Weep not for the coming end of the football season. Instead, exult over the wave of rookie talent that’s about to wash over the NFL’s shores.
This is a rookie class that hardcore dynasty enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting, and with good reason. It’s possible that the first six players to come off the board in April’s NFL Draft will be skill-position players. But this class has depth as well as star power. There will be rookies with pulse-quickening talent who last until Day 3 of the draft.
Top 40 Rookies for Superflex Dynasty Drafts
Positional Overviews
Quarterbacks
This is an attractive QB group offering both star power and depth.
Caleb Williams and Drake Maye are likely to go 1-2 in the NFL Draft. Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels figures to go top five and could conceivably jump past Maye. Those three will be drafted as immediate or near-immediate starters. Michael Penix Jr. is a probable first-round pick as well.
J.J. McCarthy and Bo Nix are more polarizing QB prospects, but they’ll both have their fans within NFL front offices.
Running Backs
It’s not a banner RB class, but there are some intriguing prospects in all shapes and sizes, big (Braelon Allen, Audric Estime) and small (Blake Corum, Bucky Irving).
Perhaps we’ll see a consensus No. 1 running back emerge over the next couple of months, but at the moment there’s no clear consensus, and there are probably at least four or five RBs who could be first off the board.
Wide Receivers
Welcome to the candy store. This WR crop is ridiculously good, and the talent comes in a wide variety of flavors. Do-it-all alpha types? Check. Vertical receivers? Check. Possession receivers? Check. Contested-catch artists? Check. Run-after-the-catch specialists? Check.
The bonanza starts at the top with Marvin Harrison Jr., who’s bigger, faster and quite possibly even better than his pops, who was a perennial Pro Bowler for the Colts. (And the younger Harrison isn’t the only second-gen receiver in this class — Jerry Rice’s son Brenden is a promising 2024 prospect.)
LSU’s Malik Nabers and Washington’s Rome Odunze are likely to be top-10 picks in the NFL Draft. Another LSU receiver, Brian Thomas, is a good bet to go in the top 20 and could sneak into the top 10. We could see as many as 6-7 wide receivers drafted in the first round, and there might be as many as 15 receivers selected by the end of the third round.
Tight End
Georgia’s Brock Bowers is one of the best TE prospects to enter the NFL in years and will be a top-10 overall pick. Ja’Tavion Sanders of Texas is a very good TE prospect and a probable Day 2 pick. It’s not an especially deep TE class, but the wattage at the top is impressive.
Fitz’s Top 40
Here are my top 40 rookies for superflex rookie drafts as of now. These rankings will inevitably change based on Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine performances. I can also be swayed by compelling arguments from fantasy and NFL Draft analysts — particularly when those arguments are made by FantasyPros college football and NFL Draft analyst Thor Nystrom.
Beneath my top 40 are a few notes on players I’ll have ranked higher than consensus.
- Caleb Williams, QB, USC
- Marvin Harrison Jr., WR, Ohio State
- Drake Maye, QB, North Carolina
- Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU
- Brock Bowers, TE, Georgia
- Malik Nabers, WR, LSU
- Rome Odunze, WR, Washington
- Michael Penix Jr., QB, Washington
- Keon Coleman, WR, Florida State
- Brian Thomas, WR, LSU
- Troy Franklin, WR Oregon
- Xavier Worthy, WR, Texas
- J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan
- Bo Nix, QB, Oregon
- Devontez Walker, WR, North Carolina
- Adonai Mitchell, WR, Texas
- Malachi Corley, WR, Western Kentucky
- Blake Corum, RB, Michigan
- Braelon Allen, RB, Wisconsin
- Jonathon Brooks, RB, Texas
- Trey Benson, RB, Florida State
- Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington
- Bucky Irving, RB, Oregon
- Ja’Lynn Polk, WR, Washington
- Ja’Tavion Sanders, TE, Texas
- Xavier Legette, WR, South Carolina
- Audric Estime, RB, Notre Dame
- Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia
- Ray Davis, RB, Kentucky
- Brenden Rice, WR, USC
- Jermaine Burton, WR, Alabama
- Will Shipley, RB, Clemson
- Johnny Wilson, WR, Florida State
- MarShawn Lloyd, RB, USC
- Joe Milton, QB, Tennessee
- Michael Pratt, QB, Tulane
- Spencer Rattler, QB, South Carolina
- Cody Schrader, RB, Missouri
- Jaylen Wright, RB, Tennessee
- Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida
Planting Flags
- Keon Coleman didn’t put up dazzling numbers in college, but he made some spectacular catches, and there’s a lot of Mike Evans in Coleman’s game. Like Evans, the 6-4, 215-pound Coleman has a basketball background, having played for Tom Izzo at Michigan State before transferring to Florida State. Watch Coleman’s tape, and you’ll see more than just highlight-reel grabs — he’s a surprisingly skilled and nuanced route runner.
- Malachi Corley will be overlooked in a lot of dynasty rookie drafts because he played at Western Kentucky. But Corley’s after-the-catch talents could help him make the sort of quick, successful transition to the NFL that Rashee Rice made in 2023.
- He’s undersized, and he isn’t going to melt stopwatches at the NFL Scouting Combine, but I think Blake Corum is the best pure runner in this class. He’s been compared to Ray Rice as a runner, and it’s an apt comparison.
- Like Josh Jacobs, Ray Davis is a tough, productive back who overcame a difficult childhood to become a college football star. Resourceful and versatile, Davis could play on early downs, passing downs or both in the NFL.
- I’ve got Joe Milton in my top 40, but a lot of dynasty managers won’t have him in their top 50. Milton is an overaged prospect whose game lacks nuance, but I’m a sucker for a bazooka-launcher arm, and Milton has one of the strongest arms I’ve ever seen. I’d like to think that there’s a quarterback guru out there who could turn Milton into an NFL starter.
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