Welcome to Walter’s 2025 Report Card - a series looking back on Walter's pre-draft insights and evaluating their predictive accuracy. The focus will be on RBs that Walter ranked higher than consensus rankings in the pre-season, given that correctly differentiating from consensus is how you create edges in fantasy football.
Here are some of the RBs that Walter differed from consensus on in 2025 - for better or for worse!
Biggest RB Win
Here is what we wrote about Christian McCaffrey in our draft guide when highlighting top “injury-prone” targets for 2025 drafts:
“McCaffrey continued the first overall pick "curse" last season, playing in just 3 full games after missing the first 8 games of the season with (unreported) achilles tendonitis and then missing the last 6 games of the season with a sprained PCL.
McCaffrey has played 7 or fewer games in 4 of his last 6 NFL seasons, but all current reports indicate he is at 100% health. I am more than happy to take one of the best fantasy football running backs of all time at pick 7+ of drafts. McCaffrey has ranked top-2 among running backs in all 4 of his healthy seasons since his rookie year.”
WalterPicks was one of the few platforms in on McCaffrey at the top of drafts. We had him as the RB3 in drafts, higher than others like ESPN, Yahoo!, and Sleeper. McCaffrey was our fourth-ranked player heading into drafts, and he went on to finish as the overall RB1.
Other winning RBs that Walter liked more than consensus (number of spots overall Walter Rank was ahead of Overall ADP):
Jonathan Taylor (7) —> Walter Ranking RB8, Finished RB4
Jaylen Warren (7.6) —> Walter Ranking RB28, Finished RB17
RJ Harvey (14.9) —> Walter Ranking RB21, Finished RB21
D’Andre Swift (22) —> Walter Ranking RB20, Finished RB15
Biggest RB Whiff
There was a lot of hype surrounding TreVeyon Henderson during draft season. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the team’s first preseason game, and his overall ranking climbed as high as 40th overall in the WalterPicks app.
However, Henderson was never a consistent fantasy option for managers this past season. He scored above 13 PPR fantasy points in only three games and finished as the overall RB21, which was four spots lower than where we ranked him (RB17).
Other losing RBs that Walter liked more than consensus (number of spots Overall Walter Rank was ahead of Overall ADP):
Kaleb Johnson (3.9) —> Walter Ranking RB26, Finished RB109
Alvin Kamara (6.7) —> Walter Ranking RB14, Finished RB46
Dylan Sampson (19.4) —> Walter Ranking RB35, Finished RB52
Walter’s Sleeper Wins
Javonte Williams
Walter was higher than most on Javonte Williams coming into the season. We had him ranked 110th overall and as the RB32 in drafts. That was a significant difference from where he was going on Sleeper with a 133.4 ADP. Williams then wound up finishing as the RB12.
JK Dobbins
JK Dobbins was one of our biggest sleepers in the later rounds of drafts. WalterPicks ranked him 79th overall with an RB27 ADP. That ranking was 32 spots higher than where he went on Sleeper. So, this was a win for Walter after Dobbins finished as the overall RB26 in fantasy points per game at the position.
Chase Brown
Chase Brown was a league-winner in 2025. He averaged 16.6 PPR fantasy points per game and was the RB4 from Week 8 onward. WalterPicks had Brown ranked 20th overall heading into drafts. That was eight spots higher than where the Bengals RB went on Sleeper.
