Shawn Siegele begins the 2024 draft prospects sleeper series with an intriguing wide receiver who goes late in pre-draft best ball contests.
Terry McLaurin burst onto the NFL stage as a rookie. During the 2019 season he flashed serious vertical ability, and while he’s never fully emerged as a star — perhaps due to a series of poor quarterbacks pulling the trigger — McLaurin has been a consistent fantasy producer and elite air-yards threat on an annual basis.
All of this came as something of a surprise after a collegiate career where he barely crested 700 yards in his best (and final season). He was overshadowed by underneath threat Parris Campbell at Ohio State, but his 20 yards per reception and 11 touchdowns ended up foreshadowing his impressive NFL career better than the lackluster yards per team attempt or 20% Dominator Rating.
McLaurin’s professional emergence is a reminder that hyper-athletic unproductive players do occasionally outperform their collegiate numbers (even if they’re far more likely to get overdrafted and disappoint).
In today’s exercise, I’m going to look at another special athlete, and one of our favorites from the 2024 RotoViz Rookie Guide. Although his production profile is complicated, it’s also far superior to McLaurin’s in several ways. I’ll also ask the question: Could this prospect’s heavily-flogged red flag actually lift his draft stock?
