Fantasy Football drafts will be taking place before we know it, and avid fantasy football fans are already practicing mock drafting now the NFL draft is in the books. In the case with rookies in fantasy football, the key is to draft a potential surprise star for your team, but not spend too high of a draft pick on that player, mainly for the reason that some under-perform or struggle in their first year.

This article will feature facts and statistics about two rookie wide receivers, Sammy Watkins, whom the Buffalo Bills selected as their first draft pick, and Brandin Cooks, drafted by the New Orleans Saints, also in the first round. These two rookie wide receivers will no doubt get selected in 2014 fantasy football drafts. However, the question would be, which receiver should be drafted first over the other, without spending too high of a draft pick right out of the gate.

First, here are some statistics on the popular Clemson product, Watkins, who was projected to be the first wide receiver selected in the 2014 NFL draft. Indeed, that projection held true as the Bills chose him first making Watkins the fourth overall draft pick.

Here’s a look at Watkins’ statistics from 2013 and his total receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns during his college career.

Of course these numbers are quite impressive as is the 6’-1” Watkins, with his 4.43 dash as a whole. Without a doubt, Watkins should be a huge boost to the Bills less than stellar, receiving unit. From a fantasy football standpoint, the weak link here could be Watkins’ quarterback, second-year, E.J. Manuel.

Unfortunately, Manuel struggled with some nagging injuries in 2013, so he only participated in 10 of the 16 regular season games for the Bills last year. Fantasy owners who drafted Manuel with high expectations, soon found out they had a useless player on their roster for the most part. The 29th ranked quarterback had only one week last year where he surpassed 20 fantasy points, and that in Week 15, likely long after he lost fantasy relevance.

Manuel, if he can stay healthy, should be more productive now that the rookie jitters have evaporated. This should benefit Watkins more than if Watkins played with Manuel as a rookie. Plus, the Bills do not really have a lot other receiving competition for Watkins as they departed with their top and longtime receiver, Stevie Johnson in a trade with the San Francisco 49ers.

With this said, Watkins should become WR2 material fairly early in the season, with the opportunity to produce WR1 numbers on occasion. Mock drafts show Watkins being selected anywhere from the end of the fifth-draft round through the ninth, depending on the size of the league.

Now to evaluate Cooks, out of Oregon State, who the New Orleans Saints even traded up to acquire as the overall 20th pick in the draft. Here’s a look at his 2013 receiving statistics along with his overall college numbers.

Clearly, I can see why the Saints wanted to be unstoppable when trading up for Cooks in the draft. 1,730 yards and 16 touchdowns would have made Cooks the No. 1 fantasy football wide receiver had he been playing in the NFL last year.

Even though these incredible numbers were produced in college football, there is no denying that Cooks has the potential to become a top-notch receiver in the NFL as well, and what better of a home team for him, other than the Saints.

From a fantasy football outlook, Cooks has kind of the opposite positives and negatives going for him as Watkins does. Cooks obviously will be catching from the second-ranking, multi Pro Bowl quarterback in the NFL, Drew Brees, who is light years ahead of Manuel.

However, Cooks will have more cooks in the kitchen as the saying goes. He will be competing for receptions with tight end, Jimmy Graham, and No. 1 wide receiver, Marques Colston, just to name the obvious competition. The departures of receiver, Lance Moore and running back, Darren Sproles, though work to Cooks’ advantage.

Sproles' absense will leave a large gap in the Saints offense, in my opinion, so Cooks could see more work due to the fact that Sproles, who was quite multi-functional, caught passes in the outfield also.

If you are considering drafting Cooks in your 2014 fantasy football draft, I definitely see upside with him. At this point in mock drafts, Cooks is going off the boards in rounds nine to 12. Cooks should start out as a solid flex position with WR2 potential from week to week.

Overall, I would attempt to draft Watkins higher than and over Cooks with the likelihood that he will ultimately produce more fantasy points. Although, if Cooks is still available late in draff-rounds, and you have the opportunity to take him, he could be a surprise gem worth owning. Both should be quality dynasty fantasy football material.

At this point, I don't think you could go terribly wrong with either of these two, young first-round draft pick wide recievers in Watkins and Cooks if you draft them accordingly. Watch them in preseason practice and their preseason games and hopefully, we'll have two more fabulous fantasy football wide receivers to add to the mix, come draft time.

All college statistics have been provided by Sports Reference/College Football. Mock drafting information comes from fantasyfootballcalculator.com, and fantasy football statistics are provided by eDraft.com.