Fantasy Football Sleepers | Must-Have Late-Round Draft Picks (2024)

Introduction fantasy football sleepers you say yes please absolutely and boy we got a banger to to end this bad boy out it's Michael Florio in the house Michael F Florio from NFL Network of course the Undertaker is back to finish this bad boy with me thank you guys so much for hanging this entire broadcast four and a half hours we are ending this super super strong I'm excited to be chatting with you guys and of course I don't want to waste any time but I do want to ask one quick question before we get to these awesome names and Florio let's start with you here what is a fantasy What is a Fantasy Football Sleeper? football sleeper in this Grand landscape where there are beautiful shows like yours on NFL Network there's the fantasy pros Fantasy Fest there's more consumption ever how are you g to be defining a fantasy football sleeper Florio mute oh no it's okay you're not I'm a professional I swear I was going to say first uh thank you Welsh and Andrew for having me on uh Joe pipia hits me up every year to do the show and then is never on it when I come on so I I don't know where you are Joe but hi um to me a sleeper is someone that is being overlooked in drafts someone that is going to outlive their ADP and not just by like potential like they have the upside to significantly outlive it like I I don't want a player who I have to draft at wide receiver 45 if his upsides wide receiver 40 so my sleeper are always players that at least in my head have upside to significantly outlive their ADP Eric I'm ask you the same question but in solidarity if you were a really good friend you would mute yourself to start answering before you answer this question but you choose what kind of friend you are what do you outline as a fantasy football sleeper what do I outline so for me it's I kind of like how aoria went with the exceeding their ADP by a drastic amount and you think about the term sleeper you know where does that come from oh well you're sleeping on this guy right you're not high enough on X player I think that's really the epitome of what a sleeper entails this player is someone that we're overlooking they're being underappreciated for the cealing potential that they have and a lot of sleepers also are League winners at the same type of player so that's kind of how I look at it I love it and I just wanted to kind of throw that out there because I think uh there can be levels of people almost eye rolling at sleepers anymore oh what's a sleeper there's a million articles about it well getting the right definitions is super important when we talk about it and I think we got a great list here I will remind everybody if you guys have questions is this guy a sleeper or maybe your own sleepers drop them in the chat and we will get to them at the end of this episode here but let's kick it off with Khalil Shakir Florio Florio you've got a wide receiver from the Buffalo Bills oh there's a lot of money to be made in the Buffalo Bills wide receiving core and you're not going with the rookie you're going to go with the Deep guy khil Shakir who's got an ADP and an ECR in the 50s baby 80P of wide receiver 50 ECR 59 looks like he might be a major Target why and how is khil Shakir your top sleeper at least your number one sleeper here because he's a good wide receiver I believe like he was top two in fantasy points per opportunity amongst wide receivers last year he had the highest catch rate ever posted by a wide receiver uh he was first in yards per Target at the position third and Yak per catch at the position and he is the only receiver on the Buffalo Bills roster who could be like hey I've I've caught a pass from Josh Allen in an actual NFL game none of the other guys on the roster could say that and not only can he say that but he earned more and more trust I believe down the stretch I mean the bills stuff behind you might give it away I'm a Bills fan so when they're in the playoffs I I'm very very invested watching those games very closely and uh Shakir had a lot of volume in the playoffs and you could make the argument that he had the two biggest plays uh for the bills against the Steelers he had that duck under where he he broke the tackle and took it for a touchdown and then against the Chiefs he had the one where Josh Allen like evaded all the pressure threw it to the sideline Shakir somehow kept his feed in bounds I think that kind of trust is going to go a long way especially early on in the new season where you are counting on a rookie and a bunch of new guys Curtis Samuel now banged up so I I like Shakir he's the cheapest of the three he is the best value in my opinion but you mentioned Keon Coleman I will say I'm also in on Keon Coleman at price I think Keon Coleman has League winning upside here but Shakir to me is a sleeper that is just being way too overlooked and I think a sure thing to outlive his ADP I and I think it's great you should listen to a Bill's fan about this just like Debo should listen to a 49ers fan about Brandon iuk across the situation you should listen to the smart people that know where the right take is not the wrong take so I agree with you on this CLE Shakur it's really