Scouting Rookie RBs: Who’s Real in the 2026 Class? with Dave Kluge Artwork

Dynasty Compass

Dynasty Compass is your guide to building a fantasy football team that lasts. Hosted by Jeff Blaylock—fantasy analyst, Footballguys contributor, and dynasty strategist—this show helps you find direction in a noisy fantasy football world.

Each episode delivers short, actionable advice for dynasty managers: trade strategy, rookie draft tactics, roster-building frameworks, and more. Whether you’re contending now or rebuilding for the future, Dynasty Compass helps you orient your team toward long-term success.

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Dynasty Compass

Scouting Rookie RBs: Who’s Real in the 2026 Class? with Dave Kluge

February 05, 2026 • Jeff Blaylock • Season 2 • Episode 1

The rookie scouting season is officially underway.

Jeff Blaylock is joined by Footballguys analyst Dave Kluge for a wide-ranging conversation on scouting rookie running backs and navigating the 2026 dynasty rookie class. They discuss which traits actually translate to the NFL, key red flags every dynasty manager should be wary of, and how dynasty managers should approach a class that lacks elite depth beyond the top tier.

This episode focuses on process, not just rankings — helping dynasty managers think clearly about rookie RB evaluation.

Topics Include

How Dave Kluge scouts rookie RBs
Identifying elite vs replaceable traits
Why Jeremiah Love stands apart
Draft capital as the ultimate tiebreaker
RB value pockets in Rounds 2–3
When trading back makes sense
The NFL’s evolving offensive landscape

Chapters / Timestamps

00:00 Rookie scouting season
01:00 Scouting process
03:40 Elite traits
05:40 Red flags
08:30 Class strength
11:00 Tier breaks
12:20 Trade strategy
13:45 Jeremiah Love
16:20 RB2 tier
19:30 Box score traps
21:00 Combine myths
23:30 Draft capital
27:45 Round 2–3 values
31:15 NFL trends
34:20 Player stories
37:00 Closing thoughts

Links Mentioned

Footballguys.com
Sign up for the Footballguys Rookie Guide
Follow Dave Kluge on Twitter/X

Support the Show

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Episode 21 - Scouting Rookie RBs with Dave Kluge

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Jeff: It's early February, and that can mean only one thing in the football calendar. Yeah, well, two things. We've got the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, but we also have rookie scouting. Now my Footballguys colleague Dave Kluge is joining me today to talk about his rookie class scouting, especially running backs, whether Jeremiah Love is the real deal and who some of his favorite second and third round picks are going to be.

And that's next on Dynasty Compass.

[Theme song]

Jeff: Welcome to Dynasty Compass. I am your host, Jeff Blaylock, the other Jeff B from Footballguys. I'm thrilled to be joined today by my friend and Footballguys colleague Dave Kluge. Dave, welcome to the show.

Dave: Thank you so much for having me. This is, uh, such a fun time of year, kind of still processing what happened throughout the entire season, not even the entire season, still have the Super Bowl to look forward to, but uh, yeah, this is a fun time of year to kind of turn that page, start looking forward. getting acclimated with 157 new names. We, uh, we stay busy over here.

Jeff: 157, so I, you know, I like to say that there's no offseason in Dynasty and you've been the epitome of that lately since you've been, uh, scouting through, uh, 157 rookies. So I assume that's been what's been keeping you busy, but just in case there was anything else, uh, what, what have you been up to since, uh, the season ended?

Dave: That that is it right now. You know, we are deep in the rookie weeds. We've got the, uh, Dynasty Show that we do with, uh, the other Jeff B, Jeff Bell, and we actually didn't even do any episodes last week. We kind of did a mini hiatus while we were finishing our scouting reports, but, uh, we'll have that out hopefully sometime next week. On top of that, you know, already starting to do 2026 rankings. We'll be publishing those next week on the website as well. Polishing up dynasty rankings. You know, you wanna kick your feet up a little bit, but the, the NFL has just changed so much.

It is just a 365-day media machine. Now there's always something to talk about.

Jeff: Yeah, and the Rookie Guide, too is coming out, I believe, correct?

Dave: It is, yes, that should be out the Monday after the Super Bowl. I always hate saying a date because, you know, delays can pop up. You know, we could have an issue with the website or something that morning, but the idea is to have it out next Monday. And, uh, yeah, we've got a, a new website. We've got some new features added in there. We're doing a range of outcomes rather than just, you know, it, it's so hard to definitively say, especially this early in the process, this guy's a starter. This guy's a backup. This guy's a superstar. So what we did this year is kind of painted a range of outcomes picture so that this guy could be anywhere from a special teamer to a hall of famer and anywhere in between.

There's some guys with narrow ranges of outcomes, some guys with wider ranges of outcomes, but, uh, makes it, uh, fun to go through all those players and kinda see how we feel about them.

Jeff: You know, as you're going through that evaluation process, what is it that you are looking for or, or how do you go about it? You, you've got a name, you've got somebody you need to do some research on. What, what's the, what's the process for you?

