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Top 100 Devy Prospects (2017 update on Page 2) (1 Viewer)

Dan Hindery

Moderator
I've been playing in devy leagues for a long time, but this was my first time putting rankings together. Would love to get some feedback on which guys I have too high, too low or even guys I missed that should have been included in the top 100. Here's a link to the article.

http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=hinderydevyrankings0416

Here's my top 100 in order:

Leonard Fournette RB LSU (Jr.)

Nick Chubb RB Georgia (Jr.)

Saquon Barkley RB Penn State (So.)

Mike Williams WR Clemson (Sr.)

JuJu Smith WR USC (Jr.)

Dalvin Cook RB Florida St. (Jr.)

Christian McCaffrey RB Stanford (Jr.)

Calvin Ridley WR Alabama (So.)

James Washington WR Oklahoma St. (Jr.)

Deshaun Watson QB Clemson (Jr.)

K.D. Cannon WR Baylor (Jr.)

Courtland Sutton WR SMU (Rs. So.)

Samaje Perine RB Oklahoma (Jr.)

Ronald Jones II RB USC (So.)

Derrius Guice RB LSU (So.)

Christian Kirk WR Texas A&M (So.)

Jake Butt TE Michigan (Sr.)

Royce Freeman RB Oregon (Jr.)

Wayne Gallman RB Clemson (RS Jr.)

Deon Cain WR Clemson (So.)

Elijah Hood RB North Carolina (Jr.)

Malachi Dupre WR LSU (Jr.)

Chris Godwin WR Penn State (Jr.)

Isaiah Ford WR Virginia Tech (Jr.)

Corey Davis WR Western Michigan (Sr.)

Evan Engram TE Ole Miss (Sr.)

Josh Rosen QB UCLA (So.)

O.J. Howard TE Alabama (Sr.)

Jalen Hurd RB Tennessee (Jr.)

Bo Scarbrough RB Alabama (RS So.)

Allen Lazard WR Iowa State (Jr.)

Audin Tate WR Florida St. (So.)

Artavis Scott WR Clemson (Jr.)

Sony Michel RB Georgia (Jr.)

Travin Dural WR LSU (RS Sr.)

Jeremy McNichols RB Boise State (Jr.)

Joe Mixon RB Oklahoma (RS So.)

Bucky Hodges TE Virginia Tech (RS Jr.)

Austin Mack WR Ohio State (Fr.)

Jordan Leggett TE Clemson (Sr.)

Jehu Chesson WR Michigan (RS Sr.)

Robert Foster WR Alabama (RS Jr.)

Jordan Villamin WR Oregon St. (RS Jr.)

Torrance Gibson WR Ohio St. (RS Fr.)

Josh Reynolds WR Texas A&M (Sr.)

Trenton Irwin WR Stanford (So.)

Brad Kaaya QB Miami (Sr.)

Deshone Kizer QB Notre Dame  (RS So.)

L.J. Scott RB Michigan St. (So.)

Corey Clement RB Wisconsin (Rs. Jr.)

Josh Adams RB Notre Dame (So.)

Mike Weber RB Ohio State (RS Fr.)

B.J. Emmons RB Alabama (Fr.)

Collin Johnson WR Texas (Fr.)

Miles Sanders RB Penn State (Fr.)

Travis Rudolph WR Florida St. (Jr.)

Ricky Seals-Jones WR Texas A&M (Sr.)

Antonio Callaway WR Florida (So.)

Darren Carrington Jr. WR Oregon (RS Jr.)

Tyler Vaughns WR USC (Fr.)

Elijah Holyfield RB Georgia (Fr.)

D'Onta Foreman RB Texas (Jr.)

Jacob Eason QB Georgia (Fr.)

Mark Thompson RB Florida (Fr.)

Soso Jamabo RB UCLA (So.)

Myles Gaskin RB Washington (So.)

Elijah McGuire RB Louisiana Lafayette (Sr.)

Kareem Hunt RB Toledo (Sr.)

Noah Brown WR Ohio State (RS So.)

Tyrie Cleveland WR Florida (Fr.)

A.J. Brown WR Ole Miss (Fr.)

Van Jefferson WR Ole Miss (RS Fr.)

Kyle Davis WR Auburn (Fr.)

DeKaylin Metcalf WR Ole Miss (Fr.)

Mack Hollins WR North Carolina (Sr.)

Demetris Robertson WR California (Fr.)

John Burt WR Texas (So.)

James Connor RB Pittsburgh (Sr.)

Damien Harris RB Alabama (So.)

Antonio Williams RB Ohio State (Fr.)

Shelton Gibson WR West Virginia (Jr.)

Tyron Johnson WR LSU (So.)

Fred Ross WR Mississippi St. (Sr.)

Torii Hunter Jr. WR Notre Dame (Sr.)

Tarean Folston RB Notre Dame (Sr.) 

Tavien Feaster RB Clemson (Fr.)

Curtis Samuel RB Ohio State (Jr.)

Mark Andrews TE Oklahoma (RS So.)

Isaac Nauta TE Georgia (Fr.)

Simmie Cobbs WR Indiana (Jr.)

Terry Godwin WR Georgia (So.)

Luke Falk QB Washington St. (RS Jr.)

Shea Patterson QB Ole Miss (Fr.)

