Results for: "rookie RB efficiency"

Kalija Lipscomb is regarded as a refined route runner by scouts, who view him negatively for his lack of size, failure to win contested catches and running at a one-dimensional speed. His lack of a second gear caps his ability to gain yards after the catch and burn DBs on deep balls. However, he has the potential to carve out a niche as a possession receiver who thrives on short yardage. That his Best Comparable Player, Jermaine Kearse, averaged 12.9 YPR for his pro career makes perfect sense.

Lipscomb projects to be a Day 3 wide receiver at best and he may slip into undrafted territory. Given his size, college YPR and lack of athleticism, he profiles as a WR3 or reserve role-player. His SEC pedigree, 92nd-percentile Breakout Age and demonstrated versatility give him a shot to become an outlier and ascend to elite status, but a niche role appears much more probable.

Chase Claypool emerged from the 2020 NFL Combine a surprise performer. At 6-4 and weighing 238-pounds, he ran an impressive 4.42 (89th-percentile among qualified wide receivers) 40-Yard dash, good for an otherworldly 129.8 (99th-percentile) Speed Score. He also impressed in the Broad Jump and Vertical Jump, resulting in a 131.9 (92nd-percentile) Burst Score. Simply put, he is a size-speed freak athlete.

The advanced metrics and data clearly indicate that Claypool’s NFL success is contingent on transferring to the tight end position. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem interested in making the change. For this reason, he is a fade in upcoming dynasty rookie drafts unless a team decides to transfer him over the tight end position. If a team does select him as a tight end, he becomes the TE1 of the 2020 rookie class and should be drafted accordingly.

While Rico Dowdle’s 23.1-percent (45th-percentile among qualified running backs) College Dominator Rating and 5.2 (38th-percentile) College YPC leave room for improvement, injury and poor offensive line play surely influenced these numbers. South Carolina’s offense as a whole ranked No. 114 in rushing yards per game (118.5), with a 5.23-percent (No. 41) sack rate. Positively, he managed 22 receptions as a senior, showing the ability to play on third down.

Like most Day 3 running backs, Dowdle’s fantasy viability comes down to draft capital and landing spot. Plenty of Day 3 success stories exist, but most prospects of this caliber fail to make an impact at the next level. Unlike most late-round prospects, Dowdle possesses size, athleticism, and pass catching ability. At the moment, he warrants a late-round flier in dynasty unless a team shows significant interest come draft day.

There are a few wide receivers in the 2020 NFL Draft class who are the poster children for raw statistics not telling the full story of a player’s college production. We can add Jalen Reagor to that list. Despite TCU’s passing offense ranking No. 52, No. 87 and No. 90 in descending order in his time there, Reagor still balled out. He recorded an average College Dominator Rating of 32.0-percent over his three college seasons, while averaging an impressive 26.7-percent average receiving yardage market share.

If Percy Harvin were 20-pounds heavier without migraine issues and came into the NFL 10 years later, he would be Jalen Reagor. That’s a player I want to make sure I leave my rookie drafts with if I’m picking near the back half of the first round. He’s a locked-in Top 5 wide receiver on PlayerProfiler’s rookie rankings who recorded an elite 18.7 (95th-percentile among qualified wide receivers) Breakout Age and is a threat to score from anywhere on any play.

Van Jefferson’s inability to take part in the athletic drills at the Combine means that we have only his college production to judge him by. To be frank, it’s not great. Film grinders have long been a fan, complimenting him on his many pro worthy traits. His route-running ability chief among them. He may well be a route-running savant, but the fact remains that he will be 24 years old when the 2020 season begins and spent four years in college.

The 2020 wide receiver draft class is, as has been mentioned on countless occasions across countless platforms, historically deep. Therefore, there’s a strong likelihood that teams that miss out early may look to correct this in the later rounds. Jefferson’s route running skills, allied to NFL pedigree, should certainly see him taken. Though an awful lot would have to go right for him, and wrong for other players, for him to emerge as a fantasy-relevant contributor at the NFL level.

