With the NFL Scouting Combine in the rearview mirror, it is officially dynasty season. The NFL Draft is just over a month away. Now is the time to get to know this year’s rookie class, if you haven’t already. As always, one of the best ways to get to know a class is by hopping in a fantasy football mock draft.

Luckily, the FantasyPros Draft Wizard supports rookie-only dynasty drafts. Last week, I completed a Full PPR 1-QB rookie mock draft. This week, I will be sticking with the 1-QB dynasty format but moving to half-PPR. In this linear draft, I will be drafting from the first overall pick (I promise it was randomly assigned).

That makes my first pick easy and should hopefully help me out for the rest of the draft as well.

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Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft

1.01: Ashton Jeanty (RB – Boise State)

If you are lucky enough to have the first overall pick in your dynasty rookie draft this season, don’t overthink it. Take Ashton Jeanty. The 2024 Heisman Trophy runner-up is easily the best fantasy prospect in this year’s draft.

Even in a Superflex league, none of this year’s top quarterback prospects are promising enough to justify picking over Jeanty. His college career will pop your eyes whether you are a stats nerd or a film bro. He is essentially guaranteed to get elite draft capital. Barring a bust of nearly unprecedented proportions, Jeanty should be a quality fantasy RB2, at least, for years to come.

2.01: Kaleb Johnson (RB – Iowa)

Following a disappointing combine performance, Kaleb Johnson is sliding down draft boards, both for the NFL and fantasy managers. But the second round of a 12-team rookie draft is too far for him to fall. Even with his sliding draft stock, the Iowa product is still a near lock to be selected on Day 2 of the NFL Draft.

Johnson’s high prospect status comes on the back of a very impressive junior season. He racked up over 1,500 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground, as well as posting a very impressive 10.4% target share in the run-heavy Buckeyes offense. Johnson wasn’t just a volume merchant, either, ranking fifth in this class in yards after contact per attempt and fourth in breakaway run rate.

At the end of the day, grabbing a running back who might go in the second round of the NFL Draft in the second round of a 1-QB rookie draft is an absolute no-brainer.

3.01: Jayden Higgins (WR – Iowa State)

Speaking of no-brainers, Jayden Higgins falling this far is another absolute steal. Rookie drafts (and mocks) done before the NFL Draft tend to have much higher variance, and I am reaping the rewards in this one. Higgins is on the rise thanks to a dominant combine in which he ran a 4.47 40-yard dash and measured in at 6-foot-4.

Once considered a borderline top-100 pick, he is starting to sneak into the back end of the first round in some mock drafts. More likely, Higgins will be a Day 2 selection, but that is still excellent value in the third round of this mock. He ranked first in this draft class in Pro Football Focus (PFF) receiving grade in 2024, as well as posting an excellent 2.66 yards per route run. That’s even more impressive when we consider he was playing alongside another real NFL prospect in Jaylin Noel.

If we’re looking for flaws, it is a little concerning Higgins averaged just 3.8 yards after the catch per reception last season, although that number was a more respectable 6.7 in his junior year. But that’s a very small flaw for someone we are drafting in the third round.

4.01: DJ Giddens (RB – Kansas State)

In my rookie fantasy mock draft last week, I was happy to grab DJ Giddens with the 33rd overall pick, so I will definitely take him here at pick 37. Higgins was too good of a value to pass up, but I mostly recommend throwing darts at running backs in the later rounds of rookie drafts.

This is an insanely deep RB class, with plenty of players who could emerge as fantasy starters if given the right opportunity. Giddens is one of those players. His projected draft capital isn’t anything special, but this is another explosive player who ranked in the top eight in both yards after contact per attempt and breakaway rate in this class last season.

Giddens dominated the combine, too, posting an elite 110.1 speed score and elite numbers in both the broad and vertical jumps. Giddens is no slouch in the receiving game, either, with target shares of at least 9.5% in both of his last two years at Kansas State.

5.01: Brashard Smith (RB – SMU)

What’s this? Another productive running back who put up absurd numbers at the combine? Guys like this don’t grow on trees, but this class makes it feel like they do. With that said, Brashard Smith is a more unique prospect than Giddens… that’s both good and bad.

Smith started his college career as a wide receiver and is built smaller than a traditional workhorse back at 5-foot-0 and just 194 pounds. It’s fair to be concerned he will never see enough of a workload to be a reliable fantasy option. However, that wide receiver background also shows up in positive ways.

Smith posted a 90.8 PFF receiving grade in 2024 — no other back in this class with at least 100 carries was above even 79.9 (LeQuint Allen). Given that he also ran a 4.39 40-yard dash at the combine, the optimistic comparison for Smith is De’Von Achane. Achane was even smaller than Smith at 188 pounds (although he was two inches shorter), but he has proven that he has the receiving chops and the explosiveness to put up numbers even on a smaller workload.

I don’t expect Smith to be Achane, or even anything close. But that comparison just illustrates he has real upside, and that’s what we want to shoot for at this stage of rookie drafts.

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Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasyPros.com. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky for more fantasy content or to ask questions.