Marlon Mack RB South Florida (Jr.)

Jacques Patrick RB Florida State (So.)

Bryce Love RB Stanford (So.)

Travon McMilan RB Virginia Tech (RS So.)

Mike Warren RB Iowa State (RS So.)

Carlos Strickland WR California (RS Fr.)

Ryan Izzo TE Florida St. (RS So.)

 
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Your rankings seem to be spot on. I like Guice up between Cook and McCaffrey, but that's speculative based on once we see him get more touches. At WR I'd have Dupre between Sutton and Kirk. Only guy I see a big difference in is Cain who I'd have much lower. But probably need to watch him more, since most people have him up high like yourself.

Appreciate the list though, as there isn't much devy discussion on here.

 
Some of the tougher decisions for me and ones I might flip-flop on in the future:

JuJu Smith vs. Mike Williams as top devy WR. I hate to hold a player's school against him, but that USC offense has consistently made the top WR look great and we've seen crazy big Soph. numbers from guys like Robert Woods, Marqise Lee and others that just didn't translate to the NFL. Hedged my bets a little with Williams over Smith, but that's a tough call and I'd have a tough time deciding between the two when on the clock in a draft.

Dalvin Cook vs. Christian McCaffrey. On the one hand, Cook seems to have a better chance of being an every-down back. But in terms of risk/reward, Cook has had 5 or 6 run-ins with the law and that always scares me. I've been burnt in the past on guys who just didn't have the right makeup. McCaffrey seems to be one of those guys with absolutely top-notch intangibles (like Tyler Lockett for example) and those guys usually end up exceeding expectations. Tough call and again I'd have a tough time deciding. 

The Small-School WRs. Courtland Sutton and Corey Davis are tough to figure. I think those guys are much riskier picks in the 1st round of a devy draft than maybe the general consensus. Both are in offenses that are designed to put up big numbers and with bad defenses, they were in a lot of shootouts so I take their numbers with a big grain of salt. But they do pass the "eye-test" pretty well when you watch them on film. I'll probably let somebody else draft them and stick to the big-school guys with early picks, but it's possible I end up regretting that down the road.

DeShaun Watson. I love Watson as a player and think he has some real upside due to his rushing ability. But I've found in actual 1-QB devy leagues, I have a hard time taking him over a RB or WR just due to positional value. Not sure if I am underrating or overrating him as a late-1st round devy guy. 

 
Your rankings seem to be spot on. I like Guice up between Cook and McCaffrey, but that's speculative based on once we see him get more touches. At WR I'd have Dupre between Sutton and Kirk. Only guy I see a big difference in is Cain who I'd have much lower. But probably need to watch him more, since most people have him up high like yourself.

Appreciate the list though, as there isn't much devy discussion on here.




 




 
Thanks for the feedback.

I think I'm just slightly lower on the two LSU guys than others because the only verified 40-times I could find on them weren't impressive. I saw Guice at 4.61 and Dupre at 4.58. Those were H.S. times and obviously most guys get faster in college, so I still have both ranked pretty highly. I'd just be higher on them if I thought they were legit 4.50 or faster types. 

On Cain, he stood out when I saw Clemson play in the fall. But there's no good video of him on youtube, so I kind of had to go by memory with nothing to watch online. I like his size/speed combo and he beat out some other pretty talented guys as a true frosh just to see the field. The weed suspensions aren't good, but we've seen Sammy Watkins and others get over freshman year issues and not have a problem. 

 
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Very cool of you to share these. I will offer some thoughts.

Chubb vs. Fournette - IMO a healthy Chubb is hands-down better than Fournette. I've gone into the reasons why I feel that way elsewhere, but basically it boils down to the fact that Chubb has much better lateral quickness/balance/slide (he also had much stronger #s in the same conference). While I think Fournette is a first round back with a prodigious blend of weight and speed, in terms of his NFL value I lean more towards a Rashard Mendenhall/Ryan Mathews type of career than him being a Peterson/Tomlinson dynamo. I think he can be a good starter. I don't think he's going to be an All-Pro. I think Chubb is the one who has that ceiling.

I'd have JuJu as the #1 or #2 dev player. He isn't Marqise Lee, Robert Woods, or Nelson Agholor. He is a different breed of WR. Much, much bigger and stronger than any of those. He's a complete WR who can run possession routes, run after the catch, and beat people deep. I see him as a stud prospect and a first round lock.

Mike Williams is a weird one for me. I wasn't blown away by his highlights from 2014, then he sits out a year, and suddenly everyone is ranking him as an elite guy. It really doesn't make sense to me. He doesn't appear to have great playing speed or strength. I view him as a rangy jump ball guy somewhere in the ballpark of Josh Docston and Justin Hunter. I don't think his movement is very good. I won't say he's garbage, but he's nowhere near my top 5 overall and is the most overrated player here IMO. I think we will look back a year from now and see that he wasn't worthy of his billing.

Like you, I'm down on Jalen Hurd. I don't see anything impressive there. Weak stats too.

I'm quite a bit higher on Myles Gaskin. Not the biggest guy and his speed is merely good, not great. I love a RB who can cut though and he can do some really fun things in traffic. His hip flexibility and agility remind me of past 2nd round picks like Ray Rice and Ameer Abdullah. He's going to be a standout for the next couple years and while I don't really see a first round ceiling, I think he belongs much higher (top 25 at least).

