Kevin White, Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears (First Round, 7th Pick)
White was a somewhat surprising pick for a Bears team that needed to add some help on defense. It was also somewhat of a show of confidence directed at the much-maligned Jay Cutler, who now has a new toy to play with on offense. While inexperienced against top-level competition, there's a reason why White went in the top 10. His athletic ability and pure physicality at wide receiver is going to translate well to the NFL. Let's look at this selection through a fantasy lens.
College Career
Statistics: 144 Receptions, 1,954 Yards and 15 Touchdowns
After transferring from Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania prior to the 2013 season, White played a limited role for West Virginia. He recorded just 35 receptions for 507 yards and five touchdowns. It was this past season that White jumped on to the national landscape. Displaying a tremendous ability to go up and get the ball as well as a solid route-running technique, White absolutely dominated the competition. He put up 109 receptions for over 1,400 yards and 10 touchdowns, while being nominated for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's best receiver.
When looking at how White did against elite-level college defenses, it gets even more interesting. He tallied nine receptions for 143 yards and a score in the Mountaineers season-opening loss to Alabama. White followed that up with three double-digit catch performances in a row, including a 10-reception outing against Oklahoma.
Competition
White won't be Cutler's primary target at wide receiver. That role will now belong to Alshon Jeffery with Brandon Marshall now on the New York Jets. Don't fret, there will still be plenty of targets to go around here. Jeffery and Marshall represented a combined 251 targets last season. In additio to this, there's no reason to believe that Matt Forte will see 130 targets like he did last season with Adam Gase now taking control of the team's offense. This leads me to believe White will see a minimum of 100 targets in 2015, which should put him in line for between 60 and 70 receptions. Those are solid FLEX numbers right there. To calm your nerves even more, White's primary "competition" for the starting receiver job opposite Jeffery is Marquess Wilson. Needless to say, that's not going to be much of a competition.
2015 Outlook
As we mentioned above, the expectation has to be that White will be able to put up FLEX numbers (WR3 in three-deep lineups). That's pretty much his standard projection. If the Bears get better quarterback play, the rookie can exceed those expectations and morph into a potential bottom-end WR2.
Dynasty Outlook
While White's on-field ceiling is sky high, his fantasy ceiling isn't. As long as Alshon Jeffery is on the Bears, he's going to be the team's No. 1 wide receiver. And short of Chicago acquiring an elite-level quarterback and actually going with a pass-happy scheme, it's going to be hard for White to turn into a true WR1. In fact, how many teammates out there have been true top-end fantasy options? That's the biggest issue dyno owners are facing with White.