Many viewed Justin Jefferson as an average to above-average athlete before the Combine. He ran a 4.43 40-Yard Dash, which is in the 86th-percentile among qualified wide receivers. This translate to a 104.9 (83rd-percentile) Speed Score. Not only that, but his 37.5-inch Vertical Jump and 126-inch Broad Jump give him a 126.8 (80th-percentile) Burst Score. This enables him to get a quick release before using his impressive speed to gain separation and get open.

Jefferson’s size and crisp route running remind many people of Keenan Allen and Tyler Boyd. Fortunately, Jefferson is a much faster and more explosive version of both. His Best Comparable Player is a best-case scenario in the legendary Reggie Wayne. Like Wayne before him, Jefferson is a projected first round NFL Draft pick. As such, he finds himself locked into the Top 3 on PlayerProfiler’s rookie wide receiver rankings. 

Bryan Edwards recorded a 17.8 Breakout Age, 100th-percentile among qualified wide receivers and the second-best score in the entire PlayerProfiler database. Only CeeDee Lamb had more yards in his freshman season among incoming rookie wideouts. More impressively, he did this in the SEC, maintaining or improving upon his production every year. Because he was a young senior, he’s still the 11th-youngest wideout in this rookie class despite playing four years of college football.

Regardless of his athleticism, Edwards checks every important analytical box as a wide receiver prospect. Despite the presence of both Hayden Hurst and Deebo Samuel, Edwards logged 44 catches for 590 receiving yards as a freshman and tied for the team lead with four receiving touchdowns. He never fell below any of those thresholds, averaging a 29.6-percent Dominator Rating over four college seasons.

Despite Albert Okwuegbunam not knocking it out of the park in 2019, his profile is fantastic. He has an ideal 6-6, 258-pound frame that translates to an ideal 29.8 Body Mass Index. He’s the fourth-fastest tight end in the entire PlayerProfiler database. Okwuegbunam was also productive in college with an early 19.4 (91st-percentile among qualified tight ends) Breakout Age. His 31.2-percent (90th-percentile) College Dominator Rating is among the best in the PlayerProfiler database.

Although Okwuegbunam has an incomplete athletic profile, everything on it indicates that this size-speed specimen deserves more recognition. Many have pegged him as a Day 2 pick at best, although his measurables and production indicate otherwise. Many will throw out the “injury concerns” narrative, but there’s no denying that he is a first-round talent. Therefore, Albert O will slip in many rookie dynasty drafts, and there isn’t a better feeling than getting a supreme talent at a discount.

K.J. Hamler enters the NFL draft as a black-box prospect. He tweaked his hamstring before the Combine and failed to partake in all but one of the drills. His plan to test at his Pro Day was also shelved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the only athletic testing number we have for him is 15: the amount of times he lifted 225 pounds on the bench press. Much of his success at the NFL level is dependent upon elite-level speed.

The only thing clear about Hamler’s profile is his elite 19.2 (87th-percentile among qualified wide receivers) Breakout Age and big play ability, including his special teams prowess. His 16.1 (71st-percentile) college yards per reception gives credence to his perceived elite speed. Though he’s a risky rookie pick, his age-adjusted college production makes him a worthy gamble towards the back half of the second round in rookie drafts in the event he has elite speed.

From an efficiency perspective, Jalen Hurts also ranks among the elite prospects in this class. He not only posted an 18.1 Breakout Age, 100th-percentile among qualified quarterbacks, he also managed an 89.7 (95th-percentile) College QBR. Improving matters further, his 11.3 (98th-percentile) College YPA ranks near the top of the class. Already productive, he subsequently ran a 4.59 (95th-percentile) 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.

Looking to the Draft, multiple sources point to Hurts coming off the board early on Day 2. Lamar Jackson easily posted the top fantasy season among quarterbacks with 1,206 rushing yards and six touchdowns. While Hurts isn’t Lamar Jackson, other run-first signal callers such as Tyrod Taylor have shown fantasy relevance in the past. Ultimately, Hurts needs draft capital and the proper landing spot, but a fantasy viable future remains firmly in his range of outcomes.