 
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If Barkley was a Jr. I'd take him over any RB on this list. He's developing into something very very special.

Tex

 
black freaking dot.  Outstanding.  I haven't even read it, and have no idea what I agree with, but to get this listed in one place is a massive benefit for those that don't participate in dev drafts but want to watch the landscape develop.

edit:  Ridley is a Sophomore

 
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All your TEs are too high, simply because they generally take a few years to be relevant. I mean look at how high Ebron was drafted, yet hasn't become a stud yet.  There are a bunch I like, but in a real Devy draft, I'd try to avoid them all together, therefore, I'd probably rank them really low.

 
Dan Hindery said:
Thanks for the feedback.

I think I'm just slightly lower on the two LSU guys than others because the only verified 40-times I could find on them weren't impressive. I saw Guice at 4.61 and Dupre at 4.58. Those were H.S. times and obviously most guys get faster in college, so I still have both ranked pretty highly. I'd just be higher on them if I thought they were legit 4.50 or faster types. 

On Cain, he stood out when I saw Clemson play in the fall. But there's no good video of him on youtube, so I kind of had to go by memory with nothing to watch online. I like his size/speed combo and he beat out some other pretty talented guys as a true frosh just to see the field. The weed suspensions aren't good, but we've seen Sammy Watkins and others get over freshman year issues and not have a problem. 
And Barkley ran a 4.63 in HS.

 
a quick Google search has Guice running between a 4.32-4.40 at the LSU in camp, maybe it's PR, but no way is he a 4.61

 
Just checked all-athletics.com (good site for track guys) and they have him at 10.98 in the 100m back in 2013, which would've been his sophomore year of HS. That's not bad speed (equates to maybe around 4.50-4.55 in most cases) and I'd guess that he has gotten faster since then. 

 
It's not like I'm way down on Guice or anything. I've got him 15th overall despite him having 56 college touches (mostly in mop-up duty). I'd personally want to see more verified "freakish" athletic ability before moving a guy with so few touches into the top 5 or 10 overall. 

But if somebody else thinks he's better than Ronald Jones or Saquon Barkley, I'm not going to argue too much. There's no way everyone is going to agree on these things 100%. We can't even all agree on guys with 500+ college carries after we get hard numbers from the NFL combine and see where they were drafted. We're definitely not all going to agree on college freshmen. 

 
Do appreciate the feedback though. I was operating on an assumption that Guice will be more of a 4.5 to 4.55 guy (at the combine, not just claimed at camps which are always inflated). Maybe he's a little faster?

 
Awesome thread, Dan.  Ranking college skill position guys 100 deep is no easy task.

Would love to hear thoughts on Freeman vs Perine from anyone inclined to give them.  Both seem to be consistently ranked below where I expected to find them and I'm wondering what I'm missing.

 
Awesome thread, Dan.  Ranking college skill position guys 100 deep is no easy task.

Would love to hear thoughts on Freeman vs Perine from anyone inclined to give them.  Both seem to be consistently ranked below where I expected to find them and I'm wondering what I'm missing.




 




 
Part of it for me is upside in the PPR format, especially for Perine. (I noted that these rankings are specifically for that format, because I think you have to pick one format vs. having universal rankings for non-PPR and PPR.) He has just 215 receiving yards in his career (at 7 YPC). For comparison's sake, Mixon is at 13 YPC and 356 receiving yards in just one season. So it's not just the OU offense that's holding him back as a receiver.

It's just hard for those guys who don't do much as receivers to be fantasy RB1s these days (Jonathan Stewart, Alfred Morris, etc.) and it hurts their draft stock a lot too (Alex Collins for example). 

Freeman's receiving numbers are actually pretty impressive now that I'm taking a closer look at them (especially in 2015). Maybe I'm underrating him a bit...But my biggest hesitancy with him is that I have a hard time trusting his production numbers. Oregon just plugs guys in and they put up 1,500 yards and score a bunch. It's been a decade since any of those guys have panned out in the NFL (Stewart). Freeman's bigger and maybe he breaks the mold.

I'll also cop to be a major OSU homer and I've watched Freeman's 10 carries for 22 yards in the 2014 title game a handful of times over the past two years and that maybe clouds my judgment of him a little bit. 

 
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Awesome thread, Dan.  Ranking college skill position guys 100 deep is no easy task.

Would love to hear thoughts on Freeman vs Perine from anyone inclined to give them.  Both seem to be consistently ranked below where I expected to find them and I'm wondering what I'm missing.


I've owned Perine for about 15 months in one devy league. I think he's a pretty good, but not great prospect. Likely a 2nd-4th round NFL draft pick next year barring injury. He is very strong and powerful, with pretty good speed for a back of his size. He seems to get a lot of second chance yards by bouncing off bad tackles. He also has pretty good feet and agility behind the line of scrimmage. He can make that one quick cut behind his blockers when picking the right hole. On the other hand, he is not very elusive in the second level of the defense. Once he gets his full momentum going, he is not very adept at redirecting. In general, he seems to run a bit heavy.

