When it comes to building a dominant dynasty team, identifying young talents with immense potential is paramount. Buying in on WR’s in their 2nd or 3rd year in the NFL is a great way to have a long-term dynasty asset and help your team win a championship.
In previous articles, we discussed WR Samori Toure and WR David Bell as potential fantasy targets, and we’re continuing the series where we’re going to evaluate each WR taken in the 2022 NFL draft and see if they are worth a spot on your Dynasty Fantasy Football roster.
Today we’re going to take a look at another WR taken in the 2022 NFL draft in Dareke Young.
Dareke Young’s entire collegiate career was at Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina, where he emerged as a solid WR for the Bears. During his time there, Young amassed 73 receptions, 1,176 receiving yards, and 16 touchdowns, while also contributing as a running back with solid stats (88 touches, 658 yards, 8 TD’s).
For his senior year (2020-21) he played in just two games. Despite this, Young made a huge impact on the spring season. In his two contests, he finished with 14 grabs for 218 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Also, against Tusculum in the SAC Championship, Young went off for nine catches and 166 yards with one touchdown. The 166 yards represented the 10th most in a single game in the 101-year history of LR Football and the 4th most in the NCAA Era (1993-current).
His best year was as a junior in 2019. The playmaker had 12 touchdowns on just 74 offensive touches and was the team leader with 25 receptions for 515 yards and eight touchdowns while averaging 20.6 yards per catch. Additionally, as a rusher that year, Young had 49 carries for 335 yards and four touchdowns and averaged 6.8 yards per carry. He also had two 100-yard receiving games and a career-high seven catches against Limestone.
Following his collegiate career He was drafted in the 7th round of the 2022 draft by the Seattle Seahawks at pick #233 overall (ahead of WR Samori Toure).
In fantasy football, opportunity is a crucial factor for success. One year after being brought on by the team, Young finds himself currently fighting for a roster spot. Since Seattle already has two established receivers in Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf and drafted rookie WR Jaxon Smith-Njiba in this year’s draft, Young has a major uphill battle to climb. Historically speaking 7th round WR draft picks who broke-out in college late (age 21 or later) only have about a 7% chance to fantasy relevancy.
Some other factors against Young include stats from last year, his first with the Seahawks.
- Targets: 2
- Target Share: 0.5%
- Target Rate: 6.5%
- Snap Share: 13.1%
- Slot Snaps: 22
- Routes Run: 31
As we can see, his stats were……not good. It’s almost as if Seattle simply drafted him as a depth piece with no intention of ever utilizing him. While this could certainly change this year, chances are the only way Young sees significant playing time is if one of the Seahawks starters is out for a significant period of time, as he is currently the WR 4/5 for the team.
Conclusion:
While Young definitely has the size (6’2”, 224lbs) and speed (4.4 40-time) to succeed at the NFL level, his draft capital and current situation say otherwise. This is a perfect example of how team context and situation plays a role in whether or not a player can be a fantasy asset for our teams. Even though Dareke Young was drafted earlier than a similar WR in Samori Toure, Toure currently has an easier path to fantasy relevancy.
With that in mind, IF Young has a good preseason, and IF he can get a roster spot, and IF one of the big 3 receivers gets hurt or is out for an extended period of time, and IF you have the bench spot available, then there is a possibility you may want to consider adding him to your roster to see how things shake out. Currently however, that’s too many “IF’s”, and I wouldn’t recommend making a move to acquire him when there are most likely better options available either via trade or on your league's waiver wire. I’d much rather use his roster spot on an RB with upside or a better WR/TE.
