Top 6 Fantasy Football Sleepers for 2024 – Late-Round Gems to Win Your League

Introduction hello and welcome in to another episode of the fantasy football forecast I'm your host Trevor Scott joined by my co-host Matt raldi what's going on guys and today we're going to get into six of our favorite sleepers in drafts so the first player we're going to talk about today is lad makoni yeah so first and Ladd McConkey foremost Justin Herbert is back at practice this week which is huge news for you know fantasy players as well as for both of us that are Chargers fans and their season really lives and dies with Herbert's health because Easton stick is not the answer and with lad makoni you know I would argue that the day he was drafted he was already the best wide receiver on the team obviously they lost Keenan Allen and Mike Williams last year which is a kind of a big hit but obviously aging veterans and especially with Williams had issues staying healthy um vastly improved offensive line you know they've already got Roshan Slater as their left tackle took Joe Al with their first round pick um just an absolute mountain and just a beast of a player obviously the the team's identity is going to be wanting to run the ball more you know we know that with you know Harbaugh offense but they're not just going to take it out of Justin Herbert's hands they're going to be in a lot of um you know games maybe where they're trailing or not just completely dominating so they are going to have to rely on Herbert to throw quite a bit and I think lad makoni is going to be you know his top Target you know looking back at Georgia he played you know 70% outside his success rate on his route tree was almost all green in the SEC and for Chargers P for comparison Quinton Johnston success rate on his route tree at TCU in the Big 12 had a lot of red on it as well so if that's not something that you look into when you're scouting your kind of fantasy team just take a look because it is it is very interesting and um Quinton Johnston's was also all red last year but like I said with with lad you know having the chance to be Herbert's number one target I think that's a really great opportunity we've seen Josh Palmer kind of thrust into that role in the past just due to injuries and you know I think he's he's fine he's not someone that ever kind of jumped off the page at you and I don't think that you know he's necessarily going to to be that guy this year so um first sleeper lad makoni yeah I think too something that you didn't highlight that I think is slept on in his game is his speed I think you know he can have the ability from the slot still to take the top off of defenses just because he's so fast and I think that's going to also help with his route running right if if he blows by somebody once or twice a game um even if it's to set up the other routes that he's going to be running predominantly um you know the 439 speed is something that's significantly faster even than Quinton Johnston um so I really do think that there's an opportunity here for makoni to really uh kind of take over the charter passing game similar to how Keenan Allen did Target sharewise and you know I don't expect him to be as productive as Keenan but on the third down plays the really you need you need to have it here plays I think Mak is going to be the Target in this offense yeah the second guy we're Brian Thomas Jr. going to talk about is Bri Brian Thomas Jr wide receiver rookie wide receiver for the Jaguars he was kind of the uh almost kind of that ineter in this year's class so there was kind of the big three that we all heard about and then kind of that deeper but Brian Thomas was always kind of that consensus number four I mean he's 63 205 run a runs a 433 at 17 touchdowns last year at LSU sharing the field with mik neighbors again he would have been the number one wide receiver in the draft class from a year ago um reports from Camp so far is you know no one can keep up with him at the Deep ball he's just blowing past guys his movements and the way he bends are just unbelievable looking at the Jaguars you know they've got 251 vacated targets after losing Calvin Ridley and Z Jones and what was interesting in the preseason game was in two wide receiver sets it was Brian Thomas Jr and Gabe Davis um I'm not 100% sure this will stand Pat for the whole year but I do think that kind of inspired some confidence for people like myself who you know were a little bit farther down on Brian Thomas or maybe just kind of saw him as a potential lottery ticket but Jags passed the ball a lot they were you know number six in team pass plays last year you know we know what Gabe Davis's role is and you know assuming he kind of sticks in that deep ball route type Guy where he's the most successful he's he's not a great separator over the middle so I don't think he's ever going to be a high volume guy I think there's a decent chance that Brian Thomas is if not the number one target getter you know kind of in that 1 a 1B range so um he's someone I'm I'm definitely pushing up the board and right now his ADP is wide receiver 47 near Tyler Lockett and Jameson Williams and we know um you know with Lockett maybe he's the two