Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Update: Royce Freeman, RB DEN

Bruce Matson

Editor’s Note: To help you dominate your rookie drafts, this series will feature a look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of over 40 dynasty rookie draft prospects and run all through the month of May and even into June. We’ll cover all the premier prospects but also give you critical information on some of the lesser known talents. All of these rookie updates will be loaded into our ever-evolving 2018 Rookie Draft Guide – the ultimate resource for dynasty enthusiasts all over the world.

Name: Royce Freeman

Position: Running Back

Pro Team: Denver Broncos

College Team: Oregon

Draft Status: Round three, 71st overall

Video Highlights

Combine Review

  • Height: 6’0’’
  • Weight: 229 Pounds
  • Arm Length: 32’’
  • Bench Press: 17 Reps
  • 40-Yard Dash: 4.54
  • 20-Yard Dash: 4.16
  • Vertical: 34’’
  • Broad Jump: 118’’
  • Three Cone: 6.9

Strengths

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Freeman has the frame to be a three-down running back at the next level. His size allows him to build up power at the point of contact. Another thing I like about Freeman is his vision. He does an excellent job at seeing the field before approaching the line of scrimmage. Not only does he display excellent field vision, but he has a knack for reading a defender’s momentum and using it to his advantage to slip away for extra yardage.

Running backs in this day and age have to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield to be an important piece of their offense’s game plan. Freeman has the receiving chops to make him a key staple to a team’s offensive attack. He caught 79 passes for 814 and four touchdowns during his four-year collegiate career. Dump offs and screen passes are his bread and butter. Freeman can be a PPR dynamo if his quarterback utilizes him as a consistent check-down option.

More often than not, high-end production at the college level translates to the NFL game. He is one of the most productive running backs in this class with three seasons of over 1,000-yards rushing. Freeman is Oregon’s all-time leader with 5,621 rushing yards. He is also the program’s leader with 60 career rushing touchdowns.

Weaknesses

One of the biggest weaknesses in his game is his lack of burst. Freeman needs extra time to fully accelerate in order for him to hit full speed. This hinders his ability to break through the second level of the defense. It also hurts his ability to build up inertia at the point of contact. When scouts and draft analysts say he doesn’t run to his size, they are talking about how he struggles to generate force while trying to break tackles. I mentioned earlier that he can run with power, but if he was a little quicker he would break more tackles and be a lot tougher to bring down in the open field. Remember, force equals mass times acceleration.

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Another hindrance to his game is his lack of creativity in the open field. He doesn’t have the short area quickness nor the nimbleness to slide by defenders. His jump-cut is about as useful as a plastic knife. Not only is he limited when it comes to making defenders miss, but he tends to embrace contact instead of trying to slip past the tackler.

With 1,026 total touches, Freeman has a lot of wear on the tires. Although we’ve seen running backs who handled hefty workloads in college succeed in the NFL. There’s still a chance that he could breakdown early in his career.

Opportunities

The Denver Broncos invested a fair amount of draft capital to acquire his services. For a running back, a third-round pick isn’t exactly cheap these days. Especially since there’s still plenty of talent on the board. That means the team must believe in his talents.

There’s not much competition on the roster and he should be able to earn a large market share of the touches out of the backfield as early as his rookie season. In the last two years, the entire backfield for Denver averaged just 3.85 yards per carry. The Broncos want to improve the run game and they are hoping Freeman is the player who will help them turn things around. His opportunity share during the early stages of his career makes him a very intriguing play in rookie drafts.

Threats

In the last two years, Denver had one of the worst offensive lines, which is one of the reasons why the Broncos struggled running the football. Also, the coaching staff has a tendency to completely forget about the run when they start trailing in games. They would rather sling the rock with Trevor Siemian and Brock Osweiler than stick with the run. History says game scripts will be volatile in the future and could negatively influence his workload.

Although Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson are not pegged as world class running backs. They do have enough talent to create problems if either one of them decides to go on a tear during training camp or early in the season.

Short-Term Expectations

I expect Freeman to contribute to the team right away. He should gain a sizeable role with the team during his rookie season. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibilities if he finishes the season with over 1,000 yards rushing. Right now, he’s the best running back on the team and the opportunity is going to be there for him to succeed. All he has to do a follow through.

Long-Term Expectations

He should be one of the top players for the Broncos for a number of years. His shelf-life will be dependent on workload and injuries. If he can remain healthy and stay in shape, then he could have a long productive career in the NFL. If C.J. Anderson can stick with the team for a number of years, then Freeman should have no problem winning over the coaching staff this summer.

NFL Comparison

If he can drop some weight and gain some quicks then it’s not hard to imagine him developing his skill-sets to resemble Le’Veon Bell. I say this because both were bigger backs with excellent vision coming out of college. When Bell dropped weight, he instantly became one of the better backs in the league. The one thing that is holding Freeman back is quickness and if he can figure out how to get a little bit quicker then he could become one of the most dangerous backs in the league.

Be aware though. A lot of people are comparing him to Johnathan Stewart because both are bigger backs who played for Oregon. However, Stewart was a freakish athlete coming out of college and although Freeman is a very solid player, he doesn’t stack up athletically to his Oregon counterpart.

Another comparison you can make for Freeman is Mikel Leshoure. Like Freeman, Leshoure was a big back who was gifted at running between the tackles. Unfortunately, due to injuries, we never got to see Leshoure reach his full potential.

Projected Range for Rookie Drafts

Personally, I’ve seen Freeman ranked as high as a top three pick and I’ve also seen him fall as far as the 1.11 in rookie drafts. Landing spots have caused a major conundrum amongst dynasty owners this year. There’s a lot of talent in this year’s draft class which is making it hard for the consensus to decided where some of these players should be selected in rookie drafts. Freeman is a very talented back in a great situation. I can’t hate on anyone who drafts him with a top-five pick.

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bruce matson