interesting situation too because the two wide receivers that come in both don't have that Rapport we've also heard some separation issues which could be something early on for Keon Coleman uh as far as defenses go and I kind of think Curtis Samuel is going to be that change of pace wide receiver that they're also going to use in the goal line so khil Shakur might be the guy that helps Drive the field so I like this one but Erikson what say you khil Shakir or Keon Coleman Curtis Samuel or none of the above so I like Shakir and Coleman as well I think K Coleman has the highest upside if we're talking about okay we're going to be drafting a Bills wide receiver in round two next year who would it be it' probably Keon Coleman like that's who we would put the chips in on that would be the player that has a massive rookie year breakout touch to Josh Allen but Shakir you could see continuingly to rise up the ranks and look so far things are good for him you look at Curtis Samuel already out with turf toe injury he's weak to week Curtis Samuel is no stranger to being banged up he has stretches of production and then stretches where you don't see him on the field at all because he's injured so we're getting the Curtis Samuel experience already in Buffalo Florio get ready for it tons of fun for for Shakir the thing that you want to point out and Florida mentioned this as well he has that chemistry with Josh Allen and the concerns are well is he a full-time player is he a parttime player these are the same conversations we're having with these other polarizing wide receivers we mentioned on the show that are also in high powerered offenses tank Dell Jaden Reed KH Shar what's the big difference between them they're all playing good offenses they're maybe part-time players not running around on 90% of the dropbacks oh well they all have really good quarterbacks too and Shakir is the one that's the cheapest outside the top 50 receivers so you're taking on all that risk is baked in but you're capturing all that upside of hey Shakir is Josh Allen's guy and that's what I want so let's move to what I Jaleel McLaughlin would say is a Mount Rushmore player of the Fantasy Fest if you watch the whole time by the way you deserve an award hands up in the chat if you've been here the entire time we need to we you know what EX Ive decision hands up I don't know how we'll check this if you've been here the whole time we're going to give a credit away to the fantasy pros store so someone can get a hat if you've been here the whole time but if you have you know one of the Mount Rushmore of players is Jalil mlin we have talked about him a ton throughout and Erikson you're gonna get right back on that horse one of your top sleepers you've got ADP 51 on Jalil mlin rocket ship up talk to us about your number one sleeper I just think that he is exactly what you want in a running back sleeper he's coming from an ambiguous backfield he's coming from an offense that we're not really sure how great it's going to me but when it comes to mcin what do we know about these Shawn pyton offenses what do we know about B Knicks they throw the ball to the running back position and that's the easiest way for us to get value get fantasy points because that matters we can talk about snaps and Target share and touches but eventually they need to score points because that's what actually counts in our actual lineups every single week they got to score fantasy points and that's what we see in Shawn Payton offenses is they feed the running ball or they feed the running back the ball through the air and moffen looks like the number one projected checkdown option for Bon Knicks in this offense so gavonte Williams like how long is his leash actually and I don't even mind taking Javon Williams like this whole Denver Denver Broncos backfield I think is just going to be a sleeping it's a sleeping backfield essentially like I want all parts of this I mentioned this earlier I want to leave every draft with a wide receiver from the Green Bay Packers my other rule I want to leave every draft with a running back from the Denver Broncos and most often it's shalil mlin as that guy so he's looked great in the preseason looked explosive using him the passing game getting Red Zone usage so for me he did exactly what Jaylen Warren did his undrafted year first year as a rookie basically had to prove it all basically from a decorated college program and or an underrated college program but it was very productive and then he comes in establishes him that he can be the number two running back they've already supplanted Sam perine on the deck depth chart and I think he's like on that Jaylen Warren trajectory where now we're drafting Jaylen Warren over Nai Harris a first round pick from Alabama and we're concerned that oh well Javon is there he's gonna take away all the touches from mlin I don't think that's gonna happen I think mlin when people ask me hey who's the sleeper running back I say julin yeah I think it's interesting too because like the comparison of the Green Bay Packers wide receivers but also I would say there's a similar comparison and that I think you can you get a room of 10 people you can probably find someone that likes each