With talk regarding player values bountiful, now is the time for a deep dive into a Dynasty faceoff between a couple of former Florida State Seminole teammates, Trey Benson and Keon Coleman. Both players are projected as early-round two targets in Dynasty Rookie Drafts while also impacting Fantasy NFL Strategies. I’ve seen questions regarding which of these players should be drafted higher within this year’s rookie class and I wanted to take a deep dive into each prospect. The question everyone wants to know when it comes to Dynasty Rookie Drafts: Do I draft Trey Benson or Keon Coleman first?
* Within this article, the statistics were pulled from Sports Reference.
Trey Benson
After Benson missed the entire 2020 season and most of the 2021 season due to a knee injury at Oregon, he burst onto the scene in 2022 after transferring to Florida State his first true collegiate season he had a strong 990 rushing yards with nine touchdowns and 133 receiving yards. In this 2022 season, he finished top-3 in multiple statistics for running backs in the nation including missed tackles forced and yards after contact. Then in his final season, he finished second-team All-ACC as he had 906 rushing yards with 14 touchdowns including 227 receiving yards with one receiving touchdown.
He proved during his last two seasons when he was healthy that he’s a true dual-threat running back with the capability to help carry an offense. He fell into a nice long-term spot but not a great immediate future with the Arizona Cardinals. At first, he’ll be behind James Conner on the depth chart who’s the lead back but after this season Connor will be a free agent. When that time comes for him to be a starter, I believe Benson could be one of the top ten running backs in all of Dynasty within a high-powered Cardinals offense as the air attack led by Kyler Murray opens up a lot of running lanes. However, for the time being, his Dynasty impact will be more limited with James Conner in the picture. Since Benson is a higher draft pick (second round, 66th overall) he will get an opportunity, and once he gets it in the desert he’ll reward Dynasty Managers for their patience with his production.
Keon Coleman
Coleman spent his first two seasons at Michigan State where his production for the most part didn’t jump off the charts. In his freshman year, he had only a meager seven receptions for 50 yards and one touchdown but he improved his sophomore year with 58 receptions for 798 yards and seven touchdowns. After his sophomore year where he started to get noticed, he then transferred to Florida State and continued to show his talent in his junior season with 50 receptions for 658 yards, and an impressive 11 touchdowns. His high mark of 11 touchdowns tied for eighth place all-time in Florida State history in a season. Scouts noticed his talent as during this past season he also earned first-team All-ACC for wide receivers.
At the NFL Combine he was dinged for his 4.61-second 40-yard dash that placed him second-to-last among all thirty wide receivers at the combine but despite this in college he proved to be very productive. Based on his landing spot he fell into a perfect Dynasty situation with the Buffalo Bills and he’s also a high draft pick (second round, 33rd overall) so he will get his opportunity sooner rather than later. After the Bills traded Stefon Diggs this opened up a huge opportunity for an incoming young wide receiver. The Bills have options for their star quarterback Josh Allen to throw to but none are superstar-caliber receivers which now opens the door for Keon Coleman to shine if he can take advantage of it. Diggs during his four years in Buffalo averaged 111 catches on 161 targets. Just based on this, Coleman is entering a situation with a large target share available to him and a wide receiver room lacking star power as he joins Khalil Shakir, Curtis Samuel, and Mack Hollins as his main competition. Coleman has a potentially very bright future and an opportunity to become Josh Allen’s new favorite target and number-one wide receiver in his new home.
In Conclusion
Both Trey Benson and Keon Coleman are great early-round two Dynasty prospects and there’s a case to be made for either to be taken first over the other. However, I prefer Keon Coleman as he has a better immediate situation to make an impact as well as long-term. Benson’s short-term production won’t be as good but his long-term future is very bright. Also about Coleman, I’m always going to side with a wide receiver who has a massive opportunity in front of him catching passes from one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, Josh Allen. Wide receivers tend to have a longer shelf life in the NFL and Trey Benson also has a history of knee injuries already which makes me a little wary.
In addition, the Bills offense year in and year out proves to be one of the more lethal units in the NFL and they look to have Coleman being one of their top options for the foreseeable future. Coleman is a younger prospect as he’s just about to turn 21 in a few days. He should have a long career of seeing many targets and making dazzling plays on the football field. Invest in him with confidence, in the early second round of your Dynasty rookie drafts within the Bills new-look offense and potential number one wide receiver who looks poised to help lead one of the highest-scoring attacks in the NFL.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you gained some valuable information. If you have any questions or you’d like additional insight and analysis, please follow me on Twitter/X at @MonicasHubby. #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding
