Top 28 Rookies 2020 (1 Viewer)

[EBF]

His biggest strengths as a WR are his size and field-stretching speed. His biggest weaknesses are a lack of suddenness, quickness, and RAC ability. He would be very small for a TE and doesn't stack up with the Reed and Hernandez types in terms of routes and RAC. A guy like Hayden Hurst, who weighs 250+ pounds, is still more elusive and agile than Claypool, albeit without the sheer speed. As a TE Claypool would really just be a seam threat and nothing more.

 

[runner06]

Bump.

The EBF annual rookie dynasty rankings is my favorite thread each year so hoping by bumping it encourages EBF to post his 2021 Rookie Dynasty Rankings if he sees this. 

 

[EBF]

Bump.

The EBF annual rookie dynasty rankings is my favorite thread each year so hoping by bumping it encourages EBF to post his 2021 Rookie Dynasty Rankings if he sees this. 

Fun to read through this thread after a year. Not my best rankings, but I do think they improved somewhat as I worked through the tiers over time. Ending up with Lamb, Jefferson, and Aiyuk atop the WR tier aged well. Duvernay looks like a miss and it looks like I was too low on some guys (Claypool, Gibson, Higgins, Herbert). Probably should've been higher on the class in general. Live and learn.

As for 2021, the moderators on here hit me with a 100 day ban last summer for making a relatively innocuous two paragraph long post in the politics forum, which IMO is not an acceptable way to treat people, so I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hooking them up with free content moving forward. Not sure if I'll be posting extensive rankings. You can hit me up via PM though and I'd be happy to share some thoughts. 

My drafts are just winding down. I've cut my dynasty leagues down to two, so it's pretty slim now and I didn't have as much time on the clock studying players and working through tiers as I would've in most years. I have a decent idea of who I like though. Hint on a couple of the not-at-all-surprising names.

 

[travdogg]

Fun to read through this thread after a year. Not my best rankings, but I do think they improved somewhat as I worked through the tiers over time. Ending up with Lamb, Jefferson, and Aiyuk atop the WR tier aged well. Duvernay looks like a miss and it looks like I was too low on some guys (Claypool, Gibson, Higgins, Herbert). Probably should've been higher on the class in general. Live and learn.

As for 2021, the moderators on here hit me with a 100 day ban last summer for making a relatively innocuous two paragraph long post in the politics forum, which IMO is not an acceptable way to treat people, so I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hooking them up with free content moving forward. Not sure if I'll be posting extensive rankings. You can hit me up via PM though and I'd be happy to share some thoughts. 

My drafts are just winding down. I've cut my dynasty leagues down to two, so it's pretty slim now and I didn't have as much time on the clock studying players and working through tiers as I would've in most years. I have a decent idea of who I like though. Hint on a couple of the not-at-all-surprising names.

You definitely were ahead of the curve on Aiyuk for sure. I don't recall seeing anyone anywhere else having him in the top-8 overall. I wonder if Bateman might be that guy this year. 1st round draft capital, run 1st team, #1 WR role is attainable. 

You were driving the Duvernay bandwagon, but we all have those guys. I loved Andy Isabella a couple years ago. 

Can't say I would blame you if you didn't want to keep doing the rankings after that. I had a similar experience on January 6th, for what I would also deem an innocuous offense. The lesson I learned was that venturing outside the Shark Pool is really not worth the effort. I would hate to lose these yearly threads because of your experience, but would get it.

 

[socrates]

As for 2021, the moderators on here hit me with a 100 day ban last summer for making a relatively innocuous two paragraph long post in the politics forum, which IMO is not an acceptable way to treat people, so I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hooking them up with free content moving forward.

Wait?  There is a politics forum here as well?  Why?  This is where I come to escape all of that lol

Sorry to hear that happened.

 

[Tha Guru]

Wait?  There is a politics forum here as well?  Why?  This is where I come to escape all of that lol

Sorry to hear that happened.

Yeah, stay away, it’s a cesspool.

 

[rockaction]

Great call on Aiyuk and Jefferson last year. Glad you checked back in. I hope all is well.

