If you’re playing in PPR leagues, using pass-catching RBs cannot be overstated. The correlations are too dominant to ignore. An enormous percentage of predictive correlative stats to RB PPR scoring is related to receiving work, and there is almost no way to be the RB1 overall without it. If you seek one thing in a fantasy RB, make it receiving work.
As we scan the aisles of this maligned RB class, some players stand out for their pass-catching work, and the early drafters have almost ignored them. This may be where fantasy managers could find an edge in a potentially lackluster class. Let’s look at the biggest standouts and disappointments in this area based on their college production profiles.
2024’s HAUL-EM-IN HEROES
DYLAN LAUBE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, (ROOKIE ADP 52.71)
Dylan Laube has legitimately great receiving production, untouchable by anyone else in the class. His two best seasons rank as the second and third-best in yards per team pass attempt. His 2023 yardage total is the seventh highest total ever recorded by an NCAA back in a single season dating as far back as the RotoViz Box Score Scout goes, slotting in behind former PPR accumulator Charles Sims, positionless hybrid Percy Harvin, and two other backs that converted to TE in the NFL.
Laube’s downsides are obvious. He is an older prospect who will turn 25 before his rookie season is over. Also, his immense production came at small-school New Hampshire, which is in the FCS division. A lower-level recruit, New Hampshire represented his only scholarship offer. Running a 4.54 at 206 pounds, he ends up with a 56 Freak Score, which gives him a few fair sims (Devonta Freeman, Ahmad Bradshaw, Giovani Bernard, and Jamaal Williams are among them), but the hit rates are pretty low in this range. He does not do particularly well with evasion or YAC.
