Who is Andrei Iosivas? Hint: Not Christian Watson
Andrei Iosivas
Princeton – Wide Receiver – 6’3″ 212 lbs.
2022 Stats: 66 rec 943 yds 14.3 ypr 7 td
Pros
The name Andrei Iosivas may sound like a European basketball player, but he’s a big, athletic, albeit lesser-known, 2023 wide receiver prospect. The Princeton product raising eyebrows and getting buzz, but is he a trap? We are always looking for “this year’s ___” or “the next ____” in fantasy football, especially during draft season. Iosivas is already drawing comparisons to Christian Watson. Small school/FCS program, wide receiver, big, athletic, Senior Bowl invitation. It’s an understandable comparison, and Iosivas has some positives.
Ioisvas has a track-and-field background and good speed. He will probably test well at the combine. Iosivas accelerates downfield and uses his big body well for contested catches. He demonstrates good ball tracking and can handle traffic.
From an analytics perspective, the data gathering on Iosivas is still catching up to his buzz, but we can glean some positives from his profile. He will likely check the athleticism boxes with a sub-4.5 40, good speed scores, and an impressive relative athletic score (RAS). Iosivas was a big piece of the Princeton offense, so his production metrics should look good. We already know he had an excellent receiving yards per team pass attempt (RYPTPA) mark of 2.63 in 2022 and that he accounted for around 25% of the team’s scrimmage yards and almost 19% of its touchdowns. His college dominator rating is listed at 40.5% on Player Profiler.
We also have to like his 6.7 yac/rec and 2.71 y/rr in 2022, his career average of 2.40 y/rr, his 2022 mark of 24.9% t/rr, and his steady improvement in contested catch rate that ended with a 68.8% career best in 2022. (PFF)
Cons
While Iosivas has an attractive size/speed combo and is getting some buzz, he definitely has limitations as a prospect. He is already 23 and will turn 24 in October. The level of competition he faced at Princeton is well below that of most of his peers in this draft class. Additionally, he didn’t win against FCS-level press coverage at the rate you’d want from a prospect we’re asking to make a big jump into the NFL. Iosivas also does not run block well.
From an analytics perspective, Iosivas does not check our raw age box, early declare box, or early breakout box. According to NFL Mock Draft Database, he is currently projected as a round 5 selection, which would not check our draft capital box.
Summary
Around this time last year, Christian Watson was not well-known among most casual fantasy football managers. His 2022 combine performance put him on the map, and he was an early round 2 pick by the Packers (34th overall). I thought it was a bit of a reach then, and Watson started producing earlier than I expected. Can Ioisvas follow the same path?
Yes. And no. Yes, because he will test well at the combine, get on more people’s radars, and likely generate some hype. Also, yes, because, well, anything is possible. But Watson was an early declare, came into the combine with an “athletic freak” tag, and had more production and a higher yards per reception mark in a better FCS program. Be careful when people tell you Iosivas is another Watson, even if those people are an NFL team that overdrafts him. The Christian Watson stories are fun precisely because they are the exception, not the rule.
In a wide receiver class predominantly populated by smaller prospects, Andrei Iosivas appears intriguing as an upside boundary receiver play, but I would temper expectations. Could a great combine sneak him into Day 2? Sure, but I doubt it.
Based on team needs and expected draft capital, the Bears (134th and 138th overall), Giants (129th and 163rd), Bills (131st and 140th), Cowboys (130th, 164th, 171st, 177th), Raiders (144th and 175th), Jets (146th) and Saints (149th and 168th) make sense. If the Bengals (132nd and 166th) plan to move on from Tee Higgins, if the Vikings (161st and 178th) move on from Adam Thielen, if the Buccaneers (156th and 176th) trade Mike Evans, or if the Cardinals (170th) trade Deandre Hopkins, they could be in the mix, too. And who knows? The Chiefs (135th and 169th) could be an interesting destination, too.
Ideal Role: an outside receiver with an NFL WR2 ceiling
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2023 Dynasty Rookie Draft Projection: 3rd round tops, likely 4th or after
Player Comp: Denzel Mims, Breshad Perriman
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