Best of the Rest: Top Remaining Fantasy Players for Day Three

Ryan McDowell Posted On May 2, 2015

cobb

We are now three rounds through the 2015 NFL Draft and the majority of players that will make up the first two rounds of dynasty rookie drafts have been selected and their landing spots are no longer a mystery. We’ve seen rookie value change immensely as players have been selected earlier or later than many expected, while others ended up with the perfect team and others left us scratching our heads.

The draft is not over though and with four rounds left for Saturday, you should be watching closely. After all, there are always some talented players who make a big impact selected on the draft’s final day. Just last year, these players had to wait until Saturday to learn which team they’d be suiting up for to begin their career:

Andre Williams
Devonta Freeman
Martavis Bryant
Isaiah Crowell

We’ll follow the same format as yesterday as we take a look at both the top players remaining that you should be aware of, followed by some teams that may be targeting players from each position.

Note: The order is based on current DLF Rookie Rankings.

Best Available

Quarterback

Brett Hundley
Bryce Petty
Brandon Bridge
Blake Sims
Shane Carden
Connor Halliday

It was a weird day for the quarterbacks. Again, we knew this class was nothing special, beyond the top pair of Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, but we also know that many teams have a gaping hole at the position with no youth to groom. Using a second or third round pick on a young quarterback is very reasonable, even if they are not viewed as sure-fire future starters. Nevertheless, the players many viewed as the third and fourth rated signal callers are still available in Bryce Petty and Brett Hundley. Even with four round remaining, I’m not assuming anything after those two get selected.

[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]

Running Back

Jay Ajayi
David Cobb
Javorius Allen
Mike Davis
Josh Robinson
Jeremy Langford
Karlos Williams
Zach Zenner
Cameron Artis-Payne
Trey Williams

Obviously, the most surprising name on this list is former Boise State runner Jay Ajayi, who seemed to be a near unanimous choice for the RB3 spot in rookie drafts until reports of a bum knee began to spread earlier this week. NFL teams, especially those desperate for help at running back like the Dallas Cowboys, tell us a lot about how they feel about players and how concerned they are when they pass multiple times on a player. I loved Ajayi in college, but we have to be worried that this injury is worse than we thought.

Beyond that storyline, there are some very talented and intriguing backs lefts on the board who could have a fantasy impact. I’m especially eager to see where David Cobb, Mike Davis and Zach Zenner end up.

Wide Receiver

Tre McBride
Justin Hardy
Rashad Greene
Stefon Diggs
Devante Davis
Josh Harper
DeAndre Smelter
Vince Mayle
Antwan Goodley
Deontay Greenberry

I don’t like the remaining depth of this wide receiver group at all. If teams think likewise, we could see a wide receiver run to start day three as teams grab the remaining players making up the available tier. I expect to see Tre McBride, Justin Hardy and Rashad Greene scooped up quickly, but the others may have to wait it out a while. I’d say this list is about seven deep, but I see a steep drop to the end of this group. With the right landing spot, I could see McBride or Greene sneaking into the late second round of some rookie drafts.

Tight End

Jesse James
Nick O’Leary

Much like the quarterback position, there was little depth at the tight end position this year. With a quartet of tight ends drafted on day two, there’s not much left to see from a dynasty perspective. I do like some of what I’ve seen from Jesse James, so him landing in an intriguing spot could make him worthy of a stash in a deep league, but there’s little else to focus on at the tight end position.

Team Needs

Now that we all know the names to look for on day three, let’s look one last time at some teams that might select these players. As I said yesterday, I really enjoyed Dan Meylor’s series, NFL Draft Primer, previewing the draft and ranking the destinations for quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends. I also wrote a piece with a similar theme for running backs. We’ll use those to see which teams are still in need as we look towards day two.

For quarterback, wide receiver and tight end, I included all teams Dan ranked as either three or four star situations. My ranking was more of a projection of who would draft a running back and I included all teams that I scored a four or five, with five being most likely to add a running back through the draft.

