- Oronde Gadsden II has been a hit: Gadsden is projected as a top-10 tight end for the rest of the season, ahead of established set-and-forget TEs such as Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews.
- Jaydon Blue has been a miss: He has 22 carries this season – let’s just rip that band-aid off quickly. He’s also not done much with those carries, averaging 3.0 yards per carry, 1.86 yards after contact per attempt – not all that surprising considering he’s a 5-foot-9, 196-pound back.
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Who doesn’t love a late-round dynasty dart throw in rookie drafts? Puka Nacua, Kyren Williams, Jake Ferguson and Brock Purdy are just four players who fit the bill of a dynasty lottery ticket. Regardless of whether your rookie drafts are three rounds, four or five, those final picks are often used as throw-ins during trade negotiations. However, there’s at least one player per draft that becomes, at minimum, a useful contributor during the season.
Some fantasy general managers (GMs) love the idea of the lottery and gather as many late-round lottery tickets as possible, while others would rather ship them off and take their chances on the waiver wire or outbidding other GMs with FAAB. Yet, when one hits, the sense of victory and smugness seeps out of you at every turn – it’s all you might have if you’re 2-7 with half your roster on injured reserve.
However, what constitutes a dart throw? Well, in the real-world NFL draft, the player was almost certainly drafted on Day 3 – outside of the top 100 – and usually has at least one player ahead of them on the depth chart that they’ll be competing with during mini camp, training camp and the preseason for touches. Yet, crucially, their path to the field is feasible. Perhaps the position group they join is thin, uninspiring or has multiple players in contract years. Equally, they could just as easily get cut come August because, much like fantasy rookie drafts, some NFL teams treat dDay 3 picks as dart throws themselves.
So with that in mind, let’s get rolling.
TE Oronde Gadsden II, Los Angeles Chargers, Pick 167 overall
Gadsden was a fifth-round selection for a Los Angeles Chargers offense that was bottom five in pass attempts in 2024 (546) and had established NFL veterans Will Dissly and Tyler Conklin ahead of him in the pecking order.
As of right now, Gadsden is projected as a top-10 tight end for the rest of the season, ahead of established set-and-forget TEs such as Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews. Since Week 6, only Tyler Warren, Tucker Kraft and Trey McBride have a higher PFF receiving grade than Gadsden’s 76.8 (min 18 targets), and his 322 yards since Week 6 are the most in the NFL at the position group.
Ladd McConkey is locked in as Justin Herbert’s primary option on passing plays, but Gadsden has emerged as a reliable and explosive pass catcher. Not only that, but Herbert is looking increasingly to his tight end in the red zone. Gadsden is 11th per PFF in red zone target rate at 23.9% – that’s despite missing the first two games.
The former Syracuse man is basically a must-start tight end option until something changes, and in dynasty formats, he’s an asset you’re prizing until further notice.
Verdict: Hit
RB Jaydon Blue, Dallas Cowboys, Pick 150 overall
Be honest, you thought Blue would be leading the Cowboys’ backfield by now. You had no faith in the Javonte Williams/Miles Sanders combination and thought Blue would be at least a weekly flex play by mid-October.
The former Texas product had all the things you look for in a late-round sleeper: he was going to a good offense, had a path to the field, and those ahead of him on the depth chart had not demonstrated for at least two seasons that they could be counted on to shoulder a significant workload.
Jaydon Blue has 22 carries this season – let’s just rip that band-aid off quickly. He’s also not done much with those carries, averaging 3.0 yards per carry, 1.86 yards after contact per attempt – not all that surprising considering he’s a 5-foot-9, 196-pound back. He has also fumbled once. It’s resulted in a grand total of exactly eight fantasy points, which is admittedly 6.2 points more than Cincinnati Bengals rookie Tahj Brooks – another late round dynasty dart throw for many. So, silver linings.
