Rookie draft season is here, and we run through a Top 30 for this year's NFL rookie draft class — the good, the soft middle, and the dart throws worth stashing. This class gets called polarizing, but our take is simple: it's strong up top, thin in the middle, and full of lottery tickets on the back end.
What We Cover
- Why NIL money and the NCAA's new five-year eligibility cap are reshaping when college stars actually declare
- Our RB1: why Jeremiah Love is QB1... er, RB1 in any format, Superflex or not
- The Fernando Mendoza vs. Carnell Tate debate for picks 2 and 3
- Landing-spot winners: Jadarian Price to Seattle, Ty Simpson behind Stafford, Kenyon Sadiq in the Jets' slot
- The running back committees to watch: Raiders (Jeanty/Washington), Broncos (Dobbins/Harvey/Coleman), 49ers (Kaelon Black)
- Sleepers we're buying now before dynasty prices catch up
Top of the Board: Love, Mendoza, Tate
The Next Tier: Price, Tyson, Lemon, and the Rookie QBs
Bottom Line
This class isn't the disaster some scouts made it out to be — it's top-heavy, thin in the middle, and loaded with dart throws on the back end, and Josh thinks that's a completely normal rookie class, not a red flag. If you only walk away with three names, make them Jeremiah Love, Fernando Mendoza, and Carnell Tate — we graded as true difference-makers regardless of where they landed. Everything after that is about knowing the depth chart cold, because in this class, situation is doing as much work as talent.
Listen Now
Follow @FSCollective on X and subscribe on your favorite platform.