6 Mystery Sleepers for 2024! Josh Palmer, Rico Dowdle & More! | 2024 Fantasy Football Advice

well if you recall pukan nakua burst onto the scene during his rookie campaign and became quickly a must start across fantasy leagues he was drafted as the 90th receiver taken and after a near 1500 yard season in La finished as wide receiver 4 in 2023 the biggest question heading into year two for the white out is will he be able to follow up with an encore performance or was year one an anomaly and we now bring in CBS SPS fantasy football analyst Adam AER as if I knew then what I knew now I think I wouldn't have been on the outside looking in during last year's fantasy playoffs but hey like they say hindsights 2020 right and pukan AA being one of those that maybe have been overlooked early in the earlier parts of last year and finishing as one of the best ads during last season but every year we find some of those gyms that outperform their expectations but Adam who would you say is a sleeper wide out to Target ahead of fantasy drafts sleeper wide receiver not going to be as good as pukan AA but I'm going to say Josh Palmer is a sleeper wide receiver so the training camp reports indicated that Palmer was the number one wide receiver for the Chargers basically this entire off season he's going to be on the field in two wide receiver sets last two seasons he played a pretty big chunk of games without both Mike Williams and Keenan Allen and in those games he averaged more than seven targets per game he averaged double- digit fantasy points Josh Palmer is not even a top 50 wide receiver in average draft position right now that is Criminal it is a steal and he's going even later because of Justin Herbert's injury but Justin Herbert is going to be fine for week one so if you need wide receiver depth he's a really good wide receiver four or five Josh Palmer yeah looking at their depth chart sitting at number one comfortably there with lad makoni so definitely a easy grab as you say not even a top 50 wide receiver but how about arguably the most important position in fantasy football I'm talking running back there there's the cmc's the bejan Robinsons but we'll likely see the big names coming off that board very early but who are some of those gems that might help fantasy managers in the later rounds yeah I didn't know where you were GNA go with that most important but I'm glad I agree running back is is difficult it is obviously super important if you can get a running back a successful running back late in the draft you have a big Advantage I'm goingon to go with Rico dle basically it's this Ezekiel Elliott I think he averaged 3.5 yards per carry last season his longest run was 17 yards he just doesn't look like he's capable of doing it anymore r d by all indications was the best running back for the Cowboys during camp now this is a guy who's got barely any tread on his tires barely any work that we can use to say oh this is how good he is he's been hurt a lot but he by all indications was the best running back for the Cowboys and they scored the most points in the the NFL last year so this is an amazing opportunity for a guy if he wearing on the Cowboys some mediocre offense or something I wouldn't care but there's just such an opportunity for him to score some points and beat out Ezekiel Elliot I don't think it's going to be that hard to do he's not going to have the goal line work early I know that I just think that as the season progresses we will see more and more Rico D less Zeke and you could have an automatic start at rb2 at some point you just look at Ezekiel Elliott's yards per carry and since 2021 they're just steadily dropping and like you mentioned 3.5 yards per carry last year definitely an opportunity for Rico to step up this season but let's move on to the tight end position where last year here we got to see a lot of names emerge behind those Kelsey KD and Andrews of the world but where can we find the Sam leaport of 2024 yeah you can't find there's no chance I absolutely hate tight end depth this year I like tight end the top 10 especially top nine I'd say top 12 is fine I really don't want to wait too long for tight end it is a big priority for me this year to get a top nine tight end which would end with Jake Ferguson but if you cannot do that I would go with Pat Fruth as a sleeper I I like David nooku you're going to see on there I like nooku better than fth but if you miss on the top 12 Pat frth would be the guy listen you want a tight end that is first or second on his team in targets last season each of the top 10 tight ends in PPR were first or second on their team in targets over the last eight seasons there have only been three tight ends who have finished top five in PPR that weren't first or second on their team in Targets this is the most important stat for tight ends Pat fr of all those late round picks I think he has the best chance to be first or second probably second on his team in targets Arthur Smith teams use the tight end a lot there is some appeal to Pat Farm but I would prioritize the top nine guy this year yeah saying the tight end this year a big priority when you're in your drafts uh but I want to move on to that one position that's almost certain to start a debate on when and where they're drafted kicker I'm just kidding I'm actually talking about the quarterback position okay let's say you've got your signal caller but you're looking for a sneaky good backup to stash on your roster or maybe you missed out on the QB sweep sticks and you're trying to find a a late pick that can maybe outperform their expectations who was that QB sleeper that you would eye atam yeah it's Caleb Williams for me and one of the ways that I can get a top nine tight end and still feel good about running backs and wide receivers is by waiting at quarterback Caleb Williams is the perfect player to wait for I looked at three different websites and their ADP including CBS he's QB 14 or 15 still and that's coming off a really aggessive preseason although I'd say preseason week two was a little bit Rocky for the Bears offense but you saw that potential with that throw to romad dun we