With the dawn of each new NFL season comes a new batch of playmaking rookies that have fantasy owners drooling over the potential of snagging the next Odell Beckham Jr or Kelvin Benjamin in the middle to later rounds of the draft and watch them become impact players.  In the Fantasy Alarm 2015 Draft Guide Spencer Silva takes a look at this year’s incoming crop of rookie players and sees who could be poised for a breakout season.

Here is a sample of some of the content inside the BRAND NEW 2015 Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Football Draft Guide that is on newsstands now and available online RIGHT HERE

 

Draft Guide: 2015 Rookie Report

By Spencer Silva

Once again, two rookie quarterbacks headline what’s shaping up to be a stellar rookie class. For the first time since 2012 — the year of Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III — two quarterbacks adorned the top of virtually every industry draft board: Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. Interestingly, the draft hasn’t produced a starting fantasy quarterback since that storied 2012 class — a class that includes Russell Wilson.Interestingly, the draft hasn’t produced a starting fantasy quarterback since that storied 2012 class — a class Russell Wilson is also an alumnus of. It’s fair to wonder, will Winston and Mariota break the mold?

Let me invoke another parallel. In 2012, two freshman running backs, both selected in the first round, entered the league: Trent Richardson and Doug Martin. It wasn’t until this past April that another two would be taken in the first round, Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon.

Six pass catchers were also picked in the first round this year. For the second year in a row, the rookie wide receiver class figures to boast several impact fantasy players. Without further ado, I present this year’s rookie class.

QUARTERBACKS

Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Unlike his recent rookie predecessors, Jameis Winston has a chance to step in and be a productive signal caller from day one. Why? Well, for one, he has experience running a pro-style offense. Two, he immediately inherits one of the better receiving corps in football: Mike EvansVincent Jackson and Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. And three, offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter was brought in from Atlanta specifically to implement his patented vertical passing attack.

Winston’s flaws are well known: questionable decision-making (both on and off the field), poor accuracy on intermediate throws, limited mobility and Jekyll and Hyde like performances. He’ll also take snaps behind an offensive line that will once again be one of the worst in football. Even still, these are the types of obstacles that play to his strengths. He handles pressure in the pocket well, has elite arm strength and drives the ball deep down the field with amazing accuracy.

Quarterback is the deepest position in fantasy football right now, so even though the situation is nice, Winston doesn’t need to be drafted as anything more than a backup. Against poor secondaries, however, he’ll make for a great play in daily games.

Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans

Since the Titans selected Marcus Mariota with the second overall pick in April’s draft, they’ve made it abundantly clear that they planned to tailor the offense to his strengths. In fact, we’ve learned that the team plans to operate out of the shotgun “50 or 60 percent” of the time. This should allow for (a) a smoother transition to an immediate starter role, (b) a productive short passing game and (c) Mariota to use arguably his best asset, his legs, to make plays in space.

The downside: Mariota has little experience under center, and while reports out of camp suggest stellar pass accuracy, he lacks the elite arm strength to push the ball down field and use big-play assets on the outside, like Justin Hunter or fellow rookie Dorial Green-Beckham. There are also injury concerns, which are mostly tied to his inclination to take plays outside the pocket.

Unlike his counterpart Winston, Mariota is praised for his elite makeup; there are no questions about his leadership and off-the-field activity. He’s earned comparisons to Colin Kaepernick, but Mariota’s strong baseline of skills and makeup makes him a higher-floor option than one might think. Like Winston, he’s a QB2, but obviously has the talent to be more than that.

Other names to know: Bryce Petty (NYJ)

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