Top 5 Training Camp Storylines For Fantasy Football

As of Wednesday morning, all 32 NFL teams have reported for their official summer training camps. For fantasy football managers, it’s the time we start watching guys in shorts making magnificent plays with very little defensive interference, and we love it. With such a long break since February’s Super Bowl, any football action is good football action.

Training camps also bring with them a number of storylines, position battles, depth chart shuffling, and injury monitoring. This is the time of the offseason when opinions are formed about players’ roles and their potential production. Adjustments to ADP often follow.

For 2025 fantasy football, what are the biggest storylines to watch over the next six weeks? Right now, five major stories stand out as we prepare for draft season, which is right around the corner.

Training Camp Stories Fantasy Football Managers Need to Monitor

1. Who is the Quarterback in Cleveland?

The Cleveland Browns general manager came out on Thursday and said it’s possible the team could still have four quarterbacks on the roster when they kick off Week 1 against the Cincinnati Bengals. They have taken the phrase, “If you have two quarterbacks, you actually have zero,” to a whole other level. As of the beginning of training camp, we don’t know if Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders, or Dillon Gabriel will start Week 1.

Head Coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters he has a plan, but the “plan is in pencil” at this point in time, so there is no clarity as camp begins. Will a frontrunner emerge over the next few weeks, and will it be a veteran or one of the two rookies they drafted? The general consensus is that Flacco starts and then either Sanders or Gabriel takes over at some point during the season. But that’s just conjecture right now.

For the sake of players like Jerry Jeudy and David Njoku, fantasy managers like the idea of Joe Flacco starting. He may be ancient, but he likes to air it out, and he has been accurate throughout his career. Pickett has not proven anything, and we have no professional tape on Sanders or Gabriel.

With their rookie running back Quinshon Judkins looking at a suspension after a domestic violence allegation, the Browns’ passing game became much more important. But it may be a while before this quarterback question is answered.

2. Can Omarion Hampton Emerge While Najee Harris is Out?

At some point, NFL players will learn not to mess with fireworks on the eve of training camp starting. They apparently didn’t learn when Jason Pierre-Paul blew off some fingers. Will they learn after Najee Harris suffered an eye injury? Regardless, Harris is now looking at an extended absence that might keep him out all of training camp.

If this were still the Pittsburgh Steelers, that might not be a big deal for Harris. But he is joining the Los Angeles Chargers for his first season there, just like stud rookie Omarion Hampton. Now, Hampton gets the chance to get valuable reps with the first team offense while Harris has to sit out.

In half-PPR drafts, Hampton has now officially passed Najee Harris in ADP. Early consensus ADP has Hampton going as the RB18 and Harris as the RB33. If we even get a hint that Harris will miss games in 2025, expect Hampton’s already-rising ADP to shoot through the roof.

Hampton just turned 22 and had more than 2,000 total yards in 13 games for the University of North Carolina last season. If he is the primary back for this run-first Chargers’ offense, the sky is the limit.

3. How Does the Michael Penix Jr. Falcons’ Offense Look?

After the failed Kirk Cousins experiment in 2024, the Atlanta Falcons turned over the reins to rookie Michael Penix Jr. for three games to finish out last season. Those games had mixed results for Penix himself, but he basically turned Bijan Robinson and Drake London into stars for a handful of weeks. Can that continue in 2025?

In Weeks 16-18 in 2024 (the games Penix started), Robinson averaged 25.6 half-PPR fantasy points per game. That was the third-most among all running backs. Drake London was FIRST among all wide receivers with 19.4 fantasy points per game, including 35.7 in Week 18. London saw 39 targets in those three contests as Penix force-fed him the ball all game.

In the early days of training camp, Penix is talking about how often they are going to throw to Kyle Pitts in 2025. This is a fool-me-four-times situation with Pitts, but can Penix really do enough to make Robinson, London, Pitts, and Darnell Mooney (17th in the NFL in air yards last year) all fantasy starters?

The Falcons play fast and have no problem throwing in neutral game-script situations. If Penix improves his accuracy and decision-making, this could be one of the most fun fantasy offenses in the NFL.

4. Can Drake Maye Turn His Wide Receivers Into Fantasy Sleepers?

Drake Maye was something of an enigma in his rookie season. He had four games with more than 19 fantasy points and four games with fewer than 12. He had very little in the way of wide receivers and had his best games forcing the ball to Hunter Henry and Kayshon Boutte. The New England Patriots addressed the wide receiver issue in free agency and in the draft, so can Maye make the leap and bring all these new offensive weapons along with him?

The Patriots signed receiver Stefon Diggs, despite him tearing his ACL in October. Diggs is a full participant as training camp opens, so he walks into the season as the de facto WR1. The Patriots also drafted Kyle Williams out of Washington State with an early third-round pick. Williams had 14 touchdowns and a 26% target share last season in 13 games. In addition to those two, Kayshon Boutte is still around. Boutte was over 1,000 air yards last season and was a top-10 wide receiver with a 14.9-yard average depth of target (aDOT).

With those three weapons, plus sure-handed Hunter Henry still around, Maye has the tools he needs to take the Patriots to the next level. The defense is legit. The team drafted a new stud running back in TreVeon Henderson. It really is up to Maye to step up and lead this offense to places it hasn’t been since Tom Brady was around.

The most interesting thing about this offense is who emerges as the WR1. Stefon Diggs has the history and the pedigree. Boutte has a rapport with Maye. Williams might have the most impressive physical tools of all of them. Not all of them will become fantasy stars, but all are being taken after WR40, so they are worth a shot in the later rounds of your draft.

5. Who is Going to Get the Ball In Ben Johnson’s Chicago Offense?

In Chicago, Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron didn’t even get a full season with Caleb Williams to see how they might improve the offense under their number one overall pick. That’s how bad the Bears’ offensive production and offensive line protection were last season. Now, Ben Johnson comes over from his time molding Detroit into one of the league’s best offenses, and he will look to do the same in Chicago.

The Chicago Bears completely revamped their offensive line for 2025 after they led the league in quarterback sacks per game last season. In addition, they spent a first-round pick on tight end Colston Loveland and a second-round pick on Luther Burden III. Gone is Keenan Allen, so with those additions and subtractions, who takes a step up for fantasy football in 2025?

Unfortunately, both Loveland and Burden are dealing with injuries as camp opens. They are missing valuable reps with Caleb Williams in this new offense (and as new players in the NFL). D.J. Moore is still here and apparently had a come-to-Jesus meeting with Ben Johnson about his atrocious body language last year. Rome Odunze is looking to take a step up after ranking top-15 in air yards, but amassing only 734 receiving yards thanks to inaccuracy from Williams. The Bears only drafted a seventh-round rookie to compete with D’Andre Swift in the backfield.

Last season, the Lions were second in the league in time of possession and offensive plays per game. If Ben Johnson instills that kind of pace into the Bears, all of Moore, Odunze, Swift, Loveland, and Burden should be on fantasy rosters in case the offensive fireworks come back to Chicago.

For more great fantasy football rankings and analysis, make sure to check out the 2025 FantraxHQ Fantasy Football Draft Kit!