The 2021 NFL Draft had so much hype and buzz surrounding it as we got closer and closer to the Jacksonville Jaguars being on the clock. Typically, events that are built up that much tend to fall flat, but the Draft certainly lived up to the hype.
There were plenty of unexpected twists and turns and the NFL delivered us an amazing evening of entertainment. The best part about all of this is that we’re just getting started, right? The NFL Draft still has six more rounds to go and there’s going to be plenty more surprises as we go along.
There was plenty of action last night and a lot to unpack from a fantasy football perspective, so let’s not waste any time. Let’s talk about the winners and losers from round one.
Winners
Someone tell ARob that he finally has a good NFL QB! After playing with Blake Bortles, Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles, etc. throughout the course of his NFL career, Robinson is going to have Justin Fields as his QB now. The Bears made an aggressive move up to go get their QB of the future and they absolutely made the right call. Fields is a star in the making and he’s now going to have a huge chip on his shoulder knowing that he fell all the way to No. 11 overall. From a fantasy perspective, it’s wheels up for Robinson and Darnell Mooney.
This off-season for the Dolphins has all been centered around Tua and making sure he has what he needs to be successful. Adding Will Fuller and Jaylen Waddle to this offense is a fantastic step in the right direction to getting him performing at a very high level. Waddle’s going to be able to operate underneath in this offense out of the slot and make life extremely easy on the young QB. Spending that significant of a pick on a receiver that Tua is familiar with is a huge vote of confidence and we’ll see how it pans out.
Just like Tua this off-season, the Giants have done everything they can to set up Jones for success. Bringing in Kenny Golladay, Kyle Rudolph, and now Kadarius Toney is huge for the young QB that needs to prove that he was worth the No. 6 overall selection just a couple of years ago. Jones is going to have a plethora of good receiving options that all he’s going to have to do is get the ball into their hands and let them create. Jones hasn’t been someone I’ve been bullish on for fantasy in years past, but that might change this next season.
Losers
I’m sorry, Jacobs. You deserve so much better. After seeing his stellar offensive line decimated and Kenyan Drake added to this backfield on a significant contract, the Raiders had a massive reach in the first round on an OT. Alex Leatherwood has the big school pedigree and the athleticism that NFL teams value highly, but his tape is all over the place. He does not immediately help this offensive line get back to dominance and he could actually be a liability based on what I’ve seen on film. The Raiders had a chance to bump up Jacobs’ fantasy stock with a solid pick on the offensive line, but instead they took two steps backwards.
One of the obvious risks with holding onto James Robinson in Dynasty leagues was the potential that the Jaguars spent a premium pick on another RB. Robinson was a UDFA last year that had no ties to this coaching staff, which makes it understandable that the Jags spent a high pick on Travis Etienne. Robinson’s Dynasty value is tanked now, but not necessarily all the way. He’ll still be used in this offense and he should have some FLEX appeal in redraft leagues. However, his guaranteed workload is no longer present. And that means Dynasty managers are left empty-handed when it comes to Robinson’s Dynasty outlook moving forward.
This inclusion of Higgins comes with a disclaimer right off the top: He’s still a good fantasy asset. With the addition of Chase to this offense, Higgins obviously takes a bit of a hit. However, this is mostly to his overall ceiling and not his true fantasy stock. There is more than enough work to go around in this offense to support Higgins and Chase together. Higgins might not be able to hit WR1 potential anymore with Chase in town, but he’s still a very valuable Dynasty asset and shouldn’t be bumped down too much.
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Kyle Yates is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @KyleYNFL.