Dynasty Fantasy Football Diary: Is Jayden Higgins a Sleeper in Rookie Drafts?

Welcome back to my Dynasty Diary! In this offseason series, I'll peruse the dynasty landscape for pertinent moves, updates, and information and bring you my thoughts in a semi-cohesive manner. Look for trade suggestions, key insights, and more this offseason.

For a complete list of my updated dynasty startup rankings, click here.

How Should We Value Shedeur Sanders?

The biggest storyline of draft weekend was the historic slide of Shedeur Sanders. Once thought to be in the running to go early in Round 1, he fell all the way to Round 5 where the Browns made him their second QB selection of the draft.

Get a load of this QB room:

What in the world are dynasty managers supposed to do with this?

I don't mind being a touch aggressive with Sanders in Superflex dynasty formats. I truly believe he's the most talented QB of the bunch and that it will become apparent sooner rather than later.

If it was his on-the-field play or rumors of bad interviews that ultimately made him a Day 3 selection, I'm expecting him to come into camp ready to work and prove everyone wrong. We know how scarce quality QBs are, and there's a great chance that Sanders not only sees the field at some point this year, but that he's the Week 1 starter in 2026.

While I wouldn't take Sanders in the first round of my rookie draft, he could sneak into the back-end of Round 2 depending on how the board fell and what my specific team needs are.

There's a new Higgins in town

Tee Higgins was a "my guy" coming out of college and I've been higher on him than just about anyone else in the industry ever since. I've never really been disappointed and for that I'm eternally grateful for #HigginSNZ.

However, a few of my lineups now contain multiple Higgins thanks to the Texans snagging Jayden Higgins with the 34th overall pick.

Maybe it's my preconceived bias towards the name, but I felt great about landing him in one particular league (more on that below). Not only does he carry incredible draft capital but he landed with one of the premier, young QBs in the league in C.J. Stroud.

Even the Rookie WR Model has some good things to say about Higgins:

Higgins is essentially a Nico Collins clone in terms of his physical skill set. He should push Christian Kirk for playing time in 2WR sets, but could even get on the field more than that with a strong offseason.

In his latest piece, Dwain McFarland made the following statement about Higgins:

In my baseline projections, I have Higgins pulling down a 75% route participation, rotating some with Kirk in two-WR sets but playing most of the time when they have three WRs on the field. With Nico Collins as the clear-cut alpha, his target share projects to 15%.

While a 15% target share doesn't seem like much right now, it's the environment and potential for longterm upside that I am buying. Get in on the new-age Higgins before he starts balling out on the field in a few months.

Dynasty Rookie Draft Recap

I'm going to take a few minutes to talk about myself.

Hey, I wrote this article, I can do what I want. (right, editor?) (Editor's note: There are boundaries here, Sam.)

Regardless, reflecting on my leagues gives me some insight into how other dynasty managers value players, draft incoming rookies, and approach the game.

In a 12-team SF dynasty league entering Year 6, we just wrapped up our rookie draft. Here are a few highlights:

Round 1

I consider the league to be relatively sharp so it's hard to dispute anyone in the top-12. There is a slight premium boost to the TE position so that pushed both Loveland and Warren up the board.

Personally, I ended up with Jayden Higgins (2.06), Shedeur Sanders (3.06), Devin Neal (3.12), and Isaiah Bond (5.03). Overall, I'm pretty happy with that haul, especially Higgins.

I see this class as having a clear-cut Tier 1 (Jeanty) and then a Tier 2 consisting of four players (Hunter, McMillan, Hampton, Ward). If you are at the top of Tier 2 and can trade back within that tier, you should consider doing so.

Conversely, if you are outside of the top-five picks, getting that five spot gets you access to an elite player with long-term dynasty upside. In the end, knowing your league is the most important variable you can bring to draft night.

Denver Broncos WR2

When landing spot meets talent meets opportunity, magical things can happen.

The Denver Broncos selected Pat Bryant 74th overall (Round 3), and he's stepping into an offensive environment with a massive hole at WR2.

Last season, Courtland Sutton led the team with 135 targets. The second-most targets (70) went to RB Javonte Williams, and it was WR Devaughn Vele who was No. 2 in targets with 55.

Needless to say, there's room for someone else to step up in a big way.

It doesn't hurt that head coach Sean Payton has already made Michael Thomas comparisons about Bryant. Regardless, it wouldn't surprise me if Bo Nix throws for 4,000 yards and 30+ TDs in Year 2. That means there will be plenty of scoring opportunities for someone like Bryant to immediately become relevant for dynasty managers.

Players Mentioned in this Article