2021 NFL Draft Rookie Profile: Dyami Brown (Fantasy Football)

The University of North Carolina is getting a lot of love in the 2021 NFL Draft, especially from the fantasy football community, but it’s primarily for their running back prospects, Javonte Williams and Michael Carter. UNC Wide receiver, Dyami Brown, is an athletic speedster who can stretch defenses and will look to make a name for himself in the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s not getting a ton of attention from dynasty managers, but could be he a sneaky good value in the 2nd round of rookie drafts? Let’s dive in.

Editors Note: This article is part of our Rookie Profile series going on until the 2021 NFL Draft. For more on each rookie, check out Andy, Mike, and Jason’s exclusive rookie rankings and production profiles found only in the Dynasty Pass, part of the brand-new UDK+ for 2021.

College Production Profile

With back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons and 20 TDs over the last two years, Dyami Brown has an underrated college production profile. As a sophomore in 2019, Brown’s 1,034 yards and 12 TDs helped him earn third-team All-ACC honors while he finished fifth in the conference in receiving production and first in yards per reception as one of the nation’s best deep threats.

In 2020, Brown essentially repeated his 2019 performance with similar production while continuing to feast on ACC secondaries via his deep receiving game. Again, Brown was one of the most productive receivers in the ACC, finishing first in receiving yards, second in receiving TD, and third in yards per reception.

Despite strong 2019 and 2020 seasons, Brown’s advanced metrics rank well below the top wide receivers in the class like Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, and Devonta Smith. Dyami Brown’s 30% dominator rating is well below the other receivers in this class, ranking 25th at the position in this metric per the production profiles in the Dynasty Pass. Brown’s breakout age, on the other hand, is intriguing and does help to bolster his production profile. Brown produced early in his career as a sophomore at UNC, helping him earn a breakout age of 19.8. Brown is just one of 14 wideouts to earn a breakout age of less than 20.0 years old.

Measurables

*Results taken from UNC’s Pro Day on March 29

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At 6’1″ and less than 190 pounds, Dyami Brown is undersized relative to the other top wide receiver prospects in this class. However, as we’ve seen with Devonta Smith, size and weight aren’t everything, as there are some wideouts who play well above their weight class, and Dyami Brown fits that mold – more on that soon.

Not surprisingly, based on his extreme efficiency on deep balls in college, Brown’s 4.44 40-yard dash supports that he’s got the speed to hit the home run ball and beat defenders over the top. Brown excelled as a track and field athlete in high school, and that speed certainly shows up in his athletic testing as well as his tape. His 6.90 second 3-cone time also shows that Brown isn’t just a “run in a straight line as fast as you can” type of guy. He’s quick and agile enough to change direction, which will be helpful for him to create separation at the next level as he looks to further expand his route tree.

What’s On Tape

Games viewed: Miami (2019), Wake Forest (2020), Virginia (2020), NC State (2020), Miami (2020)

1. Dyami Brown wins in the deep third of the field.

With 4.44 speed, one of Brown’s best attributes is his ability to get downfield and provide those high upside splash plays. As we’ve established, Brown was one of college football’s best deep threats over the last two seasons, averaging over 20 yards per reception each of the last two years. This play, in particular, shows Brown’s ability to create separation in the final third of the field. Quick and explosive off the line, the defender has to play off-coverage. Brown quickly decelerates with hesitation, the defender bites, and Brown’s speed again takes over, creating nearly 10 yards of separation at the catch point. Game over.

2. Dyami Brown is an underrated wide receiver on slant routes.

While Brown’s name is attached to the idea of a deep threat receiver, I did see a lot of nice slant routes on tape. He demonstrated an ability to sell the defender and make a decisive enough change of direction to create separation. Obviously, these 30-yard bombs are more fun for fantasy, but in terms of the ability to translate to the NFL, this route is a staple of perimeter wide receivers, so it’s encouraging to see Brown have success on these routes.

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3. While subtle, Brown demonstrates a sneaky ability to change speed quickly throughout his route.

When watching Brown’s tape, it was almost like Brown hit the turbo button at random points in his route, which he definitely used to his advantage. There are multiple plays on tape where he almost lulls the corner to sleep then boom, hits the jets to quickly create separation. Brown can also get off the line of scrimmage quickly, showing above-average burst and suddenness in his routes that make it difficult for corners to lock him down in man to man coverage.

What’s Not on Tape

1. Dyami Brown only lined up on the left side of the field on the perimeter. Can he win in the slot or across the field?

This heat map, which is from Pro Football Focus’ 2021 NFL Draft Guide, looks like the exact opposite of Tylan Wallace‘s heat map, which was red all over the right side of the field. As you can see in the map below, Brown lined up exclusively on the left side of the field, where he saw nearly all of his targets and ran all of his routes. In today’s NFL, the best receivers in the game are moved all over the field and into the slot to create mismatches, and Brown’s profile doesn’t include this dynamic attribute. It’s not to say that Brown can’t win all over the field, but he only played a total of 28 slot snaps over the last two seasons. We just haven’t seen it yet.

*Credit to PFF’s Mike Renner for the image above as part of Pro Football Focus’ 2021 NFL Draft Guide

2. There isn’t a lot of run after the catch ability on tape.

I only saw a few plays in the games I watched where Brown was involved as a run after the catch weapon. There were a few splash plays on screens and slants where Brown shows an ability to pick up extra yardage with the ball in his hands, but because of the way UNC utilized Brown, there are a lot more deep targets in his game than short to intermediate targets. In fact, Brown’s average depth of target last season was 18.7 yards. In other words, he was getting targeted deep downfield and in those areas of the field, the ability to need to make defenders miss with the ball in his hands isn’t quite a priority.

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2021 Fantasy Outlook

As with most rookie wide receivers, we probably shouldn’t expect too much fantasy football production from Brown in 2021, especially considering he’s unlikely to go in Round 1 of the 2021 NFL Draft. However, there’s a reason that Brown is featured in the Dynasty Pass as a rookie riser at this stage of the pre-draft process. In our two-round industry rookie mock draft that took place in February, Dyami Brown went undrafted. However, in last week’s post-workout mock, Brown was selected at the 2.08 after running 4.44 at his pro day.

Dyami Brown is clearly multiple tiers below the top WR prospects in this class, but in the mid to late 2nd round of rookie drafts, he makes for a high upside, low-risk investment for dynasty managers. Brown will certainly need to expand his route tree in order to grow into a starting-caliber fantasy football wide receiver, but he’s got enough athleticism and play-making ability that’s he’s worth the cheap draft capital in the back end of the 2nd round of dynasty rookie drafts.