 

[King of the Jungle]

Always loved reading your content EBF, hope you change your mind but understand if you don’t. 

 

[Paulymaggs]

Fun to read through this thread after a year. Not my best rankings, but I do think they improved somewhat as I worked through the tiers over time. Ending up with Lamb, Jefferson, and Aiyuk atop the WR tier aged well. Duvernay looks like a miss and it looks like I was too low on some guys (Claypool, Gibson, Higgins, Herbert). Probably should've been higher on the class in general. Live and learn.

As for 2021, the moderators on here hit me with a 100 day ban last summer for making a relatively innocuous two paragraph long post in the politics forum, which IMO is not an acceptable way to treat people, so I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hooking them up with free content moving forward. Not sure if I'll be posting extensive rankings. You can hit me up via PM though and I'd be happy to share some thoughts. 

My drafts are just winding down. I've cut my dynasty leagues down to two, so it's pretty slim now and I didn't have as much time on the clock studying players and working through tiers as I would've in most years. I have a decent idea of who I like though. Hint on a couple of the not-at-all-surprising names.

I think at the end of the day, what you write helps your brand infinitely more than it helps drive pageviews on fbg

 

[Joe Bryant]

Fun to read through this thread after a year. Not my best rankings, but I do think they improved somewhat as I worked through the tiers over time. Ending up with Lamb, Jefferson, and Aiyuk atop the WR tier aged well. Duvernay looks like a miss and it looks like I was too low on some guys (Claypool, Gibson, Higgins, Herbert). Probably should've been higher on the class in general. Live and learn.

As for 2021, the moderators on here hit me with a 100 day ban last summer for making a relatively innocuous two paragraph long post in the politics forum, which IMO is not an acceptable way to treat people, so I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hooking them up with free content moving forward. Not sure if I'll be posting extensive rankings. You can hit me up via PM though and I'd be happy to share some thoughts. 

My drafts are just winding down. I've cut my dynasty leagues down to two, so it's pretty slim now and I didn't have as much time on the clock studying players and working through tiers as I would've in most years. I have a decent idea of who I like though. Hint on a couple of the not-at-all-surprising names.

Hi EBF,

One of the casualties of last year was in attempting to keep the political forum from a complete meltdown, we asked repeatedly for people to be cool and in desperation, there were lots of people who were suspended for longer than normal times for posts. 

Your post calling Trump "a complete and utter moron" was the kind of posting we tried to avoid. The moderators did manage to keep it from completely melting down. But the cost clearly was high as one can see with you. It's made me question if having a forum is worth all the negatives. it seems we're mostly in a lose-lose situation there. 

As things have cooled down, we've gone back to more normal moderation but I fear there was a good bit of damage done. 

Regardless, thank you for the contributions in the past and we hope you'll continue to be part of the Shark Pool community in the future.  Thanks.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Hi EBF,

One of the casualties of last year was in attempting to keep the political forum from a complete meltdown, we asked repeatedly for people to be cool and in desperation, there were lots of people who were suspended for longer than normal times for posts. 

Your post calling Trump "a complete and utter moron" was the kind of posting we tried to avoid. The moderators did manage to keep it from completely melting down. But the cost clearly was high as one can see with you. It's made me question if having a forum is worth all the negatives. it seems we're mostly in a lose-lose situation there. 

As things have cooled down, we've gone back to more normal moderation but I fear there was a good bit of damage done. 

Regardless, thank you for the contributions in the past and we hope you'll continue to be part of the Shark Pool community in the future.  Thanks.

And please let's not turn this into a how bad the moderation is here. The Free For All and Political Forum has plenty of that already. People almost never think whatever they did was suspension worthy. People have no problem with "Biden is a moron" but don't like it when their guy is called a moron. It's life. As I said, we're mostly out of crisis mode with the moderation and I hope we can get back to more normalcy there. 

 

[Leroy Hoard]

EBF, my best advice to you would be to stay out of the Political Forum.  It's not worth possibility losing your posting privileges in the other more worthwhile forums. Way too many trolls from other websites infesting that place.