of the four uh Green Bay Packers wide receivers at number one I think like javante Williams is kind of the same thing like he falls into that same Bel boat with Jal mlin and then estimate too people like people find a Denver Broncos running back to like Florio just really quick on Jal mlin are you a mlin or a javante Williams guy uh at Cost I'm in on both um all summer I was like you got to find the one that's going to be the past catching back and I liked what I saw yesterday like not only has Bo Knicks looked a lot better than we all expected but uh javante largely had most of the snaps on the first drive but mlin was sprinkled in and then it was the opposite on the second so to me it seems like those two right now are at least highest in the pecking order javante had the receiving touchdown that didn't count but mlin we know is explosive if mclin's ADP climbs a few rounds then I might not be in but where he's going now in the RB 40s and then M uh javante Williams as a rb3 I think both are good values right now all right I love this Austin Ekeler one that we're going to get to because this guy does not scream fantasy football sleeper it's kind of post hype sleeper or just post production sleeper if you want to call it that we're going with florio's number two and we are going to Austin Eckler people out on Austin Eckler RB uh 32 on the ECR 29 on the ADP a lot of Brian Robinson but Florio you're saying hold your horses here Eckler might be a value yeah I I've been an Austin Eckler guy since before he had a podcast and before it was cool like I'm talking about before covid I I've been in on Austin Eckler so I'm going out the way I came in this guy has won me so many championships I'm not going to doubt him but originally like early on in this process I was not really an Austin Eckler guy but uh let's remember he suffered a high ankle spray in a week one that landed him on the IR and then per Austin Eckler that was his right ankle he came back and his first came back he sprained his left ankle so we've seen high ankle sprains be season killers before now he's playing on two sprained ankles with an offense that's missing your top two wide receivers your quarterback for much of it and a bunch of offensive line pieces I'm not willing to say that Austin Eckler is just done yet now I understand that that is a in the range of outcome because he's getting older he he has a lot of career touches stuff like that but I think last year was largely situational and the other thing is like everyone you look at these two backs and it's Melvin Gordon versus Aus Eckler all over again everyone is like Brian Robinson Jr is going to be the goal line back just look at them okay Austin Eckler is better near the goal line last year more than double his goal line Touches at a at more than double the rate of Brian Robinson I should say were turned into touchdowns and over the last two seasons it's the same thing more than double his goal line touches ratewise compared to Brian Robinson so I'm not willing to say he's not going to be utilizing the goal line more he's going to be the passing down back and and yesterday the usage was first drive Brian Robinson mostly second Drive almost all Austin Eckler if these guys are splitting drives but then Eckler's getting the two-minute drill and the obvious passing down situations because let's be honest he's getting those I think he could be the better value of the two yet he's going a couple of rounds later and in most drafts you get him in the double digit rounds if he was going like the fifth or sixth round I'd probably be out but at Cost he is so cheap and I think that he could be a lot better than people are expecting so I I'm still willing to to go out with my guy ericon I think the two biggest questions around this for people are what can he do limited because the touches are most likely going to be limited but then also not just Brian Robinson but Jaden Daniels you who got a running quarterback who I know we're going to talk about here in just a little bit I think that makes some people queasy but we have also seen Eckler be a monster can you coign on this one Ericson I feel like this is gon to push your limits yeah no I'm team Brian Robinson all the way that that's where I stand and I I do agree that it is weird to see Eckler down this lowly ranked and I think it is really those injuries are really being held against him probably too much and too significantly but I just have trouble wrapping my mind around okay if it's a mobile quarterback is Jane D Really Gonna check the ball down to Austin Eckler I I just don't think that's going to happen unless the rest of the receivers in this offense are just so horrible and it's ter M they literally have no else then I could see Eckler breaking into a larger role as a receiver so that would be one caveat that would say okay that's a path where I could see it and then to your goal line projection between Eckler and Brian Robinson doesn't matter what I think doesn't matter what you think it matters what Anthony Lynn the Run game coordinator thinks and when he was there with the Chargers he never gave eeka the ball at the goal line he only gave it to Melvin Gordon and it was only until he left the coaching