At DFF our motto is #AlwaysBeBuilding. While that pertains to dynasty it also pertains to offering our members more benefits for their subscription. With that, I introduce you to DFF’s rookie draft Average Draft Position (ADP) resource. This will be available as a quick reference under the resources drop-down menu. You can directly link to it here.
As a true freshman, Christian Harris was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, starting 12 of 13 appearances (63 tackles, 7.5 for loss). Harris played through a shoulder injury during the Crimson Tide’s run to the 2020 national championship, making 79 tackles, seven TFLs, 4.5 sacks, and one INT. He started all 15 games of the 2021 season, again making 79 stops, 12.5 TFLs, and 5.5 sacks. He also recorded three pass breakups and two forced fumbles. Harris has shown reliability and toughness throughout his collegiate career.
Here is why Daniel Bellinger is such an intriguing prospect. It is well documented that size/speed athletes translate to the tight end position in the NFL well. Bellinger has this in spades. He recorded a 9.66 relative athletic score out of at 6’4, 253 lbs. He ran a 4.63 40-yard dash with an excellent three-cone time of 7.05. His vertical was 34.5 inches.
Zamir White was the number one RB in his class coming out of high school and a top-ten national recruit. “Zeus” had torn an ACL late in his senior season, however, and then tore his other ACL in August 2018, which caused him to redshirt the fall. White returned for the 2019 season and earned the school’s David Jacobs Award for overcoming injury by playing in 13 games and rushing 78 times for 408 yards and three TDs. White started all 10 games in 2020, leading the Bulldogs with 779 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns on 144 carries. He also caught six passes for 37 yards. In 2021, White led the national champions with 856 rushing yards and 11 scores on 160 carries while catching nine passes for 75 yards in 15 games (12 starts).
In his true freshman season, Tyrion Davis-Price contributed for the 2019 national champion Tigers, scoring six touchdowns on the ground on 64 carries for 295 yards in a reserve role. The former top-10 running back recruit led LSU with 446 rushing yards on 104 carries (8 for 47 receiving in nine games, four starts). TDP again led the Tigers with 1,003 yards and six scores rushing on 211 carries in 2021. He caught 10 passes for 64 yards as well over his 12 starts.
Rachaad White had to go the long, difficult route to get to the pros, but he earned every bit of it along the way. After committing to D2 Nebraska Kearney, he left for community college. White played two years at Mt. San Antonio College, becoming a first-team junior college All-American in 2019 (1,264 yards, 10 TDs rushing). In his first year with ASU, White led the FBS with a 10.0 YPC (42-420 in four games, three starts) average and five TDs. He also led the Sun Devils’ RBs in receiving yards that season. This past season White was a phenom and garnered second-team All-Pac-12 honors, leading the Sun Devils with 1,006 rushing yards and 15 scores on the ground and 43-456 receiving, despite missing time with a right leg injury (eight starts in 11 games played).
John Metchie III is an early-declare WR that just dominated the SEC and is coming off of injury. Metchie III was good enough to start alongside fellow Alabama alumni and first-round picks Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith in 2020. This past season, Metchie was relied upon to be Bryce Young’s go-to receiver, a role he was effective in until teammate Jameson Williams began to blossom and he shared the load. Like Williams, Metchie also went down with an unfortunate ACL injury at the end of the season, just two games before Jameson did.
After making the mistake of signing with Wake Forest, Kenneth Walker III was relegated to a committee backfield his first two collegiate seasons. Though he produced well, the coaching and supporting cast held him back. However, he chose to transfer to the BIG10 and joined Mel Tucker’s Spartans before this past season. As a junior this past season, he exploded for 1636 yards on 263 carries for a 6.2 YPC average. He averaged a reception per game and scored 19 TDs and proceeded to win the Walter Camp Player of the Year and Doak Walker (nation’s top running back) awards, in addition to receiving first-team Associated Press All-American and Big Ten Running Back of the Year honors.
We have arrived at the top five wide receivers in our annual WR1 analytical model countdown. As you dive into the rankings don’t fret if your favorite is ranked a little lower than expected. The second through fifth-ranked wide receivers are extremely close, separated by only three points.
