Fantasy Sleepers this year?

[BayRaider]

Who’s everyones sleepers this year? I think a big one is Trey Lance obviously. Big time dual threat with a great coach. Should definitely be a Top 12 Fantasy QB. 

Sutton/Jeudy are definitely solid sleepers with Wilson there. Especially Jeudy. One of them could break out WR1 numbers. 

Not really a sleeper but I expect Aaron Jones to outperform his ADP with Adams gone and get more volume. 

Deep sleeper, Kenyan Drake is a good one. Could be a Top 20 PPR back in McDaniels scheme. 

[NYRaider]

7 hours ago, BayRaider said:

Sutton/Jeudy are definitely solid sleepers with Wilson there. Especially Jeudy. One of them could break out WR1 numbers. 

I think Sutton is way more of a sleeper than Jeudy, Russell Wilson is notorious for not throwing across the middle of the field which is where Jeudy operates. 

[NYRaider]

Sleepers that I love for next year:

• Trey Lance: Can essentially be a better version of what Jalen Hurts was last season as a duel threat QB. 

• Travis Etiene: 1st round pick coming off of an injury with pass catching ability, think he could have a big year with Robinson out. 

• Allen Robinson: With Woods/OBJ out of the mix he should see a ton of targets for the Rams this season.

• Russell Gage: Godwin's coming off of an ACL tear, AB's gone, should open up a ton of targets for Gage.

• JuJu Smith-Schuster: I think he can be a PPR monster operating across the middle with Mahomes

• Rondale Moore: Should see a significant uptick in usage with Kirk/Green both gone.

• Gabe Davis: Came on strong at the end of the season and steps into the clear #2 WR role with Sanders/Beasley gone. 

• James Washington: Michael Gallup is coming off of a late ACL tear, Coopers gone, should be a lot of targets for him in Dallas.

• Raheem Mostert: Knows the system and Miami will likely look to run the ball more under their new coaching staff.

[NYRaider]

Other sleepers now that I've had some time to think: 

• Kadarius Toney: Dude was electric for a stint but couldn't stay healthy, ideally Daboll will be able to get him more involved this season.

• TuTu Altwell: With OBJ/Woods out of the picture I could see the Rams using him as a field stretching WR. 

• Anthony Schwartz: Watson loved going deep to Fuller and Schwartz is a burner, could see him having some crazy big games at times. 

• Josh Reynolds: Came on strong late in the season for Detroit and has chemistry with Goff. 

• Allen Lazard: Should see a pretty significant uptick in targets with Adams/MVS gone.

Edited April 15, 2022 by NYRaider

[Sllim Pickens]

Amon-Ra St Brown - Finished strong last year once he got comfortable with the system and Dan Campbell's play calling.  Even performed with back up QBs. He was the second highest scoring WR from weeks 13-18 behind only Cooper Kupp.  Detroit added DJ Chark to help take the focus off of him and likely will draft another WR, and if Goff plays the whole year close to the level he finished, St. Brown should be a top 10 WR and is being ranked as WR25-30 by most sites. 

Christian Kirk - Just should have an uptick in opportunities and I expect T-Law to take a step forward this year under better coaching and having more talent around him.  Currently ranked as WR40, he should finish in the top 25 just due to opportunities. 

Trevor Lawrence - Had a rough rookie year but had a lot of reasons to have a rough year.  I am sure Jacksonville will add more to the WR room and getting Ettiene back should help as well.  I fully expect him to be a top 12 QB this year and can be had cheap. 

Kenny Golladay - Injuries have killed his stock but if he can get healthy, he is a great late round flier that has a lot of upside.  If he and Toney can be on the field all year, they both should be top 30 WRs and both are ranked in the late 40s or 50s. 

[NYRaider]

Post draft some of my sleepers are:

• KJ Hamler, WR, Broncos: In light of Jeudy's recent troubles off the field I think he could have a big role for the Broncos this season. We all know that Wilson loves to push the ball down the field and he himself recently said that he wants to be Wilson's Lockett with the Broncos. 