Verdict: Miss
WR Jalen Royals, Kansas City Chiefs, Pick 133 overall
Oh boy, this has been rough. This very author took Royals in basically every rookie draft – sometimes as high as the mid-second round just to ensure he didn’t miss out. It has not worked out well.
Royals missed the final five games at Utah State due to a right foot issue, and injuries hampered him getting on the field throughout camp and preseason, but before the injuries, the wide receiver logged 55 catches for 834 yards and five scores.
He also went to the most perfect landing spot in the Kansas City Chiefs, who were facing extended time without their top receiver Rashee Rice following his off-the-field issues, and Travis Kelce looked a step slower.
Alas, Royals has yet to log a target this season. However, he also occupies this dynasty dead zone of not being a cuttable asset just yet because what if he pops off and then Mahomes begins to feed him more targets? It’s a dream that all dynasty owners of him are chasing. Yet, as the famous line in The Shawshank Redemption goes: “Hope is a dangerous thing.”
Verdict: Miss
RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Washington Commanders, Pick 247 overall
Time for some more honesty. Look in your heart, you’re disappointed with Croskey-Merritt’s production over the last month – maybe altogether. The seventh-round pick was the talk of the NFL throughout camp as his electric feet and speed singled him out as arguably the best back in an uninspiring Commanders backfield and had fans, analysts and fantasy players alike dizzy with glee at the prospect of Croskey-Merritt in the same backfield as Jayden Daniels.
And for the first month, it was all sunshine and rainbows. Croskey-Merritt had an elite PFF run grade through the first five weeks of the season (90.1) – which marked him as the best rusher in the entire NFL. His fantasy output of 62.7 points (standard PPR scoring) had him ranked as the RB21 – a low-end RB2 or semi-reliable flex play. He was ahead of Alvin Kamara, Chase Brown and Tony Pollard. For somebody you almost certainly picked up with your final rookie pick of the draft or off the waiver wire – converting that into a low-end RB2 with exciting upside is a huge win.
Now for the bad part.
Since Week 5, only Kamara and David Montgomery have a lower rushing grade than Croskey-Merritt’s 55.6 mark. His yards per carry have nosedived from 6.6 to 3.0, and he doesn’t have a single touchdown. The dip in fortunes has resulted in the rookie falling all the way to the RB48 since Week 5, averaging just 4.52 points per game. His 22.6 total points in his last 5 games are fewer than his fellow running mates, Chris Rodriguez Jr. and Jeremy McNichols.
The Commanders, as a whole, have been a huge disappointment, so there is hope that Croskey-Merritt can bounce back, but there isn’t a long history of seventh-round rookies getting a lot of rope to turn things around.
Verdict: Confusing. Early-season returns give hope he can turn it around, but the pendulum is swinging more toward a miss than a hit.
WR Elic Ayomanor, Tennessee Titans, Pick 136 overall
The Titans have endured a truly grim season, punctuated by the midseason firing of Brian Callahan. The focus is now on Cam Ward‘s development and seeing what pieces they have going into another key offseason.
One of those pieces will be Ayomanor. The rookie fourth-rounder is probably not going to be a consistent, reliable fantasy player. However, if he can be similar to Romeo Doubs from a fantasy standpoint, you’ll have a usable, if frustrating, asset because you’ll never know when to start him. That’s worth something – especially in deeper leagues.
Ayomanor leads the Titans in: targets (51), receiving yards (323) and receiving touchdowns (two). None of those are particularly high bars to clear, but they demonstrate Ward has faith in the rookie – which says a lot when Calvin Ridley is also part of that receiving corps.
Averaging 7.8 points per game is nothing to shout about, nor is being the WR50. However, Ayomanor currently ranks higher than Demario Douglas (WR54), Jerry Jeudy (WR55), Houston Texans’ highly thought of rookie Jayden Higgins (WR68) and Green Bay Packers first-round rookie Matthew Golden (WR71).
On the basis that Ward takes a step forward in a less depressing offense in 2026, Ayomanor could become an unsung hero of your roster.
Verdict: Hit