Dave: So for me, uh, I get my list of names from Jeff Bell, which is very nice because there is no comprehensive list this time of year. You can't say like, who are the rookies that I should watch? So Jeff, I know he spends so much time going through the, you know, pro bowl and, or, I'm sorry, not the pro bowl, the, uh, the senior bowl and the shrine bowl and the hula bowl and the American Bowl. And then looking at early declares and looking at all these, trying to form as comprehensive of a list as we can get.

But what I'm going through and I'm looking at these players, the one thing that I look for is a standout elite trait. Now. People can't be elite at everything. That's just not how it happens. But I think if you've got at least one elite trait that'll give you an opportunity to crack a rotation. Now, it could just be speed. It could just be pass catching. It could just be that you are great at lowering your shoulder and getting through a defender, but if you have one elite trait, that's enough to get a player drafted.

A lot of times we see these guys in college that are kind of. Good at everything, but don't really have a standout trait. Those are the guys that typically fall by the wayside, end up as practice squad guys. So I'm looking for one guy, or for a guy who has like one thing that can really separate him from all of his peers, and sometimes that's just pure breakaway speed. We've seen that with guys like Keaton Mitchell and Rasheen Ali.

Sometimes it's just being a power back, and we saw that last year with Tahj Brooks, a guy who got drafted, didn't really find his opportunity. But if you have one trait that can set you apart from everybody else, that's enough to give you opportunity. And then hopefully from there it can grow into a bigger role.

Jeff: And is there anything that, in particular, one trait is, is a great way of looking at it? Is there any one in particular that you can look at or maybe you're looking at a film and you just look at the guy and go, you, this guy has it. This is gonna be a star. This my, if he gets the opportunity.

Dave: Yeah. And it's one of those things that you just kinda have a feel for. And I wish that I can say like, you know, this is the, the it factor. And it's just one of those things that when you know it or when you see it, I should say, you know it and you know. Jeremiah Love is the one that kinda jumps out to me from this class where you just see him do things that you have to like rub your eyes. And it's just like, wait, what? Like how did he do that? He just, he was here and then he duked and then he ended up here, or you know, he started this spin move here, then he ended it five yards, downfield behind two defenders. He's just doing things that don't look natural with the human eye. And you see that with these guys that have that real it factor.

They're just doing things that haven't been seen before. You know, you see those, uh, you see it on social media all the time where people kind of. Blur out and take off the, the names and the numbers and the jerseys, and you're kinda looking at these bubbles of players. But you can like just know who a player is by how they move because they're such a unique, different type of athlete.

I feel like that's what I'm looking for. And we see that with, you know, Jeremiah love in this class. We saw that with Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. We saw that with Ashton Jeanty. There's some guys that when you watch them, they're just doing things on a football field that you haven't ever seen done before.

Jeff: You know, a minute ago you talked about the, the sort of generalists as being people that, that concern you as, as not having that kind of an elite trait. Are there any other red flags that you're looking for that, that say, you know, this, this one is maybe not as as good as the hype, or maybe this one's got a much tougher path to a relevant role.

Dave: You know, there's a lot of people that can just kind of do one thing really, really well, and that just doesn't work in the NFL. I think about a guy like Kaderius Toney, like he wasn't a guy who could create separation on his own. He wasn't a guy who had the size to be a power back. He was just kind of this gimmicky player in college that they would scheme touches up to where they could get him in space and he was an electric athlete with a ball in his hands.

But NFL teams are way quicker to figure out how to shut those players down than college teams are. So when I'm watching a guy and it's just like, wow, this guy has all of these chunk plays, and then I realize that they're all coming on just like stretch runs to the outside and this guy like just has enough bend where he can get to the outside and that's all he can do.

But he can't run inside. He can't catch the ball and he can't generate yards after contact. That's a red flag to me. You're similarly, you know, a guy who's just really good at just like hammering between the tackles picking up three to four yards every single time he touches the ball. That's great in college, but that's not gonna translate to the NFL.

And then when we're looking at wide receivers, you know. Beat zone and man coverage, are you able to win deep And in the short areas of the field, I wanna say, see guys that have more versatile traits just because we, we see these guys that are limited to one thing that they do really, really well. That often.

And, and I know that might sound like it's contradictory to what I was saying about having an elite trait. I think an elite trait is different than just kind of scheme touches. So I think what I'm getting at here is that's the, that's the major like red flag that I look out for is guys who can't really win on their own.

Guys that rely on scheme touches and gimmicky manufactured ways to get the ball in their hand to create.

Jeff: No, I actually don't see that as, as being contradictory at all. I mean, I think you've got a, an elite trade is the sort of thing that can transfer from the college game to the pro game and across a bunch of different offensive schemes and against a bunch of defensive schemes.

But if you're a unitasker and you can do one thing, it doesn't really matter what you're elite in, you can only do the one thing. And there are only 53 spots on a roster, and a small fraction of those go to offensive skill players. So if you, uh, can't do more than one thing, uh, special teams is, is kind of the ceiling I would expect to see in your, your range of players or, you know, permanent bench warmer or however, however you've got that range described someone down in the, in the red, the red and yellow area that you would, uh, not wanna be drafting as a dynasty manager.