• Hollywood Brown, WR, Cardinals: Not necessarily a super sleeper but with Hopkins suspension and his history/chemistry with Kyler I think he's a guy that's primed to outperform his ADP. 

• Hayden Hurst, TE, Bengals: With Uzomah out of the picture Hurst projects as the starting TE for the Bengals and should see a lot of targets, particularly in the red zone with how much attention all of their other guys are going to get. 

• Christian Watson, WR, Packers: I don't expect him to be extremely consistent as a rookie but the opportunities should be there for him with MVS/Adams gone. I expect that his big weeks will be very big and that he'll make @beekay414 very happy this season, just think there will be a learning curve, but you can't teach 6'4" with his speed and skillset. 

• Sky Moore, WR, Chiefs: Surprised he fell as far as he did in the draft, he might be the most productive rookie WR in the league this year and I could realistically see him becoming the Chiefs second option in the passing game sooner rather than later. 

Edited May 13, 2022 by NYRaider

[NYRaider]

On 4/20/2022 at 8:45 AM, Sllim Pickens said:

Amon-Ra St Brown - Finished strong last year once he got comfortable with the system and Dan Campbell's play calling.  Even performed with back up QBs. He was the second highest scoring WR from weeks 13-18 behind only Cooper Kupp.  Detroit added DJ Chark to help take the focus off of him and likely will draft another WR, and if Goff plays the whole year close to the level he finished, St. Brown should be a top 10 WR and is being ranked as WR25-30 by most sites. 

Detroit is a team that actually intrigues me this season, I don't think that they'll be great or anything but they're trending in the right direction. Their offensive line is above average and Goff has shown that he can play well if he is given time and has pieces around him. Reynolds/St.Brown both came on strong at the end of the season, Swift is one of the best receiving RB's in the league, Hockenson is a rising star at TE, and they just added two WR's that can stretch the field in Williams/Chark this off-season. 

[Forge]

Trey Lance is only a sleeper right now because his draft position is being suppressed by Jimmy G being on the roster. Once he's gone, that ADP go through some abrupt changes and he's likely going to end up as a top 10ish in terms of ADP. 

I like Devin Duvernay as a potential sleeper in the late rounds. Someone has to take that WR2 role and he at least has an exciting skillset to work with. 

Michael Gallup is coming off his injury, but if he's healthy to go by the regular season then I think he's going late enough that you can take him a round or 2 early and get some really nice value back. 

Brandon Aiyuk. Deebo is going to be overdrafted based on last year's performance. He's primed for a regression, meanwhile I don't expect Aiyuk to start the season in the Shanny doghouse and basically be ignored for the first quarter of the season. Also on the 49ers, I'd be willing to throw a late round flier at TDP. I think that the team knows that Mitchell can't carry the loan and Sermon is not a thing. This is a bit trickier because I think that he'll always be in a committee, but I do believe that he was drafted to be the primary guy. 

Courtland Sutton. The whole narrative about he and Jeudy not being able to co-mingle I think hurts his value optically, but the man can get downfield and Wilson likes to throw downfield. Less value in PPR, but I like him for a prime Kenny G season which is worth well more than WR40 which is where he is going in early ADPs (obviously this is subject to a lot of change). 

Cole Kmet. Probably going to be my late round TE target this year because I don't know who else they are throwing to besides he and Mooney. He's heading into year 3 and he saw a really nice jump last year. I'm seeing him go as around TE20 and I think he could definitely be a TE1 this year. He may have issues with touchdowns which caps the upside. 

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

Trey Lance is only a sleeper right now because his draft position is being suppressed by Jimmy G being on the roster. Once he's gone, that ADP go through some abrupt changes and he's likely going to end up as a top 10ish in terms of ADP. 

Michael Gallup is coming off his injury, but if he's healthy to go by the regular season then I think he's going late enough that you can take him a round or 2 early and get some really nice value back. 