This play is a pretty good example of his positives and negatives:

https://youtu.be/KYChH34dBuc?t=1m51s

The first cut he makes is pretty abrupt and sudden for a back with his size. However, once he commits to running upfield he is not able to make a good second cut to evade the next tackler despite clearly seeing him coming from several yards away. Instead he does this weird sort of high-step move, which results in him still taking a pretty decent hit to his lower body. That's a bad thing, but because he's so damn powerful, he's still able to keep chugging along and ultimately ends up scoring a TD.

That run encapsulates Perine pretty well. Good first step behind the line of scrimmage. Lackluster elusiveness in the second level. Good power and deceptively good long speed. He doesn't seem quick out of the blocks, but once he hits his stride, he's actually pretty fast.

I've toyed with the idea of trying to trade him before, but in the end I always see enough positives there to make me think he's worth more than his market value.

My opinion on Freeman isn't nearly as refined because I don't own him anywhere. I've never gotten the same wow factor from him that I get from a guy like Chubb or even Elliott, but at the same time I think there almost has to be some real merit there. He was a 5* guy out of high school, he made an instant impact, he has an NFL-ready frame, and his production has been excellent. His highlights aren't amazing to me, but they aren't bad either. I actually took Perine ahead of him last year in the league where I have Samaje, but if I could do it over again, I might take Royce instead. I think he's a little more conventional and versatile. He may have more three down potential whereas Perine in the NFL may just be a two down banger. I think Royce has a higher chance of being a first round NFL draft pick.

I think they both have a strong chance of at least being day two picks next year. Perine is more likely than Royce to slip into day three IMO (though I don't see him falling past the 4th).

 
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Freeman's receiving numbers are actually pretty impressive now that I'm taking a closer look at them (especially in 2015). Maybe I'm underrating him a bit...But my biggest hesitancy with him is that I have a hard time trusting his production numbers. Oregon just plugs guys in and they put up 1,500 yards and score a bunch. It's been a decade since any of those guys have panned out in the NFL (Stewart). Freeman's bigger and maybe he breaks the mold.
I hear what you are saying, but I think (like with the USC WRs and JuJu), it's important to emphasize their individual differences. JuJu is a much bigger WR than the recent USC busts. Style-wise, he is a totally different animal than Lee, Agholor, or Woods. Honestly, they've never had a WR who combined his size AND speed in the 15+ years I've been watching them play. The closest thing was actually probably Ausberry, but he never produced anything like what Smith-Schuster has done.

Similarly, I think Freeman is a very different creature compared with De'Anthony Thomas, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner. Those guys always had serious size question marks whereas Freeman was like 225 the day he arrived on campus. Freeman physically resembles a three down NFL back, which isn't really something that I ever could have said about those other guys. Stewart is a better comparison and Stewart has been a good NFL back. The big difference between the two is that Stewart had more speed. Royce doesn't look like a burner to me. Maybe 4.55-4.65?

Ultimately, players aren't defined by the school they attend. You've got to look at the individual traits. I'm not a Freeman fanboy per se, but I'm much higher on his pro outlook than I ever was for any Oregon RB to enter the league since Stewart. I think schools that produce a lot of NFL talent sometimes get punished for yielding a lot of busts at X position when people lose sight of the fact that most NFL prospects underwhelm and therefore the only reason those schools look like failure factories is because they pump out a lot of NFL players.

 
I hear what you are saying, but I think (like with the USC WRs and JuJu), it's important to emphasize their individual differences. JuJu is a much bigger WR than the recent USC busts. Style-wise, he is a totally different animal than Lee, Agholor, or Woods. Honestly, they've never had a WR who combined his size AND speed in the 15+ years I've been watching them play. The closest thing was actually probably Ausberry, but he never produced anything like what Smith-Schuster has done.

I like JuJu. I have him as a top 5 player. I drafted him after his freshman year in some leagues. But I heard the same thing about Dwayne Jarrett, Marqise Lee, Nelson Agholor, etc. I was pretty high on Agholor last year actually, so I guess I just feel like I'm going to go a little slower here and not rank him first overall. As for his speed, his actual high school combine time was in the 4.7s. That's the only verified time on him. He was young for his class, that was a couple years ago, etc. But I'm not sold on him being a 4.4 or even 4.50-flat guy. 

Similarly, I think Freeman is a very different creature compared with De'Anthony Thomas, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner. Those guys always had serious size question marks whereas Freeman was like 225 the day he arrived on campus. Freeman physically resembles a three down NFL back, which isn't really something that I ever could have said about those other guys. Stewart is a better comparison and Stewart has been a good NFL back. The big difference between the two is that Stewart had more speed. Royce doesn't look like a burner to me. Maybe 4.55-4.65?

Ultimately, players aren't defined by the school they attend. You've got to look at the individual traits. I'm not a Freeman fanboy per se, but I'm much higher on his pro outlook than I ever was for any Oregon RB to enter the league since Stewart. I think schools that produce a lot of NFL talent sometimes get punished for yielding a lot of busts at X position when people lose sight of the fact that most NFL prospects underwhelm and therefore the only reason those schools look like failure factories is because they pump out a lot of NFL players.