potentially turns into the three on that offense but we know Jameson Williams is going to be the number three Target getter in the passing game for Detroit so um at that point I I think for me it's a it's a no-brainer to to take Brian Thomas Jr yeah I really like him as well I think seeing him be on the field during two wide receiver sets is something that is uh yeah you know really raises his upside right I mean if he's going to be on the field even you know even if it's not 100% of the time if he's on the field 80% of the time that's something that I think volume wise will really help him uh increase his targets uh he's also I don't know if you mentioned the unguardable right that was the news report that we got is that he's just been unguardable in practice so um you know guy that had deep speed um and you know he went fourth among the receivers in this class but that's more because the class was loaded like if he had come out last year he would have been the first wide receiver taken um so you know I think there's a lot of upside here especially playing with Trevor Lawrence you know taking over Calvin Ridley's role if that's going to be what he is kind of slated for maybe he doesn't achieve that super early in the year right rookies take a while to kind of get fully integrated into the offense but we saw it even last year with Rashi rice that once he took over as the number one target recipient in the offense you know over the second half of the year he was really helping teams win so this could be the case with Brian Thomas if you do draft him be patient do not cut him because he's not working out through the first four weeks I would be very very cautious about that because if you do cut him you're going to run into League mates like like me and Matt and we're going to swoop in and we're for sure going to be adding him and we're not going to cut him again right so it's it's going to be something where if you do decide to cut a player like this you're not going to be able to get him back so just beware of that too with Brian Thomas we really are thinking that he's going to be improving in ADP over the next couple weeks here and if you do are are able to secure him later in your drafts make sure you stick with him yeah that's a great Point yeah the the third Brian Robinson guy we're gonna get into here is Brian Robinson so I really like Brian Robinson as a player I really was kind of bummed that Eckler signed there because I really thought Brian Robinson had an opportunity to kind of step up and be uh more involved on passing Downs which is something I don't think is going to be the case this year now uh however I do think that he is going to be playing predominantly on early Downs at first I thought kind of Eckler was going to take over and be kind of the the main player and they were going to have you know Brian Robinson maybe have 10 to 12 carries not much work in the passing game but all the reports at a camp are that Brian Robinson is going to be the starter that Brian Robinson is is looking good and that he's been working well on goal line he's been working well on early Downs so now I'm starting to think well maybe if the if the uh commanders are going to be running the ball a lot maybe it's Eckler getting eight carries and the passing game work but Brian Robinson's still able to work his way into 15 carries on a weekly basis um with you know maybe one two maybe three targets a game on early Downs um I don't really expect him to be involved at all really though in the passing game with uh Jane Daniels being a rushing quarterback and they have Eckler in that role so I wouldn't expect much more than you know maybe 30 Targets on the whole season so uh this is mainly a uh play for your starting lineups uh when needed during by- weeks or injuries somebody that should see early down volume and somebody that should have a decent opportunity to score at on any given week you can possibly be plugging him in against weak rushing defenses and if he gets hot and they get ahead late in games he could be their closer on the ground so um somebody that we saw saw last year go really late in drafts and was basically a starter all year long he finished his running back 22 um so he was definitely productive enough to be in starting lineups and so I kind of am getting that same feeling again because on on uh or is ADP in super Flex leagues is getting pushed down into the 120s and in 10 team leagues that's you know in your 12th round and in uh 12 team leagues that's in your 10th round like I really think that at that point when he's going to be one of your top bench players this is the type of guy that is just uh is going to be very valuable that you know what his role is going to be and that he is going to be able to not give you zeros when you need somebody yeah I I tend to agree with getting the early round early down work I tend to agree that you know he's going to get the work on the goal line because even though Jaden Daniels is a rushing quarterback he's not going to be Josh Allen and guys you know in the end zone he just doesn't have that physicality my fear with Eckler is you know last year you know he had that high ankle sprain which just completely