staff with the Chargers Austin Decker scored 20 touchdowns back toback years so that's the one thing that I'm looking at from a coaching staff perspective if they're looking at for Anthony Lynn like hey what do you think the Run game coordinator who are you going to put at the goal line I think that he's going to lean Robinson again we'll find out when it happens when they actually hit the goal line and then one of us will be right one of us be wrong but for me I think it is Robinson and I think i' rather try to I prefer him at Cost I also like the idea a little bit more even of ekler in full PPR I think that's like another sneaky spot to make sure and watch and maybe get some later value on we've got the second half of fantasy football sleepers coming up but friends let's first tell you how you can get these fantasy football sleepers into your drafts with the draft wizard you can master your draft with the draft wizard our tools offer simulated mock drafts that let you practice and refine your draft strategies against realistic opponents I just did this in my Flex draft last week I did 10 mock drafts before I ended up at my draft spot with all the user Intel and it made my life a ton easier you can get personalized pick recommendations best based on expert rankings ADP projections and ensuring you make the best choice at every stage of your draft analyze your draft results instantly with our draft analyzer which provides feedback and insights to help you improve and you can sync your link your league with a few clicks leverage draft Intel to see your league M draft Trends and strategies like I said and then perform those simulated mocks against your league settings make informed decisions avoid common pitfalls and draft with confidence try draft wizard today at fantasypros.com slra Wizard or on the fantasy football draft Wizard app and dominate your leagues today time for the second half of these fantasy football sleepers and we're not going anywhere else besides the uh commanders we're going to stick at the quarterback spot number two on Jayden Daniels the Mount Rushmore of players we've talked about today if you got the first segment in Jake cely was talking about him and his projections Andrew Erikson Jaden Daniels as a top sleeper for you let's do it fantasy football doesn't have to be hard guys just draft Jane Daniels as your late run quarterback sleeper quarterback so he's a sleeper to me because his ADP is qb12 so that is a qb1 you're drafting him as a starter but he could be going higher we've seen mobile quarterbacks go higher in drafts than Jaden Daniels before look at the college level rush for over 3,300 yards averag nearly 60 rushing yards per game that was the same amount as Anthony Richardson anding the college entering the NFL last season and where do we have Anthony Richardson ranked after four incomplete games he's a top five quarterback in fantasy how many games are we gonna have to see from J Daniels in the NFL to rank him as the top five fantasy quarterback I don't think it's gonna take very much and the thing that's different about Daniels versus Richardson Daniels has so much more experience he's so much more polished as a passer coming out because he has so much more experience at the college love he played 55 games in college he's an older Prospect but that means he's ready to go and we've seen Cliff Kings before work his magic with a rookie quarterback another mobile rookie his name was Kyler Murray he was qb7 overall his rookie year he was qb2 and points per game he was third in carries second in rushing yards again going back to how many receivers do we trust in this offense it's Terry McClaren maybe dump it off to a running back or tight end and then run that's how I think the offense is going to be structured here so I love Jaden Daniels he's the reason why just one of the reasons why I love the late round quarterback approach in redraft leagues I want to get an elite tight end I want to be drafted receivers and running backs and then I'm going just take Jaden Daniels as my starting quarterback one and I feel really confident with with it and I would recommend everyone else do the same yeah it's an interesting thing Florio too with the quarterback spot because like I there's like a top eight that you can really get into and then obviously I do think the tiers start to change but what's so weird about it is you can easily pair Jaden Daniels with Brock perie you know you can end up waiting even longer and pairing Jaden Daniels with a Trevor Lawrence there's just really great pairs that have such low cost that make Jaden Daniels exciting except we have been seeing some of his value move up I did a draft where Jaden Daniels went before Joe burrow so people are kind of in on it are you in on the idea that Jaden Daniels is a quarterback fantasy football sleeper I'm not in on the idea that he's a sleeper because I have him in my top 10 so like I I I don't think you could be a sleeper when you rank that high but I get the thinking of completely like I'm fully on board with jayen Daniels um Kyler Murray is a great example Lamar Jackson Anthony Richardson Jaylen Herz the list goes on and on and on these guys are quarterback ones from the