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Fantasy Football Sleepers 2020 | Guys I Love This Year

Published by Joseph Robert at May 29, 2020

Fantasy Football Sleepers I love for 2020.

The Counselor shares some players he absolutely loves that are a great value in your 2020 drafts. Some deeper sleepers included as well! (Audio Transcription)

Welcome to the show, everybody. Joseph Robert, The Fantasy Football Counselor. We’re talking Fantasy Football Sleepers 2020 and sleepers I absolutely love, guys. Exciting show because I’m going to deep dive in here with you, give you some valuable sleepers that nobody else is talking about. And if they are talking about them, not in the same amount of detail that I’m going to be talking about them. Because I’m going to tell you straight up, I’ve done the research here and I’ll tell you the guys I absolutely love that are sleepers. I can’t believe the value for Fantasy Football 2020. It’s going to be super easy cause it wouldn’t be taking these guys away in my draft and I cannot express the excitement here for you guys. Big episode. Also going to tell you guys a confession I had. I have a confession I did yesterday. I’m going to share that with you in just a moment. I’ll tell you if I like your sleepers or not because I’ve done a lot of homework here in regards to this. There’s also an article linked below for the Top 20 Sleepers that I have. And I’m going to include some names here in this show that isn’t on that article, and there’s going to be some on that article that isn’t on the show. So make sure you guys click on the link here below on YouTube to get the article. If you want to see the article head on over to thefantasyfootballcounselor.com.

And if you just load more on my homepage, you can see Top 20 Sleepers right there. You can’t miss it. So I want to talk about this in-depth. And again, not necessarily like statistical depths, but I want to deep dive in regards to some sleepers here and just have an open discussion. I don’t want to script this. “Hey, this is my guy based on this many attempts.” Nah, let’s just have some fun. Kind of just a friendly conversation. I want to keep this really, really laid back, chilling out. Just chilling with you guys. Okay? Just going to go over these guys with you.

Now let’s get to that confession here real quick. So I have a confession. This is terrible. I actually watched some other people’s fantasy football podcasts. Yes, yes. I think it was the first time I ever did it. And I don’t want to knock anybody, but shame on you guys for number one, being super boring. And number two, I just couldn’t get through it. I’m not going to say which podcasts I watched, but the elaboration on a player with just redundant information is just crazy, man. I fell asleep. I couldn’t get through five minutes of a particular podcast I was watching. Won’t say which one. Just so boring. Beyond boring. I won’t even get into it. But I don’t usually talk too much about personal stuff or stuff that I’m doing. But again, I spent some time looking through other podcasts. I watched this one mock draft this one guy did. I didn’t agree with the first pick. The rest of the mock draft went really well, I got to admit. I’m not going to say who that is either. They’re probably just watching my stuff for the most part because I’m seeing a lot of people now starting to implement the robust RB. This is not something that people have talked about prior to this year. Now more people are jumping on this robust RB strategy. So I just had to share that with you. I watched, again, a couple of podcasts. Damn, oh damn. A couple of them, not all of them, were extremely boring. And that was one of the main reasons actually I started my podcast because there was so much fluff in the shows. That’s why I get the fluff out. Then I said to myself, I got to create something that’s better, more practical. When I say a player sucks, assume that I’ve already done the research and data and the boring information about them. They have years to wow us. We’re not wowed. So I wouldn’t even mention you drafting them. Okay?

So anyway, that’s my story. That’s my confession. I watched a couple of fluffy fantasy football podcasts. It was terrible. Some of them, I couldn’t get through two minutes of them. It was just terrible. Okay? So that’s why you guys got to make sure you guys subscribe because this is practical advice, going to help you guys crush your leagues. And of course, get the 16 Rounds Draft Solution. That’s another thing. A lot of people selling these draft kits. I’m like, dude, there’s just ADP rankings. That’s all it is. There’s nothing special about them. That’s why I created the 16 Rounds Draft Solution where I give you all the optimal players, omitting all the bad players, sleepers, breakouts. Everything is there and I walk you through a mock draft on how I would draft a roster. It’s completely optimized. It’s going to give you depth, everything you need guys. 16 Rounds. Get it below or head on over to thefantasyfootballcounselor.com. I thought I’d share that story. All right. So let’s talk about some sleepers. The first guy I’m going to talk about here is obvious.

