Rookie SWOT: Tajae Sharpe

Editor’s Note: As our coverage of the 2016 NFL Draft and its impact on fantasy football continues, we bring you our 2016 Rookie SWOT series. These articles will feature video highlights, combine reviews, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, short-term expectations, long-term expectations and rookie draft advice for over 30 of the best dynasty league prospects from this year’s draft. We’ll follow that up with team-by-team draft reviews because, you know, that’s kind of what we live for.

Make sure you’re ready for your dynasty league rookie draft by staying up on all these articles, checking out our rookie draft guide, rookie rankings, rookie draft cheat sheet and mock draft rooms. There are simply no better resources out there for dynasty fantasy football enthusiasts.

Combine Review

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 194 lbs

Hands: 8 3/8” 

Arm Length: 32 1/4”

Bench Press (225 LBS): 11 Reps

40-Yard-Dash: 4.55 Seconds

Vertical Jump: 33.5 Inches 

Broad Jump: 114 Inches 

Video Clip

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Strengths

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• Smooth, instinctive route runner

• Terrific body control, and uses body positioning to make plays down the sideline

• Deceivingly strong using hands to fight off press coverage and break into routes

• Knows when to “sit” in holes in zone coverage, making life easy for his quarterback

• Tracks and locates the ball well in the air

• Times jump well and high points the ball superbly

• Not afraid to go over the middle, and will be a threat to make plays on short, intermediate and deep routes

• Can kick it into an “extra gear” and has a nose for the pylon 

Weaknesses

• Despite ability to use hands versus press coverage, lacks size and strength

• Could afford to be more physical

• Lacks explosiveness

Overall Skill Set

The Tennessee Titans made Tajae Sharpe the first player taken in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft, and many mocks had him going even earlier. Sharpe is a meticulous route runner with extremely reliable hands. He has the look of an NFL receiver, fights off press coverage well, and uses basketball-like juke moves at the top of his routes to create separation. Sharpe has a high football IQ, and his zone recognition leaps off the tape and will endear him to a mobile quarterback like Marcus Mariota. Sharpe tracks the ball well in the air, and exhibits superior body control, more often than not finding a way to get into a position where only he can make a play on the ball. Despite his less than stellar strength, once the ball is in his hands, Sharpe fights for every yard.

Opportunities

To be perfectly candid, I was not thrilled when I saw that the Tennessee Titans had selected Sharpe—a player I had been keeping an eye on. So, I can understand why many of you might not be overly excited about him in your dynasty rookie drafts. However, I urge you to examine the Titans’ depth chart a bit closer, and tell me, what do you really see? I see a player in Dorial Green-Beckham who has all the potential in the world, and should emerge as their WR1 this season. But, behind him there is far less competition than you might think upon first blush.

For starters, Harry Douglas has only had one truly good season as an NFL receiver (2013), and has never scored more than two touchdowns in a single season. To top it all off, he turns 32 in September, so it’s tough to imagine he’s going to pull a Gary Barnidge and put it all together now. Then there’s Kendall Wright. If he can stay healthy, I expect good numbers from Wright this year, but as we all know, when it comes to football health is anything but guaranteed. Additionally, Wright is—for the most part—a slot receiver, and plays a different style of game to Sharpe, so I really don’t see Wright being a reason Sharpe can’t find playing time out of the gate. Finally, there’s Rishard Matthews and Justin Hunter. While I really like Matthews, he too is a slot receiver. As for Hunter, c’mon man… I want him to be the next Randy Moss as much as the next guy, but he has quickly become the Christine Michael of the receiver position, and quite frankly, if it weren’t for his signing bonus and draft pedigree, I’m not entirely sure Hunter would even make it through final cuts. So what does all this mean? To me, I envision a sure-handed guy of Sharpe’s capabilities winning the competition between he, Hunter, and Douglas for touches opposite DGB.

