Even though it seems like college football season is finally approaching, I don’t think anyone is confident about it. We do know two things though. One, the list of players and conferences who have opted out of the 2020 season is growing, and two, the 2021 NFL Draft is happening next spring. In an attempt to make some sense of the uncertainty, we’ve mocked out five rounds of a fantasy rookie draft using a pool of players who are eligible for the 2021 NFL Draft.

Round 1

 

1.01 LJ – Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson 

1.02 Jason – Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State 

1.03 Kyle – Ja’Marr Chase, WR, LSU

1.04 Brad – Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue

1.05 Cody – Travis Etienne, RB, Clemson 

1.06 Greg – Chuba Hubbard, RB, Oklahoma State

1.07 Clay – Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota

Bateman opted out for the 2020 season before the Big 10 decided to do so. Odds are that NFL agents helped to aid him in this decision by reassuring him that he is a lock for early round draft capital, based on the dominant film that he put on display as a sophomore. With uncertainty amongst the current college landscape, it will be vital for dynasty managers to fall back on early breakout ages and early career college dominance to help inform their 2021 rookie draft selections. Bateman is a shining example of both of those.

1.08 Clay – Seth Williams, WR, Auburn

Speaking of early career dominance and breakout ages, Williams also falls into this category. He created a 20% college dominator rating as a true freshman and followed that up with an impressive 38% mark as a sophomore. Seth has the size, stature, and production profile to become a feature alpha X-receiver from this class. When in doubt, draft Power 5 WRs who break out at an early age and receive early draft capital. Seth Williams will be one of those players.

1.09 Greg – Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama

1.10 Cody – Najee Harris, RB, Alabama 

1.11 Brad – Tamorrion Terry, WR, Florida State

1.12 Kyle – DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama

Most years, it doesn’t take long for most people to forget about their pre-NFL draft narratives and evaluations of players. Once we can see both when and where a player is drafted, the majority of the information we discern through prior to that should take a backseat to draft capital and their fantasy opportunity in the big league. Smith was a better player last season than two of his teammates that were both taken in the first round. The only issue that he will need to overcome is his low BMI. Whenever I can get a player that I believe will be drafted in the first round as the 6th player at his position, I will shoot my shot. That’s the situation that I believe I’ve found myself in with Smith.

 

Round 2

 

2.01 Jason – Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, USC 

Amon-Ra St. Brown has been productive since he stepped on the field. His intelligence as a receiver to identify weak spots in coverage and exploit them while also displaying fluid quickness in his breaks makes him a deadly target in Zone coverage. Playing the majority of his snaps out of the slot doesn’t devalue him as we have seen from JuJu and AJ Brown. Look for St. Brown to have early Day 2 draft capital and be a dynamic slot receiver at the next level.

2.02 LJ – Trey Lance, QB, NDSU

2.03 LJ – Journey Brown, RB, Penn State

2.04 Jason – Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State

2.05 Kyle – Stylin Kylin Hill, RB, Mississippi State 

2.06 Brad – Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State

2.07 Cody – Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida 

2.08 Greg – Kenneth Gainwell, RB, Memphis

2.09 Clay – Zamir White, RB, Georgia

2.10 Clay – Terrace Marshall, WR, LSU

2.11 Greg – Keaontay Ingram, RB, Texas

Ingram didn’t explode in 2019 as many expected. He was hampered by injuries for a portion of the season. He’s a bigger back, listed at 222lbs for the 2020 season. He’s caught over 27 balls each of his two seasons in Austin. With the addition of highly touted incoming freshman, Bijan Robinson, Ingram will have some pressure from behind him. I expect Ingram’s NFL future to be brighter than what he’s done thus far in college.

2.12 Cody – Max Borghi, RB, Washington State

Borghi falling this far is a travesty and not something I expect once people dig in on the tape. Borghi gets a ton of comps to McCaffery and you can see why. He isn’t quite on Caff’s level, but Borghi is a do it all type of back. Good vision, explosion, and balance between the tackles. He can run routes out of the backfield and catch the football as good as any back in this class. In today’s NFL, Borghi will be a valuable weapon and can play on all three downs.

