Fantasy Football 2024: Deep Sleepers to Target Late or Off the Waiver Wire

Introduction welcome in to another episode of the fantasy football forecast I'm your host Trevor Scott joined today by my co-host Matt raldi what's going on guys and today we're coming at you with a couple deep sleepers and we'll have a couple quarterbacks in here that are going late that can be QB 3s but we think have some upside to get into your starting lineup in super Flex leagues and without further Ado let's get into it the first Bryce Young guy we're going to be talking about here isn't exactly like a super deep sleeper but he is one of the first QB 3s taken and that's Bryce Young yeah so so with Bryce young first and foremost it really starts off with the new regime so they brought in head coach Dave Canales new offensive coordinator Brads isak comes in um isak was a wide receiver coach at Seattle and Tampa Bay working alongside Canalis who is the OC in Tampa Bay and the QB coach and passing coordinator for four years in Seattle Canalis is kind of the uh the QB Whisperer these days so looking back at his recent track record of success Gino Smith was the qb5 in fantasy 2022 his ADP that year going into the season was QB 31 um he finished qb1 19 after canis left Seattle Baker Mayfield last year was the number 10 QB fantasy his ADP going into last year was QB 32 so you kind of see a potential pattern here of success and you know with with Bryce young he's only one year removed from being pretty much the consensus number one overall quarterback taken off the board which was ahead of CJ Stout one of the things that Canalis does really well that I I hope he does with Bryce young is he really plays into the strengths of his QB at the home so when you look at Gino Smith he throws a good deep ball at the perimeter what did Gino Smith do really well that year if you look at Baker Mayfield he's he's really good at dig routes and kind of rolling to his right what was Tampa Bay successful with you know this last season so also across the board you know big Improvement in their offensive line they had one of the worst offensive lines last year in the NFL spent $150 million bringing in two new guards they obviously brought in Deontay Johnson who's an excellent separator who I think is going to be kind of a safety blanket for young looking at the draft they brought in savier Legette who I was very high on coming into this class I think I had him as wide receiver six which I know was a little bit ahead of a consensus but apparently Carolina agreed you know they brought in Jonathan Brooks who once he eventually comes back onto the field I think he'll be kind of the Workhorse back you know can help move the offense as well and also jatavian Sanders fourth round tight end out of Texas very athletic tight end which is kind of what you look for with those potential breakouts so I think a mix of the new regime um you know the pedigree the success that this coach has had I think things are kind of pointing in the right direction and when I say you know kind of a sleeper we're not expecting Bryce young to necessarily be a starter and one QB leagues but in superflex like he's someone that you know personally I targeted as my third quarterback um you can get them much later in in super Flex drafts than a lot of the other QBs so I don't know it this I it was kind of ton and cheek to pick Bryce young but the more I kind of looked into it the more excited I am um about him this upcoming year and after you picked him it sounds like you've been getting a lot more excited about him uh highlighting well you got to hyp you gotta hype yourself up gotta hype your guys up yeah and so you know there's a couple things on on Bryce young too I mean he for how bad he was last year I do think it was uh you know a good part of it was a to the offense I mean the offense was horrible the weapons were horrible he had Jonathan Mingo as his number one for a while there um when Adam thielen was was hurt and he did produce a very good fantasy receiver in thel through the first eight weeks of the year so I do think that there is um quite a bit of potential here there's also the narrative to I saw a stat on Bryce young that uh you know for number one overall picks going into terrible situation so namely the two quarterbacks they compared them to was Goff and a Trevor Lawrence and those guys were awful in their first year on points per game basis like very very very bad and then in their second year they both you know with with where they finished were around QB 11 so I'm not saying that young is going to make a jump like that but if he makes a jump into you know 15 or 16 is comparable to somebody like uh KT cousins say you know if he can get his passing yards up to 4,000 yards I think that he could be a viable option especially as a third quarterback especially as a bi-week fill in with potential for a little more than that so um if you go zero B like you did in our home League draft right he's another guy that you could potentially be starting by week three or four um in this new look offense um so the second guy we're Jaylen Wright going to get into is going to be a running back this guy's ADP is currently 162 in superflex leagues and that is Jaylen Wright running back for the Dolphins yeah so so Jaylen Wright it was interesting because Miami kind of created this pick out of thin air they traded next year's third round pick to to go up and get him I believe it was the Philadelphia Eagles and it really just kind of fits in with exactly what Miami likes and what they want to do they want to run the ball they like guys who are extremely fast Jaylen Wright ran like a 438 at 210 lbs so not the biggest back in the world but his size speed combination is is very elite and you know we saw what he did at Tennessee when he has a hole to just hit a home run