Fantasy Football 2025: Way Too Early Quarterback Start 'Em, Sit 'Em, Because Why Not?

Have you drafted your 2025 full-season NFL fantasy team yet?

Of course you haven’t. It’s freakin’ May.

Which means you haven’t thought about setting your weekly lineup. Which means the concept of a freakin’ Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em article in freakin’ May—when you won’t need to set your first freakin’ lineup for approximately 100 freakin’ days—is, in a word or two, freakin' silly.

Now I’m nothing if not silly, so here’re six quarterbacks you should (or shouldn’t) consider anointing your QB1 for the 2025 NFL fantasy season.

(Note: As is generally the case with in-season Start-‘Em-Sit-‘Ems, we’ve avoiding the obvious. Like, of course you should always start Josh Allen, and of course you should always sit Mason Rudolph.)

Start ‘Em

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

The Justin Herbert of 2024 wasn’t the Justin Herbert of 2021. Or 2022. Or 2023.

It'll be a different story in 2025.

First off, the Chargers used free agency and the draft to overhaul their running game, inking Najee Harris and selecting justifiably touted Omarion Hampton. Granted, it’s possible that a backfield overhaul wasn’t entirely necessary—the Bolts’ top two rushers last season (J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards) missed a total of 10 games, so there’s a concrete reason behind their meh numbers—but there’s no doubt that Harris and Hampton give head coach Jim Harbaugh a nifty (and hopefully healthy) two-headed monster.

And man, could Herbert use a two-headed monster.

Aside from the fact that Harris is a useful option in the screen game, the amped-up backfield will give Herbert some play-action-driven wiggle room in the pocket—the kind of wiggle room that’ll have him outplaying his sub-top-ten preseason ADP.

Sit ‘Em

Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

Is Purdy the kind of dude who’ll want to live up to his bank-breaking five-year, $265 million deal? Or is he the kind of dude who, now that he’s financially set for life, will take his foot off the gas?

I’ll go with (A)—all Mr. Irrelevants who play in the NFL never take anything for granted—but the Iowa State product will take a step back due to the Deebo Samuel-sized hole in the Niners’ wide receivers room, not to mention Brandon Aiyuk’s predilection for getting injured.

This isn’t to say that George Kittle, Juwan Jennings, and Christian McCaffrey don’t make for a formidable trio of PPR monsters, but without a true WR1 at his disposal, we likely won’t see Purdy burning up Levi’s Stadium.

Start ‘Em

Justin Fields, New York Jets

This is a prove it year for the former Buckeye, and with the starting job securely his—giving him a sense of stability he’s yet to have in his career—proving it will be a thing.

Fields rolls into ’25 with arguably the best receiving corps of his career—a reunion with former OSU running buddy Garrett Wilson should be especially tasty—and with former Ben Johnson assistant Tanner Engstrand in charge of the play calling, expect fireworks both on the ground and in the air from a man who’s all but fighting for his career.

Sit ‘Em

Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks

Most every week during the 2024 NFL season, literally everybody who knows anything about football thought, “Yeah, Darnold’s coming back to earth on Sunday.” (Admit it, Vikings fans—you did, too.)

Indeed, regression might be the story of Sorta Slingin’ Sammy’s 2025.

This season, rather than throwing to his Minnesota targets Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, Darnold's top two pass catchers will be Jaxon Smith-Njigba (first year as WR1) and Cooper Kupp (lots of tread on the tires). That doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence.

Potentially the biggest issue for Darnold could be Seattle’s lack of a killer tight end. In Minny, he had T.J. Hockenson as a security blanket; in the Great Northwest, it’ll be Noah Fant, who doth not make for a secure blanket.

Start ‘Em

Drake Maye, New England Patriots

The second-year QB’s situation improved somewhat—a new WR1 in Stefon Diggs, a new RB2-trending-towards-RB1 in TreVeyon Henderson, a new offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels, a new LT in Will Campbell—but not enough to catapult him in into the QB1 stratosphere.

A year of NFL experience, however, should land him in the conversation…especially if he spent the summer in the weight room.

Sit ‘Em

Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The former #1 pick topped 4,000 passing yards in the previous two seasons...and if Chris Godwin returns to his pre-injury form, he’ll boast one of the most diverse batch of pass catchers in the league...and second-year running back Bucky Irving is the reliable RB1 Tampa Bay has needed since the days of Warrick Dunn.

Great stuff. So why should you sit ‘em? Two reasons:

• One, Tampa lost stellar offensive Liam Coen to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and their plays will now be called by first-year OC Josh Grizzard, and first-year OCs can be, oh, let’s go with nerve-wracking.

• Two: Gut feeling. Mayfield has played seven NFL seasons, half of which were, in a word, bad. Yeah, he has the weapons, but the overall percentages aren’t in his favor.

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