Dynasty Best Ball Draft Recap: The 2021 Rookie Class Awaits

Last week I detailed the first round of the industry dynasty best ball draft we hosted here at Razzball. There were a diverse array of strategies on display in this matchup of fantasy football titans and Donkey Teeth. You can view the entire draft board here. Jake Ciely was making draft pick trades like Kevin Costner in Draft Day, as he put together a team packed full of youth. On the other hand Scott Pianowski attempted to assemble the oldest dynasty team in history, but was foiled when his friend Andy Behrens sniped Adrian Peterson in the 26th round. One of the most titillating aspects to analyze in any startup dynasty league is where the incoming rookie class goes off the board. But first, let’s take a look at which of our competing analysts selected the most and least rookies in this draft:

With one quick glance we gain a pretty clear picture: Nando and the Yahoo guys mostly ignored the shiny rookie toys while Ciely, Salfino and B_Don pressed the peddle to the metal in their youth movements. The rest of us found ourselves somewhere in between. I myself finished with five rookies drafted, but I also added another six second year players and four third year players, resulting in over half my 28 man roster being comprised of players with two years of NFL experience or less. 

Of the 336 players selected in this 28 round draft, 54 of those players were from this year’s incoming rookie class. Here’s where each of them was selected:

*Note: this is a half PPR best ball dynasty startup draft with starting lineups of 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 2 FLEX

Biggest Reach

If you look over the entire draft board, this group of analysts had a clear preference for building their dynasty rosters around running backs rather than wide receivers in this half PPR league. So it was no huge shock when five of the first seven rookies off the board were running backs.

The first real curveball came at pick 71 when Dalton Del Don selected Trey Lance rather than Trevor Lawrence—who went a whole 14 picks later—as the first rookie QB off the board. Jokes were abound in the draft chat as Dalton speculated whether Lance or Brady would end up with the better career resume when it’s all said and done. 

Best Bargain

Because of this group’s heavy skew toward RB, most of the rookie bargains came at other positions—at least from where I’m sitting. I could list off any number of wide receivers here, as well as Kyle Pitts, Trevor Lawrence or DA BEARS future hall of fame QB Justin Fields. 

But the one pick I felt was the best rookie bargain of this entire draft was Heath Cummings’ selection of Rondale Moore at pick 133, as the 15th rookie off the board. The Cardinals ponied up a 2nd round draft pick for this soon-to-be 21 year old from Purdue. Here’s what Alfred aka The Boof had to say about Rondale in his top 10 rookie wide receivers prior to the NFL draft: “If you can look past his size, it helps to envision a Percy Harvin type player. He’s not going to be a dominant outside player but if a team will force feed him the ball as a playmaker then special things will happen. My main concern is whether an OC will make that a priority. He saw tremendous volume at Purdue so there is hope he can command that at the next level.”

Yes, Moore is small at only 5’7″ tall and 181 pounds. But landing in Arizona, with my favorite young QB slinging him the ball, in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, may have been the best possible landing spot for the little man. Sure, there’s a lot of mouths to feed in the Cardinals air game with A.J. Green now in town to accompany DeAndre Hopkins and Christian Kirk. That said, Kingsbury likes to spread out four wide and with Hopkins (and maybe Green) drawing added defensive attention, Moore could excel out of the slot immediately. Don’t be surprised if he’s the 2nd best receiving option in Arizona as soon as this season.

Late Values

There were several running backs taken after pick 230 who peak my interest. In a deeper PPR dynasty league such as this one, I’d be looking to target RBs from the 2021 draft class in this range where the opportunity cost is relatively low.

Kylin Hill felt like a bargain where I snagged him at pick 259, but Dalton Del Don made me quickly regret that selection when four picks later he took the player I was thinking would make it back to me, Khalil Herbert. With Tarik Cohen coming off an ACL injury, and never having been successfully utilized in the Bears run game, Herbert could quickly find himself as the change of pace back for David Montgomery. And if Montgomery were to sustain an injury, this is a late rookie pick which could turn into a home run come late 2021.

Larry Rountree was the other pick that stung me when Pat Fitzmaurice grabbed him at 234. It’s still a crowded Chargers backfield and I’ll admit I was excited about last year’s rookie, Joshua Kelley, but Kelley faded hard in the late season and Rountree has a physical running style which could complement Austin Ekeler’s skillset well. And much like Herbert above, Rountree could find himself as the lead back in L.A. if Ekeler is on the shelf.

Stay tuned for the updates as we run it back for a dynasty best ball superflex startup draft with this same group!