Fantasy Football Draft Rookies: Ben Sinnott, Brock Bowers, Rome Odunze (2024)

Before the 2024 NFL Draft kicked off in the Motor City, I released an article titled How to Value Rookies Pre-Draft (2024 Fantasy Football) to provide some insight into the approach for rookies in dynasty and pre-draft best ball fantasy football formats.

The first-year talent that has entered the league the past few seasons warrants excitement because guys are hitting the ground running for fantasy football. The list is impressive: C.J. Stroud, Zay Flowers, Sam LaPorta, Puka Nacua, Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Drake London, Christian Watson, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, Jonathan Taylor, Kyle Pitts, Jaylen Waddle, Najee Harris, Javonte Williams and Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Let’s look at fantasy football rookie wide receiver and tight values ahead of your fantasy football drafts.

Fantasy Football Rookies

Rome Odunze (CHI)

At the end of the day, you want to be overly aggressive attacking rookies in the 2024 WR draft class. The top three guys are priced appropriately, but they are inherently keeping this next tier of rookie WR prices in check. Exploit them.

Last season, all non-Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR30) rookie WRs were being selected after WR45. In 2022, the top six rookie names were in the WR34-WR54 range.

Again, rookie WRs last season — in a weaker class — were going ahead of all the non-Brian Thomas/Xavier Worthy WRs.

It’s funny to draw another JSN/Odunze parallel with their situations eerily similar as rookies: No. 3 projected WR on a new team, Shane Waldron as the OC, etc.

Total routes run aligned "out wide" in college

Jaxon Smith-Njigba – 88

Rome Odunze – 1,050

— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) May 1, 2024

I’ll be surprised if Odunze disappoints like JSN did last year. I said that he was the best value pre-draft among the “Big Three,” and he remains their post-draft.

Xavier Legette looks like he’s being devalued the most despite Round 1 draft capital. Reminds me of Josh Downs and Jahan Dotson’s falls. One of Legette’s closest comps is Davante Adams, per Mock Draftable. Another close comparable is Donte Moncrief, also a 2014 prospect.

The last thing I want to note — tying things back to the 2014 NFL Draft, which was strong at WR and weak at RB — the talent/production pool fell off a cliff after round two. Even in a talent-rich WR class, NFL coaches and GMs sniffed out almost all the top producers in the first two rounds.

In a sense, nobody besides John Brown and Martavis Bryant slipped through the cracks. So, with everybody on a quest to find “this year’s Puka Nacua” – I know it drives clicks—the best rookie WR who provides the biggest edge in fantasy football will likely be one of the guys selected in Round 1 or 2. Look for those values first.

Dial in on the rookies with round one or two draft capital and reap the rewards, especially in the late rounds. Grabbing these late-round WRs allows you to stockpile RBs, QBs, and TEs earlier in your best-ball drafts.

Brock Bowers (LV)

For those that have high hopes on rookie tight end Brock Bowers delivering in Year 1, you are in luck. He’s the TE9 in best ball ADP after being selected 13th overall in the NFL Draft. But the Georgia product is not being slept on in any capacity compared to last year’s first-round TEs between Mayer (TE21) and Kincaid (TE25). Kincaid’s price got up to TE16 after he was drafted by Buffalo in Round 1.

However, Bowers is being drafted very close to his ceiling as a locked-in fantasy TE1, and I can’t support that price given his unfavorable landing spot. Part of the reason why highly drafted rookie tight ends have failed is they go to bad teams with bad QBs.

Hello, 2024 Las Vegas Raiders.

I just can’t get behind this landing spot. Are we honestly convinced that new Raiders OC Luke Getsy is going to create an offense that takes advantage of Bowers as a true big slot while feeding WRs Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers? Let alone in an offense that HC Antonio Pierce wants to run the ball 30-plus times per game? With Aidan O’Connell/Gardner Minshew at quarterback?

We know that tight ends can be the most landing-dependent offensive pieces. Kyle Pitts was a good rookie with Matt Ryan. Done nothing since.

And they don't hate Michael Mayer.

Raiders GM, "we love Michael Mayer. I love Michael Mayer, and he's a really good player."

— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) April 29, 2024

Ben Sinnott (WAS)

After Bowers, we only had one tight end drafted in Round 2. Ben Sinnott by the Washington Commanders. And just one more drafted on Day 2, with Illinois’ Tip Reiman by the Arizona Cardinals in Round 3 (82nd overall).

Twenty-eight percent of Round 2 tight ends finish as top-24 options, so expect 1-2 to be fantasy-relevant in Year 1. Unless Trey McBride is injured, it’s pretty easy to see Sinnott finishing in the top-24 conversation as the clear-cut TE2 in the class.

It’s hard to beat the landing spot that Sinnott got with the Washington Commanders, a team desperately looking for additional playmakers. Pre-draft, the Commanders’ top three playmakers were Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, and Zach Ertz (cringe).

Dyami Brown and Jamison Crowder are penciled in to see a ton of WR snaps, which likely isn’t ideal. Ertz is not a long-term option at tight end. Given the overwhelming evidence of more than 1 of these Washington decision-makers drafting a tight end with Day 2 capital, I expected the Commanders to draft a tight end in this year’s draft. And Sinnott fits what Adam Peters (formerly of the 49ers) would want at tight end. Great after the catch, super productive at the college level, above average athleticism, and experience as a fullback.

He’s Sam LaPorta, George Kittle, and Kyle Juszczyk, all wrapped up into a fun package. The best part is that he has a path to targets in the Commanders’ offense.

Now, it remains to be seen how effective Jayden Daniels will be in Year 1. But it’s clear that Sinnott has firmly stamped his TE2 ticket in this class after hovering in that area pre-draft.

I liked him a lot as a tight-end prospect, so I don’t need to be convinced any further with this great situation he finds himself in.

Just praying that Kingsbury doesn’t play Ertz over Sinnott as he did McBride during his rookie year. I also don’t love Peters’ praise of Sinnott’s blocking.

Adam Peters on Sinnott.

, "He reminds me of guys like (San Francisco 49ers fullback) Kyle Juszczyk and (tight end) George Kittle, the way he blocks and in a way he moves and just the way he competes…Ben has that same mindset. He plays with that mindset. He can block really…

— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) April 29, 2024

He’s the TE24 in early best ball ADP.

It wasn’t until Day 3 that tight ends started to fly off the board. Most of these guys are facing a major uphill battle for Year 1 production.

I’ll take shots at Ja’Tavion Sanders, Theo Johnson or Erick All, where I can at least envision them rising depth charts on their respective rosters.

NFL C.J. Stroud Zay Flowers Sam LaPorta Puka Nacua Bijan Robinson Jahmyr Gibbs Breece Hall Garrett Wilson Chris Olave Drake London Christian Watson Justin Jefferson Ja’Marr Chase Tee Higgins Jonathan Taylor Kyle Pitts Jaylen Waddle Najee Harris Javonte Williams Amon-Ra St. Brown