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2021 NFL Draft Winners & Losers: Day 2

2021 NFL Draft Winners & Losers: Day 2

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 it’s not done yet. We still have four rounds left to go and a lot of valuable potential fantasy assets that could fall into good landing spots.

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

D’Wayne Eskridge

Eskridge was certainly someone that I was very high on entering the NFL Draft, despite people saying he would be drafted in the fourth or fifth round. I never believed that he would fall out of the second round and he was selected to the Seattle Seahawks at pick No. 56. The Seahawks have three picks in the 2021 NFL Draft and, rather than trade back, they stayed and selected the speedster out of Western Michigan. While there are certainly questions about how he’ll fit in this offense that runs a ton of 2-WR sets, he’s getting to catch passes from Russell Wilson and Seattle clearly was intent on bringing him into their building. They have a plan for him.

Trey Sermon

Sermon was an interesting case study heading into the Draft. He could fall into a perfect landing spot that would give him a ton of opportunity or he could land as a depth piece in a backfield that would render him useless for fantasy football. The 49ers traded up to acquire the productive RB out of Ohio State and he should see plenty of work in this offense that’s ready to go nuclear. He’ll most likely split work with Jeff Wilson, but Sermon should be a very valuable fantasy asset right away.

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Fitzpatrick was already someone worth monitoring from a fantasy perspective heading into next season, but he got even more appealing last night after the investment in OT and WR that Washington made on Day 2. Samuel Cosmi in the second round is an absolute steal and he’s going to go a long way to keeping Fitzpatrick upright. Additionally, Dyami Brown in the third round is good value and he’ll be a perfect field stretcher for this offense. All if it goes together to equal good things for this offense and Fitzpatrick in 2021.

Losers

Jamison Crowder

Crowder was already expected to be on his way out in New York due to his massive cap hit this season, but the selection of Elijah Moore at the top of the second round solidified that. Moore will step into the slot receiver role in this offense, which means that Crowder no longer has a home on this depth chart. If you were hoping that Crowder could squeak through this draft and still be fantasy relevant, you’re now disappointed.

Melvin Gordon

Gordon looked to be heading towards a massive workload in 2021, but that came crashing down all around him with the Broncos trading up to go get the bruising RB out of North Carolina, Javonte Williams. Gordon has just one year left on his contract and it appears that the Broncos are getting ready for life after him. These two will most likely split the workload this year, but then Williams will be the main workhorse in 2022.

Eric Ebron

While Ebron wasn’t exactly the most fantasy relevant option, he was still productive due to the offense he was in and the lack of competition around him at his position. The Steelers chose to forsake the offensive line in the second round and they drafted the talented TE prospect, Pat Freiermuth. Freiermuth and Ebron will compliment each other nicely this season, but Ebron’s future with this team is now in jeopardy down the road. There’s also a strong possibility that Freiermuth simply beats out Ebron in camp and Ebron loses all fantasy value.

 


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Kyle Yates is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @KyleYNFL.

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