moment they step on the field jayen Daniels could run for 800 yards the only reason like I have I I keep saying you could take Anthony Richardson then Kyler Murray then Jayden Daniels and and Daniels is the one I have the most of the only reason I have him lowest of that is because I don't think he'll get the rushing touchdowns like Anthony Richardson will but yeah to me my favorite combo is I have a lot of Jaden Daniels and Jared gof because Goff is like set your watch we know when he's home or indoors he's going to give you you respectable numbers so that covers your bases a little bit in case it doesn't work out with jadden Daniels but yeah I jayen Daniels and Joe burrow are two that I go back and forth on all summer um but yeah I'm very very high and completely in on jayen Daniel all right we've got the final two fantasy football sleepers from these fine gentlemen they're both wide receivers but we are going to go just one to one because we do want to answer a couple questions so unfortunately Ericson I'm just not going to come to you with any of your takes after this great sleeper but we will get your great sleeper so don't you worry we're going to go Florio Ladd McConkey with your rookie wide receiver lad makoni is your fantasy football your final fantasy football sleeper for this bad boy wide receiver ADP 30 uh 42 and ECR 40 where is the ceiling and where is the floor on lad makoni the floor is definitely a bit low because um the offense could be very run heavy and stuff like that and I don't love them preseason so far he's only playing in three wide receiver sets but it's so early that that wide receiver depth chart is so thin he could quickly climb to be the number one Target and in the NFL draft process after the elite three he was my wide receiver four so he was my top one after the big three he could do everything he could win after the catch he could win downfield he reminds me of Tyler Lockett and I know they're going to run a lot in Los Angeles but Harbor has always had a very highly efficient passing attack and with Justin Herbert there I don't think that'll change makoni is as efficient as they come he thrives in play action so I could see him just early on probably someone you want more as a reserve wide receiver but as the year goes on I think he has wide receiver three maybe even wide receiver two upside volume being the only concern the most exciting thing about all of these like rookie wide receivers obviously outside of like Harrison and neighbors but like every other year they just come at cheap costs and like the return when you can get these wide receivers that go on your bench these rookie wide receivers that go on your bench you can also afford to stomach through a little bit of the hardship because you don't even have them out there starting where the second half if they pick it up bam you got all upside Erikson take us home baby with the Final Fantasy Football sleeper and then we'll get to a couple of our listener questions here Erikson you have a wide receiver and we have oft mentioned him a whole bunch of times Dontayvion Wicks we're going back to Green Bay because Erikson says You must have a Green Bay wide receiver when you leave your draft those that know ball know about Davian Wicks and that's how you can prove to all your league makes that you know ball so Davian wicks for me look last year as a day three rookie wide receiver got a chance to play with Christian Watson out and he was really productive very efficient averag nearly two yards per route run ranked 27th among all wide receivers fifth among all rookie wide receivers perre mudia first his first downs per route run tied Devonte Adams for top 20 among all players and look we talked about this before Michael FL he's vomiting at the idea that he could possibly have a number one wide receiver on his team so what does that mean well that means week Wix is going to have his fair share of weeks in this offense to be the number one for that particular week so again injuries happen and that's how things may or may not shaken out we can debate all year long who the Packers receiver won then one injury here one injury there oh what do you know there's your answer for you I'm just confident that if Wix is given the opportunity to see a bigger role to see a higher Target share in this offense that he can deliver and that's not a given that's not a guarantee with wide receivers a lot of wide receivers have had opportunities and then they lay face on their they they do not deliver and it's very concerning but with Wicks I don't have that concern I I feel confident that if he is given a bigger role if he can usurp Watson or a Romeo dos then I think that he can deliver a lot of upside from what he showed last year as a rookie so for me again going back to one of my Staples of drafting this year leave your draft with a Packers wide receiver and currently Wix unless you want to count B Melton Wix is the cheapest one that you draft Erikson you almost pulled a Welsh ISM you almost did an analog every time I see your face the welis are just like out me if you don't know it's take an analogy say it wrong that's a Welsh ISM he almost did fall flat on their face and that almost became a really good