• Curtis Samuel More than a slot receiver: Samuel: Buffalo Bills It was the best quarterback play of his career, even compared to recent seasons.
• Brandin Cooks He remains guilty of a great sin. It took Cooks a while to calm down. Dallas Cowboys Though he struggled to make an impact on offense, he returned to being a solid fantasy starter in the second half of the season.
• Get an early start on fantasy football: use PFF Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator Get ready for your live draft by creating a real live mock draft simulation.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
These sleepers are five players with ADPs outside 120 on the consensus board who I ranked significantly higher than their ADP. Some of these players have ADPs inside the top 120 on other sources with a higher percentage of expert users, but because a variety of players were selected, at least some of the players could be considered sleepers on any site.
Last updated: Wednesday, July 3, 7:15 AM
Curtis Samuel, Buffalo Bills (ADP: 11.05, from ADP consensus)
Samuel has played seven seasons in the NFL, but is just 28 years old and in the best situation of his career this season.
Samuel spent his first two seasons as a backup. Carolina Panthers Before becoming a full-time starter in 2019, he DJ MooreIn 2020, the Panthers Anderson was selecteddemoting Samuel to the slot. Samuel Washington Commanders In 2021, he played as a slot receiver.
Samuel has been consistently good. Nothing that really stands out, but everything is OK to good. The situations he's been in have never been great. At Carolina, his quarterback was mostly Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater and Kyle AllenIn Washington, Taylor Heinicke, Sam Howell and Carson WentzWashington has never had a quarterback with a PFF passing grade above 60, and their best quarterback in Carolina was Newton in 2018 with a passing grade of 70.0. Josh Allen It would be a big step up from everything Samuel has been through in the NFL.
Samuel has a chance to be Buffalo's top wide receiver. His main competition is Khalil Shakir And second-round rookies Keon ColemanAll three have similar ADPs. Samuel is known as a slot receiver, but he is rated higher when lined up on the outside (74.8 vs. 66.6), has more yards per route run (1.47 vs. 1.26) and is targeted more often (20.1% vs. 17.2%). The Bills rotated wide receivers a lot last season, so Samuel should line up all over the place in Bills formations.
One of the three wide receivers would definitely be a bargain, and maybe two given the quality of the Bills' offenses in the past. If you compare Shaquill's performance without Allen to Shaquill's performance with Allen, I think Samuel is better than Shaquill. Also, Coleman, like any other rookie, is just plain hard to draft. For this reason, Samuel is the best sleeper for me in this group.
Brandin Cooks, Dallas Cowboys (ADP: 13.05)
Cooks was selected as a top-20 fantasy wide receiver six times in seven seasons from 2015 to 2021. He was often helped by quarterback play from Drew Brees. Tom Brady To Jared Goff To Deshaun WatsonEven in 2021 Davis Mills, He was a top-20 recruit, but injuries have hindered him in 2022 and he failed to score a touchdown on the second-lowest scoring offense.
He joined the Cowboys last season but took some time to really gel with the offense. He sat out Week 2 and had fewer than 50 receiving yards in any game in the first half of the season. He then had nine catches for 173 yards. From that point on, he consistently played at least 70% of Dallas' offensive snaps. He was WR14 from Week 10 until the end of the season, but was outplayed by his teammates. C.D. Lam He was WR1 by a huge margin.
Cooks is a wide receiver who can do anything except run short routes, and the Cowboys will need him more this season than they did last season. Dallas Tony Pollard and Michael Gallup They left the team in free agency and didn't acquire any notable pass-catchers.
Considering Lamb's target share and how some of his fantasy success is down to touchdown luck, it's unlikely he'll finish as a top-10 fantasy receiver, but he could very well be a fantasy starter based on his production late last season. He caught just one pass through the first 16 weeks but has caught at least five passes in each of the final three games, including the playoffs.
Jarin Polk, New England Patriots (ADP: 16.01)
Polk was the 10th wide receiver selected in the NFL Draft and was 11th on the pre-draft big board, but was 13th in the consensus ADP. Roman Wilson and Jermaine BurtonUnlike Wilson, Barton and many others, Polk has a chance to be the team's top wide receiver.
The Patriots had seven receivers who played at least 100 snaps last season, but none who played at least 600. The only one to leave was Devante Parker, In addition to leading the group in snaps last season; K.J. Osborne Free agents and Javon Baker In the fourth round.
Early display With Osborn at the top of the depth chart, Douglas is likely to retain his slot position and Polk is the other candidate for the starter. Douglas played very well last season considering he was a sixth-round rookie, but at 5-foot-8, it's unlikely he'll see as many snaps in the 12-man lineup as he did last season now that teams have better options.
I don't expect the Patriots to be a powerhouse offense next season, but the chance to acquire what should be the team's top wide receiver by midseason is worth picking up.
Michael Wilson, Arizona Cardinals (ADP: 16.08)
Wilson was drafted by the Cardinals in the third round last season and was immediately deployed as a Z receiver. He started off slow in Week 1 and saw his playing time drop, but bounced back in Week 2 and saw his playing time return, ranking as the WR40th from Weeks 2-8. Joshua Dobbs As his quarterback.
Wilson missed Week 9 with a shoulder injury, then re-injured it in Week 11. He also suffered a neck injury. He returned for the final four weeks of the regular season, but didn't make a single catch in his first two games back. In addition to returning from injury, this was also his first opportunity to play for the team. Kyler MurrayMurray improved over the final two weeks of the season, finishing as the 16th ranked WR from Week 17-18.
The Cardinals Hollywood Brown and Marvin Harrison Jr.traded for a slot receiver. Rondale Moore Add Veteran Zay Jones, Harrison, Wilson, and Greg Dortch in the slot, which means Wilson's role in the Cardinals' offense will be similar to last season.
The great thing about Wilson this season, aside from his health, is that he's been able to try to go deeper. His average target depth of 14.1 yards was in the top 10 among wide receivers who ran 400 routes last season. With Brown out, Wilson may be able to try to go even deeper. Murray has the third-highest deep pass accuracy over the past four seasons among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 50 deep passes. He's also the most consistent on accuracy-plus passes, meaning passes that are either perfectly accurate or miss coverage.
All signs are Marvin Harrison Jr. Wilson is the safest wide receiver selected in a long time, but there's still a chance that things won't work out right away or that he could get hurt. That possibility alone makes Wilson an intriguing option late in the draft, but even if that doesn't happen, Wilson should still outperform his ADP.
Devontes Walker, Baltimore Ravens (ADP: 23.07)
29 of the 32 receivers projected as Xs on their teams rank in the top 175 using consensus ADP. The only exceptions are New England Patriots, The depth chart is completely in flux, and the other Los Angeles Rams, where Demarcus Robinson He's obviously the team's third receiver. Baltimore Ravens.
In Baltimore, They Flowers While maintaining the role of Z receiver Nelson Aghoror It's a slot. Rashod Bateman Rotate Odell Beckham Jr. Last season, he was an X receiver. Todd Monken was a top-five play-caller who kept the wide receivers in their regular roles, and either Bateman or Beckham was on the field more often than not, and rarely both. If you combined their fantasy stats last season, they would have been WR35.
Bateman signs contract extension There are high expectations for him this season.Given Bateman's history, disappointing fantasy results and PFF grades over the past three years, it's understandable why some don't rate him highly. Devontes Walker In deeper leagues, he may be worth a late round pick. The 4th round rookie has measurements that are a lot closer to an X receiver. In our draft guide, we said Walker won't be a polished player in 2022 or 2023, but if he develops significantly over the next two months, he could be a great late round pick to take over as an X receiver.