love his weapons in two of three seasons in college he rushed for 380 or more yards in two of three seasons in college he scored 10 or 11 rushing touchdowns barely bold prediction I think he could lead the Bears in rushing touchdowns this season with maybe six or seven something like that and I think he's going to throw the ball a lot and I think he's going to throw it well he's a terrific player now with with Caleb Williams you can draft him as QB 15 take him with Brock p with Jared G with two aonga byoa have an established veteran for some safety and huge upside with Caleb Williams he's my sleeper I just want to give one more name because if you're like oh I'm in a shallow League whatever or I'm in a deep League Caleb Williams is not a sleeper how about Gardner muu he's had three seasons with eight or more starts Gardner M's finished top 18 per game in two of those three seasons so he could be a deep League sleeper shallow League sleeper is Caleb o that's really good a lot of upside you mentioned his weapons one offense and he has plenty of them you talk about his rushing ability what he did in college with rushing touchdowns the potential to lead Chicago and rushing touchdowns that's certainly a reason to look at him as a sleeper or maybe not as you're doing your drafts maybe even a little earlier I'll let someone else decide that but Adam it's time to dig deep we're in the final rounds of our draft our roster starting to take shape but we're still looking for some good value maybe many people are overlooking give me that deep sleeper I could stash on my roster for a rainy day or hey who knows maybe a surprising performance moves them up on my uh game day roster yeah I hope you're drafting soon because I think Jalil mofin could be a riser Jalil mcgoffin for the Denver Broncos Shawn Payton likes to use multiple running backs the Broncos last year had the second most targets to running backs in the NFL and if you think about Shawn pyton that's basically been his career right with the New Orleans Saints and then with the Denver Broncos so I see maybe 30 catch 40 catch potential for mlin he's more explosive than Javonte Williams and he is a hand cuff okay so people take handcuffs earlier than that they take Blake Korum much earlier than Jalil mofin they take Trey Benson I don't think these guys are going to have very big roles unless there's an injury to their starter M Loflin on the other hand is definitely going to play he could be a five-week flex option if nothing happens to javante if javante gets hurt then you have the starter I think for the Denver Broncos it's a little unclear so it's a bit of a risk but I would say that there's a chance he could beat out Javon Williams CH mcgoffin looks to be the more explosive player obviously I take javante earlier but mclin's almost an afterthought right now and he could be your last pick oh an afterthought that could certainly help boost your roster I would like that a lot but Adam listen you've been covering fantasy football for a number of years and it's almost you you've seen just about everything you've seen players with a highest expectations being the biggest bus guys who no one expected to do much being the biggest pickups of the year but how about the most important factor when it comes to building your roster I'm talking about draft order take a look at what the Oakland A's did on tu Tuesday from the upper deck several guys threw baseballs to a Target on the field to end up the nearest to determine their draft order and it looks like relief pitchure Scott Alexander got the first overall pick if you can check out his reaction right here this is some some pretty clever stuff right here so Adam I got to ask you what's maybe some of the wildest ways you've seen draft orders determine or do you do anything out of the norm we should know about o sometimes I hit that randomized draft order button twice in my leagues just to get a little crazy uh I am such a boring uh fantasy football drafter I I just randomize it but I I would love to do something clever I've seen people do NFL Combines basically where they run the 40 and and do some jumping and things like that uh one of my favorite things it's obviously too late to do it now but the Kentucky Derby or any of the big horse races you pick a horse and and however your horse is finished is how you determine your draft order I don't have any great advice I've seen some funny ones I think the NFL Combines style is is really cool but I would say if you're asking me where do you want to draft if you get to pick your spot I think somewhere in the 678 range I would just say eighth overall would be my favorite spot to draft this year okay wait now I got to ask you let's say you're in a 12-man league you're doing the NFL combine strategy you're doing the 40 yard dash Adam where would you be picking yeah well I would I'm probably G to finish last so I wouldn't really have much of a choice but yeah if I won I I do like the 678 because I think in the second round you're going to end up with K Williams Travis etn Isaiah Pacho someone like that at running back and so you can take a wide receiver like Chase Jefferson or St brown with your first pick I'm actually doing a draft right now where I had the six pick it's a slow draft my first four picks were Jamar Chase Travis etn Debo Samuel Josh Allen and I think I just took Amari Cooper so um I I like picking in the middle of the first round but I will never do that's the thing I'm not going to do a 40 cuz I'm not going to be able to pick a good spot I'm going to end up with the last pick every time I I think you're not giving yourself enough credit here but by the way if you're doing this uh draft while you're talking to us this is some impressive stuff this is why you are CBS sports fantasy football andal Adam AER appreciate you stopping by that's fantastic stuff thank you and if you want to win your league make sure to check out the Fantasy Football Today podcast on the latest episode Adam and the crew break down rookie contrib contributors and give out their do not draft list download And subscribe to Fantasy Football today wherever you get your podcast