 

Round 3

 

3.01 Brad – CJ Verdell, RB, Oregon

3.02 Kyle – Jamie Newman, QB, Georgia

3.03 Jason – Sage Surratt, WR, Wake Forest 

3.04 LJ – Dyami Brown, WR, North Carolina

3.05 LJ – Javian Hawkins, RB, Louisville

3.06 Jason – Brennan Eagles, WR, Texas 

3.07 Kyle – Jermar Jefferson, RB, Washington State

3.08 Brad – Brevin Jordan, TE, Miami

I’m in the Kyle Pitts is TE1 camp. I have Jordan next but not by a full round! Getting Jordan this much later than Pitts in a TE premium was a pretty easy decision for me, especially after Jermar Jefferson – the only other player on my shortlist for this pick – went right before me.

3.09 Cody – Austin Watkins Jr, WR, UAB

I am a huge Watkins fan! He is criminally underrated and reminds me a lot of Michael Gallup coming out of CSU. Watkins moves very well and is very fluid in his routes. He is very athletic and strong. He does an excellent job at the catch point and attacks the football in the air. He also has enough speed to make the big splash plays. An all-around good wideout that I think will be an excellent value in the NFL Draft and in rookie drafts.

3.10 Greg – Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State

Freiermuth had one of the most impressive true freshman tight end seasons in recent memory. His 8 receiving TDs as a true freshman was the most I’ve been able to find for a true freshman TE in the last ten years. Freiermuth has good size and a willing blocker. Has the ability to flex out wide and be an effective route runner. Potential to be a top 50 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

3.11 Clay – Jhamon Ausbon, WR, Texas A&M

3.12 Clay  – Trey Sermon, RB, Ohio State

 

Round 4

 

4.01 Greg – Brock Purdy, QB, Iowa State

4.02 Cody- Jerome Ford, RB, Cincinnati 

4.03 Brad – Tutu Atwell, WR, Louisville

4.04 Kyle – Charlie Kolar, TE, Iowa State

4.05 Jason – Jake Ferguson, TE, Wisconsin 

4.06 LJ – Grant Calcaterra, TE, NCAA

4.07 LJ – Charleston Rambo, WR, Oklahoma

4.08 Jason – JT Daniels, QB, Georgia 

In a Superflex format, grabbing a talent such as JT Daniels in the fourth round is a nice value. As we still sift through the depth talk as to who starts at QB for Georgia, I’ll bank on the skillset I observed from Daniels while he was at USC and take that all day long at this point in the draft.

4.09 Kyle – SaRodorick Thompson, RB, Texas Tech

4.10 Brad – Dazz Newsome, WR, UNC

4.11 Cody – Dameon Pierce, RB, Florida 

4.12 Greg – Nico Collins, WR, Michigan 

 

Round 5

 

5.01 Clay – Tyler Vaughns, WR, USC

5.02 Clay – Jeremy Ruckert, TE, Ohio State

5.03 Greg – Stevie Scott, RB, Indiana

5.04 Cody- Josh Pederson, TE, UL Monroe 

5.05 Brad – Justyn Ross, WR, Clemson

Missing the season with a neck injury is a little more serious than opting out of a season during a pandemic, but Ross’ absence might not be that bad after all, assuming he heals correctly. I thought about Ross at both 4.03 and 4.10 but opted to go a different route. I’ve never been a risk-averse drafter, so I’m comfortable with the uncertainties surrounding this dart throw.

5.06 Kyle – Elijah Moore, WR, Ole Miss

5.07 Jason – Myles Brennan, QB, LSU 

5.08 LJ – KJ Costello, QB, Miss State

5.09 LJ – Brant Kuithe, TE, Utah

5.10 Jason – Rakeem Boyd, RB, Arkansas

5.11 Kyle – Jashaun Corbin, RB, FSU

Well well well..how the turn tables. Taking Corbin as RB19 is good business. Sometimes, situations can create market inefficiencies. I believe that’s the case for Corbin. As a true freshman in the SEC, he had 1,025 all-purpose-yards. After suffering an injury early in 2019, he was on pace for a more robust 1,000-yard season and even more importantly, a forty catch season. Now playing in Norvell’s offense as the RB1, another 1K season is on the horizon. At 6’ and 220 pounds, he’s got the requisite size and probable production profile to be drafted on day two in the 2021 or 2022 draft.

5.12  Brad – Kellen Mond, QB, Texas A&M

I considered Master Teague here for the same reasons I took Ross earlier in this round. I also considered Damonte Coxie with this pick. Ultimately, I let the superflex format be the tiebreaker and took a shot on Kellen Mond. If he were a perfect QB, he wouldn’t have been available here. He’s experienced and has flashed enough for me to take a flier on him here.