Dave: Exactly, and those guys, they, they do work well having them on the scout teams and practice squads and things of that nature. But I think if you wanna look for a good NFL prospect, you need to be somebody who can win in a multitude of ways, and then you need to have that one elite trait that helps you stand out from everybody else as well.

Jeff: Yep. I know you've been focusing on running backs, but I, I'd like to kind of pull back for just a second if we can, and just talk about this rookie class in general. I mean, there has been a lot of chatter, a lot of chatter from the analysis from the, from the analysts rather, a lot of chatter online that this class, the 2026 class is relatively weak.

When you compare to others, uh, and a lot of focus is being placed on the 2027 class, uh, in particular for dynasty managers, looking at what to do with their draft picks. So where would you put the 2026 class, uh, in relation to some of the other classes in recent years and, and perhaps the one coming up in 2027?

Dave: You know, I think there's so much comparison to the 2027 class that it makes people feel like it is just, this class is just so bare that there's nothing really in it. But I think when you look back over the last few years, it's kind of middle of the pack. Um, and I think if you look back, you know, two years ago we, we were so blessed when we saw all of these quarterbacks coming in and just really changing the landscape.

And then of course we had the draft, uh, three years ago where we had. Gibbs and Bijan and some really high end talent. So I think that this one really lacks the star power. You know, we got Fernando Mendoza going 1.01 and as much as we like him and we expect him to be a good, uh, real life quarterback, he doesn't necessarily have the skills that we wanna see translate to fantasy football.

He would need to be a huge stat compiler, you know, throwing for 4,500 yards, 40 touchdowns per year. He doesn't really have that rushing skillset. Um, even if you look a little bit further down, Ty Simpson, you know, there's a little bit of mobility in his game, but he doesn't have that game breaking athleticism either.

So I think that's the thing missing from this class, especially in Superflex dynasty leagues, which is what most people are playing nowadays, is we don't have the high end quarterback talent. But I'm looking at a handful of guys that I expect to be drafted and be very serviceable wide receivers. Jeff Bell has done all of our wide receiver scouting, but you know, to just listen to him, Daniel Jeremiah recently came out with his top 50 players and 11 of his top 50 players were wide receivers.

[So. Doesn't have the quarterbacks, doesn't have the tight ends, the running backs. There's a little bit of depth there, but a side of Jeremiah love. Um, you know, there isn't really a transcendent talent there. But I think the wide receivers here are gonna give us enough depth that it can kind of inject some extra depth into a, a wide receiver position that feels like it's been lacking over the last couple of years.

Jeff: Yeah. It, it does indeed. And, and, and. You know, most years when we look at a draft board, we, we generally, there's consensus that forms around the top five guys or six guys or eight guys or somewhere in there. And then from there it's kind of a crapshoot. Where, where do you see that that cutoff this year? Is, is it at, at two or three? Is it down closer to 10? Where, where would you say is the, the talent an opportunity, where do you think this dropoff point this year in the first round?

Dave: I’m glad you said it because I think a lot of people are scared to go there, but I think it's two in this year's class, you got Jeremiah Love and Fernando Mendoza, and I like a lot of the wide receivers, but I also see them as very, very tight in rankings that like, you know, you don't wanna trade up to get one of these guys.

When it comes to Makai Lemon, Jordyn, Tyson, Carnell Tate. I don't have a strong stance between any of 'em. Like I will just sit there at 1.05 and gladly takes whoever falls into my lap. I don't think that you should be moving up to get into there. So if you want to say that those guys kind of extend that out to a top five, I suppose you can, but I think that Jeremiah Love and Fernando Mendoza are much safer.

I think it's human nature to just want to, every single year we kind of draw this arbitrary line and like the five to eight range, because it's nice and pretty where we can kind of just split the first round in half and you could either move in or out of the first half. But I think if you're really looking to move into a tier or you can get, you know, a, I don't wanna say can't miss because even can't miss. Prospects can miss. But it seems like Jeremiah Love and Fernando Mendoza, those are the safe picks. And then once you get past those two, everybody has some warts in their profile.

Jeff: So what would your advice be to someone who's got the 1.03 or the 1.04 this year and, and we assume that neither Mendoza nor Love falls into that position. What would your advice be to, to that person? And, I don't know, there may be someone on this, on this chat right now who has a couple of those picks who might be looking for that, that kind of an advice.

Dave: Yeah, I would say to trade back, um, which might sound a little bit crazy, but I talked about how there's some depth here. You know, the, uh, 11 wide receivers in Daniel Jeremiah's top 50, there's also some decent running back drop. Depth. So I really like that top three. You're gonna hear about this top three, I think between now and the draft when it's Jordyn Tyson, Carnell Tate, Makai Lemon in some sort of an order. But when I look at Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion and, and then some of the running backs, you know, I got Kaytron Allen, Jadarian Price, Jonah Coleman, Nick Singleton, Emmett Johnson, Mike Washington, all are pretty tight in my rankings.

So I think that, you know, it's. Too early in the process, especially now to have any really, really strong takes on any of these players. If I'm sitting there at 1.03, 1.04, 1.05, and somebody really wants to trade up, I will gladly trade into the back of round one if it means that I can acquire future picks, especially in this loaded 2027 class.