Brandon Aiyuk. Deebo is going to be overdrafted based on last year's performance. He's primed for a regression, meanwhile I don't expect Aiyuk to start the season in the Shanny doghouse and basically be ignored for the first quarter of the season. Also on the 49ers, I'd be willing to throw a late round flier at TDP. I think that the team knows that Mitchell can't carry the loan and Sermon is not a thing. This is a bit trickier because I think that he'll always be in a committee, but I do believe that he was drafted to be the primary guy. 

Yeah in most mock drafts that I've done recently Trey Lance is being selected ahead of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. 

Gallup could be a nice value pick if he's healthy but my sleeper in that Cowboys receiving core is James Washington. He has shown that he can be productive when he gets consistent targets but he just got lost in the sauce with the Steelers deep WR group. With Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson both out of town, plus Gallup coming off a major knee injury, I think Washington will get a lot of snaps/targets, especially early in the season. 

Ayiuk was one of my most disappointing players last year, you think Elijah Mitchell is worth taking early on?

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, Forge said:

Courtland Sutton. The whole narrative about he and Jeudy not being able to co-mingle I think hurts his value optically, but the man can get downfield and Wilson likes to throw downfield. Less value in PPR, but I like him for a prime Kenny G season which is worth well more than WR40 which is where he is going in early ADPs (obviously this is subject to a lot of change). 

KJ Hamler has the potential to be one of the biggest steals late in fantasy drafts this year, imo. I also really like that TE that they drafted out of UCLA.

[SmittyBacall]

On 5/13/2022 at 4:50 AM, NYRaider said:

Hayden Hurst, TE, Bengals: With Uzomah out of the picture Hurst projects as the starting TE for the Bengals and should see a lot of targets, particularly in the red zone with how much attention all of their other guys are going to get. 

Bingo.

It honestly would not surprise me if Hurst leads all TEs in touchdowns.

[NYRaider]

I like Darrell Williams as a sleeper pick, he should step into Chase Edmonds role as their third down back.

[Dr LBC]

On 5/13/2022 at 6:44 PM, NYRaider said:

KJ Hamler has the potential to be one of the biggest steals late in fantasy drafts this year, imo. I also really like that TE that they drafted out of UCLA.

Hamler's a maybe for me; that's largely dependent on Jeudy just being a flat out draft (in general, not just fantasy) bust.  Tim Patrick is legit as a fantasy contributor.  I hold him akin to, at minimum, last season's Byron Pringle if not a more premium version of Pringle.  Patrick stands as good of a chance of being Russ' "Lockett" in Denver - that said, that's a low-end WR2, high-end WR3 because even Lockett himself with Russ was largely inconsistent week-to-week.  He was great on the whole of a season, but impossible to predict which weeks were the weeks he was going to go off.

Gallup, I'm still not totally sold on actual sleeper value, for the same reason I'm not just automatically spiking my projections for CeeDee Lamp in the wake of Cooper being a Brown now - the Kellen Moore Cowboys threw a good amount to the WR3 and WR4 last year.

This is a time of year I'm actually really hesitant to name sleepers because a majority of them will end up getting elevated too much with hype and or rendered irrelevant due to injuries.

This time of year I'm more lining up units/players I'm just plain cold on and looking to avoid.  For now, I'm including any Patriot that's not a RB in that bunch because who the hell knows what their offensive playcalling situation is going to even look like with the conglomerate of Belichick, Matt Patricia, and Joe Judge looking like they're going to share coordinator duties.

[NYRaider]

4 hours ago, Dr LBC said:

Hamler's a maybe for me; that's largely dependent on Jeudy just being a flat out draft (in general, not just fantasy) bust.  Tim Patrick is legit as a fantasy contributor.  I hold him akin to, at minimum, last season's Byron Pringle if not a more premium version of Pringle.  Patrick stands as good of a chance of being Russ' "Lockett" in Denver - that said, that's a low-end WR2, high-end WR3 because even Lockett himself with Russ was largely inconsistent week-to-week.  He was great on the whole of a season, but impossible to predict which weeks were the weeks he was going to go off.

