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Pre-draft dynasty rookie tiers, part 2

Last week, I went over the top of my rookie draft board broken down into tiers. Through my years of playing dynasty, I have found that tiered pre-draft rankings really help in making decisions between similarly valued players after the draft. Below are the subsequent tiers that make up the rest of my rookie rankings before we find out where these players will land this weekend.

Player Pos. Age College
CJ Prosise RB 21 Notre Dame
Kenneth Dixon RB 22 Louisiana Tech

These two represent my second tier of running backs behind Ezekiel Elliot and Derrick Henry. I consider them both close enough in talent that their landing spot will influence my ultimate preference, but Prosise currently has the edge for my third ranked running back as a 21-year old who excelled statistically despite just converting to the position last year. Prior to turning 156 carries into 1,032 yards (6.6 YPC) and 11 touchdowns to go with 26 receptions for another 308 yards and a touchdown in 2015, Prosise was Notre Dame’s slot receiver.

In 2014, he led the team in average yards per reception with 17.8 (516 yards on 29 catches) as a wide receiver. As if his dual-threat nature and potential for growth at a new position at his age didn’t give him enough upside, he also put up one of the fastest running back 40-yard dash times (4.48) at the combine at 223 pounds. He is looking like a worthwhile gamble for running back deprived dynasty owners in the mid to late first round of rookie drafts.

Many analysts have Dixon as the No. 3 back on their board, and given his production I can’t say I blame them. Dixon was a three down workhouse in his four years at Louisiana Tech, parlaying 801 carries into 4,480 yards (5.6 YPC) and 72 touchdowns, also chipping in 88 catches for 972 yards and 15 touchdowns through the air. Dixon followed up his decorated college career with a solid showing at the NFL Combine, running a 4.58 40-yard dash with the third best 3-cone time (6.97) of participating running backs.

My concern is that much of Dixon’s production came against lesser competition. Looking at his game logs from the last two years, two of his worst three games from a yardage standpoint were against Oklahoma and Auburn, while his three best games were versus North Texas, Louisiana Lafayette, and Florida International. His volume of work in college is also a worry, as there is a lot of tread on his tires. I’m comfortable with him in the back half of the first round, but wouldn’t reach much higher short of him landing in an amazing opportunity for carries right away.

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