Jeff: Okay. You know, we've already mentioned Jeremiah love a, a couple of times and he, he is of course the early consensus RB1, I think he's your RB1 as well, and potentially the Dynasty 1.01. Certainly in one QB leagues, and I think even in Superflex, he may be just at that level. Uh, but you know, is he really at that level or are we just thinking that he is at that level because, uh, that, that's where the speculation is right now. We've gotta have somebody at the top and he looks like the guy.

Dave: Yes, he is that good. Next question. No, he's, he's a amazing athlete. And you know, it's a, it's funny, I was, when I was trying to comp him to players, because that's a necessity in our rookie guide, right? Like we have to have these player comps. And all of the players that I wanted to comp him to are such different players. I'm like, this guy's like a little bit of Jamaal Charles, but he's a little bit of Darren McFadden, but he's also a little bit of LaDainian Tomlinson. I mean, he's such a unique player.

Um, the contact balance, the power, the speed, the juking ability, the pass catching. I mean, there really isn't anything in his profile that makes me think that he won't be a very good player. And you know, we always kind of find. nits to pick or nits to pick in people's profile, whether it was Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs.

But when I look at Jeremiah Love, this is the guy I expect to go inside the top 10. I expect him to be an immediate workhorse. He's got the big play upside, he's got the pass catching chops. He's got the size and strength to play near the line of, or near the goal line as well. So, um, you know, I think that we are gonna be looking at this guy immediately after his rookie season, if not, you know, a top the tier, at least in the same conversation as Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, and hopefully Ashton Jeanty gets that boost out a year or two as well.

Jeff: Yeah, certainly. We, we were hoping that for Jeanty, uh, you know, I found it remarkable during the season that, that several points, I looked at his stats, this is Jeanty we're talking about, and he had more yards after contact than he had yards. And, and the fact that he was able to do that to me is, is a really strong sign of his talent and capability if he could just get through the line of scrimmage without being touched. We might be looking at, at a really electric player. And so it sounds like love may be kind of in a, in an n equals one sort of universe as a very unique, very elite kind of a talent.

Dave: And you know, I talk about the, the one elite trait. And when I look at Emmett Johnson and Jonah Coleman and Kaytron Allen, Nick Singleton, all these guys have one elite trait, but with Jeremiah Love it. It, it's everything. Like he, he's got like, you know, game breaking track speed. He's also a phenomenal pass catcher. I talked about his juking and spinning abilities, his way to avoid contact, but when he can't avoid contact, he also has elite strength. Like, I'm sure you've remember the, the touchdown from two years ago against Penn State where he broke four tackles from inside the three yard line. Yeah. I mean, this guy like, there. However you want him to win, whether it be inside, outside, as a pass catcher, as a rusher, on zone reads, on gap reads. I mean, he can just do it all.

Jeff: So you've mentioned, uh, another little group of names there of, of running backs. So who would be, you know, have you settled on an RB2 or do you have kind of a tier of, of that next group of guys and, and then what's the gap between those guys and Jeremiah Love?

Yeah, so I have a really tight tier after Jeremiah Love, and I think the gap between Jeremiah Love and my next player is bigger than the gap between my RB2 and my RB7. So there is a, a really tight tier after Jeremiah love, but my RB2 is Kaytron Allen, and he's a guy that I don't think is a lot of people's RB2, which I'll just say at this point, you know, it's early February. Yeah. If there's any sort of consensus right now. That's just silly. We, we, we are still looking at a very incomplete puzzle here. I think it's silly to dunk on anybody's RB2 or WR4 or anything like that. Let's just let the process play out.

Um, but Kaytron Allen was just such a good player at Penn State. Ends up leaving Penn State, which has a long history of very good running backs as they're all time leading rusher. But what really jumped out to me is that last year we saw Drew Allar went down early in the season. And it really changed how defenses played Penn State. They started loading the box. They started, you know, not allowing for these big lanes where Nick Singleton was kinda the flashy player over the last couple of years.

When they started doing that, Penn State's offense leaned on Kaytron Allen a little bit heavier. Now he, he weighed in at the Senior Bowl a little bit smaller than expected. He was listed at 2 29, weighed in at two 20, but his nickname is “Fat Man.” Like this is just a big. Bulky, thick, running back, and he doesn't have the top speed that we really want to see from an elite prospect.

And I think that's why some people get nervous about him. But when I see him, I see a player very similar to Nick Chubb, who also, if you remember, didn't have a grade 40 times, didn't have the best long speed, but just his. Ability to, to minimize losses. Like he gets hit in the backfield. He turns a three yard loss into a no gain. He turns a no gain play into a three yard game. He's got such good footwork and he's such a decisive player that he knows when to bounce around a defender. He knows when to run through a defender. Just a very sound runner.

Um, I see so much Nick Chubb in his game and. Nick Chubb was another guy that, you know, uh, a lot of the people didn't like coming into the draft because of his lack of top end speed, but our Matt Walman was very much so saying like, the speed doesn't really matter here. It's the footwork, it's the patience, the ability to press blocks. That's what makes him such a good player. And that's what I see with Kaytron Allen right now. He's already a pro level, uh, a pro ready guy who can just step in and immediately handle a three down workload.

