As the calendar turns to July, we now turn our focus to our upcoming season-long fantasy leagues. Redraft leagues are the most popular format of all the fantasy football games. It is finally football season and time to prep for all our home league drafts set for later this summer! It’s obviously important to draft well all throughout your drafts, but today we’re going dive into players with late-round upside, what fantasy gamers like to call sleepers. Typical Redraft leagues draft 16 rounds, so the players we will be talking about today are players that will be available in the second half of drafts. These are all players with a current average draft position (ADP) around or later than pick 100.
Best Fantasy Football Sleepers
RB Antonio Gibson, Washington Commanders
I am a long-time Giby truther. After his breakout as a rookie, the 2020 third-rounder was viewed for a short time as one of the top young fantasy RBs. Since then, we’ve seen nothing but the misuse of a very talented player. Now former Chiefs OC Eric Biemeny steps in to run the Commanders’ offense. Bienemy, a former NFL running back and Andy Reid disciple, will bring concepts that will get Gibson touches that take advantage of his skillset as a receiver. Expect Bienemy to use Gibson much like the Chiefs used Jerick McKinnon last season. He should catch close to 50 balls this season, and, now that he has fixed his fumbling issues of the past (only one last season), should help garner more of the rush share. Gibson should more than return value at his current 105 overall ADP.
WR Kadarius Toney, Kansas City Chiefs
The enigma that is Kadarius Toney. He is a former first-round pick, a great talent, and regarded as one of the most explosive and elusive players in football. Unfortunately, his career has been marred by injury and lack of consistency, but 2023 should be the year that changes. The Chiefs top WR of last year, JuJu Smith-Schuster, left for New England in the offseason, and talk out of Chiefs camp is that Toney is the WR1. That’s good news for his fantasy prospects; we can expect to see more vertical routes and an increased ADOT with an expanded route tree as he continues to build rapport in his second year with Patrick Mahomes. You won’t have to spend a high pick on him as his ADP is fluctuating around pick 100, but his ceiling is massive. A middle-to-high WR2 finish is in his range of outcomes.
QB Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts
Richardson absolutely blew up the NFL combine; he literally was the most athletic QB to ever test. The Colts then decided to make him their franchise QB. Yes, he’s a rookie and will need to learn the NFL game and improve his accuracy, but his ability to run and athleticism could, at one point in his career, break fantasy. That probably won’t happen in year one, but he does project to finish as a mid-QB2 with some splash weeks along the way. He’s definitely worth taking a shot on in drafts with an ADP around pick 115. You can pair him with a veteran QB like Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones or Geno Smith, who can start the season for you while ARich gets his feet wet. By the second half of the fantasy season, he could be leading you to the fantasy playoffs.
RB Kendre Miller, New Orleans Saints
We didn’t get to see much of Miller during the pre-draft process as he recovered from a knee injury, but we certainly got to see enough in his final season at TCU, as he posted 1,399 rushing yards & 17 TDs, displaying power as a runner and showcasing his elite ability to make people miss. The Saints then used third-round draft capital to have him be their eventual replacement for Alvin Kamara. That could happen sooner rather than later, with Kamara set to go to trial on July 31st for battery charges and facing a suspension from the NFL. If Miller gets the opportunity, he could hit the ground running and never look back. His ADP is fluctuating around pick 150, so you can take him in the double-digit rounds at little-to-no risk.
QB Chigoziem Okonkwo, Tennessee Titans
I am continuing to beat the drum for Okonkwo as a breakout TE for this upcoming season. The talk out of Titans camp is they really like what he brings to the offense and want to use him all over the field. Austin Hooper is now in Las Vegas, and Chig is in line to be second in the Titans’ target pecking order behind WR Treylon Burks. His ADP is rising a bit, but you can take him somewhere around pick 130 or Round 11. A bold projection for the second-year athletic move TE looks something like 65 receptions for 750 yards and five TDs, good for a top-10 finish at the position.
RB Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings
Chandler is not widely discussed in the fantasy community, but he is definitely a player to have on your radar. He is currently second on the Minnesota depth chart behind now-starter Alexander Mattison, taking over for long-time star Dalvin Cook. A handcuff at minimum, the current Vikings front office who drafted him last year might at some point want to see just what they have in him. There is also some ambiguity to the situation as Mattison has never shouldered a full workload as a lead back, which could lead to the rush share being more evenly spread. Chandler has the requisite size (5’11” 205 lbs) and speed (4.38 40-time) and is a capable pass catcher. He’s competing with UAB rookie seventh-round pick DeWayne McBride for touches, who only recorded five receptions in his entire college career. Chandler certainly has the edge up as the receiving back behind Mattison, which could help earn him additional snaps. You should be using your last couple of late-round picks on backup RBs with upside, and Chandler fits that bill perfectly.
More Late-Round Fantasy Football Sleepers
- RB Rashaad Penny, Philadelphia Eagles
- RB Roschon Johnson, Chicago Bears
- WR Rashod Bateman, Baltimore Ravens
- WR Jakobi Meyers, Las Vegas Raiders
- QB Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
