5 Solid Fantasy Football WR Sleepers 2022
- Amon-Ra St Brown
- Darnell Mooney
- DeAndre Hopkins
- Jerry Jeudy
- Devonta Smith
We are talking about five steals at the wide receiver position. I call them the sleeper steals or the steal sleepers. It doesn’t matter. You’re going to be robbing your fantasy football draft this season at the wide receiver position. I’m telling you guys, this is the year. This is the year where there’s so much… I mean, last year there was value, but there’s so much value at wide receiver, it’s absolutely ludicrous. So I’m going to walk through five sneaky sleeper steals. I mean some names, you’re going to know these names, but these guys are wide receiver ones that you can get later and you don’t have to pay a first or second-round draft pick for. It’s insane. Guys, I can’t explain to you how excited I am here for this season, how we’re going to dominate the season.
All right, let’s dive into these five sleeper steals. You’re literally… As I said, you are robbing the draft this year, literally, one-armed bandit or how many arms you want to use to grab these wide receivers. I love the value this year. This is amazing because you are getting wide receiver ones, first deal. Let me give you guys a hint here. Let me give you guys a quick overview of some wide receiver ones that you’re going to be seeing that are ranked 18th and above. Terry McLaurin ranked 19th. And again, these are not my steals, I’m not telling you these are my sleepers, but they could all be sleepers, but I’m going to give you some names here at the value at wide receiver. Just to put this in perspective here, before I get into the five. We’re talking Terry McLaurin, sitting 19th on the consensus rankings. Michael Pittman is sitting 20th. Jerry Jeudy 21st. Amari Cooper, who’s going to be sliding into the wide receiver one spot in Cleveland is sitting 23rd on the consensus rankings. Amon-Ra St. Brown, 25th. Elijah Moore, 23rd. Who else is there here? Allen Robinson, Nah, he’s not going to be a one. DeVonta Smith is going to be at one, right, in Philly. Darnell Mooney. Adam Thielen sitting 33rd on the consensus rankings. JuJu could be the one in Casey, we don’t know. Mecole Hardman maybe. Michael… Where are we here? Michael Thomas, sitting 37th as of right now in the consensus rankings.
So I’m telling you guys there’s a ton of value at wide receiver. I tell you where to draft these guys, who to draft early, which running backs to draft, when to draft your ace quarterback, you’re going to have the optimal roster to dominate.
Amon-Ra is a solid WR sleepers in 2022
1. Amon-Ra St Brown
Let’s start with the first wide receiver that’s a sleeper steal. First, one guy is Amon-Ra St. Brown. I mean, this is no question to me, a guy that’s going to eat this year, period. I don’t care what you say, he’s got that rapport now with Goff. We got to see what’s going to happen in the off-season with Goff and all that stuff. We got to see what’s going to happen to the NFL draft. Amon-Ra St. Brown is slated as the wide receiver 1. Looking at his targets guys, 119 last year, 90 receptions, five touchdowns, 912 yards. Let me tell you guys, this is his rookie year and the ceiling is high for 2022.
So listen, I love the upside on Amon-Ra St. Brown. This is a guy, I kid you not guys last year, everybody was telling you last year that the was undraftable. He was a waiver wire wonder, he was going on undrafted. He was sitting 70th on the consensus on the Consheepsus rankings, an absolute steal.
Now I know they brought in D. J. Chark there, and I get it. But I still think Amon-Ra St. Brown is going to eat. I think Amon-Ra St. Brown is going to thrive. I think Amon-Ra St. Brown is going to get the volume. And I think he’s going to be a steal because he is sitting really low on the consensus on the Consheepsus rankings. As I said, he’s sitting, where is he sitting right now? 25th on the consensus rankings. So great value for a wide receiver one. Amon-Ra St. Brown is that one sleeper that you must target. That’s a wide receiver sleeper you must steal in your drafts.
2. Darnell Mooney
The next guy here, he had safe numbers last year, I do like him, is Darnell Mooney. Think the talent is definitely there. This is a guy now going into his third season. He’s still young. He’s what, 24 years old? He was a fifth-round pick. And he actually ended up giving a good return on investment to fantasy owners that had him. I actually had him on my team last year. He was consistent for a lot of games last year. 140 targets, 81 receptions, 1,055 yards, and four touchdowns. We want to see that touchdown ratio go up. We want to see the touchdowns go up.