Jeff: Yeah, I think that's really important because, you know, a lot of folks are gonna do their scouting by looking at stats and looking at the box score. And sometimes these stats are just not that impressive looking, uh, because a, you know, turning a three yard loss into no gain shows up on the stats as no gain, even though they actually did a really. Really strong job to make something out of nothing. It still, statistically was nothing.

So as I kind of look at the world for dynasty managers, those are exactly the kind of guys that, that you wanna latch onto because they're the very guys that your league mates are not going to be that interested in because the stat box doesn't show the elite stuff, like some of the, the flashier kinds of guys who get those 60 yard runs and then otherwise are, uh, hit at the line of scrimmage and fall down.

Dave: Yeah. And I, and I think that's really important too. I mean, I talk about this nonstop as we get closer to the combine, but just a reminder, 40 yard dashes do not matter. They're, they're, they're fun and it's always the thing that everybody tunes in for the combine. But especially with running backs, what you wanna look at are the 10 yard splits, the shuttle run, um, you know, how do they do in tight spaces?

How's their lateral agility? That's what I care about more than anything else. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kaytron Allen comes out and runs a 4.5 or 4.6. He might also drop a few pounds and get in the 4.4s. But what I'm gonna be watching more than anything is the 10 yard and the shuttle, and seeing how he does in those.

Jeff: Yeah, he's, he's in a bit of a catch 22. If he loses the weight to get faster, he'll be dinged for not having enough weight. If he has the weight that everyone's looking for, he won't be very fast, relatively speaking.

Dave: Exactly. Yep. Welcome to the combine where everybody's just trying to fudge the numbers to do whatever they can to move up an extra half round here and there.

Jeff: Exactly. Exactly. So who's next? Who are the, who's in that next, that same tier that you've got there? Uh, second behind, uh, Love.

Dave: So I've got Jonah Coleman out of Washington. Uh, my player comp for him was Doug Baldwin, and I think if you watch him, you'll just immediately understand why he's a bowling ball. But he's deceptively fast as well. You see these small kind of stocky guys. They aren't always guys that you'd expect to have burners, but when he gets into the second level, he can kick into that second gear and just. Pull away from the pack. So, um, another guy with pass catching chops that I like, I am, I, I get a little scared off by the smaller running back sometimes, because we see these guys a lot of times will come in and they change a pace roll when the defense is beat up and then they can just rip off a 60, 70, 80 yard touchdown, untouched.

I wanna see guys with translatable skills to the NFL, and I like to look at guys that are 220 plus pounds. Jonah Coleman clears that box. He's got the, the wiggle for a big guy as well. So he's fallen in as my RB3, um, after him Emmett Johnson. Is another, uh, maybe a little bit of a smaller guy, but a guy that proved at Nebraska that he can handle a massive workload. Got one of the biggest workloads in the Big 10 last year, led the Big 10 in rushing. So, um, or I'm sorry, led the Big 10 in scrimmage yards.

So another fun player who can, um, you know, kind of rip off big plays, but also has the size and wiggle between the tackles that I wanna see.

Jeff: And do you see these guys as round one dynasty rookie draft talents, or are we looking at the top of round two or, or where is the appropriate place to, to try to target these guys?

Dave: Yeah, I think, you know, Jeremiah Love is gonna be the, the 1.01 and then I have done a handful of mock drafts so far with some, some. Casual fans with some analysts, and there is just no consensus at all. So I talk about how tight I think this is, you know, between like the, the, the wide receiver one and wide receiver seven, along with the RB2 to RB7.

I don't think that there are any huge stances that you can take on these players right now. So I would say just get your guy like, you know, they're, mm-hmm. The guys that you want at the end of round one aren't gonna make it back to you at the end of round two. So I think people get too hung up with trying to play the ADP game.

And you know, this guy's ADP is is 13th and I'm picking an eighth, so I don't want to take him because everyone's gonna make fun of me for being a reach here. But. If you like Mike Washington and he's going and you know, the middle of round two, but you've got a late first and you don't have a late second, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a guy like Mike Washington or KC Concepcion at the end of round one.

So I think that this year we're looking at a cluster that's tight enough that you could just go out and get your guys. I don't think that you have to really be too worried about whether ADP says that they belong inside the top 12 or not.

Jeff: Yeah, I mean it just al So I suppose it also depends on when your rookie draft is scheduled there. There are some fire breather leagues that are doing them now, or some have done the to do Devy and have done it years ago. Uh, others will wait till at least after the draft when you have a sense of landing spot. I mean, how many of these guys in this. Two to seven range in the second tier of yours, how many of them do you see as being completely landing spot dependent, and how many of them do you think can transcend and, and be really solved in a whole bunch of different offensive schemes?

