In this article, I’ll give rapid-fire takes on how all the skill players selected in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft will impact redraft leagues. Yesterday, I wrote up the first round, which you can read here, and the second round earlier. I’ll also try to provide an estimate for where I’ll rank them in my redraft rankings. At the bottom, I’ve included links to my four-part early rookie redraft preview, to give a comparison of what I thought back then to how I feel now once we have landing spots. Here comes Round 3.
#66: Antonio Gibson (RB/WR – WSH)
Coming into the NFL Draft, I wasn’t sure if Gibson was going to be a running back or a wide receiver. However, now that he’s a member of the Redskins, I would bet on him playing as a wide receiver. The Redskins have an incredibly crowded running back depth chart, with Derrius Guice, Adrian Peterson, Bryce Love, Peyton Barber, and J.D. McKissic all on the roster. Therefore, I expect them to deploy Gibson as a receiver, where they have little depth behind top receiver Terry McLaurin. Either way, I don’t want to roster any Redskins outside of McLaurin in my redraft leagues, so until Gibson proves me wrong, he’s off my redraft radar.
#76: Ke’Shawn Vaughn (RB – TB)
After a long break in skill position players, Vaughn comes off the board to the Buccaneers. He lands in an excellent spot on the high-powered, Tom Brady-led offense. Vaughn will compete with Ronald Jones for the lead back role in Tampa Bay. I have no love for Jones, so I expect Vaughn to be the starter to open 2020. If Vaughn consolidates the starting role, he has RB1 upside in redraft formats.
However, I think that there will be a timeshare, at least to open the season. Therefore, I will have to rank Vaughn conservatively in my redraft rankings. I will likely rank Vaughn as a high-end RB3, around RB27 or so, while Jones will plummet outside the top 40 running backs. The biggest reason to prefer Vaughn is his passing game upside. Unlike Jones, Vaughn profiles as a pass-catching back. Brady has a history of loving pass-catching backs, namely James White. Vaughn is a far better player on the ground than White, though.
#80: Lynn Bowden Jr. (WR – LVR)
The Raiders decided to take two WRs back-to-back at these two picks. First, they selected Bowden, who is a versatile receiving weapon. He did everything at Kentucky, returning kicks, playing all across the receiver formation, taking carries from the backfield, and even lining up at quarterback. Bowden will slot in behind first-round pick Henry Ruggs and tight end Darren Waller in the target pecking order. Given that Derek Carr and Marcus Mariota are the Raiders’ quarterbacks, Bowden is off my redraft radar until he proves otherwise. He still needs to beat out incumbents Tyrell Williams and Hunter Renfrow for playing time, let alone putting up sufficient numbers to be redraft viable.
#81: Bryan Edwards (WR – LVR)
While Edwards and Bowden have almost nothing in common as prospects, their redraft situation is virtually identical. Edwards is a more classic receiver prospect who profiles best as a big outside receiver. He would be an excellent long-term outside complement to Ruggs, with Bowden as the long-term slot or versatile option. However, like Bowden, Edwards is not worth a redraft selection. There are just too many players ahead of him for targets, and he’s not even guaranteed to see the field right away. This receiver room is one to watch in the offseason to see who joins Ruggs in the starting lineup.
#86: Zack Moss (RB – BUF)
Moss finally went to the Bills late in the third round. He will immediately create a backfield committee with starter Devin Singletary. However, in this case, I believe that Singletary will remain the Bills’ 2020 starter. Moss had a solid college career at Utah, but his draft stock plummeted after a poor 4.65 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.
In 2020 redraft leagues, I will find it hard to spend a premium draft pick on Moss. I will probably drop Singletary outside of the top-20 running backs due to this pick, making Singletary more of a borderline RB2. I will likely rank Moss around RB40, in handcuff or timeshare territory. Since quarterback Josh Allen is the Bills’ best goal-line weapon, neither Singletary nor Moss has high-end touchdown upside. If Singletary were ever to suffer an injury and miss time, Moss would step right in as an RB2. If Moss forces a timeshare out of the gate, he’ll be worth a roster spot for most of the season, especially in deeper leagues.
#91: Devin Asiasi (TE – NE)
I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I had never heard of Asiasi until the Patriots decided to select him with this pick. He played college ball at UCLA after transferring from Michigan, where he didn’t produce as a receiver until his final year. In that season, he caught 44 passes for 641 yards and four touchdowns. However, as I said in my Round 2 write-up when discussing Cole Kmet, Asiasi is a rookie tight end. Therefore, I will not draft him in redraft formats, especially since he went in the late third round. If he starts producing in-season, feel free to look his way, but he’s just a name until that point.
#92: Devin Duvernay (WR – BAL)
Duvernay is a burner and will make an excellent speed pairing with incumbent top receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. Duvernay and Brown will clear out the defense to make room for star tight end Mark Andrews. However, even though I think Duvernay is an excellent fit for the Ravens’ real-life offense, I don’t think he’ll have any redraft usability. Even Brown couldn’t break out in 2019, and he was a far more talented prospect than Duvernay is. I think this move helps Lamar Jackson more than anything else. He’s even more locked-in as my redraft QB1 now, and he might slide up a spot or two in my overall rankings.
#93: Darrynton Evans (RB – TEN)
Evans lands as the pass-catching complement to Derrick Henry. He’s a smaller back coming out of Appalachian State, who I believe can excel in that role. Similar to Dion Lewis in 2019, Evans will only be useful if Henry gets hurt. Henry is the ultimate workhorse back and received the franchise tag to reprise that role in 2020. Keep Evans in mind as a name to remember, but he has no redraft relevance otherwise.
#94: Josiah Deguara (TE – GBP)
Similar to Asiasi a few picks ago, I had never heard of Deguara before the Packers selected him. Unlike Asiasi, Deguara will have to compete with second-year player Jace Sternberger for the starting role. Sternberger was also a third-round pick but went at 75th overall last year. While it’s nice that the Packers finally decided to get a receiving weapon for Aaron Rodgers, a backup tight end is not what I had in mind. This move doesn’t help Rodgers much at all, and you can ignore Deguara in redraft since he’s a rookie tight end. All this pick does is make me lower on a potential Sternberger breakout, not that I expected it anyway.
#101: Dalton Keene (TE – NE)
Apparently, one tight end I had never heard of was not enough for the Patriots. They decided to add to their selection of Asiasi with Keene. Keane played college ball at Virginia Tech, catching 59 passes for 748 in three years. Now that there are two rookie tight ends in New England, I have no idea what to do or who to value more, especially since they went so close to each other. Either way, ignore Keene in redraft formats.
#105: Adam Trautman (TE – NO)
Unlike the previous few tight ends, I had undoubtedly heard of Trautman coming into the draft. He received lots of hype as a receiving tight end coming out of Dayton, but he fell in the draft to the end of the third round. He joins an excellent Saints’ offense as the potential long-term replacement for tight end Jared Cook. Trautman will be a backup to Cook in 2020, though. He’s not relevant to your redraft teams, except as a potential for the Saints to run 2TE sets. If they do, it could provide the tiniest bump to Drew Brees, but it probably doesn’t matter much.
Thanks for reading this article. You can find me on Twitter at @DFF_Karp. I love to interact with anyone in the community, so reach out at any time! I take fantasy questions and help with all formats, so keep sending those questions my way.
Early Rookie Redraft Primer Links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
