Tyrion Davis-Price Fantasy Football Outlook (2022)

By Andrew Erickson (FantasyPros), Thu, Sep 1st 2022, 10:27am EDT

I didn't even think that highly of the San Francisco 49ers running back prior to the 2022 NFL Draft, citing his lack of elite explosiveness - seventh percentile vertical jump, 39th percentile broad jump - lack of pass-game pedigree and underwhelming 19% dominator rating during his final breakout season at LSU.

With arguably the worst yards per scrimmage play in the class, TDP initially looked like a carbon copy of the 49ers' third-round pick last season Trey Sermon. His profile as a gap scheme runner makes the pick questionable to a zone-heavy team.

Davis-Price is also not elusive - 29th in broken tackle rate per Sports Info Solutions - so he will require wide-open lanes to be effective. He also struggles to create yards after contact. His 2.8 yards after contact per attempt ranks 28th in the class.

But all of these concerns are being baked into his free ADP, which isn't capturing his initial burst and long speed - 77th percentile 40-yard dash and 73rd percentile 10-yard split time - or the important metric regarding his Year 1 projection: Round 3 draft capital. And above all, the 49ers' offense breeds an efficient running game like no other.

It's not hard to envision a scenario where the 49ers are forced to turn to their physical bruising rookie running back in the wake of a potential injury to an undersized Elijah Mitchell in 2022 or just use the two in tandem.

San Fran's coaching staff liked the way Davis-Price bullied over defenders in the 4th quarters of games at the college level, so it's easy to picture him in a similar "finisher" role in the pros.