Fantasy Football Outlook for Every 2022 Round 1 Rookie

Round 1 is in the books, and we’re here with our fantasy football outlook for all of the rookies selected in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson share their first takes on all of 2022’s top rookies.

Drake London to the Falcons at No. 8
Drake London landing in Atlanta has been my hope all along. London will compete with Kyle Pitts for the team lead in targets immediately. London is a force to be reckoned with after ranking fifth in yards per route run and sixth in missed tackles last year (per PFF). He’s a WR3 with upside for this season.
– Derek Brown

Full fantasy football outlook for London

Garrett Wilson to the Jets at No. 10
Garrett Wilson’s yards after the catch ability will be a godsend for Zach Wilson. His production profile against top competition at Ohio State is impeccable. He’s been top 30 in yards per route run in each of the last two seasons (minimum 50 targets, per PFF). This team needed to add talent around their young franchise quarterback, and this accomplishes that goal. Elijah Moore and Wilson give Zach Wilson a versatile pairing to pepper with targets.
– Derek Brown

Full fantasy football outlook for Wilson

Chris Olave to the Saints at No. 11
The Saints made an aggressive move to climb up the board to curiously select Chris Olave with a talent like Jameson Williams still on the board. It’s a head-scratcher, to say the least. Olave is a talented player in his own rite, though. He flashed game-changing speed at the combine with this prowess as a route technician. Olave is a good stylistic fit with Michael Thomas in the Big Easy.
– Derek Brown

Full fantasy football outlook for Olave

Jameson Williams to the Lions at No. 12
Jameson Williams continues the Detroit Lions’ obsession with speed from their receiving depth chart. Kalif Raymond, D.J. Chark, and Williams give the Lions a few players that can burn up the turf. Williams’ injury could lead to a slow start, but his lid lifting ability will be evident as soon as he’s ready to roll. This season, the Lions could see an uptick in their neutral passing rate with Williams, Chark, T.J. Hockenson, and Amon-Ra St. Brown filling out the target tree. Williams will need that to be anything more than a WR4 this season.
– Derek Brown

Full fantasy football outlook for Williams

Jahan Dotson to the Commanders at No. 16
Jahan Dotson landing in Washington is a better NFL move than it is for our purposes in fantasy football. Carson Wentz is a barbed wire turnover-prone mess with questionable ability at this stage of his career of supporting multiple receiving options in fantasy. Dotson will compete with Logan Thomas and J.D. McKissic for targets behind Terry McLaurin. Unless the Commanders increase their 18th ranked neutral passing rate last season, Dotson will be a volatile weekly option with a low target floor.
– Derek Brown

Full fantasy football outlook for Dotson

Treylon Burks to the Titans at No. 18
The Titans traded disgruntled wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles for picks 18 and 101. With the 18th pick, the Tennessee Titans replaced Brown with a similar-type player in Treylon Burks.

And it’s an ideal redraft spot for the rookie. There’s no competition for targets outside Robert Woods coming off a torn ACL. And with a similar YAC-ability like Brown, Burks should be able to step on the field on day one and offer immediate fantasy football appeal as a top-30 fantasy option. The Razorbacks’ 8.5 yards after the catch rank 14th among 169 qualifying wide receivers (92nd percentile) over the past two seasons. The run-heavy nature of the offense and limitations of Ryan Tannehill at quarterback will likely hinder Burks’ fantasy ceiling but he’s got a path to opportunities that not many other rookie WRs will see from the get-go as a favorite to be the team’s WR1.
– Andrew Erickson

Full fantasy football outlook for Burks

Kenny Pickett to the Steelers at No. 20
Kenny Pickett isn’t leaving Pittsburgh anytime soon. The prolific college passer was selected by the Steelers 20th overall as the first quarterback drafted in the 2022 NFL Draft.

As the most pro-ready quarterback in the class, Pickett has the chance to earn the Day 1 starting job against veteran quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Trubisky offers more standalone value as a fantasy asset due to his rushing ability, but Pickett under center might be a slight upgrade from what Trubisky was slated to offer for the Steelers main skill players.

Pickett finished third in PFF passing grade from a clean pocket (94.3) and first in his class in adjusted completion percentage (79%) in 2021. His accuracy and deep ball bodes well for the likes of Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool.

He does tend to go slowly through progressions and hold the ball too long, as evidenced by a 3.19-second average time to throw – the second-slowest in the draft class (Malik Willis, 3.33).

But it does mean that he is willing to hold onto the ball to let his receivers get downfield for more big plays.
– Andrew Erickson

Full fantasy football outlook for Pickett

If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, be sure to check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Trade Analyzer – which allows you to instantly find out if a trade offer benefits you or your opponent – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.