Quarterback

Tampa Bay- selected Jameis Winston
Philadelphia
New York Giants
Buffalo
New York Jets
Cincinnati
San Diego
Dallas
Arizona
Tennessee – selected Marcus Mariota

You’ll likely notice little change from yesterday to this list as both of the teams who took quarterbacks on day two were not among the teams Dan identified as ideal landing spots for rookie quarterbacks. We had been hearing rumors the Saints were looking to select a player they could groom under Drew Brees, and that was Garrett Grayson. The Rams, having traded Sam Bradford and landed Nick Foles, selected Sean Mannion. I don’t like Mannion much for dynasty purposes and ending up in St. Louis doesn’t change anything. I do like the potential of Grayson and would stash him is very deep leagues of 2QB leagues. When looking at what to expect on day three, the Bills seem to have a major need at the position and while they are not on Dan’s list, both the Texans and Browns have questions at the position as well. I’d like to see those teams take a shot on Petty and Hundley.

Running Back

Dallas
San Diego – selected Melvin Gordon
Atlanta – selected Tevin Coleman
Washington – selected Matt Jones
Arizona – selected David Johnson
Tampa Bay-
Carolina
Minnesota
Detroit – selected Ameer Abdullah
Tennessee
Jacksonville – selected TJ Yeldon
Indianapolis
Houston
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Miami

Day two gave us several running backs being selected and some of those fit right in to team needs, especially Tevin Coleman to Atlanta, Ameer Abdullah to Detroit and TJ Yeldon in Jacksonville. The most surprising thing of the day may have been Dallas repeatedly passing on running backs. Fortunately for them, as I said earlier, there are still a few backs worth grabbing. I can’t wait to see which, if any, ends up in Big D. Another surprise, which doesn’t even show up here, is the Browns’ addition of Duke Johnson, especially considering the Browns already had a pair of young backs in Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West and huge needs at other positions. I’m not quite sure what to make of this situation, but it seems to hurt the dynasty value of all involved.

Wide Receiver

New Orleans
Philadelphia – selected Nelson Agholor
Dallas
Carolina – selected Devin Funchess
New England
Baltimore – selected Breshad Perriman
Miami – selected DeVante Parker
Oakland – selected Amari Cooper
San Diego
Minnesota
Atlanta
New York Giants

You won’t see many day two wide receivers listed here. Of course, there were many wideouts selected in rounds two and three- seven of them to be exact- but none of those picks aligned with the ideal wide receiver landing spots Dan had earlier pointed out. That doesn’t mean some of those selections were not need based. After all, Kansas City (Chris Conley), Houston (Jaelen Strong) and Seattle (Tyler Lockett) all had needs to fill at receiver. With few highly sought after pass catchers left, I wonder what the Saints will do to fill their need. After all, they’ve lost Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills and Marques Colston seems to be nearing the end of his career. Some playoff contenders like the Cowboys and Patriots could use some additional bodies at receiver as well, and could present good value for a rookie landing there.

Tight End

Baltimore – selected Maxx Williams
Atlanta
Green Bay
New Orleans
Oakland – selected Clive Walford
Cleveland
New York Giants
San Francisco
Arizona
Miami

There were more teams with a need at tight end than there were quality tight end prospects when looking at the 2015 NFL Draft, so it’s no surprise many of these teams have yet to select a tight end. As we near day three, I will be following what the Falcons do at the position, considering there are few options left, both in free agency and in the draft.

[/am4show]

Author
Recent Posts

Ryan McDowell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

In addition to his senior leadership role here at DLF, Ryan is also a husband, father of three and PE teacher. Ryan is the commissioner of multiple dynasty leagues, most notably the Kitchen Sink Dynasty Leagues. Here at DLF, Ryan’s focus is on identifying, monitoring and analyzing player value.