Dave: I'm very glad you asked that because I am not a proud person when it comes to just completely abandoning my priors after the NFL draft, you know, this time of year I look at kind of. Building the foundation, right? Like we want to know everything we can about these players. Where did he come from? Was he a zero star recruit or was he a five star recruit? Was he a walk-on? Was he a team captain? How did he do you know, how does he win? What are his good traits? What are his bad traits? That's what I'm trying to find out right now.

But the reality is that everything that we look at, whether it's college production. Combine numbers where they went in mock drafts. Nothing correlates more to fantasy success than draft capital. So right now I love Kaytron Allen, but if Kaytron Allen falls into round seven of the NFL draft, and that means that every single team deemed six plus times that they don't think his, he's a good running back. Yeah. What kinda analyst would I be to say, no, I'm smarter than the entire NFL! I know something that they don't know! Right? Sure. 20 running backs went ahead of him, but he's still my RB2. No, that, that, that would be foolish.

So I think that. After the NFL draft, I make huge swings in my rankings, and I'm not too proud to admit that, you know, I want to soak up as much information as I can about these guys over the next two, three months. But when it comes to the NFL draft, I do use that as my guiding light more than anything else.

Jeff: Yeah, I, I think I'm very similar to that in that I, I, I do understand the role that draft capital plays. I'm willing to stand on a hill and be there and die on it, but only if Matt Waldman is standing in front of me. He definitely sees things that, that, that I don't, I trust him when he, if he knows something the NFL doesn't know then that's probably true.

Dave: Exactly. Which Nick Chubb was a guy that, you know, Nick Chubb, he like a lot more than a lot of other, a lot of other people did.

Jeff: Yeah. Are are there any of these top guys that are, that are giving you concerns, uh, that you're seeing more one dimensional in terms of their playing style or, or is this group of about You know, from two to seven really kind of all about the same in terms of, of, of that. There's not one that's sort of drifting for you toward the bottom of that group.

Dave: You know, I would say just, uh, and he does drift towards the bottom of this group for me, which a lot of other people have him as the, the RB2 or the RB3 I've seen in this class. Nick Singleton scares me a little bit, and I alluded to it earlier, but this year mm-hmm. When Drew Allar went down, um. Nick Singleton really kinda got phased outta the game plan, and to me that's a huge red flag. But like when the offense is firing out on all cylinders, that he can rip off these big plays and he can score on touchdowns.

But most of his big plays in 2025 came on special teams where it was Kaytron Allen was the guy who was handling the workload when he was seeing these loaded boxes. So that scares me a little bit. Now, of course, the way that this could work out is that he. Does what he did in 2022, 2023, 2024, lands on a good offense that allows him to come in as a rotational guy and make big plays.

But I do worry a little bit about his ability to shoulder a big workload. If he couldn't run against heavy boxes in college, he's really gonna struggle doing that in the NFL. Then you combine that with a broken foot at the senior bowl practice that could end up keeping him out of training camp this year. So I don't wanna say that he's a bad prospect. I don't wanna knock him whatsoever, but there are a few red flags that, you know, keep him in the RB6 range for me rather than the RB2, RRB3, this class.

Jeff: Yeah, that broken foot was a really unfortunate injury because now, now his fate rests in the speculation of what he might be when he heals from that as opposed to what he could demonstrate between now and the end of April. So I do, I do feel for him and for, uh, any player who winds up in that kind of a situation because there's so much, so much headlight put on the, on the combine and on these early practices that if you can't do them, you get behind very quickly.

Dave: And this comes down to cost. Like if you're watching this show right now in early February and we're talking about Nicholas Singleton, the reality is that a month and a half from now, two months from now, and everybody's watching the draft, and he might end up going day three because of this broken foot and because of no combine results.

Yeah. Then if he starts falling into like late round two of rookie drafts, then he ends up being one of the best deals out there. Yeah. So it's hard to speculate right now 'cause we don't know where he's gonna fall in rookie drafts, right? There was a lot of talk about him being a top five, top six pick in rookie drafts, and I wasn't crazy about that.

[00:27:28] But now if the broken foot causes him to fall, you have to realize that that draft capital, lack of combine. That's all gonna have an asterisk next to it. And if he's fallen into the middle end of round two, then he ends up being one of the best values.

Jeff: Yeah, and I think too, I mean you bring up something that's really a good point is that to me, the key to Dynasty, you need to nail your first round pick if you can. But to me, the real key to being a consistent winner in Dynasty fantasy football is getting that sort of first round talent out of those second and third round picks that are down below. It's, that's the, you'd mentioned trading down, if you've got kind of a mid first round pick this year. It's, it's actually trying to find these guys, uh, as, as that, as that ability to succeed. And so who, who do you see kind of in that? Round, lower round two, mid round three. From rookie drafts, you know, day two, day three, early day, early day. Three guys in the NFL who, who do you see right now as being folks you might be at this point, looking to target with those level of picks?

Dave: So I've been doing this long enough to know that, you know, once guys start getting a little bit of buzz in late January and early February, that usually just keeps rocketshipping all the way to the NFL draft. And this is kind of one of the, uh, um, hard parts about doing the rookie guide as early as we do is like two guys that I didn't see anybody talking about that I loved where Mike Washington and Adam Randall and they both started to draw a little bit of. Buzz since. Um, so I scouted these guys about a month ago and I said like, these, these are dudes.