is probably the best of any running back in this entire class and what does Miami do very well the way they kind of spread things around the way they kind of s and schem things up there's going to be a lot of holes for him so I think with him you know being that it is a potential three-headed monster this is more of a pick where you know you're looking at as a potential handcuff so I I chose Jaylen Wright late in R draft because I had taken Devon Anan a lot higher but you know Devon Anan at his size you know he isn't necessarily guaranteed to stay healthy all year we know he mostarts 32 years old um he he was healthy last year but he obviously has not been a beacon of Health throughout his entire career um I I just think with you know Wright's ability like I said to have these explosive runs if he does take over as the two or even the one he's the type of guy that you know we hear every year is kind of that that League winner down the stretch this is going to be a common theme throughout this video right and he's the first one we're going to highlight at running back and if any if there's an injury to hn or moster that's going to be any sort of extended period of time there's there's going to be 40% fat bids on jayen right so this is definitely a guy that you get ahead of that if there is an injury you got somebody you can start right away right and down at 162 there just isn't a lot of athletic scores that are through the roof rookies with good opportunities on good teams so it comes down to that and it's two different running backs that could get hurt that would Elevate his role to be a starter and I think you know the reason he was a fourth round pick was kind of a product of obviously we're seeing running backs go later in drafts but I think with this year's class specifically there wasn't really that 2 through six so a lot of these guys I think just sort of got pushed down the board and I think Wright was no exception and I'm not even sure that Miami was you know planning to take him but when they saw him there in the fourth they were probably like dude this this guy fits exactly what we want to do yeah and it's not very often you trade up in the fourth round right to go get a guy but they trade it up because they decided look we're we're just we don't have to pay much more to trade up here and we're going to go get him so I think I think he fits the system really well and again it's one of two players getting hurt and you have a starter he's going to get he's going to get a huge FB bit um all right so the third guy we're Sam Darnold going to talk about here going at 179 in ADP uh uh in superflex leagues is Sam darnold and so for me this is one of my guys that I wanted to talk about I I really think that in this Vikings offense he's got the potential to really break out in a way that we've never seen before he as as funny as this is going to sound he has had a little bit of success in his career right I mean he he went s and six in 2019 with Jameson Crowder as his number one receiver on the Jets and then he started 3 and0 at the Panthers before CMC got hurt two or three years ago and then he started or then he went 4-2 after Baker went 1 and five with the Panthers the following year so you know he's had he's supported multiple thousand yard receivers with DJ Moore and with Robbie or chosen Anderson um formerly Robbie Robbie uh when when darnold supported him as a thousand- yard receiver so like there is a little bit of Hope here I think in a way that most people are just like darnold is terrible right like I think that's kind of the consensus and uh he he was with the 49ers last year he he got to start a game you know did okay um in in that last game but I do think full off season he's going to be the clear starter now right JJ McCarthy out for the year so it's going to be the darnold show and I think in super Flex he's something somebody that you take towards the end of your draft you take him as your third uh third quarterback especially if you take a guy late you could even take him possibly as your fourth quarterback if you're kind of stockpiling late in late in the draft and I think he's somebody that you could end up looking back on like why didn't I get him if you do pass on him so I do think that there's some success possible possibly for the Vikings as a whole with him but I also think that he's going to be better a better performer with the weapons he does have around him yeah I mean he's got the coach he's got the wide receiver he's got the starting role locked in like it's it's time to put up as well and kind of what I talked about with Bryce young is you know we're we're a long way removed from darnold being a top 10 draft choice but he's still that person that you know people saw coming out of USC and he's also a better athlete than I think people necessarily give him credit for and I think you know oconnell is going to scheme up a lot of really good looks to well I don't know who else they going to throw to besides je I think Jeff I text you today I think Jefferson might get 200 Targets this year just out of necessity but I I'm a big darnold fan just because we went to the same high school and I'm a USC fan so I'm kind of a homer for him so I I really hope that he has a good season and you know like you said I I think if it doesn't happen this year then I think you know this is probably the end of the road but um like you said for that fourth quarterback if if you do zero QB and you're stockpiling him late I I think he's a good po potential flyer yeah I agree and I think too his weapons are going to improve over the season because he's got currently Jord Addison with the question mark right the ankle and then also legal trouble question mark hackinson obviously coming off the ACL so he's going to be kind of working in uh he's going to start on the pup but we'll