 

[Rockchild]

And please let's not turn this into a how bad the moderation is here. The Free For All and Political Forum has plenty of that already. People almost never think whatever they did was suspension worthy. People have no problem with "Biden is a moron" but don't like it when their guy is called a moron. It's life. As I said, we're mostly out of crisis mode with the moderation and I hope we can get back to more normalcy there. 

Not to derail but it would be nice to get an explanation to what was done to deserve a suspension so at least one can change the way they post.

 

[rockaction]

That the boards even exist is because of the largesse of FBG. I'd personally say that anybody who pulls garbage like One Eyed Willy hasn't stopped and thought about for a moment that if people like him factor into the decision-making about whether or not to keep the boards going, they won't be much longer. Comments like this affect everyone. Personally, I think it's rotten to come in and do this sort of garbage.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Not to derail but it would be nice to get an explanation to what was done to deserve a suspension so at least one can change the way they post.

Agreed. One of the things we're trying to do better with is including the post in the warning so people can see better. 

But for sure, let's keep this thread on NFL. Thanks. 

 

[EBF]

Appreciate the thoughts and messages. As I said, I've been scaling back my involvement in FF over the past few years, but I do think I'll rise to the challenge and put out some full public rankings in the next week or two. I have a pretty good idea of what I think at RB/WR/TE already. I just need to dive into the QBs because I've done no work there.

I'll save full comments for a later time, but I have Najee, Waddle, and Pitts as the top guys at their positions. They would all be top 3-4 on my board in most formats. Probably fading Etienne at his ADP, as I think he's more of a sprinter and niche player than full-time back. I don't love the RB value in this draft, but there are some interesting day three guys with spot starter potential. I'm in the middle on Chase. I like some aspects of his game, but there are maybe more red flags than draft slot/reputation alone would suggest. He probably still lands in my top 4 overall, but I don't know where. Waddle has the more impressive tape, but also the smaller and more limited frame.

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

Hi EBF,

One of the casualties of last year was in attempting to keep the political forum from a complete meltdown, we asked repeatedly for people to be cool and in desperation, there were lots of people who were suspended for longer than normal times for posts. 

Your post calling Trump "a complete and utter moron" was the kind of posting we tried to avoid. The moderators did manage to keep it from completely melting down. But the cost clearly was high as one can see with you. It's made me question if having a forum is worth all the negatives. it seems we're mostly in a lose-lose situation there. 

As things have cooled down, we've gone back to more normal moderation but I fear there was a good bit of damage done. 

Regardless, thank you for the contributions in the past and we hope you'll continue to be part of the Shark Pool community in the future.  Thanks.

As someone who was also banned for 100 days because my views on COVID did not align with the mainstream narrative, I also stopped posting here and will not be renewing my membership.  "Let people be" is my advice to you, Joe.  We need less censorship and less rules in this world.  You've shown to be very un-American in my eyes.  As a military veteran, you've lost all my respect the way you run this message board with all of your censorship.  You can't police the world and you can't tell people how to think and what to say.  The trend is alarming and I will say that other fantasy forums do not operate this way.  

 

[JohnnyU]

Hi EBF,

One of the casualties of last year was in attempting to keep the political forum from a complete meltdown, we asked repeatedly for people to be cool and in desperation, there were lots of people who were suspended for longer than normal times for posts. 

Your post calling Trump "a complete and utter moron" was the kind of posting we tried to avoid. The moderators did manage to keep it from completely melting down. But the cost clearly was high as one can see with you. It's made me question if having a forum is worth all the negatives. it seems we're mostly in a lose-lose situation there. 

As things have cooled down, we've gone back to more normal moderation but I fear there was a good bit of damage done. 

Regardless, thank you for the contributions in the past and we hope you'll continue to be part of the Shark Pool community in the future.  Thanks.

I've decided to stay out of the Political Forum.  Nothing good can come of that place.  It's a horrible forum.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Appreciate the thoughts and messages. As I said, I've been scaling back my involvement in FF over the past few years, but I do think I'll rise to the challenge and put out some full public rankings in the next week or two. I have a pretty good idea of what I think at RB/WR/TE already. I just need to dive into the QBs because I've done no work there.

