Which LSU Football Rookies Will be Must Drafts in 2020 Fantasy Leagues?
The 2020 NFL season is around the corner, which means it’s almost time to put together your Fantasy Football roster. With a school-record five first-round selections in this year’s NFL Draft, LSU is primed to have a handful of rookies go in the early stages of the fantasy draft process.
Obviously, drafting individual defensive players isn’t possible in most formats, so K’Lavon Chaisson and Patrick Queen won’t be available. But, let’s take a look at LSU’s top three rookies that fantasy owners could end up selecting:
Joe Burrow
Very few quarterbacks claim fantasy relevance in Year 1 of their professional careers. But in Burrow’s case, he's got a good chance to make a real impact in his first season in Cincinnati. In fact, Burrow is ranked No. 1 in NFL.com’s Top Offensive Rookie of the Year candidates.
“Provided his monstrous senior season at LSU was not just a product of then-passing game coordinator Joe Brady's system, Burrow should be the clear-cut favorite for this award,” said NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein. “A.J. Green didn't play last season, but assuming he returns to the team on the franchise tag (which he has not signed as of the publishing of this post) or a long-term contract (the two sides have until July 15 to work out a multi-year deal), he'll be back as a top target for Burrow.”
Burrow is already carrying himself like a veteran at Bengals camp. He’s impressed the coaching staff since the day he arrived, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Justin Jefferson
After a record-setting season in 2019 for LSU, Jefferson landed in the perfect spot to make an immediate impact with the Vikings. Many analysts expect Jefferson and Adam Thielen to be the primary targets for Kirk Cousins, which could result in a ton of points for the first-year wideout.
“We thought he was going to Philadelphia, but he ended up in Minnesota, which is just as good,” said NFL Network’s Adam Rank. “To me, he’s going to be the highest-scoring rookie wide receiver.”
The praise from high-profile draft experts didn’t stop there. ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates also described Jefferson as the rookie WR set up best for success in 2020. Safe to say that expectations are already high for the former LSU Tiger.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
With Chiefs projected starter at running back Damien Williams opting out for the 2020 season, LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire is another trendy candidate for Rookie of the Year.
He just fits the scheme in Kansas City and he’ll be able to be used in many different ways.
“Edwards-Helaire is a bowling ball who had 16 rushing scores over only 215 carries in 2019 for LSU. He also caught 55 balls for the Tigers,” said Corey Bonini of USA Today. “Typically the first rookie back chosen, Edwards-Helaire is the backfield's clear No. 1 with Damien Williams opting out, but he'll have competition from all of the mouths to feed in this passing game. There’s risk in drafting any rookie running back, but Edwards-Helaire's upside makes him a first-round target.”
