Malik Nabers Could Be No. 1 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver in 2025 With Jameis Winston

Michael Fabiano | Mar 24, 2025

Malik Nabers averaged 18.2 fantasy points per game in his rookie, ranking sixth among wideouts who played in at least 12 games. / Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Giants signed veteran quarterback Jameis Winston to a two-year deal late last week. It seems unexciting on the surface because the G-Men are still in hot pursuit of Aaron Rodgers and hold the third overall pick in the NFL Draft, either of which could make Winston's signing irrelevant.

In fantasy football terms, however, adding Winston as insurance (or maybe even a bridge to a young quarterback) is awesome for the value of Giants WR Malik Nabers. In fact, this move could push Nabers to become the No. 1 wide receiver in fantasy football next season.

Winston might not be a great “real football” quarterback in terms of wins and losses (he throws a truckload of interceptions), but he can be a productive fantasy quarterback. He’s also had a knack for helping wide receivers score oodles of PPR points in his career.

It started back in Tampa Bay, where Mike Evans was often among the top fantasy wide receivers with Winston under center. Evans had multiple top-10 fantasy finishes at his position, including a WR3 finish in 2016 and a WR9 finish in 2018. In 2019, Chris Godwin was the WR2 (played 14 games) and Evans (played 13 games) was the WR15 with Winston at the helm of the offense.

Winston barely played in New Orleans from 2020-2023 (started just 10 combined games), but he got some burn last season in Cleveland. Starting 12 games, he helped Jerry Jeudy produce his best season in the NFL. Jeudy posted 90 catches,1,229 yards and scored four touchdowns overall, which was good enough to finish WR12 with 240.9 PPR points.

Jeudy had a very slow start to the year. In his first seven games, all with Deshaun Watson under center, Jeudy averaged just three receptions, 38 yards and 7.9 points. His fantasy success didn’t start until Week 8 when the Browns named Winston the starter.

During Winston’s seven starts, Jeudy averaged seven receptions, 112.3 yards and 21.1 PPR points. During that span, Jeudy scored 147.6 points and was the WR5. Only Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St. Brown and CeeDee Lamb scored more points.

At the same time, Nabers was posting a huge statistical season of his own. The rookie was sixth in points among wideouts, posting 109 catches, 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games. Amazingly, he put up those with the quartet of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock, Tommy DeVito, and Tim Boyle under center. That’s not exactly a who’s who of NFL quarterbacks.

Imagine, if you will, the type of numbers Nabers would put up with Winston at the helm. And that might be a worst-case scenario!

If the Giants can land Rodgers, well, that would obviously be a win for Nabers, too. Assuming the Tennessee Titans take Miami’s Cam Ward with the first overall pick in the draft, the G-Men could land Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. In his final collegiate year, Sanders threw for 4,134 yards and completed 74 percent of his passes.

No matter what happens for Big Blue, even if that means Winston is under center in Week 1, Nabers could end up being the best wide receiver in fantasy football in 2025.