1. David Johnson

Now, you’ve heard me talk about this guy so many times. But the guy I’m talking about is David Johnson. Guys and I’m going to keep talking about this, I can’t believe David Johnson is currently sitting 20th on the consensus rankings amongst running backs. That is insane. There’s no way. I mean, here’s the deal. Okay? When you look at a running back, when you look at drafting, a running back in the first round, a couple of variables you’ve got to look at. And David Johnson’s ADP is currently in the fourth round, which is absolutely insane. I see him coming off as early as the third, as late as the fifth, but that’s very rare that he manages to end up in the fifth round. But the variable that I look at when I draft any running back is consistency, upside, durability, depth, and youth. Yes, he does lack the consistency as of late, but that’s not his fault. He was just in a bad situation. But the main variable I look at is volume and is there another person in that running back committee. And in this situation, it’s clear and free. I’m seeing an open lane and I’m taking it. Dudes, guys, listen. The volume’s going to be there. Carlos Hyde had 242 attempts last season, 1,070 rushing yards. Okay? Six touchdowns. That’s Carlos Hyde. He absolutely sucks. So when you look at David Johnson, the guy had a pinnacle year in 2016. He’s capable of that. He’s got a chip on his shoulder. He got betrayed by the Arizona Cardinals where he was slated to become the starter there. If I’m David Johnson, I’m pissed. He’s already talked about, I’ve heard some interviews him with the Texans, he wants to get back to 2016 form and he definitely will. And the Texans believe in him.

I love this. Him and Deshaun Watson, I cannot express to you what a fantasy football sleeper, what a fantasy football steal it is. I feel like a burglar taken David Johnson the fourth round. I feel like a fantasy football thief. And watch, somebody’s going to take that name now. They’re going to become The Fantasy Football Thief. It’s funny because when I started four years ago, I was The Fantasy Football Counselor and I trademarked that, but before I got into that, I was like, okay, this is kind of a weird name. Who’s going to want a counselor? Who’s going to want to say that? It’s kind of long and weird. But after that, there’s been so many others, like Fantasy Football Social Workers and Fantasy Football Bricklayers. It’s like, I’ll lay you a brick per round. It’s so stupid. I’m not saying that’s a name, but like that’s how extreme some of these names have gotten. It’s completely ridiculous. But anyway, back to David Johnson. Absolute fantasy football sleeper. Absolutely love him. Let’s keep moving on. All right. Now I had to elaborate on that, but I’m elaborating with good information. I’m not just fluffing that. I’m not saying “Well, I like David Johnson. By the way, how’s your underwear color today?”

Guys, this is practical advice that’s going to help you win your leagues. I omit all of the fluff. Another thing is last year I told you to stay away from Le’Veon Bell end of the first round. Stay away from Antonio Brown early second round. Stay away from David Williams. Stay away from all these guys that busted because I helped you guys dodge those bullets. Okay? And that’s what I do in 16 Rounds to make sure you guys have the optimal roster. Another sleeper here I’m going to talk about is David Montgomery. Won’t elaborate too much. These are some of the obvious things you hear me repeating in multiple videos, but I’m going to add some names you may not have heard me talk about in videos. I’m just basically going to go through the ADP rankings and just give you rapid-fire some sleepers here for you guys.

2. David Montgomery

So David Montgomery guys. Listen, this guy’s ADP is insane. It’s like the fifth round. He’s a 25th running back based on ADP. Amongst running backs this is crazy. When I look at running backs, again, that criteria. Guys that are going to get the volume. Guys that aren’t in the committee. He’s the guy. Last year, over 240 attempts and that’s going to go up. 3.7 yards per carry. That’s going to go up. 889 yards. That’s going to go up. I assure you guys Nagy’s ass is on the line. David Montgomery has to eat. Tarik Cohen sucks. Led the team in dropped passes. Wants to be a pass-catching back. Montgomery can catch the ball better. And I keep talking about this, but I know a friend that trains with David Montgomery and he said that David Montgomery has been working on his top-end speed, agility. He’s excited about this season. I am super excited about David Montgomery. Trust me guys, he’s going to be huge this year. Big time sleeper. All right, let’s talk about some other sleepers here.

