Tue Feb 24th 2026

10 Rookies I Rank Lower than the Pros at DLF

Kenyon Sadiq

• Sadiq is my 11th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 6th by the pros at DLF.
• I like Sadiq and believe he will be a productive tight end in the NFL, but I don’t believe he’s worthy of a top half of the first round pick. I’d rather select him at the end of the first round. I have one quarterback, Ty Simpson, ranked ahead of him in my superflex rankings given his highly likely first-round draft capital. I also have A second running back, Jadarian Price, ranked ahead of Sadiq. Plus, I would rather draft three receivers than Sadiq in the first round: Elijah Sarratt, Denzel Boston, and Chris Brazzell. I feel more confident that these players will help a dynasty team long-term than a tight end whom I view as a solid but not top-tier prospect. For instance, I would rank Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren ahead of Sadiq if they were in the same draft class. Loveland and Warren were later first-round picks in my rankings in a much better rookie class last year. Sadiq is only a first-round draft pick in my rankings because this class is much weaker than last year’s class. Another factor in my lower ranking is my devaluation of pass catchers in the Oregon system, because it is less comparable to NFL systems, and their stats are inflated. Sadiq’s season was good but not elite, and he was unable to break out until after Terence Ferguson was drafted last year. These are admittedly small factors in knocking the rank of a very solid tight end prospect, but they are enough for me to value him later in the first round than the pros at DLF collectively think.

KC Concepcion

• Concepcion is my 13th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 8th by the pros at DLF.
• I’ll now admit to wearing my Longhorn colored glasses when first evaluating Concepcion. After seeing the five-spot difference in my rankings compared to DLF and going back to study him, I agree that I should rank him higher than 13th. He’s a very dynamic player with the ball in his hands, but his size and versatility were knocks against him at first glance. I favored many of the bigger receivers in this class over the many smaller ones, but I need to reconsider with Concepcion. I was also concerned that his versatility may force him into a gadget role with an NFL team. He’s excellent with the ball in his hands and a very good punt returner. I feared that the NFL team would use him as a weapon, but would do so more sparingly as a result. After watching his films again, I see that he’s also a great route runner, an impressive competitor, and a team leader. I’m convinced he’ll have a bigger role on an NFL team than I first thought, and his predicted first-round draft capital is too significant to overlook. Plus, he was the ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year and consistently productive in his first two seasons at North Carolina State before transferring to Texas A&M last season. His consistent production should not have been overlooked. I stand corrected with Concepcion and will move him up my rankings after the NFL Combine, when my rookie rankings are updated.

Omar Cooper

• Cooper is my 30th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 13th by the pros at DLF.
• After going back to study Cooper, I’ve realized I should rank him higher, but certainly not as high as 13th, even though the NFL Mock Draft Database predicts he will be drafted early in the second round as the next receiver drafted behind Concepcion. He waited until his senior season to break out, though he was a big-play weapon in his junior season with a ridiculous 21.3 yards per catch.  Still, he only had 46 receptions through three seasons at Indiana before his breakout season in the Hooiers’ national championship run. While he was very productive from a touchdowns scored standpoint with 13 last season, he was more of a gadget guy with wide receiver screens and shorter passes, though he had some long touchdown catches, too. He looked to me like a great player for the Hoosiers’ offense and scheme, but I am less confident in his personal talent and ability. Plus, he was far less productive against top competition compared to weaker competition. I’m willing to let the NFL Combine change my mind a bit if he’s comparable to the top athletic wide receivers in this class, but I don’t expect him to measure up. I’ll move him up my rankings a bit after the Combine since the draft analysts predict he will get drafted ahead of many players I have ranked ahead of him currently, but a lot would have to change for me to be willing to rank him as a top of the second round pick, as the pros at DLF do.  

