What. A. Night. That was one of the most insane and unpredictable first rounds of the NFL Draft…ever? Can you believe we get two more days of this?
Ahead of Rounds 2 and 3 tonight, here are some of the top prospects who fell out of Round 1 that I think are deserving of the spotlight as guys to keep a close eye on for your dynasty leagues.
- Thor Nystrom’s Best Remaining Day 2 Prospects
- NFL Draft Day 1 Winners & Losers
- Round 1 NFL Draft Picks: Dynasty Rookie Draft Outlook
- Dynasty Rookies: Best Remaining Day 2 Picks & Predictions
- Dynasty Rookie Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
Best Remaining Day 2 Picks & Predictions
Well, I didn’t exactly expect Levis to be included in this article after he became the betting favorite for the No. 2 overall pick just a matter of days ago. I never really bought into that, but I figured he’d go somewhere in the middle of Round 1…nope. Now that the curtain has been pulled and it’s evident that Levis was on the receiving end of one of the more vicious smokescreens in recent NFL Draft history, it’s clear that he probably won’t start many – if any – games in 2023. That could be a silver lining for Levis, who isn’t an NFL-ready passer by my evaluation. I’m not sure if he’ll ever become accurate or gain better feel in the pocket, but Levis can absolutely get to immediate work on certain elements of his game – like his sloppy footwork – with his NFL coaching staff.
Once Levis does earn starting snaps, you’ll want to live with all of those videos of Levis putting mayo in coffee and just remember that he rushed for 9 TDs as a junior in 2021 and is an explosive athlete. The broad jump is a fairly predictive testing drill for QB fantasy success, as even non-rushing QBs like Justin Herbert and Dak Prescott tested well above average in it. Levis’ jump of 125″ was good for 95th percentile among QBs. Last night was a rough indictment for how the NFL views Levis as a passer, but he’s a rugged runner who has the build to play for a long time.
Best Landing Spot: Raiders
Say what you will about Josh McDaniels as a head coach or even as a play caller, but schematically he remains one of the top offensive minds in the league, and I think he could build an offense suited to Levis’ strengths that brings out the best in him. Cam Newton‘s one season in New England didn’t yield pretty results through the air, but he did rush for nearly 600 yards and 12 TDs at 31 years old.
Deep down I knew that Charbonnet wasn’t going to land in Round 1, but I wanted it for him. He’s a Top 30 prospect for me because his tape is just that good and he’s a sneaky excellent athlete. On the most basic statistical level, he averaged at least 5.0 yards per carry in all 10 of his games for UCLA in 2022. He scored at least 1 TD and had 3+ receptions in 8 of those games too. He is such a good runner of the football with the vision, physicality, and burst to yield consistent results. Athletically, Charbonnet checks the critical first box of weight at 215lbs. You can draft Charbonnet with confidence that he’ll actually be on the field. There were only two RBs in this class to weigh in above 210lbs with both vertical and broad jumps north of the 75th percentile. One was Bijan Robinson, who went at Pick 8 to Atlanta tonight. I assume you can guess at this point that the other was Zach Charbonnet. (It was not the RB who went to Detroit at Pick 12…what was that?!)
Best Landing Spot: Chargers
Austin Ekeler doesn’t figure to be playing in LA for much longer, and Charbonnet would look pretty sweet in powder blue as the lead back of the Chargers. He’s an infinitely better version of the similarly profiled RBs that Tom Telesco has burnt mid-round picks on lately, like Isaiah Spiller, Larry Rountree, and Joshua Kelly.
Luke Musgrave (TE – Oregon State)
Michael Mayer is the most obvious candidate for this article, let me lead with that. I can believe that Levis slipped out of Round 1, I can believe it for Joey Porter Jr.too, but I can’t believe it for Mayer. So yeah, unless some revelation comes out in the next 24 hours related to Mayer’s slide, draft him like you would have had he been picked earlier.
Now that’s settled, Luke Musgrave possesses that ideal combination of athletic profile (9.78 Relative Athletic Score) mixed with at least some production (11 receptions for 169 yards across 2 games in 2022 before season-ending injury). But on top of that – and I usually avoid saying this – but Musgrave is one of the main prospects in this class for whom I’d just ask interested parties to watch some tape of him. Because when I hear offhand comparisons of Dalton Kincaid to Travis Kelce, it doesn’t make any sense to me. If Kincaid connects at the NFL level, I think he’ll resemble more of a Zach Ertz. I don’t think there exists a next Travis Kelce, but if anyone from this class is capable of a decent Kelce impression, it’s Musgrave. If your drafting style is to play it safe, target Mayer. If you want to shoot the moon, go for Musgrave.
Best Landing Spot: Buccaneers
Again, we’re talking low odds here, and now we’re talking long-term too. But Tampa is likely going to draft at least one offensive prospect tonight after taking Calijah Kancey in Round 1, and they have conducted deep research into this class of tight ends. Believe it or not, I don’t believe that Baker Mayfield is the QB of the future for Tampa. It’s already rumored that they are expected to be players in the 2024 Caleb Williams sweepstakes. And if they win that lottery, or land any top QB one year from now for that matter? Musgrave could be the second option in that offense by then with Mike Evans entering his contract year in 2023.
2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports & Prospect Profiles
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