3. Alexander Mattison

Alexander Mattison, absolutely love this guy. What is this ADP? It’s got to be way down there. 49th amongst running backs. Let me tell you guys something. This guy could be a starter for the Minnesota Vikings. Okay? I’m telling you guys, this guy Alexander Mattison could be a starter. Now here’s an interesting statistic. Okay? Let’s talk about Alexander Mattison. He had about a hundred attempts. Just over 400 yards or so. That doesn’t matter. Let’s say he had 450 yards give or take, okay? I don’t have his exact number here. I can pull it up. But it’s around 446 or 450 yards. Okay? Check this out. So that’s not a hundred attempts. Dalvin Cook had around 1,100 based on 250 attempts. Okay? You multiply that out. Mattison had 4.6 yards per carry. I think Cook had 4.5. Check this out. Mattison is as good or even better than Dalvin Cook in that offense. I’m telling you guys. I talk about this all time. The Steelers, same type of situation when they started James Conner and DeAngelo Williams over Bell when Bell was hurt. They performed at the same level, right? Because they’re a product of that offense, right? That offense is designed, that O-Line is designed, that system is designed to favor the run. And that’s why Dalvin Cook thrives. It’s not that he’s an exceptional running back. He’s not Zeke Elliott. He’s not Saquon Barkley. He’s not Christian McCaffrey. He’s not Derrick Henry. Not even close. He is a product of that offense. Now, he will get hurt again. And when he does, you will have Mattison on your bench and you will have another RB1. And a lot of people are saying, “Well, Joe, why don’t you draft Cook and then you handcuff Mattison?” No, no. Why don’t you draft Derrick Henry and then get Mattison? And then when Cook goes down, and he will, you start yourself, Alexander Mattison. You’re flexible. Okay?

Now you’ve got yourself an RB1 who’s going to outperform Dalvin Cook in that position giving that volume. It’s a courtesy thing. Dalvin Cook was there first. He’s been doing well. They start him, right? They just ride the hot hand. But give Madison 250 attempts and I’ll show you what he’ll do. He’ll perform a lot better than Dalvin Cook. I assure you. And people thought I was crazy when I said last year, Landry’s better than Odell and he’ll outperform Odell, and Odell is not top five. And people thought I was crazy. But I told them to get the fluff out, and look what happened.

4. Jarvis Landry

Landry won, right? Landry outperformed Odell. And Odell is still sitting higher in the ADP because that’s insane. Landry’s the wide receiver one there, which leads to my other sleeper, Jarvis Landry, everybody. I mean, this is insane. Where’s Landry sitting here? I can’t even find this guy he’s so low on the consensus rankings. Poor guy. I mean, this guy gets no respect. He’s like the Rodney Dangerfield of wide receivers here. I can’t even find him he’s so low. Landry, Landry, Landry. Where are you? I should have been prepared for this one. But I’m just having an open discussion with you. Okay. He’s sitting 29th. He’s a tier five technically. He’s sitting 29th. Odell is sitting 13th amongst wide receivers. Okay? That is insane. Odell is busted three years in a row so he’s almost pretty much top 10 yet again. Right? And then Landry is what? He’s the main wide receiver there in Cleveland and he’s a primary target for Baker Mayfield. Why wouldn’t you put Landry ahead of him? Yes, I know the ceiling may seem higher for Odell based on what he did 20 years ago in New York, and he made the one inflated catch to put him on the board, but Landry’s a sleeper you can get super late for free. Right?

And he’s technically the wide receiver one. That is insane. All right. I’m going to rapid-fire here. And again, check the article here below on YouTube. If you’re listing on Spotify or on iTunes, I encourage you guys to check out the YouTube channel. Subscribe there. Go to this video and there’s an article. Or just head on over to thefantasyfootballcounselor.com and check it out. I’m going to link it here. In the latest video. You can see it, Sleepers. I’ll link it in the article. But you can check all my sleepers there. But I’m just going to rapid-fire here and just talk about some sleepers here that I’m absolutely just shaking my head that I can’t believe these guys’ ADP isn’t higher. And this is the year, and I talk about it in my 16 Rounds Draft Solution, get it below or thefantasyfootballcounselor.com. Get the 16 Rounds Draft Solution. You get a weight on a wide receiver. Load up on running backs. Implement the robust RB strategy. There’s a ton of sleepers at wide receiver. I’m telling you guys. I’ll give you guys an example right now. Marquise Brown sitting 34th amongst wide receivers right now, guys.

That is insane. That is a fantasy football sleeper. He’s technically the wide receiver one. Lamar runs. They got people to run the ball. They got Dobbins, they got Ingram. They’re going to run the ball but they got to throw it sometime. They have to throw it sometime and they’re going to have to throw it to their main guy, Marquise Brown, who’s been looking pretty good in his offseason training. I’ve been watching. The guy is set. What a sleeper.

