rookie running backs

DFF Draft Coverage: Javonte Williams to the Broncos

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

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.

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DFF Draft Coverage: Travis Etienne to the Jaguars

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

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.

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DFF Draft Coverage: Najee Harris to the Steelers

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

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.

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2021 Rookie RB Comps

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

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.

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Kenneth Gainwell is an Onion

Dynasty / By /

Kenneth Gainwell was the “onion” in Memphis’s offense; he served as their leading rusher and lined up in many different alignments. At his 2021 Pro Day, Gainwell measured in at 5’8” and 201 lbs. He ran a 4.47-second 40-yard dash, benched 225 lbs. 21 times, executed a 35” vertical jump, and ran a 4.46-second short shuttle. After his performance, Gainwell had some kind words to say about himself: “My skill set is very, very different. I can play between the tackles, I can play outside the tackles, I can line up at the slot. So my position is very, very different than these other running backs in the draft.”

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The 2021 RB4: A Case for Kenneth Gainwell

Dynasty / By /

Among running backs in the 2021 rookie class, three players have clearly risen to the top: Najee Harris, Travis Etienne, and Javonte Williams. All of these players are likely coming off the board in the first round of rookie drafts. The next RB to come off the board is where the questions start to come up. Who is the best of the rest? In this series, several members of the DFF staff will try to make a case for who they think answers that question. Today, I’ll be making the case for Kenneth Gainwell.

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draft stock week seven

DFF Way Too Early Mock Draft 1.0: First Round

Mock Drafts / By /

Yes, some of us are still nursing Super Bowl hangovers or regretting watching Tom Brady walk out of the organization he called home for the last two decades, but there are three things we love in Fantasy Football: Start-Up Drafting, Trading & Rookie Drafts. So the team at DFF got on board and jumped the gun on a 2021 way too early Rookie Mock, and the results will surprise you in just how deep this class is on the back of a stellar 2020 class. 

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 14

Dynasty / By /

The first week of the fantasy football playoffs is now behind, and I hope you still have a horse in the race. There were lots of rookies in Week 14 that performed well and could have really helped your teams. One top-five QB in Tua, two top 10 WRs in KJ Hamler and Brandon Aiyuk, two top 10 RBs in Jonathan Taylor and Cam Akers, and plenty of others like Lynn Bowden, and J.K. Dobbins who could have been worthy Flex plays. I will not dive into all of these players, but like last week I will be giving you a quick Week 15 playoff spin on the players I do touch on this week. 3,2,1… it’s go time!

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 13

Dynasty / By /

This marks two weeks in a row that Cam Akers has made it into the risers. That’s a good look, especially for a rookie that had a relatively rocky start to the season. Week 13 brought Akers a season-high in total yardage, touches, and snap %. In addition to the increased workload, Week 13 marks the third week in a row that Akers has found his way into the end zone. The increase in usage could be attributed to Darrell Henderson Jr. briefly leaving the game with a knee injury, but nonetheless, it is great to see the second-round pick finally get a real workload and look good doing so. I think what is most noteworthy from Week 13 is the usage of Malcolm Brown. Despite Henderson going down with a knee injury, Malcolm Brown saw a season-low in snap rate with just 16%. Does this mark the end of an era? Has Sean McVay finally realized Brown has no juice? Did he finally take a look at box scores and see Malcolm Brown’s longest run on the year is for 19 yards? I think the past few weeks, Akers has proven his worth, and McVay and company are ready to truly get him involved in the offense.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 11

Dynasty / By /

We are only a week or two away from the playoffs depending on your league. We’ve witnessed lots of splash weeks from this rookie class along with plenty of flops. Counting on rookies on a week to week basis is a gamble but can often pay off. I have monitored the ebb and flow of this rookie class and I hope to have you prepared to make an informed start or sit situation come playoff time. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s see how some of the rookies fared this past weekend.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 10

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

Shooters shoot and I’ve taken my fair share, and today I will admit to an airball I took. Giving dynasty advice is essentially just making an educated guess, but we still need to admit when we’re wrong. I still like my process and trust my rookie evaluation process, but I’m ready to admit I have swung and missed. I’ll dive right into my miss and touch on some other rookies below.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 9

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

The push for the playoffs is upon us. In just a few weeks some of us will be sweating all Monday night to see if we snuck into the playoffs. We may end up counting on a rookie like Brandon Aiyuk or Zack Moss to carry us to victory that Monday night as the 49ers host the Bills to close out what will be the final regular-season game for many fantasy leagues. Let’s take a look at some rookie performances from Week 9 and how it affects their value moving forward.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 8