Threats

The biggest threat to Sharpe is the hodgepodge of receivers currently in Tennessee. At one point or another, all of those names (outside of DGB and Wright) have been roster fodder and trade throw-ins amongst us dynasty folk, and you don’t like to see a rookie having to compete with so many right off the bat. However, I am a big proponent of the “what you see is what you get” rhetoric, and let’s face it, for most of those names above…we’ve seen it. It ain’t that great. So, if Sharpe plays to his potential, he should be able to nullify those “threats” surrounding him at the position.

The other threat at least worth mentioning is the fact that Tennessee went out and acquired DeMarco Murray and then followed that up by drafting Derrick Henry. That tells even the most unaware that the Titans are looking to establish more of a running game this season, which should lead to fewer touches for the receivers as a whole. However, I am not high on the Titans prospects for the near future, and believe there should be plenty of garbage time scoring for their pass catchers, helping to nullify this threat as well.

Short-Term Expectations

Though I am not predicting big things statistically from Sharpe as a rookie in 2016, I wouldn’t be surprised if things broke the right way and Sharpe wound up with the third best numbers from this wide receiver corps come the end of the season. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will spell much fantasy success as far as the short-term is concerned, but in the dynasty world, we don’t just play for today, do we? (See below.)

Long-Term Expectations

I’m tempering my expectations, but I do have Sharpe as a dynasty sleeper as far as my long-term expectations go. Justin Hunter and Kendall Wright are both under contract only through the 2016 season. As previously mentioned, Harry Douglas turns 32 in September, and he is only under contract through 2017 regardless.

Here is what I envision for the future in Tennessee at the receiver position. They just went out and signed Rishard Matthews to a three-year contract. With Wright expiring after this season, they may not bring him back after this year, and roll on with Matthews in the slot. DGB will be their WR1, and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if Sharpe emerged next year as their starting Z-receiver. Sure, he’ll have to compete with DGB and Delanie Walker for targets, on top of contending with the ground game, but there will be more than enough targets for Sharpe to turn in WR3/4 value in fantasy if he does win that role for the Titans next season. Therefore, given where I am seeing Sharpe go in dynasty rookie drafts, that makes him a bit of a steal.

NFL Comparison

The best comparison for Sharpe is Allen Hurns of the Jacksonville Jaguars, both based on the tape, and the measurables. It may surprise you, but in 2015, Hurns only had two dropped passes. Similarly, Sharpe dropped just three passes for UMASS last season. Just take a look at how evenly their measurables compare from their respective NFL Combines:

Now, just for the sake of thorough analysis, let’s compare Tajae Sharpe to one of this year’s top receiver prospects, Josh Doctson. My reason for doing so is simple, I believe that Docston is what Sharpe would be if Sharpe had Doctson-like explosiveness. Just look at how they compare outside of hand size, and the “explosive” metrics:

I am in no way saying that Doctson is a good comparable for Sharpe, but this should help put Sharpe into perspective. He isn’t going to make the acrobatic aerial catches you will see Doctson making on Sundays, but his measurables are not that dissimilar. If he can build up strength, his hands and route running ability will give him staying power at the NFL level, and make him fantasy relevant for our purposes here in dynasty.

Projected Range for a Rookie Draft

I think we will see Sharpe’s ADP slip a bit as we move through the summer, barring injury to one of the Titans other receivers. Of course, news blurbs through training camp always have a way of changing everything, but I see Sharpe flying under the radar this summer. Here on DLF, we currently have Sharpe ranked 20th overall among 2016 rookies. However, the 10 Rookie Mock Drafts referenced here on our site show Sharpe’s June ADP at 26. This means, if you were to hold your rookie draft today, you should see Sharpe go at the beginning of the 3rd round in standard, 12-team leagues. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a few other names currently below him slip by, pushing him into the middle of the third round by next month. I think Sharpe is worth a mid-to-late second round 2016 rookie draft pick, and believe he will make for a great value selection if you are able to add him any later than that. If you do select Sharpe, be patient. He may not give you the immediate return, but his situation should improve in the not too distant future.

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