Gallup, I'm still not totally sold on actual sleeper value, for the same reason I'm not just automatically spiking my projections for CeeDee Lamp in the wake of Cooper being a Brown now - the Kellen Moore Cowboys threw a good amount to the WR3 and WR4 last year.

This is a time of year I'm actually really hesitant to name sleepers because a majority of them will end up getting elevated too much with hype and or rendered irrelevant due to injuries.

This time of year I'm more lining up units/players I'm just plain cold on and looking to avoid.  For now, I'm including any Patriot that's not a RB in that bunch because who the hell knows what their offensive playcalling situation is going to even look like with the conglomerate of Belichick, Matt Patricia, and Joe Judge looking like they're going to share coordinator duties.

I agree, Hamler may not be very good for fantasy just because the Broncos have so many mouths to feed. I love Courtland Sutton in round 5/6 and think he has a chance to be this years breakout WR. 

I'm personally not that high on Gallup either considering how late he tore his ACL and the fact that he's not going to be available when the season starts. I like James Washington as a potential sleeper, he's not someone that I'd draft but I'll definitely have him high on my early season waiver watchlist. 

Yeah there's still a long way to go and things will change before the season but I've started to make a list of guys that I like in the later rounds. 

So far my list includes: 

RBs:

• Rhamondre Stevenson, RB, New England - He looked better than Damien Harris last season and I think there's a good chance he surpasses him as RB1 for the Patriots this year. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Harris is moved since he's in a contract year and the Pats drafted two RB.

• Tony Pollard, RB, Dallas - Looked significantly more explosive than Zeke and had a significant role in the receiving game. Apparently the Cowboys are going to use him more in the slot and since he's going into a contract year I'm assuming they'll try to get all they can out of him.

• Darrell Williams, RB, Arizona - He was RB18 last year with the Chiefs in a RB by committee approach and projects to be the Cardinals primary backup and 3rd down RB. He's someone that should score at a decent level with Conner playing and projects as a potential starter if Conner misses any time.

• Alexander Mattison, RB, Minnesota - Doesn't have a ton of value in a backup role but has shown he can be a 3 down back if Cook misses any time. 

• Darrell Henderson, RB, Los Angeles - Doesn't have a ton of value in a backup role but has shown he can be a 3 down back if Akers misses any time. 

WRs:

• Russell Gage, WR, Tampa Bay - The Bucs lost Gronk/AB and Godwin is likely going to miss the first portion of the season. Gage received a sizeable deal from the Buccaneers and is apparently someone that Brady pushed the team to sign. 

• Tim Patrick, WR, Denver - Projects as the Broncos #3 WR but I think he fits better with Wilson than Jeudy does and considering they just signed him to a sizeable extension I think he'll be a big part of their offense. 

• Jarvis Landry, WR, New Orleans - With the uncertainty surrounding Michael Thomas' return/health Landry could potentially be the Saints #1 WR this season. 

• Tyler Boyd, WR, Cincinnati - Boyd has been one of the most consistent WR's in the league over the last few seasons and with Higgins coming off of a shoulder injury I could see an uptick in production. 

• Jameson Williams, WR, Detroit - The most talented rookie WR coming into the league and worth a late round flier even if he is going to miss the first portion of the season. 

Edited June 20, 2022 by NYRaider

[NYRaider]

On 6/17/2022 at 5:43 PM, NYRaider said:

I like Darrell Williams as a sleeper pick, he should step into Chase Edmonds role as their third down back.

I haven't found anyone that has him as a top 50 RB despite the fact that he was RB18 last year in the PPR format. The Cardinals basically used Edmonds/Conner in a 50/50 split when they were both healthy last season. He's someone that I'll be monitoring and if it looks like he's going to be the Cardinals primary backup, I'll probably take a late round flier on him in all of my leagues.