Dynasty Rookie Draft Advice: Malachi Corley (2024 Fantasy Football)

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 Malachi Corley and how he fits with the New York Jets.

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.

Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Outlook

Fitz’s Fantasy Football Outlook

The New York Jets have added to their wide receiver corps, selecting Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley with the first pick of the third round.

Corley is a catch-and-run specialist. At 5-10, 215-pounds, Corley has the thick build of a running back, and he plays like one. As FantasyPros NFL Draft and college football analyst Thor Nystrom has noted, Corley caught 89 passes behind the line of scrimmage over his last two seasons and led the nation in yardage gained on screen passes both years. It’s easy (maybe too easy) to compare Corley to the 49ers’ Deebo Samuel, since both players do their best work after the catch and can do damage with either elusiveness or power. Corley is extremely tough to bring down.

The 22-year-old Corley needs work on his routes, however. He hasn’t shown the ability to consistently do damage as a downfield receiver, and he had a poor contested catch rate (23.5%) last season.

Corley should fit right in as the Jets’ slot receiver in three-WR sets, with Garrett Wilson and free-agent addition Mike Williams on the outside. Wilson is the Jets’ alpha receiver, and Williams will be a key vertical threat. Corley can be QB Aaron Rodgers’ short-area slot receiver. There might be a limited ceiling with that sort of role, but it could give Corley a decent fantasy floor.

In dynasty, I have Corley ranked WR13 among rookies and WR56 overall. Expect him to be selected somewhere in the vicinity of the late second round of 1QB rookie drafts, or in the mid-third round of superflex drafts.

Corley’s predraft FantasyPros Expert Consensus ranking was WR89 in half-point PPR formats, and he had a predraft Underdog best-ball ADP of WR74. I have Corley ranked WR79 for redraft.

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Thor’s NFL Draft Profile & Player Comp

Malachi Corley | Western Kentucky
5100/215 | RAS: 7.76
Comp: Amari Rodgers

Corley is an RB playing slot WR. Thiccc build. A tank after the catch. Easily led this class with 40 broken tackles in 2022. Tremendous power and balance for a receiver as a runner – far more akin to a running back in the open field. Not a surprise, as he began his career at WKU as an RB (after initially signing as a CB). He offers utility in the run game, whether on end-arounds or when shifted into the backfield. WKU manufactured most of his touches for him. Over the past two seasons, Corley had 89 catches behind the line of scrimmage — he led the nation in screen yards both times.

Corley ran a pared-down route tree – this area of his game needs work for him to develop into more than a gadget guy. He doesn’t show much nuance or tactical footwork along his route path when he is asked to go downfield, instead blurring where he is going with an unconvincing deke at the top of his stem. Conversely, he caught just 15 balls 20-plus yards downfield. Corley had a troubling 23.5% contested catch rate last year despite a 5.5 aDOT that ranked No. 495 in the FBS. Needs to be drafted by a team that will use him situationally early on.

Check out more NFL Draft profiles and player comps from Thor in our 2024 NFL Draft Guide