he 2018 NFL Draft Prospect series breaks down draft-eligible players, highlighting their college production as well as their NFL potential. It’s important for daily fantasy players to know about NFL rookies before they’ve played a down of professional football because they are among the most misvalued assets in all of DFS. People who know NFL rookies have a significant DFS edge. The draft will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, from April 26-28.
This piece is on South Dakota State wide receiver Jake Wieneke.
For more on all the other receivers in the class, see our 2018 NFL draft wide receiver rankings.
Updated as of Mar. 8.
Redshirt Senior | 6’4″ and 221 Pounds | Born September 15, 1994 (Age: 23) | Projection: Rounds 5-7
Combine numbers: 40-yard: 4.67 sec | bench reps: 9 | 3-cone: 7.24 sec | 20-yard shuttle: 4.37 sec | vertical: 34 in | broad: 114 in
The only wide receiver from the Football Championship Subdivision to attend the combine, Wieneke is basically this year’s Cooper Kupp, except he’s bigger and maybe even less athletic: At the combine, he was woefully subpar in his drills, even when adjustments are made for his size. Like Kupp, Wieneke is an older prospect, but he was incredibly productive for four seasons and could play a very particular niche role in the NFL as a red-zone specialist.
After redshirting his first year at SD State, Wieneke emerged as the team’s top receiver as a freshman, and he went on a string of epic campaigns.
- 2014 (14 games): 73 receptions, one rush, 1,456 yards, 16 touchdowns
- 2015 (12 games): 72 receptions, 1,472 yards,11 touchdowns
- 2016 (13 games): 78 receptions, 1,316 yards, 16 touchdowns
- 2017 (14 games): 65 receptions, two rushes, 1,048 yards, 17 touchdowns.
Across his career, Wieneke averaged 99.9 yards and 1.13 touchdowns per game, capturing 36.0 and an astounding 50.0 percent of the team’s aerial yards and scores. Some people will dismiss his production because he played against the lesser competition of the FCS, but in his three games against Power Five opponents he balled out with 22 receptions for 463 yards, four touchdowns, and 53.1 and 66.7 percent of the receiving yards and touchdowns. Wieneke earned some praise for his work in the East-West Shrine Game practices, and he’s a straight-up fade-route savant with decent route-running chops. Even with his subpar athleticism, he could still be an effective NFL receiver thanks to his ability to matchup with undersized defenders.
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Matthew Freedman is the Editor-in-Chief of FantasyLabs. He has a dog and sometimes a British accent. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he’s known only as The Labyrinthian.
Photo Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports
