Tre Mason, RB St. Louis Rams Rookie Fantasy Spotlight
Byron Lambert, Rosterwatch.com

Likely set for a change of pace role in St. Louis in year one, Tre Mason is going to see a fair amount of action as a rookie. Mason was a player we scouted live on the RosterWatch Pro Day Tour. We liked him on film before we saw him, and we liked him even more when we left Auburn Pro Day. He was one of our highest rated NFL Draft rookie running back prospects.

Mason is a powerful and explosive player, capable of being a lead dog if necessary. We found it very intersting that the Rams exercised a valuable third round pick in a quality draft on Mason, after selecting his college teammate- behemoth left tackle Greg Robinson- with the second overall pick of the first round. Running back was not considered a huge position of need.

It’s clear Jeff Fisher drafted with intention. He imported key pieces of the Auburn run game to St. Louis. It tells us the St. Louis Crop Duster has maniacal new plans for the Rams run game, and likely intends to employ them immediately. If you listen to Tre Mason, that could mean the power play, and the zone read.

The two knocks on Mason were his ability to pass block, and catch passes. He was not asked to do either very often at Auburn. We see it more of an unknown than an inability. In fact, we believe Mason has the hard nosed, powerful style to become a good pass protector with some NFL coaching. He’s got tremendous leverage.

As far as catching the ball, we know he can do it. We filmed him doing so.

We recommend Mason as an occasional matchup-play flex this year as a rookie in redraft fantasy leagues, worthy of a late round pick. He has a lot of appeal in dynasty leagues, where long-term we expect him to close the gap on Zac Stacy and force a relatively even time share- or even usurp Stacy. Mason also becomes a prime candidate to run away with the job if Stacy ever goes down with significant injury. He’s already getting some reps with the first team in training camp.