after operating as a hidden MVP in 2025.

TE Theo Johnson, New York Giants

Second-year Giants tight end Theo Johnson enjoyed a quiet breakout season with rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart under center, producing six TE1 finishes from Weeks 5-15. He helpfully provided fantasy managers with four TE1 finishes during weeks with four-plus teams on bye. Johnson’s qualifying 68.1 PFF receiving grade ranked 20th among 29 tight ends with at least 30 targets in Weeks 5-15. He paired that with Dart's 70.2 PFF overall grade.

An illness sidelined Johnson late in Weeks 17 and 18, but over the aforementioned span, he produced strong numbers. His 56 targets ranked eighth, his 36 receptions tied for 14th and his 462 receiving yards and four touchdowns ranked or tied for seventh. His underlying metrics also reflected positive play, with his 1.54 yards per route run ranking 17th, his 10.7% slot target rate ranking fifth and his 12.5% deep-target rate and 13 explosive pass plays ranking or tying for fourth. 

Johnson can be treated as a TE1 in 2026 after quietly breaking out in 2025.

RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington Commanders

Rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt produced volatile early-season results for the Commanders after a ballyhooed spring and summer. His in-game performance led Washington to employ a mid-season three-player committee, causing many fantasy managers to drop Croskey-Merritt for more reliable flex options.

Croskey-Merritt seized the opportunity to establish himself as a reliable on-field player and fantasy football contributor late in the year, however, delivering an overall RB7 finish in Week 17 fantasy football championships. His qualifying 74.7 PFF overall grade ranked first among Commanders running backs in Weeks 1-17.

Commanders rotational running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. missed Week 15 with a groin injury, played through it in Week 16 and sat out in Week 17 due to an illness. He earned a 68.4 PFF overall grade in Weeks 1-17.

During Rodriguez’s ailing three-game stretch, Croskey-Merritt rushed 37 times for 206 yards and four touchdowns while earning zero targets. His sums yielded overall RB13, RB32 and RB7 finishes, respectively, in Weeks 15-17, and his 46.6 half-PPR points ranked 10th among running backs during that span.

Among 31 running backs with at least 30 rushing attempts in Weeks 15-17, Croskey-Merritt’s 6.1 yards per rushing attempt ranked fifth, his 0.3 missed tackles forced per rushing attempt ranked fourth, his 32.4% first-down and/or touchdown conversion rate tied for third and his 5.6 yards after contact per rushing attempt ranked first. 

The seventh-round pick's turnaround occurred after most fantasy football managers’ seasons had ended. His in-season post-hype breakout qualifies him as a 2025 hidden MVP who helped propel savvy waiver-wire users to fantasy football titles in Week 17.

RB Tony Pollard, Tennessee Titans

Pollard was widely dropped and forgotten in fantasy leagues after notching just two top-20 weekly finishes in Weeks 1-13 before surging back as the overall RB7 in Weeks 14-17 by scoring 66.5 half-PPR points and notching three top-20 finishes, including one as the overall RB2.

Pollard’s late-season successes have gone largely undiscussed, remembered only by playoff contenders. He earned a 57.9 PFF overall grade in Weeks 1-13 and an 80.7 mark in Weeks 14-17. 

His overall RB2 finish in Week 14 helpfully occurred with four NFL teams on bye, giving many playoff contenders a week-winning edge. 

The former Cowboy, signed by the Titans during the 2024 offseason, rushed 78 times for 452 yards and three touchdowns while catching three of four targets for 18 yards in Weeks 14-17. Among 29 running backs with at least 40 rushing attempts during that span, his 0.18 missed tackles forced per rushing attempt tied for 18th and his 5.8 yards per rushing attempt and 3.8 yards after contact per rushing attempt ranked sixth. 

Pollard’s late-season, hidden MVP showing could keep him from being a salary cap casualty in his age-29 season next year.