These are guys that I am really excited about. And then both of them went out and ended up having really good senior days. One, they both weigh a ton. We're looking at 223 and 228 pounds. So these are guys that can handle massive workloads. Lemme start with Mike Washington though. Um, again, you know, I'm, I'm big on player comps For some players, some players, it's really tough to do.

But when now I watched Mike Washington, I immediately, I was like, I'm, I'm watching Matt Forte. He is the same muscular frame. He's got that upright running style and what Matt Forte did so well when he'd get into the open field, he had the size to run through defenders if he'd want to, but he would kind of do this like almost fake, like he was going to take on the contact.

And then he was so good at just like. Ever so slightly evading defenders where he can continue downfield and making big plays where he was minimizing contact instead of taking on. But he also the strength to get between tackles when he needs to. When I look at Mike Washington, this is a guy who, like I said, 223 pounds was the fastest player at the Senior Bowl where they're all, um, have the chips on him to, to, to track their miles per hour.

Um. Just a really fun player. We also saw there wasn't a whole lot of creative usage as a receiver, but they asked him to run a wheel route a lot at Arkansas and it just consistently would work where this guy was getting open 20, 30 yards, downfield on the sidelines, and he was able to catch the ball every time it would come to him.

The other guy's ran Adam Randall, and this is a really unique story with Adam Randall. He was a, um, a wide receiver and quarterback in college, and then he, uh, got drafted to Clemson. Played wide receiver for his first couple of years and did almost nothing, like, couldn't even get on the field, couldn't run routes.

And then there was one game where all of the running backs got hurt and they had to lean on Adam Randall in this emergency running back spot. And he looked really good and that was one of the last games of the year. So going into that next season, they started using him as kind of this spot running back here and there, and it just kind of developed from there where he eventually became Clemson's lead, running back.

So. We've fallen for this wide receiver turned running back, um, transition before, you know, it didn't work out with Antonio Gibson. We're still waiting on Tyrone Tracy's story. This guy is 228 pounds, six foot two can run crisp routes outta the backfield, but is now starting to develop into a, between the tackles runner as well, so.

When I look at him, I see so much Cordarrelle Patterson in his game, but just a bigger, more polished version of Cordarrelle Patterson. So not sure where he's gonna be going in rookie drafts, but he'll be a primary target of mine if he's sitting there in round two and three.

Jeff: Do you think that, you know, we've observed during this past season even, even someone who has never really used them before, like Sean McVay going to multiple tight end sets. So are, is, is that changing the role a little bit and the archetype of running backs a little bit that, you know, some of this sort of smaller, faster scoot through the line quick talent is, is being kind of overtaken again by these bigger, more bruising kinds of backs. Who can be in this everybody at the line of scrimmage, tight box on the other side. Let's, let's see what happens. Kind of a player?

Dave: Absolutely. Yeah. And like we see this ebb and flow all the time. I just recently shared something on, uh, Twitter actually, which was I wrote back after week six, but reshared it again today that we have seen this change where, you know, we're not seeing slot receivers out there, we're not seeing 11 personnel. Um, we're seeing a lot more jumbo packages. I don't know if that changes too much for the running backs, but you know, so much of the NFL during the 2010s with. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and all of these guys that just like, you know, everybody was passing for 5,000 yards it felt like.

Yeah. And then we saw defenses really change how they played it. And we started seeing defenses playing out a dime in nickel packages where they were pulling linebackers off the field, putting extra D backs out there, playing this too high shell coverage. And what happened is. Team started dinking and dunking their way down the field, and I think Tom Brady was one of the first to do it.

But now we're seeing this over Patrick Mahomes over the last few years, and I think the natural evolution from there is why would I wanna dink and dunk my way down the field throwing the ball to 190 pound, five foot 10 slot receiver when I've got Darnell Washington, my TE3, who weighs 315 pounds, it can just rumble through an entire defense.

So I think that's why we're seeing these tight ends get a little bit more heavily utilized just because they can do more after the catch. As for running backs though, I don't know if it makes a huge difference because whether you're a power back who knows how to read your blockers, or whether you're a scat back who likes to get outside having these bigger jumbo packages on offense, I think it makes it easier for both types of running backs to still succeed.

Jeff: But I guess too, and, and good. Going back to this concept of, of being kind of a box score scout, you, you may be, may be impressed by some of the numbers that some of these smaller running backs can get as receivers playing almost more of that kind of slot role. So it may be one of those, we may be approaching that time where you're actually looking for the bigger back with good hands as opposed to the smaller back with good hands at big numbers.

Dave: Absolutely. Yeah. I think that is, you know, if, if that's what you're looking for. Yeah. 'cause you don't see a lot of that or these like, like Derrick Henry, that's always been like the big knock on him is that he isn't a fluid pass catcher. And it seems like you've always got like, you have to give up the pass catching chops for size.

Like, you know, you can kind of have one or the other. And I think that's what makes Adam Randall so unique. And that's why in the guy I comped him to Cordarrelle Patterson, which you know, got drafted almost 15 years ago. Yeah. 'cause you just don't see this. He's six three. 230 pound guys that are able to run routes outta the backfield.

