NFL 2018: Rookie RB Rankings
The NFL Draft has been and gone, with a number of teams reinforcing their backfield with young and hungry runners. Today I am going to look into the best 5 prospects for fantasy football out of this rookie RB draft class.
Note: Saquon Barkley is by far and away the clear number 1 rookie RB for me. He was drafted with the number 2 overall pick and will receive a huge volume of touches throughout the season.
I have covered him in a recent article, so I am going to leave him out of this list.
You can read about it here: NFL 2018: Top 12 0.5 PPR NFL Fantasy Running Backs
#1 Derrius Guice – Round 2, Pick 59 – Washington Redskins
For a while, Guice seemed certain to be drafted as the second running back off the board, behind Saquon Barkley.
But as the Draft grew nearer, the LSU prospect garnered a lot of negative press about his attitude and apparently had some bad one on one meeting with teams after the combine.
Teams seemed to take notice, as Guice fell to the back end of the second round when the Washington Redskins finally took him with the 59th overall pick.
For Guice, Washington is an ideal landing spot. The Redskins struggled to get anything going in the running game last year with Rob Kelley and Samaje Perine trying, but failing to consistently put up good numbers on a regular basis.
The only bright spot in the backfield for the Redskins was the play of Chris Thompson. Thompson is mainly utilized on third downs and passing situations due to his small stature and electric speed.
He was productive when given the chance, until he suffered a broken leg in week 11, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. I can see Thompson retaining third-down duties as catching isn’t Guice’s forte.
Guice is a tough runner, who is more powerful than his size suggests. He has good speed and the ability to find the hole as soon as it appears. Guice will take over as the early-down back and should receive plenty of volume in 2018. I see him being in the RB2 category for Fantasy this year.