 

 
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You realize how big he is, right? I just did a Google image search and these were some of the first pictures that came up:

http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/nvq6kf-b88529985z.120151004191931000gg8cd3sd.10.jpg

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56391a2e/turbine/la-sp-usc-trojans-prepare-to-play-arizona-with-001/650/650x366

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56391726/turbine/la-sp-usc-trojans-prepare-to-play-arizona-without-juju-smith-schuster-20151103

This is a large man we are talking about. USC lists him at 6'2" 215. I believe he will come in with a higher BMI than that when we get the actual numbers, but even if that's accurate, it's Julio Jones/Demaryius Thomas territory in terms of weight per height. I don't see any of Julio in JuJu, but he's a lot like Demaryius. Neither guy is burner fast. It's the combination of size, strength, agility, and solid speed that makes them so dominant.

When a WR has a stick figure build like Will Fuller or DeSean Jackson, he has to be fast because speed is his only way to win. Big receivers don't need to be blazers though. Dez Bryant did a 4.52 at the combine. Demaryius didn't run, but I doubt he would've been much faster. Vincent Jackson did a 4.51. Larry Fitzgerald ran a 4.48 at his pro day. Brandon Marshall ran a 4.56 at the combine. DeAndre Hopkins ran 4.57. Anquan Boldin famously ran 4.71.

Style-wise, these guys are JuJu's ancestors. All of them are high body mass guys (27.5-29.0 BMI) who present matchup problems not because they're fast, but because they're big and yet still move very well. JuJu is cut from similar cloth and will be the same type of player in the league.

To compare him to Agholor/Woods/Lee (all low body mass/low BMI guys) is really missing the essence of who he is as a player. They honestly have nothing in common besides the color of their uniforms.

 
You realize how big he is, right? I just did a Google image search and these were some of the first pictures that came up:

http://images.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/nvq6kf-b88529985z.120151004191931000gg8cd3sd.10.jpg

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56391a2e/turbine/la-sp-usc-trojans-prepare-to-play-arizona-with-001/650/650x366

http://www.trbimg.com/img-56391726/turbine/la-sp-usc-trojans-prepare-to-play-arizona-without-juju-smith-schuster-20151103

This is a large man we are talking about. USC lists him at 6'2" 215. I believe he will come in with a higher BMI than that when we get the actual numbers, but even if that's accurate, it's Julio Jones/Demaryius Thomas territory in terms of weight per height. I don't see any of Julio in JuJu, but he's a lot like Demaryius. Neither guy is burner fast. It's the combination of size, strength, agility, and solid speed that makes them so dominant.

When a WR has a stick figure build like Will Fuller or DeSean Jackson, he has to be fast because speed is his only way to win. Big receivers don't need to be blazers though. Dez Bryant did a 4.52 at the combine. Demaryius didn't run, but I doubt he would've been much faster. Vincent Jackson did a 4.51. Larry Fitzgerald ran a 4.48 at his pro day. Brandon Marshall ran a 4.56 at the combine. DeAndre Hopkins ran 4.57. Anquan Boldin famously ran 4.71.

Style-wise, these guys are JuJu's ancestors. All of them are high body mass guys (27.5-29.0 BMI) who present matchup problems not because they're fast, but because they're big and yet still move very well. JuJu is cut from similar cloth and will be the same type of player in the league.

To compare him to Agholor/Woods/Lee (all low body mass/low BMI guys) is really missing the essence of who he is as a player. They honestly have nothing in common besides the color of their uniforms.
JuJu looks like Shannon Sharpe in those pics.

http://m.imgur.com/TIuU2?r

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/fe/1d/03/fe1d030da77ec5368f14ef5629d44025.jpg

Tex

 
ok it is about time for some NCAA football

here is a sleeper for you guys: 5'10 220 4.52 40yd time - RB - Alvin Kamara - Tennessee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1nJwvqEJIY

and he has return capabilities also which will help him stick
Alvin is good but he's not yet in that Tier 1 with the rest of the leaders. My only concern and reason I don't put him up there in Tier 1 is that he take too many hits. He can get away with it in college but not the pros. He reminds me of Spiller in the sense that he seems to rely on his speed too much. Again, at the college level he can out run most but in the NFL nearly everyone is blazin!

Two cents,

Tex

 
I stopped covering CFB this year, so am not as up on things as I have been in years past.

That said, I still have opinions on the class. Looks really deep and really good.

I would say Mixon, JuJu, and Chubb are the most impressive draft-eligible players to me. Dalvin Cook kind of has a David Johnson thing going on as a runner. Neither is really a powerhouse, but they've got such fluid and smooth running styles. Not really down on Fournette or Williams overall, but I'm probably down on them relative to the hype levels. John Ross is a fun prospect, but I don't know that he's really worth a high first. Look at where T.Y. Hilton, Philip Dorsett, and DeSean Jackson were drafted. Those are the guys he reminds me of. Like Sutton and Perine. Some good TEs eligible too (Mark Andrews, OJ Howard, Bucky Hodges).

 
I would add David Njoku, I can't wait to see him at the combine. When you watch him play he has "IT" and the hype will be following really soon. I currently have him at #2 only behind OJ Howard. I think it's OJ Howard, Njoku, Evans, then everyone else.

Running backs, I'll take Cook, Fournette, Nixon, McCaffrey, Foreman, Kamara, and then Gallman.

WR I'll take Davis, Williams, Sutton, JuJu, and the Ross.

Curtis Samuel is a wild card, he's that guy you take that chance on when the big boys are gone but he's so talented he has the potential to outperform several players who will be taken before him.