It just makes him such a unique player that, you know, I, I want that on my roster just to see how it shakes out.

Jeff: I think one of the great things, uh, about this time of year about going up to the combine is we, we do start to, to get to know some of these players, uh, as people and some of their stories. You know, you've looked at uh, uh, over 50 running backs. Are there any whose stories just come to you and say, man, I hope this guy makes it. I'd love to see him on a 53 man roster. Maybe he doesn't have the elite talent. Maybe he is more of a generalist, but just the story by itself is, is like, I, I really like this guy. I'd love to see him succeed.

Dave: Yeah, I, I love Jamari Taylor's story, and a lot of people know Jamari Taylor played at Virginia last year, but it's the story coming up to it. Like almost every guy who gets drafted in the NFL is somebody who was a three or four star recruit coming out of high school. Jamari Taylor was a zero star recruit. He didn't get any buzz whatsoever coming out of high school. He walked in on, or walked on at a school that I'd never even heard of before: North Carolina Central University. He walked on and found a role as a special team, or year two, he started to get a handful of touches here and there. By year three, he took over the backfield, ended up transferring to Virginia where he took over the backfield as well. Over 1300 yards and 15 touchdowns last year.

And he is one of those generalists as as, as we say, you know, I comped him to James Robinson in the guide who, if you remember, was an undrafted free agent, but could catch the ball, well, could run between the tackles, had the speed to break off long runs here and there. That's exactly what Jamari Taylor does.

He doesn't have one. He. Extreme standout trait, which is what I like to see in a guy. But he is just a good story, an easy player to root for, and a guy that I think if given the opportunity has shown through his path through college that he is resilient. He can persevere through the face of adversity, and I think that there's a chance for him if given the opportunity that he can be an above average starter.

Jeff: Yeah, it's, it's about opportunity, right? I mean, we, we can see guys who are undrafted or seventh round picks. We can see a Bill Croskey-Merritt, who we all were buzzed about early. He goes in the seventh round. We kind of lose some interest in him, but because of the circumstances that happened in front of him.

He winds up having a dynasty relevant role, uh, that, that now has him talk, talked about as a, you know, a redraft draft pick and a, you know, a highly sought after dynasty pick. So even these guys who, who you might get turned off by that draft capital, depending on your debt size. If you've got a really deep bench, you've got a taxi squad on dynasty team there, there's a lot of guys to just have some patience with, aren't there?

Dave: Absolutely. And we, we see this all the time, these guys that don't do anything their rookie season. And then, you know, slowly, I think Chuba Hubbard was, was a prospect that I really like, and it took three years of him being in the league to finally feel some sort of vindication. But yeah, you absolutely want to exercise patience with these guys.

Um, I, I, I think, you know, the, the, the major red flag for me is that if you are an elite. Prospect, like a, a first round pick, you know, one of these sorts of guys and you struggle your rookie season. I'll take a little bit more notice of that. But if you're a day three guy and you don't do much as a rookie, you just wanna hold onto these guys for going into year two for the same reason that you drafted them before the rookie season.

Jeff: Yeah. Their skillset set doesn't just go away because they've been on the bench or on the practice squad for a season or two.

Dave: Exactly. And this is the year, Kendre Miller, all those years I holding onto him. It's finally, finally gonna work out for me this year.

Jeff: It's, it's Kendre Miller season, finally. As a, as a TCU Horned Frog, I've been holding onto him for a long time, so I've. Picking him up as people have dropped him and they're like, this is it. This is it. This is it. If he could just, yeah.

Dave: I think he's one of those guys that I have just on almost every IR slot in almost every dynasty league right now.

Jeff: Yeah. IR yes. Yes. He, he is a, he is an IR warrior for me, uh, as, as well.

Well, Dave, this has been a real pleasure. I know we've got the Footballguys Rookie Guide coming out very soon, hopefully right after the Super Bowl. There'll be several more editions of that as we gather more intel on the rookies. Uh, anything else on that project or anything else you've been working on for football guys that you'd like to, to talk about?

Dave: Nope, just staying busy over here at Footballguys, footballguys.com. Um, you know, it is, uh, as, as comprehensive as a website can get, whether you're looking for DFS, dynasty, rookie, redraft, salary cap, like you name it, we've got it. Um, and, and Jeff, of course, you're, you're over here at Footballguys as well. You know, I'm not telling you anything that you aren't already aware of, but, um, you know, just. Still every single day feel so blessed to be a part of this company. I'd been a subscriber since 2006, so I've been reading Joe Bryan's emails forever. You know, just getting to work with Sig and Waldman and all the other guys over here is such a blessing. So just, uh, footballguys.com where you can find just about everything you're looking for.

Jeff: All right, Dave Kluge, thanks so much for being my guest today and thank you all for watching on YouTube or listening on your favorite podcast platform. Please like please subscribe. If you're on Apple in particular, please drop a review in for us. That would be very, very helpful right now. And again, thanks so much for tuning in. We are not here unless you are here, and we'll see you next week on Dynasty Compass.