As you may know, taking shots in dynasty leagues isn’t about targeting players with a 3 PPG floor and a WR4 ceiling. It’s all about upside, which means honing in on the traits that profile long-term upside.
Running back Lan Larison enters the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New England Patriots. What immediately stands out is the draft capital (non-existent), that he was a fifth-year senior in ’24, and the shadow that second-round pick TreVeyon Henderson would cast over any UDFA running back the Pats would bring in. Not to mention, Henderson was already a household name since he came from a top college program in Ohio State, compared to Larison, who hailed from an FCS school, UC Davis.
And let’s not forget about Antonio Gibson, who despite significantly underperforming the potential that many saw in him over his career, was still plenty serviceable as New England’s RB2 last season, and would be just fine as the third back behind Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson.
LAN LARISON ATHLETIC PROFILE
A player from a non-FBS college, amongst a sea of undrafted rookies, many times means it could be a hot minute before the fantasy world catches up to them:
For example, it’s super sweet for PlayerProfiler to let us know, with an age of 0.0, he comes in as arguably one of the youngest backs in the league. However, I think their College Target Share just might be off; perhaps they haven’t included that info yet.
If you did happen to catch him early in rookie hype season, it was very easy to get sucked in, with 2,312 yards from scrimmage and 23 total touchdowns during his final year. His receiving numbers alone are too good to ignore, and his Pro Day on March 31st gave early returns that showed elite athleticism to back up the stats during his final year.
PlayerProfiler built upon those results to paint a quintessential diamond in the rough, including mentioning the 40-yard dash time as 4.46, which conflicts with their profile’s listed time of 4.69. That’s a big difference.
Not that RAS is an end-all-be-all general, other notable running backs with a RAS score lower than Larison include LeSean McCoy (6.2), fellow UDFA Priest Holmes (5.9), Josh Jacobs (5.7), Frank Gore (5.6), David Montgomery (5.2), Kareem Hunt (5.1), Arian Foster (5.1), Dalvin Cook (4.6), and James White (4.9).
LAN LARISON’S FIT WITH THE PATRIOTS
I noted James White wondering what kind of game we might be able to expect from Larison if he became a significant contributor and a fantasy asset. Henderson and Larison are guys that the current front office brought in, as opposed to Stevenson and Gibson. That doesn’t mean Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels will necessarily be biased towards them (and McDaniels was with the Patriots when Rhamondre was drafted), but we have to consider the possibility.
FanSided saw enough to speculate in early June that Larison’s arrival might signal the end for Gibson in New England. The piece also highlights one aspect of Larison ‘s game that we shouldn’t have to worry about, like we have with Gibson: in five years at UC Davis, the number of fumbles Lan had was…zero.
With both Stevenson having an out in his contract after next season and Gibson’s contract coming to an end in the same offseason, the ideal scenario would be for Larison to make the team or the practice squad this year and stick around long enough to win the future RB2 job behind Hendo.
The second running back in a Josh McDaniels scheme can reap fantasy benefits like it did for James White, and if he can become a Swiss Army Knife-type player like NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein can envision, that can only widen the range of opportunities that could open up. Zierlein sees his potential to develop into a starter, and Patriots reporters like Alex Barth have noted his apparent ability to pick up the complicated nature of a Josh McDaniels offensive scheme quickly.
LAN LARISON DYNASTY OUTLOOK: CAN HE MAKE NOISE AS AN UDFA?
Many scouting reports had him as a day 3 pick. In a lot of other seasons, he may have been, but the depth of the 2025 running back class may have pushed him out. Here’s another interesting nugget that would be big if true (hard to turn down six figures in NIL money), where if Larison had moved to FBS competition, NFL scouts may have better trusted that his game could translate to the pros:
Nevertheless, the tape does pop, even being in the FCS.
Other recent UDFA running backs who have made a fantasy impact are Jaleel McLaughlin (who entered the league in 2023), Jaylen Warren (2022), James Robinson, and Rico Dowdle (both in 2020). There will be more, and at this point, Lan Larison, only 7% rostered on Sleeper, merits a spot on dynasty taxi squads. His upside is as mysterious as any player’s, but the potential is there.
Now if I can just figure out where I want to put him in my RSJ Dynasty Rankings before preseason football finally kicks off.