work in over the season so I do think that there's also if he is doing well early in the year I do think that there's also going to be room for additional Improvement which you know is only going to add to his Allure once we get into week three 4 five all right so Jermaine Burton the next guy on our list here we're going to go uh this is going to be one of two wide receivers that we talk about here and we're going to go in on Jermaine Burton Cincinnati wide receiver yeah so Germaine Burton third round pick out of Alabama his talent profile is more of a first or second round pick just kind of had some off the field stuff that held him down a little bit but he was yeah Bengals love those guys he was the primary deep threat coming out of Alabama last year he averaged like 20 yards per reception while not really being a big Yak guy but that was kind of a byproduct of you know the quarterback they had last year that was a run first guy and throws a good deep ball when he was playing with Bryce young I think his average reception was closer to 16 yards but you know he's been the leading receiver on that team the last two years and although they haven't had their typical Alabama receiving course um you know since the Wadd Damonte Smith years it's it's still Bama um you know even when he was at Georgia his freshman year he was the second leading receiver only to Brock Bowers he was ahead of lad makoni had ad Mitchell technically ahead of George Pickins but I think Pickins was out like half that year he had zero drops last year and only 2% drops on targets his entire career um he's mostly an outside guy played about quarter of the time in the slot he's got good success rate against man and against press coverage I I think the biggest thing and why I like this draft pick was you know the new offensive coordinator for Cincinnati his main focus was increasing their explosive playes so last year they were very low in terms of explosive plays which make a makes a lot of sense when you know Burrow's out and there were some other guys that were kind of battling injuries and was a little bit of a weird year um but yeah I mean we've heard Rumblings that Jamar Chase might play in the slot a little bit more I think Burton can be that very solid number three Higgins hasn't been you know a beacon of Health throughout his career but we've seen on Burrow's teams that you know he can support three wide receivers you know Tyler B Boyd has kind of been that number three Al be he's was the slot guy but he was 98 targets last year 80 something the year before um so I think there's a good chance that you know if if he does have his act together and he is on the field and Higgins I would imagine moves on next year just because it's hard to pay everyone that I think he could be a big part of this team moving forward now we see it every year where guys come in with off the field stuff that doesn't pan out just flame out so there's always that possibility but in terms of talent and getting guys like we talked about uh with these high Talent profiles this late in the draft that's that's someone I'd like to take a show on yeah and I love Burton in Dynasty so I play in Dynasty League gra have a taxi Squad where I can put a guy on the taxi squad for as much time uh or for the whole year right so I can leave him there and I don't uh I don't necessarily know how effective he's going to be in season long right I think like you said it's going to have to be a change in roll um or he's going to have to improve and get onto the field U but I do love him for a taxi Squad type of situation in Dynasty my I'm going to pour some cold water on Burton a little bit here unfortunately because I was hoping to see him win the number three job out of camp and he has not done that uh iosa BOS is going to be the number three receiver he's going to be the starting slot he's going to take the Brandon uh I'm sorry the Tyler Boyd role and so unfortunately I think Burton is going to have to develop over the season so if you do pass on him in your drafts or he's not out there he's somebody that we could see you know if he starts to play more snaps if he's trending up in terms of production if he has a big play or two if one of the outside guys gets hurt chase her or Higgins gets hurt he can get onto the field right so in those situations I think you should have him on your watch lists and you should make sure you know who he is at the very least unfortunately to start the year I don't expect him to really be playing much more than 30% of the snaps anytime they go to four wide anytime Chase goes into the slot right yoos will go off and he'll play um but you know I don't expect a huge workload to start the year but definitely somebody that like you said has a has a very high uh Prospect pedigree very high ceiling um so somebody you want to make sure you know know about going into uh week one all right so the third uh I'm sorry the Braelon Allen fourth guy no we're on number five now sorry about that so the number fifth guy that we're going to talk about here is brillan Allen and so this is going to go hand in hand kind of with the guy we have later that's way down in 0p but brillan Allen's currently going 107 amongst uh or has an ADP of 107 and I really think that if you draft Breeze Hall you're really going to want to make sure that you draft brillan Allen he has he has had a very very good camp he's obviously not going to challenge Hall at all for for work or for the starting roll or anything like that or on passing Downs Hall is still the guy but you definitely want brillan Allen as a handcuff if you have Bree hall because that will really lock in that spot and brayan Allen has the ability as a handcuff to just be a one for one replacement in your starting lineup so I highly recommend if you have Hall if you invested in Hall as a first round