5. Diontae Johnson and Darius Slayton

Another sleeper here that nobody on the planet is talking about, which is crazy because he could technically be the wide receiver one, is Diontae Johnson. I mean this guy had a pretty good year last year. Imagine with Big Ben there, this guy is going to eat. And if JuJu sees double coverage, forget it. Diontae is definitely going to eat, and Diontae Johnson from what I hear has been training exclusively with Big Ben, building that rapport. I’m excited. He’s a huge sleeper. Another sleeper here for you guys, and again, I’m not going to give you all of them; I’m just having an open chat with you guys, is Darius Slayton. I understand Tate is there and he was a little banged up here and there. I get it. But you’ve got Tate there. You’ve got Shepard there. I mean, these guys are just not that good. And Slayton is the young guy who could have that rapport with Slayton. So I’m excited, man. Get this guy super late. He could be a wide receiver one. Fantasy Football Sleepers 2020

6. Mecole Hardman

Another guy here, that again, everybody’s sleeping on is Mecole Hardman sitting 57th. Here’s a deep sleeper for you guys. Mecole Hardman, 57th amongst wide receivers. Technically the wide receiver two there. Tyreek Hill, off-field issues in the past. Tyreek Hill, injury issues in the past. And he is just one suspension away from leaving, which makes Mecole Hardman the wide receiver two. And I know you’re saying “Robinson’s there, Joe, and there’s a lot of targets and Kelce.” And I know. But you can get this guy for free. Stash him on your bench. High ceiling. When Tyreek Hill acts up again, if he does, you’ve got the wide receiver. And this guy’s going to have some boom or bust games, right? And you’re going to get that. So this is the way I look at it when I look at Mecole Hardman. You could invest, which I won’t and I don’t encourage this, a wide receiver one first-round pick on Tyreek Hill, who is volatile, who at the end of the season, if healthy, we’ll finish with massive points. Possibly be a top-five wide receiver. But he’s going to have those volatile games where he goes booms and busts. You could get Tyreek Hill in the first round, which I don’t recommend. Or you can get yourself a Mecole Hardman who’s also going to have some boom or bust games, not as many boom games as maybe Tyreek Hill, but you have him on your bench and you paid nothing for him. Why not? Now, I know Sammy Walkins is saying he’s going to catch a hundred balls. I don’t believe what that guy says. The guy’s full of crap because years to wow me and I’m not wowed. I’m not sold on Sammy Watkins. Do you know what I mean?

And I know he’s saying he partied before, blah, blah, blah. Now he’s focused. I don’t care. Dude, if you love the game, if you’re into it, you would have been there. If I had the opportunity to be in the NFL right now, I’d be playing my ass off day one. I wouldn’t go out there partying. Do you know what I’m saying? It’s like, you’re in it to win it right off the bat. You see that work ethic with a ton of athletes coming into the NFL, working hard right off the bat. The Saquon Barkleys of the world, right? Guys that are all American athletes. Guys, like I said, Saquon, Zeke Elliot, that came in and performed. Mind you, Zeke might not be a good example. He had some suspensions, but that’s beside the fact. Okay? You guys get what I’m saying. Pam Mahomes, perfect example. Got the opportunities. He shined right away. If you’ve had years to wow me and I’m not wowed, I’m not excited about you. Okay? Other sleepers. Let’s rip through a couple more here. I’m going to give you guys maybe a couple more running back sleepers here. Now, here’s the deal with running backs. I want to implore you on this.

7. Zack Moss and Joshua Kelley

The only two running backs I really like at the sleeper position or that are sleepers are David Johnson, Montgomery because I’m loading up on running backs early. So I won’t really be looking at sleepers later on at the running back position because everybody that I want will be acquired relatively early. Now there is a running back rookie sleeper I could recommend here for you that could get some work. There’s actually a couple of guys, maybe three or four guys, that could get some volume but are in a committee. There’s Zack Moss. Obviously there’s A.J. Dillon on the Packers and Joshua Kelley. These guys, I think everybody’s sleeping on them, but one of these guys could emerge. Singletary could go down. Zack Moss emerges. Ekeler, you know he’s never been a full workhorse running back. Joshua Kelly gets the volume there, right? They acquired him for a reason. There’s a ton of guys. Darrell Henderson could emerge there, but I like Cam Akers a lot better. You never know. There’s a couple of guys here that could potentially break out as well. Again, we don’t know. But I’m telling you guys, I think Zack Moss could be a deep, deep sleeper bench dash with some upside because I’m not really fully sold on Singletary. Neither are the Buffalo Bills. And there’s a lot of players that are on the team, like Singletary or Ekeler. They haven’t really been full workhorses. They just haven’t. And they’ve brought these guys in and the opportunity for them, the resistance, the threshold to break through isn’t as big and they could really thrive. So there’s a sleeper for you there. Maybe Zack Moss super, super late. Let’s go through a couple more sleepers.

