2024 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: MarShawn Lloyd, Jonathon Brooks, Blake Corum

This is what we’ve been waiting for, fantasy football enthusiasts. The NFL Draft is under way, and we finally get to see where the rookie prospects are going to launch their professional careers. And NFL Draft landing spots allow us to start to zero in on fantasy football and dynasty rookie draft pick values.

As the players are selected, let’s dive into what our NFL Draft expert, Thor Nystrom, has to say for each pick made. Here you can find all of Thor’s 2024 NFL Draft Rankings and player comparisons. Below we’ll dive into a few notable names expected to be selected this week.

Fantasy Football Rookie Draft Outlook

Thor’s NFL Draft Profile & Player Comp

3. Jonathon Brooks (Texas)

6003/216 | RAS: N/A
Player Comparison: Smaller Aaron Jones

Brooks spent his first two years on campus stuck behind Bijan Robinson and Roschon Johnson. Last summer, he beat out a pair of five-star prospects to win the RB1 role in Texas. Brooks proceeded to have his national coming out party, averaging over 140 scrimmage yards per game through the first 10 contests of the season.

Unfortunately, Brooks tore his ACL against TCU on November 11. That injury complicates his evaluation. Brooks enters the NFL with a 10-game sample of strong tape but without a pre-draft process.

Brooks has very good feet. His best trait is his slipperiness at his size. Brooks is capable of stringing together combinations of moves in space to evade defenders. He’s a smooth-moving glider.

Brooks punches the gas and reaches top speed very quickly when he sees his opening. He can capitalize on openings by threatening them instantaneously with his upfield explosion. Quicker than fast, Brooks is the type of runner who profiles to hit a bunch of doubles but not many dingers at the next level.

He typically makes good decisions behind the line but there are instances of Brooks pressing the issue prematurely instead of working with his offensive line to set up blocks.

Brooks has very good body control and can force off-angle and arm-tackle attempts he can run through. But he’s dead-to-rights on direct contact with form. Brooks weighed in at 216 pounds during the pre-draft process but was listed at 207 at Texas. I expect him to play at a weight closer to his Texas listing.

You’d like to see him be a bit more aggressive into contact, or plunge into the muck with leg drive more often to take the yards available to him instead of always hunting for that opening to exploit into the second level — sometimes those openings never develop and he’s swallowed up still searching for it.

Perhaps improvement will come in the instinct department with more experience. Remember, Brooks only started 10 full games in college. But, at present, this is an area of his game that might initially frustrate his NFL coaches as it will lead to drives getting behind the sticks too often for comfort at the NFL level.

Brooks is usable on passing downs but may not be a value-add early on. He has reliable, soft hands, but is not a dynamic receiver out of the backfield capable of running a full complement of routes. In pass-pro, Brooks has shown to be willing but needs work on his technique. He can get in trouble when he tries to lunge into pass-rushers coming downhill, leading to whiffing the target.

Brooks said earlier this month that he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery and will be ready for NFL training camp in late July. He’s a top-three back in this class but, in my opinion, he doesn’t offer the ceiling of the two runners ranked ahead of him.

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4. MarShawn Lloyd (Southern Cal)

5086/220 | RAS: 8.57
Player Comparison: Rashard Mendenhall

It wouldn’t surprise me if MarShawn Lloyd turned out to be this class’ best running back. It also wouldn’t surprise me if he ended his career outside the top 10 in rushing yards. My final grade on him is more splitting-the-baby than a true stand.

What I love: Tantalizing combination of make-you-miss and power. Changes directions suddenly and returns to top gear in a few steps. Runs mean. Thick lower body is a loaded spring that snaps arm tackle attempts. A fighter who doesn’t quit on a run until the whistle blows, fighting for extra yards until the end. Good balance — ricochets away from off-angle attempts and keeps trucking. Big-play threat with 4.4 wheels. Shows adequate patience approaching the line of scrimmage and is emphatic once he makes his decision. Has a good sense for cutback lanes.

What I’m unsure about: Lloyd’s passing game utility is theoretical. When we spoke to him at the Senior Bowl, Lloyd mentioned he wanted to show evaluators his receiving ability because his collegiate offenses didn’t use him as much as a receiver. He caught only 34 balls over his three active seasons. Lloyd did show flashes of receiving skill on tape but he simply wasn’t used enough in this phase to make a referendum either way. Lloyd succeeded in his aim to impress as a receiver in Mobile, creating separation in one-on-ones and catching everything thrown his way. Then again, those were not game conditions. Additionally, Lloyd’s pass-blocking utility remains an unknown. He was rarely asked to do it in college — less than 100 reps over three seasons — and was hit-and-miss in the small sample.

Areas of concern: Lloyd only touched the ball 325 times in college despite spending four years on campus. He was never the bell cow. Lloyd’s freshman year at South Carolina in 2020 was lost to a torn ACL. He was eased back as the RB3 behind Kevin Harris and ZaQuandre White the next year. White missed four games due to a quad contusion in 2022. Last season, he missed one game with an undisclosed injury and then opted out of the bowl game. It’s hard to project him as a three-down back when he’s never been one before and has durability concerns. As a runner, Lloyd needs to be coached out of a bad habit of excessive outside bouncing hunting for explosive runs. Lloyd’s lateral agility and long speed are both strong. Because of that, his prerogative is to swing from the heels. But he too often turns down singles — the available yards in front of him — trying to hit dingers. He also fumbles far too frequently, with eight career fumbles over 360 carries. Lloyd must button up his ball security.

Final word: Lloyd’s evaluation has a wide band of outcomes. If he stays healthy in the NFL, improves his ball security, hones his behind-the-line instincts and becomes the receiving threat he has flashed in small samples, he’ll be an NFL difference-maker. The more likely outcome is that he settles in as a low-level starter or strong complementary back. But there’s also bust potential if health and ball security are persistent issues at the next level.

Check out more NFL Draft profiles and player comps from Thor in our 2024 NFL Draft Guide

6. Blake Corum (Michigan)

5076/205 | RAS: 8.24
Player Comparison: Devin Singletary

Blake Corum went ballistic for 1,463 rushing yards in 2022 despite tearing the meniscus in his left knee on Nov. 19 against Illinois. Were it not for that injury, he may have entered last year’s draft.

Corum handled an even bigger workload in 2023 but wasn’t as efficient, perhaps still feeling the after-effects of the injury, with his YPC dropping from 5.9 to 4.9. Still, he rushed for 1,245 yards and an incredible 27 TDs during Michigan’s title run.

Corum has a bowling ball build. And like the break of a spinning bowling ball, he has very good lateral agility. More skilled than physically gifted, Corum’s patience and vision almost always have him making the correct decision behind the line.

Though he categorically lacks long speed — he’ll get chased down from behind on the instances he reaches open field — Corum has a very quick accelerator he punches emphatically once he sees his opening. He has arm-tackle-breaking muscle in addition to evasive agility to make the first man miss.

He wasn’t used much as a receiver at Michigan the past two years. In instances he was, though, he was shown to be a reliable outlet receiver with soft hands who converts the looks he’s given. Better pass-blocker than you’d think at his size. More than willing to scrap, recognizes where the danger is coming from and gets wide and low in front of it. Larger defenders in the NFL will run him over but he’ll make them work for it.

Corum’s lack of elite attributes caps his upside but he’ll be a valued contributor early. He’s a high-floor, medium-ceiling prospect who figures to go in round three.