Jonah Coleman

• Coleman is my 15th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 7th by the pros at DLF.
• After studying Coleman again, I agree that I need to move him up in my ranking. In my first pass study of Coleman, I was concerned about his modest ranking as a college recruit and in the transfer portal. He was a three-star in both. Plus, aside from his amazing 15-touchdowns last season, his stats were good but not great. He averaged just 4.9 yards per carry last season and 5.5 yards per carry in his college career. I look for college running backs to have an average of about 6 yards per carry. His highlights looked great with many explosive runs, but he knew they must have been few and far between if his yards per carry were so low. All that said, I watched the explosive plays again and admit he is fun to watch, with great power and speed. I am sure he will impress at the NFL Combine. I also did not factor in his productivity in the passing game, which was very impressive and consistent with 25, 23, and 31 receptions in his last three seasons. He’s predicted to get drafted in the third round, one spot ahead of Emmett Johnson.  I’ll continue to rank Johnson ahead of Coleman, but I will move them closer together as the three running backs in my second tier, Price, Johnson, and Coleman, with Price ranked as a mid-first-rounder in rookie drafts and Johnson and Coleman at the first and second round turn.

Zachariah Branch

• Branch is my 29th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 17th by the pros at DLF.
• The strikes I have against Branch are too strong to overcome. I will not move Branch much further up my rankings, no matter how high other dynasty analysts rank him or how high he gets drafted. The biggest strength in his profile is that he was the top-ranked wide receiver recruit in the country when he signed with Southern California. His biggest weakness is that Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane passed him by on the Trojan depth chart, and Branch transferred to Georgia as a result. Branch’s career yards per catch is 10.3 because he’s mostly used as a gadget guy. He’s fast and decent after the catch, but he’s a very incomplete all-around wide receiver. After my first round of studying the players, I messaged my buddy, Josh Chevelier, a college football fantasy analyst, and he said Branch is known as a terrible route runner. His analysis confirmed my concerns. Branch is likely to get drafted in the second round by an NFL team that thinks they can make something out of him, but I am skeptical that they will do so. I would not be willing to draft Branch until the third round of rookie drafts, not in the mid-second as the pros at DLF  and many dynasty managers would.

Eli Stowers

• Stowers is my 25th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 20th by the pros at DLF.
• I’m not drastically behind where DLF ranks Stowers, but it is five spots, per the parameters of this practice and this article. Many dynasty analysts have Stowers as the second-ranked tight end in this class, and the NFL Mock Draft Database predicts he will be drafted as the second tight end at the very end of the second round. I, however, have Max Klare and Justin Joly ranked just ahead of him. Stowers was recruited to Texas A&M as a quarterback, transferred to New Mexico State, and then to Vanderbilt, where he competed as a quarterback before being moved to tight end. The sudden change in position is a pink (not quite red) flag in my evaluation process, as is the multiple transfers. I much prefer to draft a tight end who has played the position for much more of his life and collegiate career. While many tight ends are drafted to play more like receivers, their snaps are limited if they are drafted to do so, and they cannot develop their blocking. I don’t think Stowers can do that in the NFL, so I knock him more than others may in my rookie rankings. If I’m on the clock at the two-three turn, I’ll draft Klare or Joly every time or another non-tight end since I am hopeful I could reach on Joly, one of “My Guys” in this year’s class, a bit later in the third round.

Garrett Nussmeier

• Nussmeier is my 40th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 24th by the pros at DLF.
• I’m well aware that Nussmeier is very likely to be the third quarterback drafted in this class, and he’s the son of an NFL coach. If or when that happens, I will need to move him up my superflex rankings based solely on draft capital. Still, I will never rank him as highly as others do. His tape and overall collegiate body of work were too unimpressive to me. He played for five years at LSU and only had one solid season last year. He came back for another year but played worse and battled injury, which certainly hurt his draft status. He should have come out last season. Last year’s class and this year’s class are very weak at quarterback, so it may not have made that big of a difference to have a poor final season. Either way, I see him as a career backup in the NFL. He doesn’t look terrible. It’s just that he looks average at everything from accuracy to arm strength, to foot work, to running ability, to play-making. As I stated last week, I much prefer the upside of Drew Aller to Nussmeier and all the second-tier quarterbacks in this class.  I currently have Allar, Cade Kulbnik, and Carson Beck ranked ahead of Nussmeier, and I don’t think draft capital will change that. The landing spot is the only thing that matters in the case that one of these second-tier guys gets drafted to a team with a real chance to compete for a starting role. Only then could one of them significantly improve in my rankings.

