Navigating Your Dynasty Rookie Draft: Late 4th

Editors note: Dynasty fantasy football leagues are now year-round leagues. Some leagues start the rookie draft immediately after the NFL Draft in late April. Others occur throughout the summer, with a majority happening in the last few weeks before the season kicks off. If you are in a dynasty league getting ready to have its rookie draft soon, you should find our Navigating Your Dynasty Rookie Draft series helpful. We reversed the order of articles this year, counting down from the late fourth round to the early first round.

Dynasty rookie draft season is the time of year when those teams who missed the playoffs turn their attention to the incoming rookie class, and delusions of grandeur take over until the games kick off. Rebuilders are full of glee as they hoard their picks, while contenders are scheming how they can pry some of those picks away, and dynasty players everywhere are champing at the bit to draft their favorite prospect.

This 12-part series will use the latest Superflex Rookie ADP data available at Dynasty League Football. We will focus on the player or players likely to be available in that specific range we're covering, and will also include options based on the 1QB rookie ADP, whenever actionable, for those who play in that format.

The first round of rookie drafts includes the players we’ve been hearing about for months, if not years, but difference-makers can also be found in the second round and beyond. Each section will encompass four picks, and we will go four rounds deep to help you be as prepared as possible.

Dynasty managers often say late-round picks are worthless and there isn’t anyone worth adding after the third round. I adamantly disagree with this. While the chances of late-round picks becoming top-end players and hitting in fantasy is small, there are always outliers who prove that wrong.

Call me an optimist, but I love late-round picks. The chance of hitting on a diamond in the rough is so enticing. This year especially, I really like the options late in the fourth round of dynasty rookie drafts. I have even found myself selling future rookie picks to move back into the draft to grab some of my favorite players late in the fourth round. While these picks were based on the current ADP from DLF, all of these players are guys who I have personally targeted in my rookie drafts.

Superflex 4.09

Theo Johnson, TE NYG

The former Penn State TE enters the NFL following in the same path as some impressive former Nittany Lions. While they haven’t piled up the points in Happy Valley under head coach James Franklin, they have figured out how to recruit elite TE talent. Penn State has a nice run of TEs being drafted recently including, Mike Gesicki (Dolphins 2nd RD, 2018), Pat Freiermuth (Steelers 2nd RD, 2021), Brenton Strange (Jaguars 2nd RD, 2023), and this season with Johnson going in the fourth round to the New York Giants.

Johnson comes out of college with average production, but elite athleticism. His best season in college was his final year with 34 catches for 341 yards and seven touchdowns. But Johnson absolutely blew everyone away at the NFL combine where he put up a RAS score of 9.93. It was the ninth-best RAS score for a TE all-time among 1,199 players at the position since 1987.