While degenerates like myself have been studying this draft class for months and even years, the NFL combine unofficially marks the start of the draft process for most fantasy players. Dynasty rookie rankings should remain fluid until we know what team these prospects will land on, but I also believe in lending credence to your initial evaluation of college players before the season of misinformation from scouts and front offices potentially skews our perception. That’s why I generally save/publish three sets of rookie rankings: pre-combine, pre-draft, and post-draft. Pre-combine and pre-draft rankings are a nice resource to look back on during summer rookie drafts when settling your own internal player vs. player debates.
The combine is more important for some players than others, and for various reasons. Below, I take a look at some of the many things I’ll be watching and listening for closely in Indianapolis, followed by my pre-combine top 20 rookie rankings for dynasty purposes.
Dalvin Cook’s size
It seems that the general consensus in the dynasty community regarding the 1.01 pick pits the Florida State running back against LSU’s Leonard Fournette, who has been pegged for the first round of the NFL draft since the day he stepped on the field in Baton Rouge. As you’ll see in my rankings below, I prefer Cook because of his vision, receiving ability and efficiency in the face of a massive college workload. However, regardless of your stance on the two, it’s hard to argue that the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Fournette physically fits more of the mold of a traditional workhorse running back in the NFL than the 5-11 Cook. The former Seminole is smaller in both stature and weight, and while that doesn’t concern me too much when projecting his NFL durability due to how well he held up to his college workload, it would be nice to see him weigh in at or above the 215 pounds he is generally listed at before fully committing to him as my 1.01.
Leonard Fournette’s everything
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