1) Ryan Matthews – He’ll get the most good opportunities of any ’10 rookie, taking the place of LT in the San Diego offense and shouldering the load alongside scatback Sproles.
2) CJ Spiller – With teams all clamoring to find the “next Chris Johnson,” workload issues for those of more slight size are not at the forefront right now – but they will be.
3) Jermaine Gresham – The only impact TE in the draft will make more of an impact right off the bat at his position than any WR.
4) Dez Bryant – He will form a solid role in an explosive offense.
5) Demaryius Thomas – QB concerns remain in this offense, but he’s essentially coming in to assume the “Brandon Marshall role” in a Josh McDaniels offense, so you do the math.
6) Golden Tate – Pete Carroll will surely know the way to get the best out of him early.
7) Arrelious Benn – He will provide solid WR play for a team starved for it.
8) Dexter McCluster – He may be more of a gadget player at first, but he has explosiveness in the open field that the team sorely needs.
9) Toby Gerhart – Even serving as little more than a “vulture back” – worst-case scenario – could easily yield double-digit touchdowns.
10) Ben Tate – His new team isn’t used to having a back move the chains effectively.
11) Damien Williams – He could help give the Titans a better 1-2 punch than they’re used to seeing at WR.
12) Mike Williams – See Arrelious Benn.
13) Brandon LaFell – Finally, Carolina gets somebody to fill the #2 WR spot.
14) Joe McKnight – The RB position and the offense as a whole are incredibly crowded with skilled players – big change from last year – but a player as incredible as he is in space will still command some opportunities early.
15) Sam Bradford – Rookie QBs, even winning ones, don’t generally put up huge numbers, but he’s so skilled he could potentially be an acceptable fantasy backup in his first year.
16) Jordan Shipley – While the passing game is now crowded – a nice change for Cincy from last year – he could still attract plenty of attention from QB Palmer in the slot.
17) Montario Hardesty – If he can stay healthy, and if the OL can continue to improve, he’s going to be an incredible “thunder” complement to “lightning” RB Harrison.
18) Taylor Price – A physical speciman with all the skills, he’ll be brought along slowly, but he could still produce early in spread packages.
19) Andre Roberts – He’s part of the “replace Anquan Boldin” committee.
20) Mardy Gilyard – He won’t have much help from the other skill position players, but he’s at least got the best rookie QB throwing to him and he is a playmaker.
Fantasy Drafthelp: Top 20 Football Rookies of 2010