pick you definitely want to make sure you have bra all on your team yeah I I agree 100% we talked about this obviously with Wright but in with Trey Benson in a different episode where when you do handcuff guys and you're using that roster spot you want to make sure that those guys have the ability and the talent to take over and be that true number one and brillan Allen does I mean he was a beast at was and I think his best year might have been his freshman year he had like 12200 yards and 12 touchdowns are just something absurd as a 17-year-old and we've already seen how good he looked in the preseason and you know I I do fear that maybe in terms of Bree Hall like maybe he gets a couple of the goal line carries just because he is such a Bruiser yeah to your point if you've got Hall and you invested a first round or a second round pick in super Flex with him like makes you you protect him with him and then uh second to last guy we're Luke McCaffrey gonna get into here number six is two spots down an ADP at 209 Luke mcaffrey um I really think that he's somebody that again maybe you don't draft because he is so far down the list there are reports to that he isn't necessarily a lock for one of the top three positions coming out of camp but they did just trade danan Jan doson and I think that that opens the door for mcaffrey to play quite a bit more he could be their slot guy to start the year and if he's getting on the field a lot more I think you know as he gets more more comfortable in the offense more and more comfortable with the the game speed in the pros I think we could see a second half breakout here if Jaden Daniels is the one you know is throwing the ball as as good as some people expect that he can then Luke mcaffry could possibly by the end of the year be stepping into that number two role and I think it's definitely somebody to keep an eye on and somebody again that I have in Dynasty that I have really high hopes for yeah it's it's interesting with him because you know he's only played wide receiver for two years and it was two years at at Rice after transferring out of I think it was Nebraska he was a quarterback at for a while so I I think that the learning curve is going to be very steep going from two years at Rice to the NFL but I think you know what Washington did and and kind of the point that you're making is you're kind of taking a bet on his athleticism his smarts his pedigree to kind of learn and progress because like you said with Dotson gone there there is a potential opening for for down the road so he hasn't really been someone that I'm targeting in beginning of drafts but definitely you know uh watch lless type guys because he could potentially hit and then we'll all be like oh Christian's little brother is good what a what a surprise yeah I totally agree right and he was a third round pick despite what you said he was a third round pick as a receiver so which iar high I think they they reached on that a little bit but time will tell man you never know yeah I mean you can you can definitely feel like it was a reach but they believe in him right and there's going to be a learning curve and there it's understandable I guess is what I'm saying is like he's a he's a prospect that is going to take a little bit of additional time to develop and that's why if you hear these news this news out of Camp early you know that he's still fighting still trying to figure things out that was the expectation right this is something where the athlete is going to grow into the role that they just opened for him and if that does happen he's going to become a thing as soon as this year even as a rookie so uh all Jordan Mason right and then the last guy I want to talk about here very very similar to brillan Allen but this is uh new news I think as of you know a couple days ago and he's currently going as the an ADP at 323 so he is very very deep but I think this is another guy now that is a must draft if you take Christian mcaffrey because Jordan Mason is the guy I'm talking about here and Elijah Mitchell just got put on season ending injured reserve so he is not going to be playing this year Jordan Mason was already pushing him for the number two job it was already looking like he was going to take that number two spot from Elijah Mitchell but this news confirms it and he's going to be on the roster as the number two behind mcaffrey who's coming into the year with a calf issue already right so if anything were to happen to Christian mcaffrey I think Jordan Mason obviously not a one forone plugin um you know just like none of these guys are going to be a one for one Plugin or they'd be on a different team um but I do think Mason has enough upside to be a top 20 running back top 15 possibly wall mcaffry were to miss time so you want to make sure again that you have that player CU he's another Guy where if mcaffry went down and he's on the waiver wire you're looking at a 50% bid on him and if you've already used some of that Capital you know you're in week five or six somebody else is going to be getting him from you if you don't have that kind of uh Fab Capital so definitely make sure if you have chrish mcaffry that you find a way to get Jordan Mason on your team I would even if somebody else has him in your league or somebody else picks him up I would also make a point to try and trade for him um you know maybe you have to overpay a little bit or maybe that that manager is being a little pesky with it but I would think that it's enough of priority to make that trade happen yeah well said nothing nothing to add on that one all right and with that we gave you seven deep sleepers here a couple super Flex guys and uh you know three running backs two receivers so hopefully this helps you uh build out your watch list before week one and we look forward to seeing you in the next one