This is what we’ve been waiting for, fantasy football enthusiasts. The NFL Draft is under way, and we finally get to see where the rookie prospects are going to launch their professional careers. And NFL Draft landing spots allow us to start to zero in on fantasy football and dynasty rookie draft pick values. We look at wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk and how he’ll fit with the New England Patriots.
Throughout the draft, we’ll take a closer look at fantasy-relevant prospects, giving you an overview of their strengths and weaknesses, and assessing their fantasy value in both redraft and dynasty formats.
Let’s dig in.
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator
- DBro’s Dynasty Rookie Draft Primers
- 2024 NFL Draft Guide
Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Outlook
Fitz’s Fantasy Football Outlook
The New England Patriots have selected the University of Washington’s Ja’Lynn Polk with the 37th overall pick of the NFL Draft, adding some much-needed help to an undermanned WR room.
Polk had a big senior season for Washington in 2023, with 69 catches for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games despite sharing targets with Rome Odunze (who led the FBS in receiving yardage) and Jalen McMillan.
The 6-1, 203-pound Polk has good size and positional versatility, able to line up either inside or outside. He has terrific hands. Polk was charged with only seven drops over his last two seasons with the Huskies. He’s also a fine athlete who posted a Relative Athletic Score of 8.84.
Although Ja’Lynn Polk posted big numbers in 2023, some of his biggest games came when McMillan was out with an injury. He had four 100-yard performances in games McMillan missed. When McMillan was around, Polk was pretty clearly Washington’s No. 3 receiver. Polk is solid but nothing special as a route-runner and after the catch.
Polk should have a good chance to earn significant playing time right away, as the top wide receivers on the New England depth chart before the draft were Demario Douglas, K.J. Osborn, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Kendrick Bourne. With Douglas spending a lot of time in the slot last year, Polk might take a lot of snaps as an outside receiver in his rookie year.
The Patriots had one of the worst passing attacks in football last year, and while their selection of Drake Maye with the third overall pick in the draft offers hope for improvement, New England is still likely to have one of the least potent passing games in the league in 2024.
In dynasty, I have Polk ranked WR17 among rookies and WR70 overall. I think he’s slightly overrated and would prefer to have fellow University of Washington rookie Jalen McMillan. Expect him to come off the board in the mid-to-late second round or early third round of 1QB rookie drafts, or in the mid-to-late third round of superflex drafts.
Polk’s predraft FantasyPros Expert Consensus ranking was WR81 in half-point PPR formats, and he had a predraft Underdog best-ball ADP of WR71. I have Polk ranked WR86 for redraft and have little interest in rostering him.
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Thor’s NFL Draft Profile & Player Comp
Ja’Lynn Polk | Washington
6013/203 | RAS: 8.84
Comp: DaeSean Hamilton
Polk was a Texas Tech transfer who broke out in his final season at Washington. His 2023 breakout as a senior – 69-1159-9 receiving line – led several analysts to rank him as a top-10 receiver in this year’s class. That’s rich. As discussed above, Polk was Washington’s clear WR3 behind Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan when all were healthy. Polk did not become a bigger facet of the offense until McMillan went down last year. In the five games after McMillan’s injury, Polk was thrust into a bigger role and exceeded 100 yards four times.
But in the last seven games of the 2023 season – from the start of November through the end of the CFP run, against the heart of Washington’s schedule, with McMillan back for the last four – Polk had a pedestrian 23-323-2 receiving line. That included two games where Polk was healthy and active but got held to zero catches. Over those seven games, in one of the country’s most pass-happy offenses, when it mattered the most, Polk had an average of three catches for 46 yards. Not great, Bob.
The thing I like about Polk is that he has very, very good hands. He’s going to catch anything inside his kitchen. He showed inside/outside versatility in college. But I believe he’s headed for the slot in the NFL. Polk simply isn’t explosive or sudden enough for the boundary, and I worry that consistent NFL press coverage will give him trouble. He would profile as a non-explosive big slot receiver at the next level who isn’t great after the catch.
Check out more NFL Draft profiles and player comps from Thor in our 2024 NFL Draft Guide
Dynasty Rookie Draft Rankings
Our analysts provide their latest rookie draft rankings below. And also check out our expert consensus dynasty rookie draft rankings!
More Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice
- DBro’s Dynasty Rookie Draft Primers
- DBro’s Top 50 Rankings & Player Notes
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