Fantasy: Buying or selling 10 divisive players

Opinions are more contentious for some players than others when it comes to determining their fantasy value. We're delivering buy or sell verdicts on 10 of 2025's most divisive players.

49ers RB Christian McCaffrey

Whether McCaffrey is worth drafting has been almost entirely reliant upon his health for the bulk of his career. You don't need to invest quite as much as in past years with his ADP landing around the mid-late range of the first round, but it's still a premium pick. McCaffrey has been active and a full participant throughout the 49ers' offseason and appears ready to bounce back from the lower-body ailments that sidelined him for the majority of the 2024 campaign. Brian Robinson Jr. and Isaac Guerendo will take some touches, but a lighter workload will hopefully keep CMC healthy.

Verdict: Buy 🤑

Chiefs WR Rashee Rice

Rice's ADP has begun its freefall after he accepted a six-game suspension from the NFL related to a vehicle crash in 2024. The former second-round pick is also coming off an LCL injury that limited him to four contests last season. Rice probably isn't worth the risk due to the suspension and his good-not-great production when he has been healthy. Only consider him if he slides well past his ADP.

Verdict: Sell 💸

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts

Pitts is arguably the poster child of divisive fantasy players, but it's important to consider context when deciding whether to buy or sell his stock this year. The biggest factors are his 133.3 ADP and average position as TE15. That cheap of an investment for a player with as much upside as Pitts has is much easier to swallow than drafting him in the middle rounds. While he's been underwhelming relative to being the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft, Pitts has still managed to record at least 600 yards in all three seasons in which he's played at least 15 games. Pick up Pitts for the upside near the end of your draft, but don't hang on forever if he doesn't take a big step forward with Michael Penix now starting at quarterback.

Verdict: Buy 🤑

Cardinals WR Marvin Harrison Jr.

Recording 885 yards and eight touchdowns on 62 receptions would be a strong season for most rookie receivers, but expectations for Harrison were much higher last year. The Ohio State product remains Arizona's clear No. 1 wide receiver, while tight end Trey McBride is the only established weapon beyond him. There's no reason to think his target share will decrease this season; it's more likely to increase. Harrison only hauled in 53.4% of his 116 targets last season, so improving that number just a bit will do wonders for his fantasy totals. That should come to fruition after spending another year with NFL coaches and trainers.

Verdict: Buy 🤑

Titans RB Tony Pollard

Pollard has posted three consecutive campaigns with at least 1,000 rushing and 1,300 scrimmage yards. However, both his yards per carry and yards per touch have dipped below five in the last two seasons. There aren't many runners currently on Tennessee's roster that are likely to challenge Pollard for the bulk of touches (Tyjae Spears will start the year on IR), but the 28-year-old is likely to be even more dependent on scoring touchdowns for good fantasy weeks this season. That's a tough prospect considering he's only scored more than six touchdowns in just one of his NFL seasons.

Verdict: Sell 💸

Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp

Plenty of the factors surrounding Kupp changed this offseason. A new team, a new quarterback (that's also new to the team), and the role he's expected to play has changed from bona fide WR1 to strong WR2 behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The bigger problem is that Kupp, 32, hasn't played in more than 12 games over the last three years. The former receiving triple crown winner will probably have a couple of impressive games, but all of the changes, his age, and his injury history are too risky to feel good about drafting him.

Verdict: Sell 💸

Lions QB Jared Goff

Goff's numbers may dip a bit from their averages of 4,547.3 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 10.3 interceptions that he's recorded over the last three seasons with former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but there's still reason to be optimistic about the former No. 1 pick's fantasy outlook. The 30-year-old is still surrounded by talented players at all of the skill positions despite some of the changes in Detroit this offseason, the offensive line remains a strength, and Goff is the 12th quarterback taken according to consensus ADP, per FantasyPros. That's very little overall risk for someone that's been one of the better fantasy quarterbacks in recent years.

Verdict: Buy 🤑

Bears RB D'Andre Swift

Swift's ADP lands him in the first five rounds of most drafts. That's higher than I'm willing to take a running back that had the worst success rate (43.9%), yards per carry (3.8), yards per touch (4.6), and tied for the lowest total touchdown count (six) of his career a season ago. New head coach Ben Johnson may be able to coax out some better efficiency from Swift, but it feels more likely that the Georgia product winds up sharing too much of the workload to provide value that matches his draft position due to his inefficiency.

Verdict: Sell 💸

Browns WR Jerry Jeudy

Jeudy's season totals of 90 receptions, 1,229 yards, and four touchdowns look more impressive than they wound up being for fantasy purposes most weeks in 2024. The 26-year-old scored half of his touchdowns and recorded 31% of his receiving yards in just two games with 6/142/1 in Week 11 and 9/235/1 in Week 13. If we include his 108-yard performance from Week 15 then he had 39.5% of his receiving yards in just three contests. While those performances were great, he also had six games with fewer than 40 receiving yards. It's hard to imagine his consistency improving much considering Cleveland's quarterback room.

Verdict: Sell 💸

Broncos TE Evan Engram

The Broncos didn't use their tight ends much last year, but they didn't have a tight end with Engram's skills on the roster. The 30-year-old provides an athletic receiving threat across the middle of the field and has proven he can put up strong production despite below-average quarterback play with previous teams. Engram has hauled in at least 73.4% of his targets despite the Jaguars' passers never combining for better than a 66.5% completion rate over the last three years. Plus, the Ole Miss product posted 766 and 963 yards in 2022 and 2023, respectively, before being limited to nine games in 2024. Expect a big bounce-back campaign if he stays healthy this season.

Verdict: Buy 🤑

Andrew Dixon is a contributing fantasy analyst for theScore.