The 2018 NFL Draft Prospect series breaks down draft-eligible players, highlighting their college production as well as their NFL potential. Daily fantasy players should 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 Texas Christian running back Kyle Hicks.
For more on all the other backs in the class, see our 2018 NFL draft running back rankings.
Updated as of Mar. 4.
Redshirt Senior | 5’10″ and 204 Pounds | Born May 10, 1994 (Age: 23) | Projection: Round 6-Free Agent
Combine numbers: 40-yard: 4.63 sec | bench reps: 13 | 3-cone: DNP | 20-yard shuttle: DNP | vertical: 36.5 in | broad: 122 in
Hicks has almost no draft hype. He wasn’t invited to the East-West Shrine Game or the Senior Bowl, and he’s coming off a rather disappointing campaign. Nevertheless, he has some potential. One of the top high-school backs in Texas, Hicks was heavily recruited but chose to stay close to home (Arlington, TX) by attending TCU. After redshirting for a year, Hicks spent his freshman and sophomore seasons as a depth back on an offense dominated by the passing game thanks to quarterback Trevone Boykin (a Heisman candidate) and wide receiver Josh Doctson (a future first-rounder).
The following season, with Boykin and Doctson in the NFL and Texas A&M transfer Kenny Hill at quarterback, TCU shifted to a ground-based offensive attack, and Hicks dominated the running back touches with 203 rushes and 47 receptions, which he turned into 1,459 yards and 14 touchdowns in 13 games. His reception total was good for a top-10 mark among all running backs in the Football Bowl Subdivision and more than what we saw out of all the elite receiving backs selected in 2017 with top-100 picks.
- Kareem Hunt (41)
- Alvin Kamara (40)
- Christian McCaffrey (37)
- Joe Mixon (37)
- Dalvin Cook (33)
After his 2017 campaign Hicks seems poised for a massive senior season — and then in January 2017 he was arrested for public intoxication at a Whataburger near campus.
After that, Hicks found himself in a committee — he had more than 16 carries in a game just once last year — and he missed one game and parts of three others with undisclosed injuries. Even though he finished 2017 with another strong receiving campaign (30 receptions for 291 yards) Hicks managed just 139 carries for 637 yards, scoring five touchdowns in total. Because of his receiving chops Hicks might be able to stick on a roster, but with his diminished 2017 production and mediocre combine he looks like a late Day 3 pick at best.
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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: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