zaps the athleticism so if he comes back fully healthy you know we know what maybe he's not prime Eckler but he's still only 29 so there is that chance that he regains that form um Anthony Lynn is the Run game coordinator they obviously have you know history together there there's just a few plus they paid eckar I want to say 4 million for this year which isn't nothing so for me there's there's just too many question marks and like you mentioned with Jaden Daniels I think dumped it off to his running back last year like six times or so like it was ridiculous so he's not doing that yeah so I I I do get what you're saying and there's a couple things that I do like there's just too many question marks for me at this point but like you said where he's being drafted like I I do understand um you know wanting to take a shot yeah 126 again we're talking we're talking sleepers right these are guys that have have a solid chance to outperform their yeah to outperform their ADP right and somebody that's going to be getting 15 carries and that is as dynamic as him on the ground you know I could see a lot of 60 to 70 yard rushing games and if you plug him into your Flex on the week he scores a touchdown you know you're you're looking at Double Digit points from somebody that you're getting super super late somebody that you know you take somebody else that could be an easy cut later in the in the offseason so from that perspective right that's what we're talking about with Brian Robinson um the Jerome Ford fourth guy that we're going to get into is Jerome Ford another one of my sleepers um I I've been kind of touting it all off season that I do expect Jerome Ford to be one of the best if not the best zero RB Target I don't think Nick chub is going to be ready for the first four weeks I think he's going to open on pup and even when he is back I don't know that how much of a role they're going to give him right away he suffered one of the worst knee injuries you possibly can last year he's 29 years old and he already doesn't take a lot of the passing down work so for Ford right he should continue to keep his passing down work and the Browns love to run the ball so if chub does come back and is getting 15 carries I don't think that that's necessarily going to put Ford in a position where he's not going to be ownable uh so like you're getting him down you know in the in the low 130s for 80P outside of the top 40 at running back and I think that when with the week one rankings come out you're going to have drafted him he's going to get ranked 27 on whatever site you see at running back he's going to have 40 yards on the ground 20 through the air and a touchdown and everybody's going to be like why didn't we draft more of Jerome Ford this offense looks good he's involved in the passing game uh you know and so even if it's one of those things where you pick him you're able to start him through the first four weeks with confidence and then you know you kind of figure out what role he's going to play on your team after that at this draft price he is just too good to be passing up yeah I agree with all of that to be honest and we could see a situation where you know when chub does come back similar to how JT and Moss were still both sharing a lot of the playing time and there's no guarantee when chub comes back that he's going to be back to his old self like you said it was just a brutal injury he's got age working against him yeah I I like Ford quite a bit yeah and there's the wh if too on the upside case for volume there's the wh if if chub comes back and they ease him in and then he's being an effective player on his 10 to 12 to 14 to 15 carries and they're still giving Ford 10 to 12 to 14 carries with three or four targets a game that you know Ford just stays relevant all year so again not probably likely but there is that chance um all right so then the fifth player Jakobi Meyers we're going to get into today is jacobe Meyers so I another one of my sleepers here I just can never figure out why he goes so low I mean he's getting drafted ADP 143 he's going outside of the top 40 at wide receivers and he finishes uh wide receiver 21 last year and that was also with terrible quarterback play like he he the the quarterback play was not good for the Raiders they got Gardner muu who should be improved on Aiden oconnell and if they have to bench mshu for oconnell I would say that he's going to be playing at a higher level than he did last year um so you know just in weeks where you could take advantage of the matchups he's going to score touchdowns too in weeks where maybe there's really good cornerback on the on the uh opposing team that's going to take Devonte out of the game more than he otherwise would be jacobe can play in those situations and the other Factor here for jacobe that I feel like is not being baked into his ADP at all is Adams is getting older and I think there's a chance that if they're not winning they could move on from him at some point in the year and decide to trade him like say to the Jets or trade him to a contender and if they do that and you have jacobe Myers on your roster you're going to be getting a Top Flight Target getter at pick 143 it makes no