In Defense of Ageism: Why Drake London Is the Top Rookie Wide Receiver in 2022 (and Why It Could Also Be Jameson Williams)
Image Credit: Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire. Pictured: Drake London.

Earlier this offseason I made an appearance on Ship Chasing to participate in a rookie mock draft. I had the second pick and took Drake London, explaining that I was breaking the tie between him and Treylon Burks in favor of London because he is more than a year younger than Burks. The responses in the comments included joking accusations of ageism. All I can say is that when it comes to rookie wide receivers in fantasy football, I plead guilty.

To understand why I’m an ageist about rookie wide receivers, it helps to understand some of the dynamics of draft age — why and how much it matters, and just how long it continues to matter in an NFL WR’s career. We’ve looked at this issue in some depth before, but I want to revisit it with another year of data, and to provide a few other ways to look at the numbers.

Measuring the Effects of Draft Age

First, how much does it matter? The table below indicates the average output over a player’s first two seasons for PPR, expected points, and fantasy points over expectation for each draft age cohort. Draft age is calculated as a player’s age on December 31 in the year of his final college season. It coincides with the Final College Age metric in the WR Prospect Lab.

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Please subscribe For Full Access to all RotoViz content and tools!

 

What’s included in your subscription??

  • Exclusive Access to RotoViz Study Hall
    • A treasure trove of our most insightful articles that will teach you the metrics that matter, time-tested winning strategies, the approaches that will give you an edge, and teach you how to be an effective fantasy manager.
  • Revolutionary Tools
    • Including the NFL Stat Explorer, Weekly GLSP Projections, NCAA Prospect Box Score Scout, Combine Explorer, Range of Outcomes App, DFS Lineup Optimizer, Best Ball Suite,and many, many, more.
  • Groundbreaking Articles
    • RotoViz is home of the original Zero-RB article and continues to push fantasy gamers forward as the go-to destination for evidence-based analysis and strategic advantages.
  • Weekly Projections
    • Built using RotoViz’s unique GLSP approach.
  • Expert Rankings
  • And a whole lot more…

Blair Andrews

Managing Editor, Author of The Wrong Read, Occasional Fantasy Football League Winner. All opinions are someone else's.

Are We About to Get an Epic Performance from Jahmyr Gibbs? The Wrong Read, Week 12

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Can Cleveland Throw in the Weather? The Wrong Read, Week 12 – Thursday Night Preview

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Shane Waldron Wasn’t the Only Problem in Chicago, But Can a New Playcaller Unlock Caleb Williams? The Wrong Read, Week 11

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Are We About to Get an Epic Performance from Jahmyr Gibbs? The Wrong Read, Week 12

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Can Cleveland Throw in the Weather? The Wrong Read, Week 12 – Thursday Night Preview

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

Shane Waldron Wasn’t the Only Problem in Chicago, But Can a New Playcaller Unlock Caleb Williams? The Wrong Read, Week 11

Welcome to The Wrong Read. This weekly article uses advanced team-level metrics to preview the week’s upcoming matchups. The goal is to try to understand how an upcoming matchup might play out in terms of each offense’s ability to execute their game plan. How successful will they be when trying to pass? How much will they be able to run the ball? It’s impossible to…...

Membership Required

You must be a member to access this content.

View Membership Levels

Already a member? Log in here

The Blitz

Connect
Support

rotovizmain@gmail.com

Sign-up today for our free Premium Email subscription!

Data provided by

© 2021 RotoViz. All rights Reserved.

Welcome Back to RotoViz...

– IF YOU HAVE ISSUES LOGGING IN PLEASE CONTACT ROTOVIZMAIN@GMAIL.COM

– PLEASE NOTE THAT ROTOVIZ USES WORDPRESS FOR ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT. IF RESETTING YOUR PASSWORD YOU MAY BE FOWARDED TO A WORDPRESS PAGE.