Tue Apr 14th 2026

My Rookies To Avoid List

Jonah Coleman

• Coleman is DLF’s 13th-ranked rookie, while he’s my 18th.
• Coleman is the one player on this list that I could see moving up a lot if he’s drafted earlier than expected and/or if he lands on a team with a thin depth chart. However, I do not think that will happen. His predicted draft capital has been declining throughout the prospecting season. The NFL Mock Draft Database predicted a draft spot of 60th on January 24th, but he has now fallen to 102nd, which would make him a day-three selection. I am almost always unwilling to draft a running back at the top of the second round in rookie drafts unless he is on my “my guys” list, like Cam Skattebo was last year. Coleman is no Skattebo. His collegiate stats are good but not great. He ran for more than 1,000 yards only once in his junior season, and his yards per carry in his senior season was the worst of his four years in college at 4.9. His 17-touchdown senior season at Washington is the only standout statistic in his favor, and his involvement as a pass catcher. His highlights are fun to watch, and he’s good at everything he’ll be asked to do in the NFL, but he’s not as talented as starting NFL backs, which is why he was a three-star recruit out of high school. In a running back class that’s very weak, dynasty managers will reach to add them on their rosters, but I’m not willing to reach for Coleman at the top of the second round. I have three receivers, Antonio Williams, Elijah Sarratt, and Chris Brazzell, ahead of Coleman in my rankings, and one running back and tight end, Emmett Johnson, my RB-3 in this class, and Max Klare, my TE-2 in this class.

Eli Stowers

• Stowers is DLF’s 15th-ranked rookie, while he’s my 20th.
• That’s right. I’m out on a limb by ranking Klare ahead of everyone’s TE-2 in this class, Eli Stowers. I am certain that Stowers will be the second tight end drafted in this class, but I still prefer Klare over him and have him ranked five spots lower than the pros at DLF. No one can argue with Stowers’ production profile in his last two years at Vanderbilt, and his NFL Combine performance ranks among the best of all time for a tight end. I can’t argue with those things. I just have a harder time believing that a player recruited as a quarterback who converted to tight end later in his five-year college career can play tight end full-time in the NFL. If he gets drafted by a team that I am confident will treat him more like a third wide receiver and run three-receiver sets as their primary offensive system, then I would be more inclined to move him up my rankings, but so would everyone else. He’s more of a receiver than a tight end, which will limit his opportunities to play in the NFL. I’m much more excited to draft Max Clare or Justin Joly later in rookie drafts since most dynasty analysts and managers are much lower on them and much higher on Stowers. I saw Stowers in person this year tear up my Longhorns. He’s an amazing college player, but I question how he will translate to the NFL. I know this is my riskiest “my fade,” and I might live to regret it, but I’m putting it on record here to make me look really smart or really stupid a year from now.

Germie Bernard

• Bernard is DLF’s 16th-ranked rookie, while he’s my 30th.
• Bernard is projected to get drafted in the back half ot the second round, but even if his draft capital is that high, I will be avoiding him in rookie drafts. What I like about him is that he’s a do-everything player. Alabama used him as a goal-line back and on passes out of the backfield, used him on trick plays, gave him a lot of run-after-the-catch opportunities, and as a traditional receiver downfield. He is a weapon, at least he was in his senior season. What bothers me, though, is that it took him until his senior season to have a solid year. He moved from Michigan State to Washington, then to Alabama, for his final two years. He was never “the guy” until this season. He had a total of six receiving touchdowns in his first three years until he had seven this past year. Production profiles like his give me caution. When writing articles like these, I always go back to watch the players' highlights and study them further. I have to admit that I liked his tape more on the second viewing, which made me think my 30th-place ranking is too low. I should move him up, and his likely second-round draft capital will definitely push him up in my final rookie rankings, but I will never move him as far as 16th. I have too many other receivers I like ahead of him, even if they get slightly worse draft capital.

Bryce Lance

• Lance is DLF’s 20th-ranked rookie, while he’s my 25th.
• Lance is a frustrating case for me. I want to draft him and thought I was really high on him as a great player to reach for earlier than others would. However, I see that, compared to other analysts, I am still too low on Lance. His biggest question mark is his level of competition, given that he played for North Dakota State. In an emphatic way, he proved that he can hang with the big boys athletically at the NFL Combine when he graded as the 2nd most athletic wide receiver in the class. That significantly changed his predicted draft capital! The NFL Mock Draft Database predicted him as the 162nd pick in January, and now he is predicted as the 89th pick, making him a day-two selection. I’m excited about him, too, and would like to draft him, but I guess I’ll miss out since I’m still not high enough on him. Other than his playing at a smaller school, his limited route tree is what concerns me most. Maybe he can do everything required of receivers in the NFL, but in college, he almost exclusively won with deep passes. He was just bigger and faster than all his competition, so he could easily win that way. He’ll need a greater diversity of skills and routes to be productive in the NFL and for fantasy teams. The questions I have for him keep him a third-round rookie pick in my eyes, but I am sure other managers will reach for him in the second round before I would be willing to do so.

Michael Trigg

• Trigg is DLF’s 31st-ranked rookie, while he’s my 42nd.
• Trigg is predicted to be the 118th pick in the draft, two spots after one of “my guys” from last week, Justin Joly. I expect that Trigg will be a “my guy” for many other managers who enjoy watching his monstrous highlights and massive size. His highlights are fun to watch, but that’s all he has in his favor. His production profile is very weak, and he did not have a productive season until his fifth and final season in college, after playing for three schools and leaving one under questionable circumstances. He has seasons with 7, 17, and 4 catches before his final two years at Baylor, with 30 and 50 catches. He scored a total of 8 touches in his first four seasons before scoring 6 touchdowns in his final season. I much prefer to take a chance on the running backs and even quarterbacks in superflex leagues than to reach this high for Trigg, but I know some people will take a chance on him, as I will do with Joly, who has an incredible production profile with 559 more yards receiving in four years compared to Trigg's five.

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