Welsh ISM gentlemen Q&A are you guys good for a couple questions before we end this bad boy want to answer a few from the people hey I do want to say because I'm so nice Tony you are going to get the $25 uh gift card gift whatever you want to call it to the fantasy pros store get yourself a fantasy pros or vetting Pros hat or whatever you want to do we got amazing hoodies we got some awesome stuff but Tony hit us up hit up the admins you've been here the whole time you did the hand a lot of you guys did want to give something back to you so you can take home a little bit of Swag so hit us up on the admin stuff we'll get you hooked up you'll know how to find us all right uh here are some questions uh ad it Kiren or Anan Florio Kiren for me uh I know the upside that aan brings but he also brings a lot of risk and and Kiren I know Blake Corum is there but I still expect him to get a boatload of work this year as long as he stays healthy so I have him a few spots higher than hn kirn for you Erikson right no hn hn baby trying to manipulate all right well then let's do this one Gus Edwards or JK Dobbins if you're gonna get in invested here I actually have an invested take here but are you Gus or JK I am JK Dobbins all the way let's go let's go Florio can you swing it you Gus Gus dude JK Dobbins is coming back from every severe injury known to man well see he's a completely Roman Greg Roman doesn't know that Greg Roman only knows that when they were playing together in Baltimore Dobbins was his rb1 and not Gus Edwards so that's what I'm Gonna Roll with and JK does look healthy at this moment I I'm a little bit of an optimist where it's like I like to play on the talent versus the injury that's why you know Christian mcaffry is my number one player not making excuses for theoretical injuries out there just the most talented player no big deal I mean he does have a real cath train it's not the it's fine it's fine it's fine don't worry about it they're just about the same cast R well Ericson well eron you gotta go oh sorry everybody Eric I think he has to go see you uh David says 12 team PPR superflex would you rather keep Bree Hall in the fourth or Kyler Murray in the eighth floral let's start with you yeah I'm going Bree Hall in the fourth uh I love Kyler Murray but you could get a top three running back in the that's a first round pick in the fourth round give me that all day ohic a good value on a quarterback but Bree that's might be your number one RV what do you think yeah I go Bree because you could just draft kin Murray in the eighth anyway so so just take brieze well probably not in the eighth but like the second or something yeah you can still get him and you can still get him early and get both but Breeze in the fourth all right we're gonna do two more uh KB says Pitman Devonte Smith or Malik neighbors Erikson I'm gonna go Pitman Pitman uh Florio what do you think neighbors Smith or Pitman I have Devon Smith the highest with Kell Moore there I I think that AJ Brown Andor Devon Smith probably both could be in store for career years all right well I'm gon to ruin it all and I'm gonna say Malik neighbors because that's my guy I'm all I'm Malik neighbors so let's not give you anything helpful unless you just want to pick a certain analyst finally uh oh I didn't realize this's another Malik question Malik or Chris Godwin come on this is Malik yeah it's Malik Malik we all agree here man Michael Closing Florio thank you so much for hanging out and congratulations on the great work that you're doing Andrew Erikson you have been a monster and ladies and gentlemen you guys are animals especially you guys that have been hanging out this entire time five hours we just crossed the 5H hour mark on the fantasy pros Fantasy Fest with all of our awesome awesome fantasy pros people from Erikson to Debo Ryan Wormley Pat Fitz Morris even Joe pipia man and incredible guests throughout the entire day Chris Raybon Jake cely I got to get here with Florio and panowski incredible that you guys hung with us and an incredible job by everybody and I only hung out here for an hour listen we got you guys covered for all your fantasy football needs the draft wizard is going to get you set up we've got all the ranks here and tons more so make sure you go and check out all the amazing tools over at fantasy pros because you want to dominate your leagues this year make sure you're subscribed on the YouTube channel fantasy youtube.com fantasypros and all the podcast because we are offering more podcasts than ever before on our Discord we've got tons and tons of them and we want you guys to be a part of all of it and it's a free community fantasypros.com chat you could potentially go more ladies and gentlemen I could talk more because I've only been here for an hour but we won't I just want to thank everybody here at fantasy pros and every one of you guys everybody s behind the scenes did an incredible job thank you guys so much for hanging out with us and making fantasy pros your number one destination for the fantasy football season for Florio Erikson and the entire team I salute to you all and thank you for hanging out with us and we'll talk to you next time right here on fantasy pros bye friends