Michael Trigg

• Trigg is my 35th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 25th by the pros at DLF.
• I get the love for Trigg, given his enormous size and many big plays downfield and in seams. He’s a big play waiting to happen with his more than 13 yards per catch over his five-year career. He’s impressive to watch and has impressive big-play stats, but his red flags outweigh those, causing me to still see him as a player to draft at the end of the third round, not at the top of the third. The fact that he’s played college ball for five years and for three different schools is a concern to me, especially after I learned that attitude problems contributed to some of the transfers.  He was not consistent until his last two years at Baylor (the worst of the three schools he played for) and had just one true breakout year. He’s fun to watch for sure, but I will not let that pull me into buying high on a prospect with question marks in consistency on and off the field. He’s too big a risk to take as early as the pros at DLF, and as some popular podcast hosts suggest. My tight end to reach this season is Justin Joly, not Trigg.

Bryce Lance

• Lance is my 39th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 27th by the pros at DLF.
• Lance is a blast to watch. He’s a tremendous vertical weapon and red-zone threat. He averaged 21 yards per reception last year and scored 25 touchdowns over the last two years. The only problem is that he did so at North Dakota State. He looked like a man among boys at his level of competition, but I'm doubtful that he will be able to do so at the next level. I try not to dock lower-tier school players in my rankings too much, but it is a contributing factor. Last week, I had Skyler Bell from Connecticut among my players ranked higher than the pros at DLF, so I don’t hate small-school players. I just believe that Bell is a more complete receiver who can win in many ways in the NFL. Whereas Lance is very limited. In college, at least, he won almost exclusively with go-balls, posts, and back-shoulder throws. He looked great against lesser competition, but it’s a whole new game in the pros. NFL scouts understand this, which is why he’s not predicted to get picked until late in the fifth round. With that draft capital and my red flags, I don’t think he’s a player worth drafting in the third round of rookie drafts, let alone high in the third round as he is ranked by the pros at DLF. I will leave others to take a chance on Lance that early.

Josh Cameron

• Cameron is my 36th-ranked rookie, while he is ranked 28th by the pros at DLF.
• I liked Cameron’s film and thought I would rank him ahead of other dynasty analysts after creating my early rookie rankings. I was very surprised to find him ranked eight spots higher than me by the pros at DLF. Cameron isn't very smooth, and his #34 jersey doesn’t make him look any smoother, but there’s something about his big body and lumbering style that works. He’s boxes out defenders well, is hard to tackle, and is a weapon in the red zone. After studying him, I thought he may be one of my sleepers to target in the fourth round, but I guess not if others see him as a third-round target. He did not have enough consistent production for me to value him that highly, and his awkward playing style will prevent me from ranking him as highly as other analysts if this is indeed what others in the industry think of him. I picked the players I was lower on than DLF back when I first looked at their rankings on February 13th. Today, February 23rd, I went back to look at how each individual at DLF had him ranked to see if they had varying opinions. As I expected, they had him ranked very differently from as low as 22nd to as high as 44th. In that case, maybe I will be able to draft him around the 36th spot in my rookie drafts as a sleeper after all. This year’s rookie drafts will vary greatly. I am sure of that, as each manager reaches for their “My Guys.” Cameron may still be one of mine in the fourth round, but I am sure there will be others as I continue studying and add NFL Combine performances to my evaluation over the next two weeks.

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