Dynasty Analysis
Dyami Brown was drafted 82nd overall by the Washington Football Team, becoming the 12th wide receiver and 24th overall fantasy player in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Trey Sermon barely makes the cutoff for statistically projected relevancy in fantasy be being drafted at the backend of round three by the 49ers. This isn’t a smash spot for Sermon to land by any means due to the carousel of running backs that we’ve seen Shanahan use the past few years. However, if he can stay healthy, he will have the opportunity for big workloads as the only other running backs on the roster are the oft-injured Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, JaMychal Hasty, and newly signed Wayne Gallman. How many of those players have contracts locked up past 2021 right now? None of them. How many of those players are making over one million dollars this year? Only Mostert. Mostert will be the main back until he gets hurt, unfortunately. Sermon has a “get up the field quickly” mentality and is very athletic. He’ll work his way up the depth chart quickly. He’s not the safest pick, but a running back with a path to legit carries in a good offense that wants to run the ball is very enticing. He’s the RB4 in this class unless something craZy happens as we end the third round. I’ll be aiming for Sermon in the middle of round two, but his hype might push him even higher. If he gets to the early second, it’ll be too rich for me.
Nico Collins | Michigan …
Amari Rodgers played four full seasons with Clemson, and he didn’t produce high-level statistics until his Senior season. In his four-year college career, Rodgers produced a total of 181 receptions for 2,144 yards and 15 touchdowns. After his Freshman season, we caught glimpses of Rodgers starting to mold into a college star. He caught 55 passes for 575 yards and four touchdowns during his sophomore season. Unfortunately, he took a step back and caught 25 fewer passes and only produced 426 yards and four touchdowns his Junior year. Finally, he took over as one of the best pass-catchers in the nation in his final season at Clemson. He produced career-highs in receptions (77), receiving yards (1,020), and receiving touchdowns (7). His 1,020 receiving yards placed him 10th amongst all wide receivers in Division 1 last season. He has the talent and experience to become a reliable target and return specialist at the pro level.
At his Tennessee Pro Day, Josh Palmer measured in at 6’1” and 210 lbs. Which equates to a BMI of 27.7. He ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash, equating to a 101.52-Speed Score, and at 6’1” that is a 102.02-Height Adjusted Speed Score. Both scores place him in the 67th percentile or higher. He doesn’t show elite athleticism as he recorded a 34” vertical jump, 124” broad jump, and he ran the short shuttle in 4.25 seconds and the three-cone in 6.98 seconds.
Davis Mills was ranked as the top overall quarterback in the class of 2017, ahead of Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, and Mac Jones. Mills took over as the starting quarterback for Stanford as a true freshman. Mills accumulated just 3,468 passing yards and 18 TDs versus eight INTs in his four-year collegiate career at Stanford. Mills is strictly a pocket-passer and does not offer any threat on the ground for defenders.
Kellen Mond took over as the starting quarterback for Texas A&M as a true freshman. Mond accumulated 9,661 passing yards and 71 TDs versus 27 INTs in his four-year collegiate career at Texas A&M. Mond is a capable rusher as he compiled 1,609 rushing yards and 22 TDs in his four seasons.
Kyle Trask took over as the starting quarterback for Florida as a sophomore when then Gators quarterback Felipe Franks went down to injury and never gave Franks a chance to get the job back. In his career, Trask completed 552 of 813 pass attempts, a 67.9% rate. He threw for 7,386 yards, 69 touchdowns, and just 15 interceptions which equates to a 168.5 passer rating. Trask leaves much to be desired as a rushing threat, he has a total of 54 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 132 attempts. He won’t be boosting his fantasy production with much work on the ground.
Despite being overshadowed by his college teammate Ja’Marr Chase, Terrace Marshall is an excellent prospect in his own right. He’s got prototypical size and impressive athleticism. He broke out at an early age and demonstrated his ability to dominate an offense. He did fall a little further than expected in the draft, but as a second round, he will be given every opportunity to succeed in the league. I believe Marshall is firmly entrenched as a top-five wide receiver in this class, perhaps even top three. He’s an excellent player to target at the backend of the first round or early second round in Superflex rookie drafts.
At his Louisville Pro Day, Tutu Atwell measured in at 5’9” and 155 lbs. Which equates to a BMI of 22.9. His 40-yard dash time was 4.44-seconds, his burst score was 114.6, and his agility score was 10.96. All of these metrics are pretty average for his size, but they are not awful which is all that matters for a WR. Tutu’s only red flag here would be his BMI, and his BMI being so low is a little scary. I do not feel BMI and size are too predictive for NFL success, but we just haven’t seen anyone this small before so it is hard to say for sure.
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah | Notre Dame 6’1½ ” …
DFF Draft Coverage: Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah to the Browns Read More »
D’Wayne Eskridge had 121 receptions for 2,244 yards in his five-year college career at Western Michigan. He is one of the older wide receivers in this class at 24 years old and played an extra season as a super senior after being converted to a defensive back in 2019 and suffering a clavicle injury that ended his year. Eskridge didn’t truly break out until his sophomore season and comes in with a BOA of 20.5 (52nd percentile). He finished the 2020 season with 33 receptions for 768 yards and eight touchdowns, accounting for an incredible 45% of his team’s offensive production and 5.95 adjusted yards per team pass attempt. The offense ran through him.