The DFF Army banded together for another 12-team full PPR Superflex rookie mock draft! This time we are post-Combine and Pro Day, but pre-NFL Draft. Check out every third-round selection below and each writer’s reasoning behind their pick. Stay tuned for round four publishing tomorrow!
We have a mantra at Dynasty Football Factory that has propelled a focus on consistent construction and evaluation of our dynasty rosters: #AlwaysBeBuilding. My rankings are built with the same forward direction. I aspire to be as transparent as possible in my process to provide you with a better understanding of how to value players. These rankings will be continuously updated to reflect an ever-improving player evaluation process. Allow me to walk you through some of the essential anchors I base these rankings around.
Your author has broken down his pre-combine rookie rankings into positional rankings with tier designations to help you better view the dynasty rookie draft landscape. It is important to remember these rankings are created with fantasy football purposes in mind. We will dive eight players deep with the QB and TE positions and ten players deep with the RB and WR positions. Up next, the WR position is detailed for the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft.
As an exciting offseason event known as the NFL Scouting Combine is about to unfold, it is fun to take a look at this year’s NFL prospects as they stand. With this data looming, as well as draft capital and NFL landing spots, it is important to note that these players are not locked in where they currently stand.
Your author has broken down his pre-combine rookie rankings into positional rankings with tier designations to help you better view the dynasty rookie draft landscape. It is important to remember these rankings are created with fantasy football purposes in mind. We will dive eight players deep with the QB and TE positions and ten players deep with the RB and WR positions. Up first, the QB position is detailed for the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft.
Each season in dynasty leagues there are post-rookie draft waiver targets that provide a tremendous value for owners who were savvy or lucky enough to find them on their roster. Some provide an immediate “home-run” return like James Robinson did last season. Others make great taxi squad stashes that provide value later and might be tradeable for better assets (think Boston Scott, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Allen Lazard, Preston Williams, Collin Johnson, etc.). The majority will fall flat as expected.
Jaelon Darden is one of your annual small-school stories where an incredible athlete, who was overlooked by large programs, emerges. Darden was a high school QB, so he possesses basic knowledge about reading coverages and finding openings in the defense. He played in all 14 games as a backup WR during his true freshman season compiling 281 yards and three TDs on 32 receptions, while also contributing as a punt and kick returner. While he still returned punts, Darden focused on offense as a sophomore, hauling in 48 receptions for 575 yards and four TDs.
In this series, we are going to do a deep dive into the top 2021 NFL Draft Class running backs, and see who they compare to historically. We are going to build them out from the standpoint of their physical acumen, their athletic abilities, and then bring it full circle by looking into their college production. Combining these three components we will settle on a final comparison that I believe most accurately outlines each player’s potential range of outcomes in the NFL. In this article, we will make comparisons for the top five running back prospects in the draft.
Over the past two years, players that have been drafted after the second round of the rookie draft picks have not had a high success rate. For this exercise, we are going to view success as defined as holding a current ADP in Superflex startup drafts inside the top 200. Within the top 200 feels like a solid spot for an arbitrary cut-off because that can include players who may not have had a successful fantasy finish, yet but they still hold value since their rookie draft took place.
Building a successful dynasty league can be challenging for many people. Unlike redraft leagues, dynasty leagues have a year-round aspect to them that requires extra planning and preparation. The goal of this series is to take you along with me as I write and edit my own personal league’s by-laws. This exercise is a great way, as a commissioner, to evaluate your league and take strides to make it better!
I wasn’t joking when I said I leaned heavily on rookie picks in the DFF Factory Workers’ Dynasty League. I also chose to lean heavily on wide receivers in the rookie draft as I mostly faded them in the start-up. My starting receivers are Allan Robinson, Brandin Cooks, and Marquise Brown. Not a sexy group by any means but Robinson is the real deal and I’ll stand by that. Cooks and Brown are boom/bust type players but Cooks is still just 26 years old in a really good situation as the lead wide receiver for Deshaun Watson in Houston.