I'll save full comments for a later time, but I have Najee, Waddle, and Pitts as the top guys at their positions. They would all be top 3-4 on my board in most formats. Probably fading Etienne at his ADP, as I think he's more of a sprinter and niche player than full-time back. I don't love the RB value in this draft, but there are some interesting day three guys with spot starter potential. I'm in the middle on Chase. I like some aspects of his game, but there are maybe more red flags than draft slot/reputation alone would suggest. He probably still lands in my top 4 overall, but I don't know where. Waddle has the more impressive tape, but also the smaller and more limited frame.

This post was a great thing to read on a Sunday morning.  Look forward to your thoughts and rankings.  One of my favorite reads each year!

 

[Tau837]

This post was a great thing to read on a Sunday morning.  Look forward to your thoughts and rankings.  One of my favorite reads each year!

 

 

[dewmass]

As someone in the UK who doesn’t watch any college football, the guys like ZWK and EBF are invaluable to me during the rookie draft season. Have been eagerly awaiting the 28 thread for the year, don’t let me down because of some politician, they are all morons. 

 

[dipandglide]

As someone in the UK who doesn’t watch any college football, the guys like ZWK and EBF are invaluable to me during the rookie draft season. Have been eagerly awaiting the 28 thread for the year, don’t let me down because of some politician, they are all morons. 

Same. I don't particpate here as much as I used to either. I do tune in occasionally to hear what guys like @EBF have to say. Hopefully, he can put aside the differences and make his patened post. 

And I do agree about the moderating. I feel like the ban hammer/suspensions/warning's are simply too much. Let people speak and voice their opinions ffs. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

As someone who was also banned for 100 days because my views on COVID did not align with the mainstream narrative, I also stopped posting here and will not be renewing my membership.  "Let people be" is my advice to you, Joe.  We need less censorship and less rules in this world.  You've shown to be very un-American in my eyes.  As a military veteran, you've lost all my respect the way you run this message board with all of your censorship.  You can't police the world and you can't tell people how to think and what to say.  The trend is alarming and I will say that other fantasy forums do not operate this way.  

Hi @Rhythmdoctor

I'm sorry to hear you feel that way.

To be clear, you were not suspended because your views on COVID did not align with the mainstream narrative. The post you were suspended for was:

You really expect everyone to blindly follow and obey those in power. F you

I know many boards are fine with the "F you", but we ask our folks to be more cool to each other here.

I hope you'll join us this year but whatever you decide I hope you have an awesome 2021. And thank you for your service. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

And again, let's please keep this one on Football. Thanks. 

 

[Rhythmdoctor]

Hi @Rhythmdoctor

I'm sorry to hear you feel that way.

To be clear, you were not suspended because your views on COVID did not align with the mainstream narrative. The post you were suspended for was:

I know many boards are fine with the "F you", but we ask our folks to be more cool to each other here.

I hope you'll join us this year but whatever you decide I hope you have an awesome 2021. And thank you for your service. 

Nah, there were no banning to all those ridiculing and shaming my thoughts, ideas and opinions about COVID.  That's not being cool at all but was tolerated and cheered by the masses in these forums with no consequences.  Then I was banned for what you quoted. 

Your censorship on these forums has been evident for years and it's clear you will support anyone defending a mainstream narrative but you will NOT support people offering other opinions.  That's censorship at its WORST and you are most definitely part of the problem in that regard.  You were blessed to be born in this once great country yet you don't support that values it was built upon.  Shame on you, Joe Bryant.  You have lost my business for good. I know it's not much but hopefully others will speak up with their wallets as well.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Nah, there were no banning to all those ridiculing and shaming my thoughts, ideas and opinions about COVID.  That's not being cool at all but was tolerated and cheered by the masses in these forums with no consequences.  Then I was banned for what you quoted. 

Your censorship on these forums has been evident for years and it's clear you will support anyone defending a mainstream narrative but you will NOT support people offering other opinions.  That's censorship at its WORST and you are most definitely part of the problem in that regard.  You were blessed to be born in this once great country yet you don't support that values it was built upon.  Shame on you, Joe Bryant.  You have lost my business for good. I know it's not much but hopefully others will speak up with their wallets as well.

