Here at campus2canton.com, we specialize in the deepest fantasy football format around. Our site is useful for every dynasty league. When you’re managing a 45-man college roster, it’s rare to have incoming NFL rookies that are available.
Rookie top-10 rankings are fun, but this list is for only the most grizzled deep-league players. I have listed below one player at each position who should be available in almost any league and are worthwhile targets as incoming rookies.
Davis Mills, QB, Houston Texans
This one was a stretch, but it is hard to find a quarterback drafted into the NFL who is un-rostered in a C2C league. However, Mills should be available in many devy leagues in your upcoming drafts. A top recruit who chose Stanford over Alabama, he sustained a knee injury his senior year of high school and then another freshman year. He did not see much action for two years. Many managers probably got impatient and sent him to the waiver wire. As a junior, Mills only started six games but looked solid, completing 65% of his passes at 8.1 yards per attempt.
The COVID pandemic complicated his senior season. In five games, he performed about the same as he did in 2019, with a slightly lower yard per attempt. Using the campus2canton player metrics app, Mills showed above-average accuracy, which is important when projecting NFL viability.
As the draft process unfolded, Mills became somewhat of a buzzworthy sleeper. Daniel Jeremiah tweeted that he felt Mills had tools that showed he could be an NFL starter.
Studied more on Stanford QB Davis Mills. He has the tools to be an NFL starter. He doesn't wow you but he has very crisp feet, plays with poise and can make every throw. He isn't a dynamic runner but he moved around inside the pocket to buy space/time. Pro Day 3pm ET NFL Network
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) March 18, 2021
Finally, he really rose to the occasion at his pro day, showing unexpected athleticism with a 4.58 forty time and an excellent 6.90 3-cone drill. In passing drills, he completed 50 of 54 passes in the rain. The Houston Texans selected him in the early part of the third round. With Deshaun Watson’s career in limbo, Mills could get on the field as early as week 1 in 2021.
Gerrid Doaks, RB, Miami
A career timeshare college back, Doaks lands in a spot where there is hardly anyone to share time with. A real-life #ZeroRB backfield, there is no running back on Miami’s roster drafted prior to the fifth round. Yet, the staff has shown they are comfortable feeding one runner. Miles Gaskin had over 20 touches in five games while Salvon Ahmed broke 20 in 2 contests despite limited efficiency and light builds.
The Dolphins signed 2 backs over 220 pounds in Rams castoff Malcolm Brown and 7th round rookie Doaks. We know what Brown is, a steady grinder who can catch some passes but has been useful for fantasy on occasion. Doaks profiles similarly but comes in with some unknown juice since we haven’t seen him on an NFL field yet. At Cincinnati, Doaks averaged almost a full yard more per carry than Brown did, albeit in a Power 5 conference at Texas.
I think one of these bigger backs will have a role in Miami in 2021. Doaks is as good a bet as any. If he shows he can cut it, I wouldn’t be shocked if they let him take over. They could relegate one of either Gaskin or Ahmed to a complementary role.
Mike Strachan, WR, Indianapolis
Strachan took a long and winding road to football. From the Bahamas all the way to the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick. While I typically would be extremely unenthused about a day three wide receiver, being drafted at all out of a Division II college is a big deal. Strachan thoroughly dominated the University of Charleston’s (W. Va) receiving room over his last two seasons. He accounted for 2,326 yards and a whopping 27 touchdowns in 2018 and 2019. That accounted for nearly 50% of his team’s production through the air.
A size and speed freak, he is 6’5″ and 224 pounds with an 85″ wingspan and 4.4 speed. Of course, we’ve all been tempted by that specimen only to be let down when they’re a bad football player. However, the exciting thing about Strachan is that he may still be far from a finished product. He only played two years of high school football in the U.S. A great profile from The Athletic can be found here. I would rather take a chance on the unknown upside in a severely depleted rookie draft than other late-round picks with more familiar names.
Zach Davidson, TE, Minnesota
Following a theme of small school dart throws, Davidson is a 6’7″ 245-pound monster who also posted athleticism scores over the 80th percentile on his pro day. The most amazing thing about Davidson is that he was recruited to school as a punter. However, as the story goes, the Central Missouri staff saw him dunk a few times in a basketball game. They knew they had an intriguing athlete on their hands.
The grainy UCM tape shows a giant with tantalizing tools to both post-up defenders and creates yards after the catch. The last time he played, Davidson totaled a 40-894-15 line, good for 26% of his team’s output. For a tight end, that is quite impressive. Tight ends can come from anywhere between a power 5 championship contender to a pickup basketball game at a local YMCA. I expect him to be a multi-year project. I will be stashing the former Mule on deep rosters hoping to catch a comet as it passes, given his size and speed.
