Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Update: Devin Singletary, RB BUF

Michael Moore

Name: Devin Singletary

Position: Running Back

Pro Team: Buffalo Bills

College Team: Florida Atlantic

Draft Status: Round three, 74th overall

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

COMBINE REVIEW

  • Height: 5’ 7”
  • Weight: 203 pounds
  • Arms: 28 7/8”
  • Hands: 89 ½”
  • 40-Yard dash: 4.66 seconds
  • Bench press: 15 reps
  • Vertical jump: 35.0”
  • Broad jump: 117.0”
  • 20-yard shuttle: 4.40 seconds
  • Three-cone drill: 7.32 seconds

STRENGTHS

  • Showed great cutting ability
  • Good vision, knows when to start and stop
  • Not blazing speed but enough to outrun defenders in pursuit
  • Not afraid to go up the middle
  • Uses his feet well

WEAKNESSES

  • Did nothing to stand out at the combine and had a SPARQ scores in just the 13th percentile
  • Ran the ball a lot in college with over 700 rushes the last three seasons

OPPORTUNITIES

Singletary has an excellent opportunity in Buffalo being the first and only running back drafted by Bills General Manager Brandon Beane in his three years at the helm. Not only does he have decent third-round draft capital behind him, but none of the running backs ahead of him project to even be on the roster next year. LeSean McCoy is 30, Frank Gore is 36 (!) and TJ Yeldon signed on the cheap and has never been anything more than average.

WEAKNESSES

His combine left something to be desired. He’ll have to show up big in training camp and the pre-season to show off his skills. The big college workload is a concern in that he actually saw 100 more rushes than Derrick Henry over the course of their careers, even though Henry saw 400 his last season at Alabama. He doesn’t figure to factor in the passing game after averaging less than two catches-per-game during his three-year collegiate career, including only six catches over the course of the entire 2018 season.

SHORT-TERM EXPECTATIONS

Shareholders shouldn’t expect much during his rookie season. Sure, the Bills run the ball a ton, but he is currently fourth on the depth chart. And even if the Bills move on from McCoy before the season starts, that still leaves Frank Gore and T.J. Yeldon ahead of him. Gore is projected to run the ball on first and second down, with Yeldon working as the passing down back. Singletary is an ideal taxi squad candidate.

LONG-TERM EXPECTATIONS

As mentioned above, he is the first running back drafted by the current Bills administration and it’s not like they used a day-three pick either. I think his long-term outlook is much brighter than the short-term as the Bills could conceivably move on from all three running backs ahead of him as soon as the 2020 season. If he can win the lead back role in Buffalo under this coaching staff, he could be very productive from a fantasy standpoint.

NFL PLAYER COMPARISON

On the surface, I think of Dion Lewis. Very similar physically, neither Lewis nor Singletary do any one thing particularly well, but both have good vision and good foot work when carrying the ball. It wasn’t long ago that Lewis was the first and second down back in New England, running for five yards-per-carry. Dynasty team owners rostering Singletary would love for that comparison to come true.

PROJECTED ROOKIE DRAFT RANGE

He is squarely in the late-first to second round mix when it comes to rookie drafts. On the low end, if you use DLF’s rookie ADP tool, he currently comes in as the 22nd player taken. Using MFL’s rookie ADP tool, he comes in a little early as the 18th player taken. Both are squarely in the mid-to-late second round.

On purely anecdotal evidence, he has consistently gone in the 11-13 range, right at the turn of the first round, in a few rookie drafts between the NFL draft and this writing. My advice is if you like Singletary, don’t let him leave the first if you want a chance at him.

michael moore