Fantasy football analysts have a curious habit of excluding postseason data when creating content and projections — a wild omission, considering the significance of the playoffs relative to the regular season. Honestly, there cannot be many other professions involving predictive analysis in which the most important information is so routinely ignored.
We are not actually going to resolve that problem today, just to be clear. Instead, we’re going to simply focus on postseason production with respect to five players who have boosted their fantasy (and real-life) profiles over the past three weekends.
Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
McConkey saved the best game of his rookie season for last, erupting for 197 yards on nine catches in his team’s loss at Houston. His 86-yard touchdown reception is best experienced via Patrick Star’s iconic call and showered in slime.
By the end of the regular season, it was abundantly clear that McConkey was the top receiving option in the Chargers offense. After the wild-card round, he was looking like a plausible top-12 fantasy receiver heading into 2025.
McConkey actually cleared 80 receiving yards in seven of his final eight games, playoffs included, so consistency isn’t a worry. He was a technician as a rookie, exceeding even the most bullish expectations. He averaged 2.59 yards per route run across all games and his passer rating when targeted was a ridiculous 123.3.
Terry McLaurin, WR, Washington Commanders
McLaurin just delivered a career-best fantasy season in which he finished as the overall WR5, thanks largely to his 13 touchdowns on 82 receptions. Incredibly, he actually saw only 117 targets this past year, the second-lowest single-season total of his career. He made house calls in all three Washington playoff games while gaining 227 yards, just in case you thought anything about his year seemed fluky.
Jayden Daniels is coming off perhaps the greatest rookie campaign in the history of rookies and he obviously punctuated his season with an outrageous playoff binge. You can’t have the 2025 QB1 discussion without Daniels, and his top receiving threat is now a locked-in WR1.
Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Worthy has hauled in 11 postseason receptions so far and no other Chiefs wide receiver has more than three. He’s seeing his usual short-range opportunities and gadgety touches, plus he’s suddenly a trusted player in downfield contested situations.
His season has basically been a triumph of player development. Way back in September and October, Worthy did not have the look of a receiver who was going to emerge as the centerpiece of his team’s passing attack in the most important weeks. Over his last five games — not including Week 18, when he played just one offensive snap — he’s averaged 8.8 targets and reached the end zone four times.
Rashee Rice returns to the mix next season and Travis Kelce presumably isn’t going anywhere, so Worthy certainly won’t be alone atop the receiving hierarchy in 2025. He’ll be an essential weapon, however, projecting as an every-week fantasy starter.
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Isaiah Likely, TE, Baltimore Ravens
This is not intended as further disrespect toward Mark Andrews, a player who has received altogether too much slander and derision. Likely is simply an exceptional receiving tight end coming off a postseason in which he played 80% of the offensive snaps and caught seven passes for 126 yards and one score on nine targets.
Whenever Baltimore is missing a key member of the receiving corps — as was the case in this year’s playoffs, with Zay Flowers sidelined — Likely is basically a lock to produce. He caught the touchdown that preceded Andrews’ unfortunate 2-point conversion drop.
Likely is still only 24 years old and there aren’t more than five players at his position who possess his downfield playmaking ability. If we were ranking for dynasty, he’d be a top-six tight end on my board.
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J.J. McCarthy, QB, Minnesota Vikings
It’s tough to think of another player who gained more 2025 fantasy value recently without actually taking the field. Sam Darnold struggled in Minnesota’s Week 18 loss at Detroit and was then swallowed whole and devoured by the Rams in the Wild Card Round. In the immediate aftermath of the Vikings’ exit from the postseason, head coach Kevin O’Connell was already discussing Darnold as if he was a former member of the team.
McCarthy is obviously an unfinished product who hasn’t yet taken a snap in the NFL and only just turned 22, but he’s at least returned to on-field work, so he’s headed into a normal-ish offseason. Following Darnold’s January implosion, McCarthy sure seems like the clear favorite to start for Minnesota in 2025.
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