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

We did it, fam! We’re officially halfway through the ridiculous 2020 fantasy football season. It has been a crazy one, with plenty of drama and anxiety over rescheduled games and all the other headaches that have come with this football season’s tussle with COVID-19. We have had players from the 2020 rookie class we have been able to count on, and some that have fallen on their faces and cost our teams precious points. Let’s take a look at what happened in Week 8 and how we can use that information to help teams down the stretch of this unique season.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 7

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

Mr. Bryant, my pre-draft TE1, has found himself in a pretty good situation, at least for the next couple of weeks. Before Week 7, Bryant was operating as the Browns’ TE2. Although not a flashy title, it still allowed Bryant to see around 50% of the offensive snaps. However, last Friday, October 23 it was announced that the Browns starting TE Austin Hooper would miss Sunday’s game after having his appendix surgically removed that Friday. The Browns later named Harrison Bryant the starting TE and he did not let them down. In Bryant’s first NFL start he eclipsed Hooper’s single-game high for touchdowns with two and nearly passed his single-game yardage high of 57 with 56 of his own.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 6

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

What is up, party people, and welcome back for the sixth edition of the “Rookie Stock Market”. It has been a crazy season thus far. The season has had its ups and downs, and so has this rookie class. Eb and flow are to be expected for rookies, but it has not stopped a few from being within the top 12 of their positional scoring. James Robinson (RB7), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (RB11), Justin Jefferson (WR7), and CeeDee Lamb (WR10) have all been great and contributors in your lineups as their dynasty values rise. Not all the rookies can be studs and some rookies appear to be studs when they really aren’t. Let’s dive in once again.

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Rookie Stock Market: Week 5

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

Week 5 of the NFL season has come and gone and we are now almost one-third of the way through the NFL regular season “shocked face”. As we approach this milestone in the season we are still learning a lot about the rookies each and every week. Some flash, some stumble, but what I aim to do here is help you make informed decisions based on their performances. Let’s begin, shall we?

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Lynn Bowden trade

DFF Rookie Round Table, Part 10: Final Thoughts

Dynasty / By /

We debated the rankings on Jalen Reagor, Henry Ruggs, Tee Higgins, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, AJ Dillon, Bryan Edwards, Antonio Gandy-Golden, Zack Moss, and Joshua Kelley. We also touched upon players in their range, and who should be ascending or descending. I want to give a big thanks to everyone who contributed to this series of articles. I urge you to go follow them on twitter.  Read the whole series for a number of opinions on players who could win you fantasy championships for years to come. This is the final part of the series, where we’ll look at more insights and tidbits about these rookies.

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rookie

DFF Rookie Round Table, Part 9: Joshua Kelley

Dynasty / By /

After recently releasing my rookie rankings, I wanted to open up the floor to constructive criticism.  I also wanted to see where I was not aligned with other DFF analysts. So, we conducted a round table discussion. This discussion is now a 10-part series of informal articles. In these articles, analysts debate why some of their favorite rookie(s) should be moved up. And in one case, moved down!  

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rookie

DFF Rookie Round Table, Part 8: Zack Moss

Dynasty, Rookie / By /

After recently releasing my rookie rankings, I wanted to open up the floor to constructive criticism.  I also wanted to see where I was not aligned with other DFF analysts. So, we conducted a round table discussion. This discussion is now a 10-part series of informal articles. In these articles, analysts debate why some of their favorite rookie(s) should be moved up. And in one case, moved down!  

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Rookie Redraft Update: The Risers

All Access / By /

Back in March, I did a four-part series on the incoming rookie class. Now, it’s time to go back through my takes and examine how they’ve changed in the past few months. I’ve included my four original articles, and my live post-draft takes as links at the bottom of this article. In part one, I looked at the progression of top rookie quarterbacks from March until now. Then, in part two, I covered how the consensus top-three running backs pre-NFL Draft have progressed in redraft value. I moved into part three, where I discussed the next tier of players, including two more running backs and two more wide receivers. Finally, in part four, I talked about the final four wide receivers I broke down in March. However, even though I predicted pretty accurately who would find fantasy relevance and draft capital early on in the process, plenty of players slipped through the cracks. I didn’t write about these three players in March, but I have to discuss them now, both as prospects and as redraft assets. Each of them has a chance at massive fantasy value in 2020, although they all have significant question marks.

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