Rookie Spotlight: Sean Tucker, RB Syracuse

Height: 5-9
Weight: 207
Hands: 9 1/2″
Arm: 30″
40 yard dash: 4.38 (adjusted from *self-reported* 4.33 at pro day)
2023 Age: 22
NFL Comparison: Ray Rice, Felix Jones

Offensive Market Share Metrics (Final Season)

Rushing Attempts: 47%
Receptions: 16%
Scrimmage Yards: 27%
Scrimmage TDs: 33%
Total Production Percentage: 31%

As a high school prospect: Class of 2020; 3-star

Pros
– Explosive and powerfully built
– Former track sprinter
– Certified home-run hitter with big-play potential in the open field
– Bowling ball body; more dense than you would think given his speed and acceleration
– Good at forcing missed tackles in a variety of ways
– Change-of-direction in open field shows good functional lateral agility
– Brings pop through his pads; good pad level
– Good ball security

Cons
– Better in his sophomore season than in his junior season
– Decently featured in passing game, but not the best hands
– Didn’t test at combine or pro day due to a nebulous “medical exclusion” situation
– Racked up a lot of stats versus bad teams
– Needs work in pass pro

Scouting Notes: There aren’t a ton of runners in this class that possess both the requisite size to theoretically hold up to a featured workload and have game-breaking speed, but Tucker checks both of those boxes, which goes a long way in making his overall profile more appealing. Tucker has been able to take on large workloads and make the most of them while also taking care of the football (no lost fumbles in 2021, and only one in 2022). He’s a stout runner in the mold of Ray Rice or Felix Jones, who plays with a similar chip on his shoulder, but also brings the element of track-speed to breakaway for the big home-run shots. Tucker was very productive, but it should be noted that a good proportion of that productivity did come against inferior opponents. Of Tucker’s 23 rushing TDs over his final two seasons at Syracuse, a combined 7 of them (30.43%) came against two FCS opponents in Albany and Wagner. Tucker was relatively heavily involved in the Syracuse passing game: he was targeted 52 times in 2022, resulting in 37 receptions. That represents a 16% market share of team receptions, which was tied for 4th-best among 2023 combine participants. However, Tucker was also one of the nation’s leaders in drops (5) and he’s also questionable in pass pro at this time, which means that the college receiving volume shouldn’t be considered a lock to be duplicated at the NFL level in the same way we anticipate with more complete college backs garnering 3rd down skill sets like Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Zach Charbonnet, Devon Achane, or even guys further down the board like Evan Hull and Chase Brown.

Fantasy Outlook: Depending on NFL landing spot, Tucker has the physical profile, the size, speed and quicks to be a fantasy asset as soon as Year 1 if things fall right. There are issues with his profile, though, perhaps one of the most concerning being his basically unexplained absence from proper testing through the process. In pre NFL draft rookie drafts, You can expect Tucker to go off the board in the mid-second round of 1QB leagues and the late-second round of superflex setups around the same time as players like Izzy Abanikanda, who represents a similar type of player: a discounted speed option with adequate size and just a few more unknowns than some of the players being drafted before him. He’s a cinch pick at this type of value, especially considering the WRs going off the board during this time in drafts really begin to dry up.