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5 Deep Fantasy Football Sleepers to target in later rounds of your draft. The Counselor handpicks these sleepers that have some solid upside.
Welcome to the show, everybody. Joseph Robert, the Fantasy Football Counselor. In his video, we’re talking about five late-round sleepers that you could target that could potentially break out. I want to talk about some deeper sleepers here. I want to dive in to some guys there, that are completely off people’s radars, that is really good value, so definitely sleepers here that you want to address and target in your draft. Now, with these sleepers, again the ceiling is high. The opportunity is there, but people are just completely sleeping on them. They’re not seeing the upside. They’re going in later in drafts. One guy here’s in mid-draft, not really super late, but I got to mention him because again, everyone’s sleeping on him. Five sleepers, some later round guys you could target to help you guys with your draft. Exciting episode.
1. Brandin Cooks
All right, let’s go to these five late-round sleepers. Let’s go with the guy that isn’t a late-round, too late anyway. You can get this guy in around six to around eight on average, but he’s sitting 37th amongst wide receivers. The guy I’m talking about is Brandin Cooks. Why do I like Brandin Cooks so much? Well, it’s all about opportunity, right? So when I look at Brandin Cooks, everyone’s sleeping on him. They’re looking at a guy like Will Fuller who’s on the team with the Texans. Cook’s is now with Deshaun Watson. He’s got a nice little, I wouldn’t say upgrade, but he’s got a good quarterback throwing to him. Now, you got to understand. There are seven touchdowns and 150 targets approximately are available to be had because that’s what Hopkins had last year. Hopkins’s no longer there. Cooks could really step into this role and do pretty damn well. Now, this guy is a guy that, if you go with a robust RB strategy, so if you go first four running backs, then you go a T. Y. Hilton cavalierly, someone like that, then you can get Cooks as your wide receiver too in around round six, seven, if you want to get them earlier, people don’t snipe them from you, but I’m getting around round six and seven, I feel pretty comfortable there because he’s technically the wide receiver one and he is a sleeper because again, everyone’s sleeping on him. He’s technically the wide receiver one and 150 targets are freed up with Hopkins not being there.
Will Fuller has not finished the season. I looked at his stats, not finished the season. I think back a couple of years ago, 2017 or ’16, he had 92 targets. That was just his peak. He can’t finish the season, this guy, so Cooks is going to come in. I know he’s had some injuries, concussion, stuff like that, but listen, he’s great value, mid-draft there and he’s technically a wide receiver one with a high ceiling and a lot of opportunity of volume there potentially. Brandin Cooks, a good sleeper. I wouldn’t say a deep sleeper.
2. Alexander Mattison
All right, so let’s move on to another sleeper here. You’ve heard me talk about this guy a lot. And his ADP is rising steadily. If you are doing a draft, make sure you target him. The guy I’m talking about is Alexander Mattison. Now, Dalvin Cook clearly wants the big contract. Clearly they’ve got Mattison there for a reason because they know he could perform just as good as Dalvin Cook, averaging 4.6 yards per carry on 100 attempts Mattison, Dalvin Cook 4.5 yards per carry. If that little bite-size, 100 attempts, he had over 400 plus rushing yards on the ground, that bite-size shows that projected out, he can outdo Dalvin Cook if given that volume. When you look at a guy like Madison, he’s a good sleeper. You can get them late round. I see them coming off as early as round eight, but typically comes off after round 10. Mattison’s a guy you want to snipe. You want to get this guy on your roster, but if you aren’t going to robust RB, getting four running backs the first four rounds, you may not want him, but he is there as insurance, a guy that could be an RB one. Now, I get this all the time. People are like, “Well Joe, why don’t I just get Dalvin Cook, and then handcuff him with Mattison?” I’m like, “Why don’t you get yourself a Josh Jacobs or Derrick Henry or an Alvin Kamara, and then get Mattison?” Now you’ve got two RB ones. Does that make sense? I love Mattison, great value, deeper sleeper. And I absolutely think he’s going to be tearing it up this year because I don’t think they’re going to pay Cooks. Cooks is going to hold out now. Here’s the thing. If Cooks holds out here, that’s really stupid because Mattison’s going to come in the first couple of weeks, tear it up, and then Cooks will be an afterthought. They’ll just cut them. Listen, I love Mattison this year, an absolute steal.
3. Drew Lock
Next, I want to talk about, there’s a quarterback sleeper here for you. The guy I’m talking about is Drew Lock. Listen, we only have a bite-size sample of what he can do. We didn’t see much last year, so I’m not going to dive into it. He played three or four games. Listen, this guy is in an opportunity to really succeed. He’s a deep sleeper. He’s sitting 23rd. By the way, Mattison is sitting 47th amongst running backs. Brandin Cooks, 37th amongst wide receivers on the consensus rankings. Drew Lock’s sitting at 23rd amongst quarterbacks.He is definitely going to be a steal as a backup quarterback with massive upside, a ton of volume potentially. He can throw out to a lot of guys. Now, we’re looking at Courtland Sutton and his receivers, Jerry Jeudy, who was drafted by the Broncos, one of the top wide receivers coming out of the draft, and they got Hamler. They got Melvin Gordon. There’s a lot of guys out there. There’s going to be a lot of distribution amongst everybody. He’s probably going to favor certain guys. Maybe it’s something we don’t know, but I will tell you this favors him, similar to Tom Brady, these guys have a lot of targets, but I wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable drafting a Hamler or Jeudy, even though they could emerge, because there are so many mouths to feed, so many good guys. But I love it for the quarterback perspective because he has a lot of good talent around him, which means lots of points potentially for Drew Lock.
