Ultimate Rookie Report Player of the Year
So long 24-25 season
There is a lot of info in here so I’m just going to jump right into it. Here is the recap for the rookies on the year!
Embed from Getty ImagesKicker
There were only two rookie kickers of whom I was aware, and one of which got cut midseason. Brayden Narveson spent a third of the season on the Green Bay Packers before being unceremoniously cut. He had 59 total points for an average of 8.4 a game. Kicking 12/18 field goals isn’t going to keep anyone on a roster for long.
Joshua Karty went 29/34 on his field goals and 32/36 on his extra point attempts for the Rams for 135 points (or 7.9 per game) this season. He was the 15th best kicker in fantasy and the number one in this columnist’s heart. At least this year.
Tight End
Ben Sinott, Tip Remain, and Ja’Tavion Sanders all had time at the position this year, but there really only is one TE to note in the 2024 season. Brock Bowers absolutely dominated. He broke Mike Ditka’s receiving yards for a rookie tight end with 1194 yards and Puka Nacua’s record for most receptions by a rookie with 112. In a down year for tight end production, fantasy owners who picked Bowers at an average ADP of 105 really crushed this selection. As the best TE in fantasy this year, he beat the next closest player, Trey McBride, by 13 points and last year’s rookie darling, Sam LaPorta, by 87.
Embed from Getty ImagesRunning Back
This year there were only three rookie running backs that had any value of being on a roster. Ray Davis had a decent year behind James Cook for the Buffalo Bills. It was hard to guess when he would perform well, but he did end up being the 40th RB of the season with 116.1 points.
I am a huge fan of Tyrone Tracy. When the lead back, Devin Singletary, went down, Tracy took over the Giants’ backfield. Despite the Giants being a mess offensively with a rotation of quarterbacks and an injured offensive line, Tracy still put up 182.3 points and ended the season as RB26 ahead of some of the higher profile runners such as Kenneth Walker III, Rhamondre Stevenson, Javonte Williams, Travis Etienne and Brian Robinson Jr. Sadly, Tracy wasn’t even on my radar preseason and then he was absolutely fantastic. Giants fans will never appreciate him though, because he isn’t Saquan Barkley. I am very bullish on the future of Tyrone Tracy if the Giants offense can become even moderately functional.
The real prize (and surprise) of the season was THE Bucky Irving. People were so sure that Rachaad White would be the lead in Tampa Bay based on his receiving stats from last season alone, but Bucky dominated in all facets of the game. As the king of the free agent pickups this season, Bucky ended up the 13th best RB in all of fantasy, averaging 14.4 points a game for a total of 244.4 points.
Isaac Guerrendo is an honorable mention. When the three RBs ahead of him went down in San Francisco, Guerrendo really took the reins. He was a solid free agency pickup late in the season.
Wide Receiver
Of the 20 rookies that recorded fantasy points this year, I want to highlight the top five.
Xavier Worthy opened the season with a bang, then cooled off, but finished strong. He also had some incredible games in the playoffs, hopefully providing momentum for the coming season. Worthy was the 33rd best receiver on the season getting 187.2 points.
Marvin Harrison Jr was the rookie version of classic Mike Williams. He had 8 explosive games with over 15 points, but they were hard to predict. The other eight gameswere absolute clunkers, with Harrison scoring under eight points.
Ladd McConkey was the Chargers offense this year. 240.9 points made Ladd McConkey the 12th best wide receiver in the league.
Malik Nabers would have been the best rookie wide receiver based on his average (18.2), but unfortunately missed two games this season. He still ended up being the 6th best receiver in the league. The really scary thing is thinking about what he could do with a competent quarterback and not the carousel he had to put up with this year.
Brian Thomas Jr is the rookie wide out of the year. He absolutely looks the part of a stud in another offense that underperformed. 284 points made Brian Thomas Jr the 4th best wideout in fantasy overall.
Quarterback
There were five rookie quarterbacks this year. Let’s talk about them.
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Michael Penix started the last three games of the season. One big game against a terrible Carolina defense helped him put up a whopping 47.1 points on the season.
Drake Maye had little help in terms of offensive line, wide receiver or play calling. I still really like Maye, despite him playing most of the season and only getting 187.1 points.
The number one overall pick in the NFL Draft, Caleb Williams, struggled more than most people expected. Williams got 260.5 points on the year, despite having a bevy of receiving options (including rookie Rome Odunze). The offensive line is terrible, so an upgrade there may help him, but he was only the 16th best quarterback on the season.
Bo Nix was the quarterback free agent of the year. The ADP for Bo was 198 (so, for the most part, undrafted in redraft leagues) and he ended up being the seventh best quarterback and seventh best player in fantasy. Absolutely insane! That leaves the only player I have left worth talking about who is…
THE ULTIMATE ROOKIE REPORT PLAYER OF THE YEAR (URRPY for short)
Jayden Daniels played out of his mind this season. He literally turned a woeful Commanders team from 4-13 to 12-5 with a playoff berth. Daniels broke the rookie record for rushing as a quarterback from fellow Commander Robert Griffin III with 891 yards rushing (and if you play fantasy, you know that’s a whole lot of points alone), 25 passing touchdowns, 3568 yards passing, and 6 rushing touchdowns. 891 yards rushing is eye popping for anyone, but especially a rookie. With an average draft position of 112, Jayden Daniels was the 5th best player in all of fantasy and this year’s URRPY.
There is a world where an owner could have had the top rookie at each position and had an average floor of 68.1 points per week (ignoring kicker of course). A rookie team of the best players would have scored 109.3 fantasy points per game and taken you pretty far in a season.
It’s always hard to write this article. For one, it’s a lot of information to disseminate and parse down to something that’s readable. It’s also hard to say goodbye to these players that I have been watching so closely. This is a fun article to write every week and I gain some good insight into fantasy football and just football as a whole. I hope you as readers took something from the Ultimate Rookie Report this year. If you made it this far, thank you Wife, Mom, and Geoff Lambert. I need a recharge after the season, so I will be back with my analysis post-NFL Draft.
Love,
@MeLlamoMoron
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