Thanks for the reply. Again, sorry to hear you think that and best wishes to you in all you're doing.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Now for sure, let's get back to football.

 

[EBF]

I'm working through film right now. Have seen 2-3 games for most of the top QBs. Working on the WRs now. RBs should be quicker since I've done more prep there. Hopefully will have a list by the end of the weekend at the latest.

 

[Dez]

Great call on Aiyuk and Jefferson last year. Glad you checked back in. I hope all is well.

Or does having Ruggs at 5 overall negate it ? Because if your drafting and your following the list you were taking Ruggs over Jefferson, Swift and Akers.

 

[grateful zed]

Never been to the political forum. 

 

[EBF]

Or does having Ruggs at 5 overall negate it ? Because if your drafting and your following the list you were taking Ruggs over Jefferson, Swift and Akers.

I updated the rankings after posting the initial list and doing more study. I'm more satisfied with those:

https://forums.footballguys.com/topic/785441-top-28-rookies-2020/?do=findComment&comment=22739139

That being said, one year removed is not really enough time to assess rankings. Some players come out of the gates early and cool off. Others do the opposite.

I passed on Ruggs in several drafts last year, but at this point he's undervalued. He actually looked pretty good as a rookie and still has a chance to be a productive player.

 

[wgoldsph]

I passed on Ruggs in several drafts last year, but at this point he's undervalued. He actually looked pretty good as a rookie and still has a chance to be a productive player.

Do you think the LVR coaches know how to use him?  Given how Gruden and Co have mismanaged the team so far and how many more years of runway they have I'm afraid to touch anyone who has a multi-year contract on that team.

 

[EBF]

Do you think the LVR coaches know how to use him?  Given how Gruden and Co have mismanaged the team so far and how many more years of runway they have I'm afraid to touch anyone who has a multi-year contract on that team.

Enough, sure.

They have an empty cupboard at WR. He's the best they have.

He more or less had the rookie year you would've expected in 2020. Modest volume, but high explosiveness. 452 yards on just 43 targets. If that scales up to a decent level, he could flirt with 1k yards this season.

The dynasty WR landscape is pretty crowded right now, but he's someone I'd be looking at in trades and startup drafts if people have really soured on him. Looks like he's carrying a price somewhere in the WR40-50 range. He could finish top 25-30 this year.

 

[Dez]

- Overall, I am relatively down on this draft class. I think most of these guys are not as talented as you would expect given their draft slots, but some of them will inevitably hit big.

Very strange as this was considered one of the best fantasy draft classes with tons of talented players and a slew of upstart RB's and tons of great WR's.

As far as startups go now a days a ton of these guys are being taken in the top 25 picks including 6 RB's.

 

[JohnnyU]

Very strange as this was considered one of the best fantasy draft classes with tons of talented players and a slew of upstart RB's and tons of great WR's.

As far as startups go now a days a ton of these guys are being taken in the top 25 picks including 6 RB's.

I'll add to this conversation by saying that I agree that the RB class is weak overall and I worry about the WRs because there aren't many guys like A J Brown and D K Metcalf.  There are a lot of smallish WRs and that always worries me some.  I do however believe some of those WRs will be very good, such as Chase and I especially like Waddle and E Moore.  Bateman is more of your prototypical WR and is a wildcard in this class.  It could go either way.  I'm not worried about his landing spot as much as some, because I believe he will end up being the alpha WR on that team.  The TE Andrews has held that distinction but I think that will change by year two.

 

[Cjw_55106]

I'll add to this conversation by saying that I agree that the RB class is weak overall and I worry about the WRs because there aren't many guys like A J Brown and D K Metcalf.  There are a lot of smallish WRs and that always worries me some.  I do however believe some of those WRs will be very good, such as Chase and I especially like Waddle and E Moore.  Bateman is more of your prototypical WR and is a wildcard in this class.  It could go either way.  I'm not worried about his landing spot as much as some, because I believe he will end up being the alpha WR on that team.  The TE Andrews has held that distinction but I think that will change by year two.

I think you guys are talking about different draft classes.