Dynasty Fantasy Football: 2023 Rookie Rankings Retrospective

Before we flip the calendar to a new year, it’s already time to start thinking about the 2024 rookies in dynasty fantasy football! Last week, Dynasty League Football published our first rookie rankings for the 2024 season! But, before we can start calling the 2023 rookies “sophomores,” we have time to take a step back and analyze last year’s rankings, what went well, and what lessons we can apply to the 2024 NFL Draft Class.

Below is a snapshot of our 2023 1QB Rookie Rankings taken from early June, 2023.

Rank	Player Name	Avg Rank
1	Bijan Robinson	1
2	Jaxon Smith-Njigba	2.25
3	Jahmyr Gibbs	3.13
4	Jordan Addison	4
5	Quentin Johnston	5.38
6	Zay Flowers	5.38
7	Devon Achane	8.25
8	Dalton Kincaid	9.75
9	Zach Charbonnet	10
10	Anthony Richardson	11.5
11	Kendre Miller	12.75
12	Josh Downs	13.88
13	Michael Mayer	13.88
14	Marvin Mims	14.88
15	Rashee Rice	16.13
16	Bryce Young	17
17	Jonathan Mingo	17.63
18	CJ Stroud	18.63
19	Roschon Johnson	18.63
20	Sam LaPorta	18.88
21	Jalin Hyatt	19.88
22	Tyjae Spears	20.88
23	Cedric Tillman	23
24	Jayden Reed	23.13
25	Tank Bigsby	23.25
26	Luke Musgrave	25.25
27	Chase Brown	26.5
28	Tank Dell	29.5
29	Will Levis	31
30	Luke Schoonmaker	31.5
31	Israel Abanikanda	31.5
32	Tucker Kraft	33.88
33	Zach Evans	33.88
34	Tyler Scott	34.5
35	Darnell Washington	36.5
36	Kayshon Boutte	37.13
37	Michael Wilson	37.5
38	Hendon Hooker	40
39	DeWayne McBride	40.13
40	Deuce Vaughn	41
41	Eric Gray	41.88
42	Brenton Strange	42.38
43	Evan Hull	42.75
44	Charlie Jones	43
45	Sean Tucker	43.62
46	Dontayvion Wicks	44.37
47	AT Perry	45.5
48	Xavier Hutchinson	45.5
49	Tre Tucker	45.5
50	Parker Washington	45.75
51	Puka Nacua	45.88
52	Trey Palmer	47.5
53	Justin Shorter	48
54	Chris Rodriguez	48.13
55	Kenny McIntosh	48.38
56	Jake Haener	48.5
57	Deneric Prince	48.5
58	Andrei Iosivas	48.63
59	Keaton Mitchell	48.75
60	Dorian Thompson-Robinson	48.75

WHO WE GOT RIGHT

Jahmyr Gibbs (RB7; 16.3 PPG)

The Detroit Lions shocked the world when they took Alabama RB Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick. Dan Campbell must’ve been reading DLF, because we were all over Gibbs as the RB2 in this draft class from the very beginning.

Rookie Rankings in March had Gibbs as the third overall pick in 1-QB rookie drafts, and the second running back selected after Bijan Robinson. Gibbs has been so explosive in this Lions offense. Amongst all running backs with at least 100 attempts so far, he’s second to Jaylen Warren in YPC with 5.4 yards. He’s been dynamic in the receiving game as well, catching 45 balls for 288 yards. 45 catches is 6th amongst all running backs.

Gibbs benefitted from a mid-season David Montgomery injury, but he earned a large role in this offense from the jump. He’s a dynamic, home run hitter who looks like a young Alvin Kamara out there. An argument can be made that, going forward, Gibbs is the RB1 in dynasty from this draft class. Bijan Robinson had an impressive season as well, but he’s stuck in that frustrating Arthur Smith offensive scheme. But, Robinson has outscored Gibbs so far this season 189 to 179. Robinson also has a chance to be a non-sharer in a future iteration of this backfield, while Gibbs will likely always be in a timeshare. The DLF Rankings have Robinson at RB1 and Gibbs at RB4.

Jordan Addison (WR28; 13 PPG) & Zay Flowers (WR31; 12.5 PPG)

Jordan Addison and Zay Flowers were always at the top of Dynasty Rookie Rankings during last year’s draft season. There were flaws for both players, but DLF ranked them as the WR2 and WR4 respectively in the first run of rookie rankings last year. Out of the four first round wide receivers, Addison and Flowers have had the best season, both of them playing as number three wide receivers on fantasy teams this year, but flashing high-end WR2 upside going forward. Their rookie seasons have only been outdone by surprising studs Puka Nacua and Tank Dell so far.

We are seeing a changing of the guard at the wide receiver position. Where once, a 5’ 9”, 182 lbs wide receiver would never sniff the first round, we now see several undersized players succeed as first round picks. Zay Flowers especially epitomizes that trend. Speed and separation are valued more and more over the large, freakishly athletic wide receivers of the past. Zay Flowers’s game is all about separation and yards after catch. Flowers is third amongst wide receivers with at least 50 catches in average separation (3.5 Yards). He’s also first amongst all players with 7.7 yards of average cushion, per NFL Next Gen Stats. He’s only had one contested catch all season. It’s a different game, and undersized, speedy wide receivers like Zay Flowers and Jordan Addison can play much bigger than their size.