All these guys can be seen as foundation players and our my top guys pre-combine, pre-draft. That won't change but the other players will be but I won't to see how they perform in the combine plus when and where they are drafted.

I currently have a top 30 and that's all I'm concentrating on especially since the football season is over. The only adjustments I make are if they are injury prone or have mentally concerns.

Tex

 
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I've been playing in devy leagues for a long time, but this was my first time putting rankings together. Would love to get some feedback on which guys I have too high, too low or even guys I missed that should have been included in the top 100. Here's a link to the article.

http://subscribers.footballguys.com/apps/article.php?article=hinderydevyrankings0416

Here's my top 100 in order:

Leonard Fournette RB LSU (Jr.)

Nick Chubb RB Georgia (Jr.)

Saquon Barkley RB Penn State (So.)

Mike Williams WR Clemson (Sr.)

JuJu Smith WR USC (Jr.)

Dalvin Cook RB Florida St. (Jr.)

Christian McCaffrey RB Stanford (Jr.)

Calvin Ridley WR Alabama (So.)

James Washington WR Oklahoma St. (Jr.)

Deshaun Watson QB Clemson (Jr.)

K.D. Cannon WR Baylor (Jr.)

Courtland Sutton WR SMU (Rs. So.)

Samaje Perine RB Oklahoma (Jr.)

Ronald Jones II RB USC (So.)

Derrius Guice RB LSU (So.)

Christian Kirk WR Texas A&M (So.)

Jake Butt TE Michigan (Sr.)

Royce Freeman RB Oregon (Jr.)

Wayne Gallman RB Clemson (RS Jr.)

Deon Cain WR Clemson (So.)

Elijah Hood RB North Carolina (Jr.)

Malachi Dupre WR LSU (Jr.)

Chris Godwin WR Penn State (Jr.)

Isaiah Ford WR Virginia Tech (Jr.)

Corey Davis WR Western Michigan (Sr.)

Evan Engram TE Ole Miss (Sr.)

Josh Rosen QB UCLA (So.)

O.J. Howard TE Alabama (Sr.)

Jalen Hurd RB Tennessee (Jr.)

Bo Scarbrough RB Alabama (RS So.)

Allen Lazard WR Iowa State (Jr.)

Audin Tate WR Florida St. (So.)

Artavis Scott WR Clemson (Jr.)

Sony Michel RB Georgia (Jr.)

Travin Dural WR LSU (RS Sr.)

Jeremy McNichols RB Boise State (Jr.)

Joe Mixon RB Oklahoma (RS So.)

Bucky Hodges TE Virginia Tech (RS Jr.)

Austin Mack WR Ohio State (Fr.)

Jordan Leggett TE Clemson (Sr.)

Jehu Chesson WR Michigan (RS Sr.)

Robert Foster WR Alabama (RS Jr.)

Jordan Villamin WR Oregon St. (RS Jr.)

Torrance Gibson WR Ohio St. (RS Fr.)

Josh Reynolds WR Texas A&M (Sr.)

Trenton Irwin WR Stanford (So.)

Brad Kaaya QB Miami (Sr.)

Deshone Kizer QB Notre Dame  (RS So.)

L.J. Scott RB Michigan St. (So.)

Corey Clement RB Wisconsin (Rs. Jr.)

Josh Adams RB Notre Dame (So.)

Mike Weber RB Ohio State (RS Fr.)

B.J. Emmons RB Alabama (Fr.)

Collin Johnson WR Texas (Fr.)

Miles Sanders RB Penn State (Fr.)

Travis Rudolph WR Florida St. (Jr.)

Ricky Seals-Jones WR Texas A&M (Sr.)

Antonio Callaway WR Florida (So.)

Darren Carrington Jr. WR Oregon (RS Jr.)

Tyler Vaughns WR USC (Fr.)

Elijah Holyfield RB Georgia (Fr.)

D'Onta Foreman RB Texas (Jr.)

Jacob Eason QB Georgia (Fr.)

Mark Thompson RB Florida (Fr.)

Soso Jamabo RB UCLA (So.)

Myles Gaskin RB Washington (So.)

Elijah McGuire RB Louisiana Lafayette (Sr.)

Kareem Hunt RB Toledo (Sr.)

Noah Brown WR Ohio State (RS So.)

Tyrie Cleveland WR Florida (Fr.)

A.J. Brown WR Ole Miss (Fr.)

Van Jefferson WR Ole Miss (RS Fr.)

Kyle Davis WR Auburn (Fr.)

DeKaylin Metcalf WR Ole Miss (Fr.)

Mack Hollins WR North Carolina (Sr.)

Demetris Robertson WR California (Fr.)

John Burt WR Texas (So.)

James Connor RB Pittsburgh (Sr.)

Damien Harris RB Alabama (So.)

Antonio Williams RB Ohio State (Fr.)

Shelton Gibson WR West Virginia (Jr.)

Tyron Johnson WR LSU (So.)

Fred Ross WR Mississippi St. (Sr.)

Torii Hunter Jr. WR Notre Dame (Sr.)

Tarean Folston RB Notre Dame (Sr.) 

Tavien Feaster RB Clemson (Fr.)

Curtis Samuel RB Ohio State (Jr.)