Now, obviously, I think Fields is going to start and that rapport is going to go up with Mooney. If he’s more comfortable with Mooney, this could be good. We just need a quarterback for the Bears. that’s going to stay. There’s been a coaching change. I’m excited about Mooney. Okay? I really am. I think the opportunity is there. He’s kind of slid into that wide receiver one spot now. So again, we’re going to see what happens to the draft. I’m assuming the Bears draft a wide receiver, whatever it may be, but I think Mooney is going to be great value for sure. And I think he’s going to produce consistently every single week. He’s not a guy that I’m over the moon excited about, but a guy that I could feel safe about getting in later rounds. He’s going to a plugin my wide receiver two, wide receiver three spot, and give me a good, nice return on his value.
I’m just going to check his game-by-game here for last year. Just pull it up in PPR. And he had his pinnacle game was, trying to check his pinnacle game. It was a week, I see near the end of the season, he had some good games, a 19-pointer, a 24.6. He had a 23.1-point game in week 11, and a 20-point game in week nine. A couple of duds. I mean week three was a dud for him. Week 14 was a dud. But overall, I’m seeing 17 points, 15 points, and 18 points. I’m seeing consistency throughout the season as a guy that, again, I’m not drafting him as my wide receiver one, but he can be stolen and drafted for some value.
Mooney is great draft value in 2022 and is a safe pick.
3. DeAndre Hopkins
Now the other guys, I get a little more excited about here because I think that the value is insane. DeAndre Hopkins, I got to talk about this guy. Okay. DeAndre Hopkins is currently sitting 50th on the consensus, on the consensus rankings. Okay. I want to remind you that DeAndre Hopkins, and if you forgot, and if these guys helped you forgot, remember these guys. If you’ve been listening. If you’ve been listening to the consensus too long, you are probably buying the regency buys that DeAndre Hopkins is not a great receiver and he’s washed up. He had one bad year. I don’t know what to tell you, but this is a guy that everybody, including the consensus.
Including the consensus, had this guy top wide receiver for the past couple of years. He has one bad year and everybody forgets him and he’s rank 15th. Why? Because he had one bad year. It doesn’t make him a bad receiver. Now my main issue with him, why I didn’t draft him last year, is I didn’t want to invest in an early draft pick. And another thing, I thought the targets were going to be bad for him. I didn’t think he was going to get the targets. Christian Kirk has now shipped off. I think the Cardinals have got to do some, they got to do some moves here. They got to make some moves here in the draft. I think Kyler, I think he’s going to stay. There was some disgruntled kind of behavior from what we thought he was disgruntled. Maybe he was upset with the team. We don’t know. He took his social media down and brought it back up. I don’t care about politics right now. All I care about is DeAndre Hopkins getting volume.
I think for the value, if I can get this guy in the third, fourth round, man, I mean that is phenomenal. He is currently sitting behind guys like, who is he behind, Jaylen Waddle, who’s sharing the field with Tyreek Hill. I don’t know why Jaylen Waddle is sitting on the consensus top 11 right now. I mean, I see the rapport may be with Tua, but Tyreek is there and I don’t know if the volume’s going to be there. Suspect quarterback. But either way, Hopkins at 15. Man, as soon as he does well again, the consensus will put him back on top as well. I like the value. I think he’s a steal this year. As I said, you’re getting a guy that’s a first-round caliber wide receiver, a great receiver. And you’re stealing him after the second, third round, fourth round, maybe, who knows where he falls. We’re going to have to start rolling out some mock drafts. Either way Hopkins is going to be great value this year!
Don’t Sleep on the talent of Hopkins
4. Jerry Jeudy
I’ve got two more wide receivers here that can go to the moon. This guy, not as much, but potentially could be solid and safe. And there is some moon upside here. But the next guy here is Jerry Judy. Now Jerry, Jeudy. Now Jerry Jeudy didn’t have the greatest year. Last year. What’d he have? 56 targets, 38 receptions. He didn’t even have a receiving touchdown, did he? He had a bad year. I’m just taking a look at his stats here. Going into his third year, he’s only had three touchdowns receiving in his career. Okay. It’s nothing to get excited about, but I think the talent is there.
Now, the value’s also there, here for Jerry Jeudy as well. If you look at him, you’re going to get him for value. From what I hear, he is actually training with Russell Wilson, they’re building that rapport. Russell Wilson, a major upgrade. So the biggest problem with Jeudy was obviously he had some injuries, but the biggest issue was there was no quarterback there. Now he’s got a quarterback. I’m excited about Jerry Jeudy. Now again, the biggest question here is, is it going to be Sutton or is it going to be Jeudy? That’s the big question.
And for the value of… These guys are going to Sutton sitting 29th on the consensus rankings. And you got this guy, where’s he saying 21st, you could theoretically get both for immense value. You load up on your running backs early, anchor your team with an ace quarterback, and start loading up on those wide receivers. Pop, pop, pop, you’re loading up. And if you get both, you’re guaranteed a wide receiver one on the Denver Broncos, which I think is going to be a very high octane offense this year with Russell Wilson.