8. Drew Lock

Again, they’re in my article, but I want to talk about them. Drew Lock at the quarterback position. Absolutely love him. Right? This episode’s called Guys I Love … too much, right? That I Love. Drew Lock. I mean this guy, what is he? 23rd amongst quarterbacks. That’s insane. I mean, this guy has got a high octane offense potentially. A ton of targets, receiving targets, and Melvin Gordon out of the backfield. Love Drew Lock. Get him for absolutely free. Tom Brady. I think people are sleeping on Tom Brady. I think he’s going to have a great year. He’s got a high octane offense. Possible Superbowl winner. Now he’s sitting top 10 in the consensus, but I still think people are going to be sleeping on him. You can get them in around round seven. Tons of upside.

9. TJ Hockenson and Brandin Cooks

And then this guy, I absolutely think he’s a major sleeper, he’s in the article, is Brandin Cooks, man. I mean, this guy is a wide receiver one and there are 150 free targets there with the Texans with DeAndre Hopkins being shipped off. Absolutely love, love Brandin Cooks. I mean, I can’t express to you how much I love this guy. He gets me excited. A tight end sleeper for you, T.J. Hockenson. I absolutely love the upside there. This guy had two touchdowns in the first four games with Stafford there last season. Love this guy and the ceiling in Gesicki very, very exciting. Now again, I’ve done the top 20 and I was just wanting to make this more of a chill-out, relaxed kind of sleeper show. But I’m telling you guys, there’s so much value at quarterback and wide receiver. You got to load up on those running backs early and you guys are going to thank me. Again, I talk about all of this in 16 Rounds Draft Solution. Everything you need to be broken down round by round handed to you on a silver platter. Make sure you guys get the 16 Rounds Draft Solution. I’ll give you one more running back sleeper here for you before I go. And the guy I’m talking about is Kareem Hunt.

10. Kareem Hunt

Currently sitting 31st amongst running backs. Another situation is similar to the Landry where I can’t believe Odell is higher than Landry. Similar to Nick Chubb over Kareem Hunt because Kareem Hunt outscored Nick Chubb six out of the eight games of PPR they played together. I’m not going to touch that committee because you’re looking at a 50/50 split, maybe a 60/40 for Nick Chubb. So if you do get anybody and you want a guy later, maybe if Nick Chubb even goes down, you get yourself Kareem Hunt super late, right? Like seventh-round maybe, eighth round, whenever he’s falling, get him. And that’s just as good as Nick Chubb. Now, Nick Chubb is obviously going to get more of the volume and more of the attempts but don’t be surprised if Kareem Hunt makes a case for himself, especially in PPR. It’s going to be exciting to see him emerging and him being there the entirely full season and seeing all the idiots in your league draft Nick Chubb in the first round, and Kareem Hunt’s going to steal that thunder. So that’s it, guys. My advice to you, don’t watch any other podcasts that are fantasy football related. There’s a couple of guys I like. But again, for the most part, absolutely terrible.

And the advice is impractical. It’s like drafting based on ADP. Are you kidding me right now? That’s not going to help you win. Listen, you got to be a lion. If you guys want the Lion shirts guys as a swag, there’s a store at thefantasyfootballcounselor.com. Get your Lions shirt, get the Fluff shirts there. Tons of cool swag for you guys. Adapt the lion mentality in life and of course in fantasy football. I appreciate you guys being here. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed the Fantasy Football Sleepers That I Love episode right here, right now. There’s a link to the article. I wanted to have just kind of a chilled out discussion to vent my frustrations and my feelings, but man, oh man. A ton of volume at every position. You just got to know where to look. You got to look for those opportunities. Follow the CUDDY system. Remember, Consistency, Upside, Durability, Depth, and Youth. Be picky with who you put on your roster and look for those value, guys. I’m telling you. A ton of sleepers. I hope you guys enjoyed the show.

-the Counselor

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Joseph Robert

Joseph Robert's outside of the box, LION mentality has created the strongest and most loyal fan base in the fantasy football industry! @fantasyfootballcounselor