Seahawks Draft Zach Charbonnet: Dynasty Rookie Outlook (2023 Fantasy Football)

The 2023 NFL Draft is here! After months of waiting, we finally know where the 2023 NFL Draft class will land. This information shapes the outlook for rookies in 2023 and beyond. We’re going to have you covered throughout and following the 2023 NFL Draft to help you prepare for your fantasy football leagues. Next up for many will be dynasty rookie drafts. To help you prepare to make your dynasty rookie draft picks, let’s dive into Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft profile as well as Pat Fitzmaurice’s dynasty rookie draft outlook for Zach Charbonnet.

Dynasty Rookie Picks & Predictions: Seahawks Draft Zach Charbonnet

Let’s first see what NFL Draft expert Thor Nystrom says about Zach Charbonnet.

Thor Nystrom’s 2023 NFL Draft Outlook & Player Comp

Player comparison: A.J. Dillon

Bio
Charbonnet’s name evokes a fine wine. Fittingly, he didn’t grow up too far from wine country, raised in a city north of Los Angeles.

Those that know him always bring up Charbonnet’s drive. It’s not unlike his running style: Single-minded and hard-charging. Since high school, when Charbonnet decided his future was playing professional football, he has cared about little else but improving his odds of doing so.

He wasn’t much for Los Angeles’ famous party scene. Nor social media. Charbonnet has posted 26 times on Instagram. He has tweeted 51 times – almost all of them a few words of encouragement or excitement on a quote-tweet.

Charbonnet’s alarm sounded at 4:30 a.m. in high school. He began each day by running sprints up a nearby hill or lifting at the gym. He is very particular about his nutrition and sleep. Charbonnet’s off-field hobbies are things that occupy his mind while he’s resting his body – video games and movies.

Charbonnet was a top-50 overall recruit and a top-five RB in the 2019 class. He was not interested in the attention that came with a high-profile recruiting process. So he kept things close to the vest and quiet. Charbonnet whittled his list to Michigan and Washington, and chose the former.

Charbonnet won the Wolverines’ RB1 job out of camp as a true freshman. But after a strong initial campaign, Charbonnet’s role was minimized during the 2020 COVID season. His first carry of the season was a 70-yard touchdown. He would receive only 18 more over five games while losing his gig to Hassan Haskins.

With Haskins and RB Blake Corum returning to Ann Arbor in 2021, Charbonnet elected to transfer. His list was pre-whittled: Charbonnet wanted to go to a strong academic institution near his hometown that also played big-boy football.

UCLA’s Chip Kelly won Charbonnet’s re-recruitment derby. In 2021, Charbonnet’s first as a Bruin, he earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors. Charbonnet upped the ante in 2022 as a second-team AP All-American.

Strengths
Play style that has an answer for most questions. Charbonnet is a muscular north-south thumper with a twist. His movement skills and long speed sneak up on defenders.

Charbonnet’s a handful between-the-tackles. I appreciate his vision and patience, and his ethos of taking at least what the defense gives him – sometimes much more. Charbonnet is so dang clever in cramped quarters. He sets up and then shakes defenders in the hole with a one-cut-then-punch-it ethos.

He’s always attempting to get defenders to over-commit in the beats before contact, and he has a deep bag of tricks to evade them once they do. Charbonnet’s movement in short quarters creates off-angle shots he runs through – his contact balance is outstanding.

Per PFF, Charbonnet ranked No. 3 with 122 forced missed tackles since 2021. He was also top-20 in the nation in elusive rating. Defenders descending upon him in the second and third levels have to be very cognizant of the nasty stiff-arm Charbonnet deploys.

Surprisingly reliable receiver for a back of his ilk. His hands are very reliable. Over 90 collegiate targets, Charbonnet had only five drops. He’s a taller back with long arms – the catch radius is atypically large for a running back, and he’s reliable with anything you can drop into that net.

Once he corrals the ball, Charbonnet’s a handful to wrestle down chugging upfield. He averaged over 10 yards after catch (YAC) last year, and posted a career mark of 9.1. Charbonnet ranked No. 13 last season in PFF receiving grade among all qualifying FBS running backs.

Weaknesses
Charbonnet is more of a secondary/checkdown option in the passing game at this time than a featured weapon. He will run routes if you ask him, but didn’t create a ton of separation doing so. I think Charbonnet has untapped potential in this phase – but for now, he’s a reliable safety blanket with YAC utility.

I love how diverse Charbonnet is as a runner. But his upright style gives defenders a lot of surface area to hit when he doesn’t beat them with movement. Charbonnet gets lower when he has the ball around the line of scrimmage, but his running style stretches him out when he gets into space.

I’ve mentioned areas where Charbonnet is underrated. One area where I think he’s overrated is in pass-pro. You will see instances of Charbonnet laying the wood to a blitzing linebacker coming through a gap. But those occurrences left you wanting more on his other reps.

The last two years, UCLA only kept Charbonnet in to block on 55 passing snaps. He allowed six pressures and three quarterback hits in those reps. His 44.5 and 33.5 PFF pass-blocking grades over those two campaigns, respectively, greatly underwhelmed. To be fair: Small sample size, and definitely not an aspect of his game that the Bruins prioritized.

Lastly – and this one is nitpicky – while Charbonnet has good speed (4.53), he needs to build up to it. Last year, he ranked No. 11 in breakaway yard percentage. But you wonder if that part of his game will be accessed as easily at the next level.

2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Outlook: Zach Charbonnet

The Seahawks’ selection of Charbonnet in the second round of the NFL Draft is a grim development for RB-hungry dynasty managers. In the right landing spot, Charbonnet might have been a heavy-duty runner with the sort of role that could make him an every-week fantasy starter and a potential difference-maker. Instead, he’s likely to beging his rookie year as Kenneth Walker’s backup. Charbonnet is good, but Walker was a better prospect and proved to be a high-quality NFL running back as a rookie.

A powerful north-south runner with a body built for heavy-duty usage, Charbonnet could have ample upside in the right situation. The 6-0, 214-pound Charbonnet thrives running between the tackles, patiently waiting for creases to develop and then getting downhill quickly. According to PFF, Charbonnet has forced 122 missed tackles over the last two seasons, third-most among any college running back over that span. Once Charbonnet finds a hole, he has the acceleration to get through it quickly and find daylight. With 4.53 speed, Charbonnet isn’t a true burner, but he has enough juice to break off his fair share of long runs.

While Charbonnet isn’t an exceptional pass catcher, he is at least competent in that facet of the game, with 61 catches for 518 yards in his two seasons at UCLA. Charbonnet doesn’t necessarily need to come off the field on passing downs.

In dynasty rookie drafts, Charbonnet figures to come off the board in the 1.07 to 1.11 range in 1QB leagues and early in the second round in superflex leagues.