sense to me I cannot figure this one out I try and get jacobe Myers on every single one of my teams that I that I draft if I am doing mock drafts I basically am passing on him to see how late other people go other people pick him because I don't have any problem pushing him up into Flex consideration like Deontay Johnson is going ahead of him are we really sure that he's on a better offense are we really sure that he's going to be more productive than somebody like jacobe Meers I'm not and I have them ranked relatively closely so to me I really think Kobe Myers is somebody that needs to be moving up draft boards and is somebody that should be a focus of every team that you draft Yeah I think the the biggest thing you said was you know if if Devonte gets traded I'm I'm trying to get jacobe on almost all of my best ball teams just for for that reason because yeah like you said people just I don't know if they're just bored with him or they don't look at previous year's success whatever it is obviously with the addition of of Brock Bowers I I expect you know him to get lot of volume too but at this price point like yeah let's just take a really good player that could turn into a number one if if Adams takes off all right and the last player we're going to talk about here our sixth Ja'Lynn Polk sleeper one of Matt's Sleepers for this year is Jaylen pulk wide receiver for the Patriots yep Jaylen pulk second round pick out of Washington was part of that three-headed monster at wide receiver on the team that went to the national championship last year played 70% of his routes out wide he can play in the slot as well he's got great hands doesn't shot away from contact at the catch Point really really tough physical football player even though he's only 205 but he is you know 61 um you know looking at the depth chart of wide receiver for the Patriots it's it's pretty Grim so pop Douglas we know is their slot receiver um but he's undersized you know he doesn't win against band coverage has an okay success rate against Zone um Pop's probably going to be off the field in three wide receiv receiver sets but Kendrick Bourne tore his ACL in week eight last year um you know the reports it's funny because some of the beat reporters have been calling jayen pulk like a faster jacobe Myers which I think is good to hear from those guys that are kind of up close and personal you know we know that Patriots were very abysmal last year but they've got a new OC they brought in jacobe brette who you know may not be the best quarterback in the league by any stretch of the imagination and at some point if Drake May um breaks his way onto the field then you know there's a good chance that you know like I mentioned with all these other guys that I've talked about I'm looking for Value late of guys who could potentially be the team's number one receivers and I think Jaylen pulk fits that mold and right now he's ADP of wide receiver 69 he's going between Michael Wilson Rashad baitman like give me the upside of a young potential number one receiver um not someone I'm going to be plugging into my starting rosters week one two or three but um if you can be patient with him I I think there is a chance that this you know works out or at least highly outperforms as ADP I love Jaylen pul as a sleeper you know we saw deiro Douglas do well in the number one role even in a really bad offense last year for multiple weeks in a row um obviously that didn't last but if you're getting anything out of your last round pick and if it does turn into anything consistent even if the volume is just consistent you know if he's getting a 25% Target share on the on the offense week over week from Bad quarterback play that's still somebody that you want on your roster so I do really like the colge Jen yeah and and I think one thing I like to think about too because some some leagues pul might not even be drafted like when you're going into your draft think about guys that could be potential waiver wire priorities in the first two weeks like is this guy potentially going to be a number one target getter like just try to think through that and for me I could see a scenario where if he does go undrafted and he's the clear number one people are just rushing to the waiver wire to get him so always kind of be thinking about that I know we've got a lot of drafts coming up the next couple weeks so uh exciting stuff yeah and also somebody that could be increasing in value right you get you get somebody that has a good week early and then could increase in value from there why why take Ezekiel Elliott right like he's going way before a Jaylen pulk multiple rounds ahead of him but like for me I mean there's going to be maybe volume there maybe some Rico dle competition and why not take a shot on somebody that has significantly more upside than that later in your draft that's just how I would I would look at it as well so um agree with you there and with that those are our six Sleepers for the 2024 season uh we may or may not be coming at you with uh another video similar to this with some other names maybe go even deeper than we did during this video uh and we look forward to seeing you in the next one thank you later