2024 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: Trey Benson, RB Florida State
While in-season trades and chasing championships are fun, the best part of dynasty is, and always will be, identifying and drafting college prospects. Here at DLF, we are starting our early look series to get you acquainted with some of these top prospects before the combine and draft rolls around.
Today we are looking at Florida State RB Trey Benson, who has enjoyed two very productive years in Tallahassee after transferring from Oregon following his second season.
Recruitment
Benson was a four-star recruit from Mississippi and many thought he would stay home to play for Mississippi State but he opted for the west coast and committed to Oregon. Benson was the 21st-ranked RB at 247.
Courtesy of 247Sports.
During his high school career, Benson led St. Joseph to back-to-back state championships while rushing for 3,616 yards and 48 touchdowns during his final two seasons. He ran a verified 4.49s 40-yard dash back in 2019 at a scouting event.
Collegiate Career
Courtesy of Sports Reference.
Unfortunately for Benson, his college career did not start as smoothly as one would hope. He was buried on the depth chart his freshman year as Oregon only played seven games due to the COVID-shortened season. In December of that year, he suffered an awful knee injury during a non-contact drill where he tore his ACL, MCL, both his lateral and medial meniscus, and his hamstring.
He spent most of 2021 recovering from that awful injury but still recovered quickly enough to appear in two games and get six carries for the Ducks. Following that season, he decided it was time to move back closer to home and he transferred to Florida State.
Courtesy of Pro Football Focus.
At Florida State, he enjoyed a breakout 2022 campaign. He had a 91.4 PFF rush grade (13th in the country), he averaged 4.53 yards after contact per attempt (6th in the country), he forced 79 missed tackles (sixth in the country) and he averaged .51 missed tackles forced per attempt (by far 1st in the country), and earned an elusiveness rating of 226 which was also 1st in the country by a wide a margin.
Following the 2022 season, I was in love with Benson for all of those reasons. I thought going back to school was a mistake for his NFL value but he returned with the majority of his team to try and chase a national championship.
Like most players who try and run it back for one more year, his value took a major hit after a disappointing 2023 season. All of those numbers that were so impressive in 2022 fell off a cliff this past season. His yards after contact per attempt fell from 3.53 to 3.53, his missed tackles forced fell from 79 to 45, and his explosive runs fell from 22 to 15. Further, if you take away Benson’s monster game against Virginia Tech where had ran for 200 yards on only 11 carries, he averaged only 4.8 yards per attempt on the year and never again eclipsed the 100-yard mark.
Not only did his numbers fall during his final season, Benson’s backup thrived at the same time. Lawrence Toafili outperformed Benson in yards per carry, yards after contact per attempt, and explosive rush rate with virtually identical numbers in missed tackles forced.
I’m not sure if Benson was banged up most of the year, but his performance this season was far from encouraging.
Strengths
- Big frame at 6’1’’ and 223 pounds
- Great contact balance
- Excellent after contact and runs through tackles
- Quick and explosive when he puts his foot in the ground
Weaknesses
- Impatient runner and tends to miss holes
- Does not possess elite top-end speed
- Relies heavily on strength to make people miss and break tackles
- Four drops on only 39 targets, nothing special in the receiving game
Draft Value
Courtesy of Mock Draft Database.
The NFL draft community is a bit all over the place in terms of Benson’s projection for April. Because of the growing rumors surrounding TreVeyon Henderson returning to Ohio State and Jonathon Brooks’s ACL injury, it’s a bit murky at the top of RB rankings.
On average, Benson is projected as a late second-round or early third-round pick. I find it hard to believe that we will hear Benson’s name called in the second round with the way the RB position has trended over the last few years but crazier things have happened. If I had to guess I would assume he gets selected in the third round of April’s draft alongside a few other backs in the same range.
Dynasty Outlook
Benson’s dynasty outlook is a puzzling case and I’m not sure where he will slot into rookie drafts. This is a problem I’m having with the entire RB class in general. As WRs become more and more coveted in dynasty, quality RBs are getting pushed to the middle of the second round.
As the college season ended, I thought I was going to be completely out on Benson after his disappointing 2023 season, but if you focus on 2022 then there’s a lot to be excited about. Benson could very well still end up being the RB1 in this class if he dominates the combine which I think is a possibility. However, I would not be looking to take him in the first round of rookie drafts and would be much more comfortable with him starting at roughly the 2.02.
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.02 - April 22, 2024
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Drafts: A View from the 1.06 - April 18, 2024
- Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Profile: Devontez Walker, WR South Carolina - April 17, 2024