Mark Andrews TE Oklahoma (RS So.)

Isaac Nauta TE Georgia (Fr.)

Simmie Cobbs WR Indiana (Jr.)

Terry Godwin WR Georgia (So.)

Luke Falk QB Washington St. (RS Jr.)

Shea Patterson QB Ole Miss (Fr.)

Marlon Mack RB South Florida (Jr.)

Jacques Patrick RB Florida State (So.)

Bryce Love RB Stanford (So.)

Travon McMilan RB Virginia Tech (RS So.)

Mike Warren RB Iowa State (RS So.)

Carlos Strickland WR California (RS Fr.)

Ryan Izzo TE Florida St. (RS So.)
Great list, Dan. Looking forward to seeing the updates now that the season is complete. 

 
List looks pretty strong in hindsight. Good spots on Williams, Cook, and McCaffrey. I wasn't sold on most of those guys as elite prospects a year ago.

I'd have JuJu as the #1 or #2 dev player. He isn't Marqise Lee, Robert Woods, or Nelson Agholor. He is a different breed of WR. Much, much bigger and stronger than any of those. He's a complete WR who can run possession routes, run after the catch, and beat people deep. I see him as a stud prospect and a first round lock.

Mike Williams is a weird one for me. I wasn't blown away by his highlights from 2014, then he sits out a year, and suddenly everyone is ranking him as an elite guy. It really doesn't make sense to me. He doesn't appear to have great playing speed or strength. I view him as a rangy jump ball guy somewhere in the ballpark of Josh Docston and Justin Hunter. I don't think his movement is very good. I won't say he's garbage, but he's nowhere near my top 5 overall and is the most overrated player here IMO. I think we will look back a year from now and see that he wasn't worthy of his billing.
Looks like I was off the mark here. Having said that, really curious to see how their actual NFL careers pan out. A year ago we all had Michael Thomas rated below Doctson, Treadwell, and Coleman.

 
It's finished. Should be up in the next 24 hours. 

I switched up the format just a little bit this year. It's going to be a Top 75 of just RB and WRs.

Then a top 15 QB and Top 10 TEs.

I decided to separate out QB and TE because in a 1 QB, 1 TE league, those guys don't have a whole lot of value and only a couple would be in the top 100 overall. But I know Superflex and even two TE are popular, so I wanted to discuss some QBs and TEs.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
It's finished. Should be up in the next 24 hours. 

I switched up the format just a little bit this year. It's going to be a Top 75 of just RB and WRs.

Then a top 15 QB and Top 10 TEs.

I decided to separate out QB and TE because in a 1 QB, 1 TE league, those guys don't have a whole lot of value and only a couple would be in the top 100 overall. But I know Superflex and even two TE are popular, so I wanted to discuss some QBs and TEs.
Thanks Dan, I'm looking forward to checking it out.