Pat Freiermuth | Penn State 6’5” 251 lbs. 10/25/1999 (Age …
DFF Draft Coverage: Pat Freiermuth to the Steelers Read More »
Rondale Moore broke out as a true freshman in a huge way in 2018. He compiled an FBS-leading 114 receptions in 2018, exceeding 1200 yards and scoring 12 receiving TDs. He also added 21 carries for 213 rushing yards and two more rushing TDs. Moore even returned punts (12) and kicks (33). That season, he won the Paul Hornung Award as the nation’s most versatile college football player. He was a consensus first-team All-American as an all-purpose player, first-team all-conference pick, the Big Ten Wide Receiver of the Year, and its Freshman of the Year.
My third-ranked running back in the class, Javonte Williams finds himself packing his bags and heading to…Denver…Yikes! Denver traded up to get ahead of Miami, but Atlanta trading out of this spot is even more confusing! Melvin Gordon has only one year left on his contract and it seems like Williams will look to follow in the steps of Nick Chubb, who spent a portion of his rookie season behind Carlos Hyde before Hyde was traded. Williams will be contending with Gordon all year which makes his immediate fantasy impact unlikely. The bright side is that the Broncos offense is surrounded by talented players and the defense should keep games close. The downside is that Drew Lock or Teddy Bridgewater is going to be his quarterback until they can figure that out. Gordon takes a slight hit, but he won’t be completely replaced this year. Gordon is still someone I’m looking to trade for on the cheap end, while Williams will fall in my rookie rankings due to the long-term situation in Denver.
Elijah Moore has one of the more impressive prospect profiles in this class. He has incredible speed and agility and the necessary traits to become an elite slot receiver at the NFL level. I will not be surprised if Moore quickly becomes a PPR machine and perennial WR2. He deserves consideration as a top-five wide receiver in this class, though he will likely slot in (no pun intended) closer to sixth or seventh. I’ll be targeting Moore in the early-second round of my Superflex rookie drafts.
Jaelan Phillips is a story where potential finally met opportunity and production in 2020. Phillips began his collegiate career with accolades and notoriety as he was ranked a top-three recruit in the nation in 2017, even ahead of Chase Young. He chose to stay close to home and attend UCLA, where a string of bad injury luck awaited him. Phillips started in four of the seven games he played as a freshman (21 tackles, seven for loss, with 3.5 sacks) but struggled through an ankle injury and suffered a concussion. In 2018, he suffered a wrist injury when he was hit by a car and later suffered another concussion during the season. He gutted through four games compiling 20 total tackles, with one TFL and one sack.
Kwitty Paye | Michigan …
Etienne has one of the safest floors at the running back position due to his receiving ability and speed. He’ll be a menace running outside and in the screen game, while being no slouch on the inside either. He may not end up as a goalline back, but he doesn’t need to be close to score. Running behind a worse offensive line in 2020 than 2019 after losing talent to the NFL draft, Etienne consistently showed the ability to make something out of nothing. Even if it’s just two yards, the little things add up when you can make a negative play into a positive. They added up enough for me to have him inch out Najee Harris as my RB1 in this class.
Najee Haris was already in my top ten rookies for fantasy and now that he is officially the first running back off the board, that might even give him the edge over Travis Etienne for the top running back in the class. Harris now has a sweet five-year contract locked up which will take him through his age 27 season. It was very difficult to find faults in the film and most of the cons came from the context of what he did while being surrounded by loads of NFL talent. I’m not pushing Harris far up my board because this was an expected outcome and his first-round draft capital was mostly baked into his ranking already.
In four seasons at Florida, Toney compiled 120 receptions for 1,590 yards and 12 touchdowns. Toney also carried the ball 66 times for 580 yards and two touchdowns during his college career. He didn’t see the field a ton during his first three seasons, but he turned into a star his Senior year. He caught 70 passes for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns to go along with 161 rushing yards and another touchdown. He was used strictly as a Wide Receiver his Senior year, whereas he was used as more of a utility player during his first three seasons. His 10 receiving touchdowns placed him tied for seventh in the country amongst Wide Receivers in 2020.
Mac Jones is a quarterback who will reflect the system he is in, and the Patriots do not have much to work with outside their free-agent tight end additions. He will be drafted higher than the typically QB5 in a Superflex Rookie Draft, however, he does not become a value until the late second-round. He could have a long career paired up with legendary coach Bill Belichick, but his upside is capped as a QB2 with the weapons that surround him.
Fields is a true dual-threat Konami Code quarterback worthy of consideration at the 1.01 pick in Superflex leagues. Justin Fields remains as the QB2 in the 2021 NFL Draft class, however with the bad landing spot one may choose to go with a top pass-catcher or running back as the second and third picks in Superflex Rookie Drafts.