Vinny’s Variety Pack: Rookie fantasy studs

The draft is TONIGHT. Holy sh*t am I excited. There are a lot of implications that come from the NFL draft: position battles, division superiority, Super Bowl frontrunners, etc. The most fun ones though, in my opinion, are the fantasy football implications. Every year, there are a handful of fantasy studs that emerge from the rookie class. Hidden in each draft, there’s the next Odell Beckham, Ezekiel Elliot, Michael Thomas or Dak Prescott. It’s hard to predict who the next star is going to be, especially when you don’t even know what team they are on yet. Unfortunately, this is my last column (I think) so I have to do this now. Enjoy!

Leonard Fournette, RB, LSU

Writing this column is hard because the players I pick have to be good no matter what team they are on. Fournette is that type of player, given the teams that will draft him. There is no way that he is going to make it past the Panthers’ number eight pick, which realistically leaves him to be drafted by either the Panthers, Jags or Jets. On any one of these teams, Fournette will dominate. He’ll become the number-one ball-carrier and will have excellent backs to compliment him — the perfect formula for a good fantasy running back.

O.J. Howard, TE, Alabama

O.J. Howard is an absolute football machine. He is strong, quick, tall and has terrific hands. He is a match-up nightmare and can play anywhere on the offensive side of the ball. Before the combine, he was projected to go sometime in the first round — sometimes even as late as the 23rd pick (God willing). Now though, there is no question that he will be gone in the top 10. It literally does not matter which team Howard gets drafted by, he will absolutely dominate the NFL.

David Njoku, TE, Miami

Njoku is almost as good as Howard. He’s a little slower, a little smaller and a little weaker, but he is far more athletic. Njoku is that tight end that surfaces once in a blue moon. He just happens to be surfacing at the same time as O.J. Howard, which moves Njoku’s draft stock down a bit. This means that he can literally be taken by any team from pick 6-32 — I don’t think even the experts have a clue of where he will go. One thing is for certain, wherever he ends up, he will be a force to be reckoned with.

Chris Godwin, WR, Penn State

Okay, so here is my dark horse. Honestly, I didn’t know much about Godwin until a friend from Pennsylvania literally would not shut up about him. Godwin is a deadly combination of quick, strong and tall. Most importantly, however, Godwin is a playmaker. When the game is on the line, and you need a guy to get the job done, Godwin is that guy. He excels under pressure and tore up the turf in all of his bowl games. In the NFL, where every game feels like a primetime game, Godwin will be a star. If he gets drafted to the right team, don’t be afraid to spend a last round pick on him.