Backup quarterback, guys, super late, you’d get him pretty much for free after the 12th round. Nobody’s really looking at him because nobody’s seen much out of him. And if you anchor yourself with a good quarterback, a solid quarterback earlier on, like I say around seven, so you get a Derek Kyler coming off round five or a Josh Allen around six or seven, Matt Ryan round seven-ish, same with Russell Wilson, then you get this guy as a backup. You’re pretty locked and loaded. No, no pun intended, Drew Lock. Locked and loaded.
4. Allen Lazard
All right, next guy here. I’ve talked about him in my breakout episode I just did. The guy I’m talking about is Allen Lazard. Listen, this guy is a sleeper. He’s always there near the end, the last couple of picks there, always there. Everyone’s sleeping on him. He’s sitting 63rd amongst wide receiver, consensus rankings. Love the upside. Love the opportunity for Allen Lazard. I only assume that Aaron Rodgers, chip on his shoulder, everyone saying he’s washed up, start throwing the ball more. And this guy is going to be a beneficiary because he stepped up as the wide receiver two. I’m not sold on Funchess, not sold on MVS. Valdes-Scantling did nothing last year. Allison’s no longer there.
Lazard’s the guy. He had a couple of breakout games. He could probably be in every play there. Adams sees double coverage. Lazard’s opening. If Adams gets hurt again, why not? I mean, you’re technically getting the wide receiver two for absolutely free. Adams could go round one, Lazard for free. What a late-round deep sleeper. Love the upside. I love the opportunity. Why not stash them on your bench, and you’ve got yourself arguably the wide receiver two on the team. Because last year everybody was all over MVS and Allison. There was a big debate on who it’s going to be. I stayed away from them. The bottom line is Lazard. I mean, you’re getting them for free now. You’re technically getting the wide receiver two. Love the upside, and a deep fantasy football super 2020.
5. Joshua Kelley
The last guy here is a running back. The guy I’m talking about is Joshua Kelley, sitting at what? He’s 73rd amongst running backs. Big time, late-round sleeper. I’ll tell you why. Joshua Kelley is coming in, had a good college season in his last year of playing. He had 229 attempts, 1060 yards, 4.6 yards per carrying, and 12 touchdowns on the ground. He caught a couple of balls as well. Now here’s what I like about him. He is going into an opportunity with the Charges, where Jackson’s done nothing there. He’s technically the guy behind Austin Ekeler. Now, Ekeler’s been paid a little bit, incentivized, but Ekeler’s not a full workhorse running back, and his ADP’s in and around round two to three. Why would I invest in Ekeler who’s not a full workhorse running back, who’s only maxed out at 132 attempts on the ground, when I can get Joshua Kelley later? Because the ceiling is high, 5.11, 212. He’s that prototypical body type of a workhorse running back.
And he’s a great value. He’s an absolute steal in your drafts. The Chargers obviously see something in him, or they wouldn’t have acquired him. Absolutely steal, Joshua Kelley. And listen to guys, Melvin Gordon had 162 attempts on the ground and didn’t have the greatest year, but listen, I mean, Melvin Gordon was technically a running back one. Now you got Kelley. You’re paying nothing. You stash them on your bench, could be the starter there. I know Ekeler is good, but he’s more of a pass-catching PPR guy. If you’re looking at this guy, you get him for free. It could be a compliment to Ekeler or the other way around. Could be the starter, if he takes off, he’s the hot hand. You never know. Deep sleeper, late, stash him nothing to lose. There are other guys, guys like Zack Moss, AJ Dillon, you can get super late as well, McFarland for this Steelers, but I like Joshua Kelley. He could really emerge here as a late-round sleeper. Love him.
There you have it, guys. Five late-round sleepers, minus Brandin Cooks. But I had to mention him because he’s a sleeper, had to talk about him, love the upside. And there were 150 free targets with Hopkins gone, absolutely had to talk about it. Madison, Drew Lock, Brandin Cooks, Allen Lazar, Joshua Kelley, some late round guys. Stash them on your bench. You’ll be pleasantly surprised as a couple of these guys could really go off and their ADP could rise this season. There are tight end sleepers. There are other sleeper guys I could get into. I’m going to link an article here below on YouTube. You can go to my sleep articles to get you guys a little more sleepers. And of course, get the 16 Rounds Draft Solution at thefantasyfootballcounselor.com to dominate your leagues. I’m out, guys. Thanks for being here. And I will see you guys in the next video.
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