 
  1. RB Saquon Barkley (Penn St., Junior)
  2. RB Derrius Guice (LSU, Junior) 
  3. WR Courtland Sutton (SMU, RS Junior) 
  4. WR Ahmmon Richards (Miami (FL), Sophomore) 
  5. RB Nick Chubb (Georgia, Senior)
  6. WR Equanimeous St. Brown (Notre Dame, Junior) 
  7. RB Cam Akers (Florida St., Freshman) 
  8. WR Deon Cain (Clemson, Junior) 
  9. WR Christian Kirk (Texas A&M, Junior)
  10. WR Calvin Ridley (Alabama, Junior) 
  11. WR Donovan Peoples-Jones (Michigan, Freshman) 
  12. RB Ronald Jones (USC, Junior) 
  13. WR James Washington (Oklahoma St., Senior) 
  14. WR N'Keal Harry (Arizona State, Sophomore) 
  15. WR Auden Tate (Florida State, Junior) 
  16. WR Bryan Edwards (South Carolina, Sophomore)
  17. RB Damarea Crockett (Missouri, Sophomore) 
  18. WR Trevon Grimes (Ohio State, Freshman) 
  19. WR Jerry Jeudy (Alabama, Freshman) 
  20. Demetris Robertson (California, Sophomore)
  21. WR Collin Johnson (Texas, Sophomore) 
  22. RB JK Dobbins (Ohio State, Freshmen) 
  23. RB Bo Scarbrough (Alabama, 4th year Junior) 
  24. RB Najee Harris (Alabama, Freshman) 
  25. RB Trayveon Williams (Texas A&M, Sophomore) 
  26. WR D.K. Metcalf (Ole Miss, Sophomore) 
  27. WR Antonio Callaway (Florida, Junior) 
  28. RB Mike Weber (Ohio State, RS Sophomore) 
  29. RB Damien Harris (Alabama, Junior) 
  30. RB Miles Sanders (Penn State, Sophomore) 
  31. WR Dante Pettis (Washington, Senior) 
  32. WR A.J. Brown (Ole Miss, Sophomore)
  33. WR Tee Higgins (Clemson, Freshman) 
  34. WR Tarik Black (Michigan, Freshman) 
  35. WR Binjimen Victor (Ohio State, Sophomore) 
  36. WR Parris Campbell (Ohio State, RS Junior) 
  37. WR Drake Davis (LSU, Sophomore) 
  38. RB Mark Walton (Miami, Junior) 
  39. RB Myles Gaskin (Washington, Junior)
  40. RB Royce Freeman (Oregon, Senior)
  41. WR Michael Pittman Jr. (USC, Sophomore) 
  42. WR Jhamon Ausbon (Texas A&M, Freshman) 
  43. RB Rodney Anderson (Oklahoma, RS Sophomore) 
  44. RB Ty Johnson (Maryland, Junior) 
  45. RB Kalen Ballage (Arizona St., Senior) 
  46. RB D'Andre Swift (Georgia, Freshman) 
  47. RB Sony Michel (Georgia, Senior) 
  48. RB Rawleigh Williams III (Arkansas, Junior) 
  49. WR Tre'Quan Smith (Central Florida, Senior) 
  50. WR Richie James (Middle Tennessee St., RS Junior)
  51. RB Chris Evans (Michigan, Sophomore) 
  52. RB Joshua Jacobs (Alabama, Sophomore) 
  53. WR Tyrie Cleveland (Florida, Sophomore) 
  54. RB LJ Scott (Michigan St., Junior) 
  55. RB Justin Crawford (West Virginia, Senior) 
  56. RB Akrum Wadley (Iowa, Senior) 
  57. RB Elijah Holyfield (Georgia, Sophomore) 
  58. WR Juwan Johnson (Penn State, RS Sophomore) 
  59. WR Evidence Njoku (Miami, Freshman) 
  60. WR Joseph Lewis (USC, Freshman) 
  61. WR Tyrell Shavers (Alabama, Freshman) 
  62. WR Tyron Johnson (Oklahoma State, Sophomore) 
  63. WR Allen Lazard (Iowa State, Senior) 
  64. RB Ty Chandler (Tennessee, Freshman) 
  65. WR Trent Irwin (Stanford, Junior) 
  66. RB Kamryn Pettway (Auburn, RS Junior) 
  67. WR Brandon Martin (Arkansas, Junior) 
  68. WR Devin Duvernay (Texas, Sophomore) 
  69. RB Tavien Feaster (Clemson, Sophomore) 
  70. RB Ryquell Armstead (Temple, Junior) 
  71. WR Van Jefferson (Ole Miss, RS Soph) 
  72. WR Blake Lynch (Baylor, RS Sophomore) 
  73. RB Stephen Carr (USC, Freshman) 
  74. RB Salvon Ahmed (Washington, Freshman) 
  75. WR Nate Craig-Myers (Auburn, Sophomore) 
QUARTERBACK

  1. Josh Allen (Wyoming, RS Junior) 
  2. Sam Darnold (USC, RS Sophomore) 
  3. Josh Rosen (UCLA, Junior)
  4. Lamar Jackson (Louisville, Junior) 
  5. Luke Falk (Washington State, RS Senior)
  6. Jacob Eason (Georgia, Sophomore) 
  7. Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma St., Senior) 
  8. Jarrett Stidham (Auburn, RS Sophomore) 
  9. Jake Browning (Washington, Junior) 
  10. Jalen Hurts (Alabama, Sophomore) 
  11. Shea Patterson (Ole Miss, Sophomore) 
  12. Jake Bentley (South Carolina, Sophomore) 
  13. Davis Mills (Stanford, Freshman) 
  14. Deondre Francois (Florida St., RS Sophomore) 
  15. Trace McSorley (Penn State,RS Junior) 
TIGHT END

  1. TE Mike Gesicki (Penn State, RS Junior) 
  2. TE Mark Andrews (Oklahoma, RS Junior) 
  3. TE Dallas Goedert (South Dakota St., RS Senior)
  4. TE Troy Fumagalli (Wisconsin, RS Senior) 
  5. TE Isaac Nauta (Georgia, Sophomore) 
  6. TE Adam Breneman (UMass, RS Senior) 
  7. TE Alize Mack (Notre Dame, Junior) 
  8. TE Daniel Imatorbhebhe (USC, RS Sophomore) 
  9. TE DeAndre Goolsby (Florida, Senior) 
  10. TE Irv Smith (Alabama, RS Freshman)
 
Thanks for posting. I'm surprised DK Metcalf is so low
He might be a little low. I wouldn't try to talk anyone out of ranking him 10 spots higher if they like what they've seen of him.  

That 15-30 range is tough to differentiate and those guys are all pretty close for me. It's mostly made up of raw, unproven, but high-upside freshman and sophomores and I think it's up to each individual to pick who they want to bet on most heavily in that range. There were some guys I felt a little better about than Metcalf for various reasons. Some have proven more in college (Metcalf has just 2 career catches after breaking his foot early). Others have a lot more speed (haven't seen anything with Metcalf under 4.7).

And not to get way off topic here, but part of making decisions on these young guys is deciding what traits you think the NFL will most value in 3 years. And maybe that's the tie-breaker when deciding if you want an Amari Cooper/Brandin Cooks/John Ross/Will Fuller type of athlete or a Mike Williams/Laquon Treadwell/Kelvin Benjamin type. I'm more willing than some others are to value the sub-200 pound speedsters (Jerry Jeudy, Demetris Robertson, etc.) over some of the big-bodied jump-ball types like Metcalf.

 
I know Metcalf was a highly recruited player, but I prefer my devy picks go to players who have actually produced something in college

 

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