I’ve already talked about Russell Wilson having a good year this year, getting back to Russell Wilson form from a couple of years ago. He’s ignited now. He’s going to be excited, new team, new offense, right? So he’s got the weapons. Sutton, I think Jeudy could be the one there. And I think he’s a steal. I think either one of these guys is a steal, either Sutton or Jeudy. I like the upside. And I think he’s better than Tyler Lockett. I know the Lockett guy had, I don’t know, Lockett had rapport with Russell Wilson. Those guys had that rapport. But I think Jeudy, again, was drafted really high. Where was Judy drafted? He was a first-round 15th pick overall in 2020 out of Alabama. He’s only 22 going into his third season, right? Still young, still talented. Again, he played 16 games of year one, with 113 targets, three touchdowns, and under 1,000 yards. In year two, he only played 10 games and had some injuries. I like him. I mean, I’m not over the moon excited. But a guy to give her value who could honestly be a wide receiver one, Jerry Jeudy.
Jeudy and Russell Wilson’s connection should be solid in 2022
5. Devonta Smith
And the last guy here, I think this is a huge steal. You get this guy and you’re getting a wide receiver one on your team, and you just, literally, they should put you in cuffs and take you away at your fantasy football draft if you get this guy. I mean, that’s how much value. The guy I’m talking about is DeVonta Smith, okay. We are talking about a high-caliber wide receiver. Six foot, 175 pounds, a first-round pick, 10th overall, out of Alabama. And his rapport is only getting better with Jalen Hurts.
Now, if you look at it from a game-to-game basis, I’m just trying to see if there was some volatility. And yes, there were some really, really bad games, right? He doesn’t look attractive on paper right now. There’s a 3.6, a 5.8 game, 4.2, 3.57-point game from week 12 to 15. Some very low games. He had a 2.5-point game in week eight. Very inconsistent. And I understand, okay. But what he is got going for him is a couple of things, a lot of things actually. Talent. Youth. And a good quarterback. I think Hurts is good. I think he’s a little underrated. I think he only gets better this year. I think that rapport gets better between him and Smith. And another big thing here that’s got going for him is immense value. This guy is a wide receiver one that you can get, on his team, he’s a wide receiver one on his team, that you can get as your wide receiver four, five. Literally. And you could literally slide this guy up once he starts if he breaks out, and I think he will. You break him out and you start sliding him up your depth chart on your team. I like Devonta Smith. I love the value. Okay. I like the fact that he’s a wide receiver. I like the youth. I like the talent. There are a lot of things I like about Devonta Smith. I just think he’s a steal. I think Amon-Ra St. Brown’s a steal. And I think there are other guys. Elijah Mitchell’s is going to be a steal as well.
So many young wide receivers have had many breakouts that are slated to be wide receiver ones on their team that is being undervalued in fantasy football drafts. Why? It’s because they didn’t have a big season last year, right? They had a mediocre season or they’re just kind of starting to break out. Another reason is that these teams have not solidified their offense. They’re in suspect offenses. Detroit is not an attractive fantasy football offense. Eagles, are not really attractive, right? They’re not the most attractive and appealing. And they’re not riding the hype train, the recency bias of crushing it last year.
But what you got to understand is how fantasy works are what goes up, must come down. So if you’re riding the Cooper Kupp train, you’re going to pay high, and you know he’s going to go down. If you get a Devonta Smith train, you get him for free, and you know he’s riding up. So you got to feel that balance. And again, that’s why I created 16 rounds because rankings won’t help you. If rankings helped you guys, Amon-Ra St. Brown would’ve been ranked 20th last year amongst wide receivers. Ja’Marr Chase would’ve been ranked top five, but he wasn’t. Ja’Marr Chase was 40th or 50th on the consheepsus, on the consensus rankings.
Smith is a stud and the WR 1 on the Eagles.
So you got to understand guys, the rankings don’t help you. Everything fluctuates, everything changes, right? Dalvin Cook was a first-round pick, he finished what, 16th, 17th on that consensus amongst running back, or in the running back rankings at the end of the year. Dalvin Cook busted significantly. Nick Chubb busted, right? Saquon Barkley, and Christian McCaffrey, are all busted. I take ownership of Saquon Barkley. I thought he’d bounced back last year. He didn’t. It’s okay. I told you, Najee Harris, you were fine and he had tons of volume.
So what goes down, may potentially come up. What goes up is definitely going to come down, especially coming off a pinnacle year. So we’re talking about fantasy football draft strategy here. We’re also talking about fantasy football sleepers and particularly wide receivers sleepers here that are major steals here in your draft.
So there are five names for you, guys/ Target these Sleepers for great value and make sure you are subscribed to this #1 Fantasy Football Podcast.
