Jordan Love, Jaydon Blue Headline High Upside Bench Stashes for 2025

Finding value is typically the biggest emphasis of any fantasy football draft advice. Managers who capture championships set the foundation for winning in the draft through selecting players others are overlooking.

But calculated risks on players with high upside is also an important part of a successful fantasy football draft.

These players don't necessarily have to be full-time starters in fantasy lineups. If they aren't, they come with considerably less risk.

But a fantasy team's bye week replacements and injury depth players are a lot more intriguing if they come with upside. To help, we complied a list of projected bench players with the most upside at each position.

Keep in mind the following list is for 12-team leagues with one quarterback, two running back, three wide receivers, one tight end and one FLEX in the starting lineup. How many teams and players at each position in the starting lineup will alter which players will be bench stashes.

Let's dive into the list.

QB Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers

Love raised his fantasy expectations considerably after a 32-touchdown, 4,000-yard campaign in 2023. But he wasn't able to repeat those numbers in 2024.

The Packers quarterback, though, missed two games because of injury and averaged fewer pass attempts per game.

The fact Green Bay threw the ball fewer times is a little alarming. Love also had the same amount of interceptions (11) in 2024 as 2023 despite 154 fewer attempts.

But Love averaged more yards per pass and per completion. His touchdown percentage also increased.

If healthy, Love is a candidate to throw 30-touchdowns with 4,000 yards again. There's a chance for more if his attempts go back up too.

I wouldn't be confident enough in either of those things happening to have Love as my starter. But his current ADP is 16.5 according to Fantasy Pros.

Managers should love him as their high upside QB2 on the bench.

RB Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

With the arrival of Bucky Irving, White took a back seat in the Buccaneers backfield. White saw his attempts cut almost in half just a year after he rushed for 990 yards.

Irving is back, so White won't be Tampa Bay's top back. But White is one of the best "backup" running backs in the league.

In the No. 2 role last year, he saw his yards per carry average increase from 3.6 to 4.3. He also scored six receiving touchdowns.

White should be around 600 rushing yards again with the chance for a 1,000-yard season from scrimmage. If something happens to Irving, though, he will enter the starting lineup on one of the most explosive offenses in the league.

That's a great running back to have on the fantasy bench.

RB Jaydon Blue, Dallas Cowboys

Dallas rookie running back Jaydon Blue received a lot of praise over the summer. He's continued to get hype during training camp.

Blue is competing with veteran Javonte Williams for the starting role in Dallas. Fantasy managers should prefer Blue because of his upside.

"He averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 149 rushing attempts last season, racked up 517 yards after contact and led all SEC running backs in receiving yards (365) and receiving touchdowns (six)," wrote Pro Football Focus' Beckett Mesko. "He also ranked second in the conference in receptions (41) and yards after the catch (400), trailing only former teammate Quintrevion Wisner."

If Blue has a strong preseason, he might not remain a bench stash because his ADP is likely to rise. But Blue has a running back ADP of 47 in standard leagues according to Fantasy Pros.

Even if Blue splits repetitions in the backfield, he is a high upside stash that far down the running back draft board.

WR Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers

A year ago, Aiyuk was arguably a top 10 receiving option for fantasy managers. He made second-team All-Pro with 75 catches, 1,342 receiving yards and seven touchdowns during 2023.

But last season, Aiyuk only played in seven games because of a torn ACL and MCL in Week 7. Because of that and the emergence of Jauan Jennings, along with the presence of Ricky Pearsall, Aiyuk has become an afterthought this offseason.

Aiyuk has a 43.3 ADP among receivers according to Fantasy Pros.

Don't make the mistake of overlooking Aiyuk. He's averaged 14.6 yards per catch, including 17.2 yards per reception over the past 23 games. Managers should love having that upside as a WR3 let alone on the bench.

WR Keon Coleman, Buffalo Bills

The No. 33 overall pick in 2024 only had 29 catches as a rookie. But those receptions went for 556 yards, as Coleman averaged 19.2 yards per catch.

Sure, fantasy managers would like more value. But the upside is obviously there whether or not the volume is.

That makes Coleman an obvious bench stash. Any receiver who is ranked outside the top 40 and averaged more than 15 yards per catch last season should be a wideout fantasy managers want to target in the later rounds.

TE Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

There isn't much to suggest Pitts is ever going to reach his rookie totals of 68 catches and 1,026 yards again. During 2021, he averaged 15.1 yards per reception.

Pitts is entering the final year of his rookie deal with the Falcons. This will be his last chance to prove himself to the organization.

But it's hard to find upside at tight end outside the top 10 players at the position. Pitts has upside, which will be valuable if he can regain consistency.

Maybe he finds that with Michael Penix Jr. behind center in 2025.