2025 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: Dylan Sampson, RB Tennessee
Dylan Sampson exploded on to the national scene this season with an eye-popping 22 rushing touchdowns for the Tennessee Volunteers. Sampson was the catalyst of their offense and one of the major reasons that the Vols made the college football playoff.
Is Sampson a legit NFL prospect or just another player to post gaudy numbers in Tennessee’s offense?
Recruitment
Courtesy of 247Sports.
Sampson was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Louisiana who decided to enroll at Tennessee over other schools like Purdue, Arkansas, Duke, and Cal. He was the RB36 in his class after rushing for 1,374 yards and 22 touchdowns during his final season of high school football.
Sampson not only excelled on the football field, but he was also a track star thanks to his blazing speed. He ran the 100-meter in 10.48 seconds and the 200-meter in 21.16 seconds. He also ran a 6.9 seconds 60-meter dash as a junior at an indoor meet.
Collegiate Career
Courtesy of Sports Reference.
Sampson was a productive member of a three-way committee during his first two seasons in Knoxville. He accumulated 1,001 yards and 13 touchdowns over two years working behind Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small. However, his main competition finally graduated before the 2024 season and Sampson had the backfield all to himself and he made the most of the opportunity.
Sampson ran for 1,491 yards and a whopping 22 touchdowns this past season for the Volunteers. His 22 rushing touchdowns were tied for fourth in the country with UCF’s RJ Harvey.
The other aspect of Sampson’s game that we got to see more of over the last two seasons was his receiving ability. While not overly impressive or noteworthy, he increased his reception total each season at Tennessee and over the final two years he had 37 catches for 318 yards and a score.
Strengths
- Sampson has home run speed and when he gets an opening he makes the most of it
- He’s not just speed, he also shows vision and patience to set up blocks at the line of scrimmage
- He runs really hard for his size and is not easy to bring down
Weaknesses
- He was a limited option in the passing game at Tennessee and will most likely not have much of a receiving role in the NFL
- Sampson struggles in pass protection which will further hurt his ability to be on the field on third downs
- The lack of size probably prevents him from shouldering a workhorse load
Draft Value
Courtesy of Mock Draft Database.
Right now Sampson is projected to be the 109th overall pick in the middle of the fourth round. There’s going to be a common theme throughout the pre-draft process with these non-Ashton Jeanty running backs. There are so many above-average backs in this class that it’s hard to predict draft capital and landing spots. NFL teams are going to have their different preferences and flavors for backs they’re targeting in the draft which could drastically bump up certain backs while others slide.
I think this is a fair prediction for Sampson’s draft value. There will be some teams that really covet his speed, but after a 2024 season which was dominated by workhorse backs some teams may shy away from Sampson due to his size concerns. However, I feel confident that Sampson will be a late third or early fourth-round pick in the NFL draft.
Dynasty Outlook
If Sampson gets drafted on day two of the NFL draft then he is going to be valued highly in rookie drafts this off-season. However, I have concerns about all of these skill position players who are coming out of Tennessee. Jalin Hyatt, Jaylen Wright, and Cedric Tillman have all been busts so far early in their careers and a lot of that is due to the fake offense Tennessee runs. The skill sets that are developed at Tennessee do not translate easily to the NFL because of how different it is. I was skeptical of Wright coming out last year, and I have similar concerns for Sampson.
As of right now, I have Sampson a bit lower than others who routinely have him as a top-five back in this class. There are seven or eight running backs I’d very easily take over him and a handful of others where I think there’s a legitimate discussion to be had. I’ll definitely be out on him as a second-round rookie pick and would consider him more of a late third-round pick.
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