Ultimate Rookie Report Player of the Year 2025 Part 2

I realized I forgot to actually crown the rookie of the year last year. Maybe I was just building anticipation. I will have this helpful graph to show the race using the top 2 rookies from each position from a total points perspective.

Winner: Jaxson Dart! It had to be the quarterback, right? The player that literally touches the ball every snap has the most chances to score. Dart edged Jeanty by a mere 1.4 points to win the title this year of URRPofY 2025. However, a pure points basis did not sit well with me this year. Jaxson Dart was only QB14 and won the award? In a 12 team league, Dart wouldn’t even make a starting roster (although with his weekly potential being sky high, maybe he did). Instead, I wanted to create a new award.

Rookie Value of the Year

First, a chart.

Rank	Name	position	final position rank	ESPN predraft position rankings	difference	Average Draft Position	Draft value
31	Jaxson Dart	QB	QB14	33	-19	221.67	-190.67
32	Ashton Jeanty	RB	RB11	5	6	11.33	20.67
56	Tetairoa McMilan	WR	WR16	20	-4	72.79	-16.79
60	RJ Harvey	RB	RB20	25	-5	75.18	-15.18
61	TreVeyon Henderson	RB	RB21	18	3	64.37	-3.37
68	Emeka Egbuka	WR	WR23	37	-14	124.91	-56.91
71	Cam Ward	QB	QB22	23	-1	162.89	-91.89
75	Tyler Warren	TE	TE4	10	-6	108.18	-33.8
81	Harold Fannin Jr	TE	TE6	not rated	-30	290.07	-209.07
102	Quinshon Judkins	RB	RB26	50	-24	99.86	2.14
106	Colston Loveland	TE	TE12	11	1	114.25	-8.25
107	Tyler Shough	QB	QB26	34	-8	256.05	-149.05
118	Woody Marks	RB	RB29	55	-26	257.02	-139.02
121	Andy Borregales	K	K10	not rated	-6
124	Kyle Monangai	RB	RB30	72	-42	239.88	-115.88
127	Tyler Loop	K	K12	10	2
132	Jacory Croskey-Merritt	RB	RB33	29	4	201.14	-69.14
144	Omarion Hampton	RB	RB35	14	21	45.07	98.93
154	Oronde Gadsden II	TE	TE15	not rated	-21	not drafted
159	Jayden Higgins	WR	WR47	57	-10	153.29	5.71
162	Luther Burden III	WR	WR48	69	-21	177.58	-15.58
165	Cam Skattebo	RB	RB37	35	2	107.1	57.9
							average -48.9

The players included in the chart were above the Skattebo Line for rookies, but this is how they ranked as fantasy players this season against the entire league. I feel like the name and position categories are self explanatory. Their final position rank shows how they ranked against players in their own category (QB, WR, RB, TE, K). 

This next column is where things get a little interesting. For context, I went back to the ESPN cheat sheet to see where each rookie was ranked within their own category. Unlike my bank account, negatives are good here. It shows how much each rookie  outperformed experts’ projections prior to fantasy football drafts starting.. 

The following column shows each rookie’s average draft position, which  I calculated and shared before the season started. 

Last but not least, we have value. Value is the player ranking, minus average draft position. Using this method, negative is again king. 

Some takeaways from looking at the chart

-All tight ends outperformed their draft expectations. If I have time, I want to compare this with  the data I have from the last four years.

-Running backs not named Kyle Monangai or Woody Marks underperformed. This is also an intriguing development that needs to be examined. In Omarion Hampton’s and Cam Skattebo’s defense, they were unfortunately injured a large portion of the season.

-This crop of quarterbacks’ value is high, despite the fact that they were not necessarily starting caliber.

-Wide Receivers not named Emeka Egbuka were fairly valued within about a round and a half of where they were projected. Egbuka smashed his projections.

Is this data skewed? Probably. We’re only talking about the top 22 rookies of the season here. A deeper dive would be more time consuming, but if enough people want it I can look into it. Tweet at me if this is something that interests you. 

Without further ado, the first annual URRVotY goes to…

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Harold Fannin Jr.! Rookie tight ends have, low key, been gems the past few years. Nobody expected the second tight end, a tight end sitting behind forever tantalizing (yet always disappointing) David Njoku, a player on the Cleveland Browns of all teams, to perform as well as Harold Fannin Jr. Congratulations Harold Fannin Jr.! On the plus side, you’re on a team that has a young core who came from a legitimately good draft class. On the minus side, you’re a Brown, and they’ll figure out how to squander your best years and let you fade away into mediocrity. However, you’ll always be the first URRVotY. 

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my column for another year. I never thought I would write a fantasy football column. I never thought I’d write anything at all that anyone would read. I truly appreciate every one of the readers that slog through this week after week. 

I hope you learned something and/or chuckled. It’s officially time for my sports hibernation. I’ll pop in with my quick thoughts on the draft, and then I’ll be back for rookie rankings during fantasy draft season. Who knows? I may drop a surprise article after I look over some things if I find anything interesting this offseason.

Love you guys! 

Nathan @MeLlamoMoron Janasik

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