8 Fantasy Sleepers You Should Be Targeting For Your Redraft Leagues

The term “Sleeper” is the most overused work in the Fantasy Football world, but the fact remains, everyone loves sleepers. The following players are a few of the GoingFor2 Staff’s favorite sleepers heading into the 2020 season. Be sure to click their Twitter handles and tell them why they are wrong.

WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (PHI) (@eagledanff)

JJAW’s ADP is currently #297, so you are getting him for free in all draft formats. According to reports, he was injured most of last year, as well as having to learn all three WR positions in the Eagle’s offense. Going into 2020, JJ can focus on the X position, as he looks to replace the injured Alshon Jeffery.

Whiteside is not going to beat anyone with speed, but he has elite jump ball skills, and if he can earn the trust of QB Carson Wentz, he will bring a much-needed element to the outside. Currently, the Eagles have zero possession receivers and are relying on TE Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert to get the tough yards. They spent the offseason loading up on speed, including spending a 1st round pick on Jalen Reagor.

JJ will give them a physical presence that the team desperately needs on the outside. He will have a chance as a starter, and his TD potential with Wentz is off the charts. He is well worth a last round pick in redraft leagues.

QB Jared Goff (LAR) (@ffb_bbq)

Jared Goff is currently being selected as the QB19 off the board in fantasy drafts. He has never finished below QB13 in seasons where he played at least fifteen games. He finished as the QB11 or better in eight of sixteen games last season. His overall finish was dragged down by three atrocious performances (single-digit fantasy points) against top tier pass defenses in Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Baltimore.

My fundamental argument for Goff as a sleeper in 2020 revolves around his pass catchers. Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, and Tyler Higbee are respectively ranked WR15, WR17, and TE7 according to the Expert Consensus Rankings on the FantasyPros website. That means fantasy experts are staking their reputations on Goff’s pass-catching corps to be excellent for fantasy. Great pass-catchers historically produce a strong fantasy finish for the QB.

Take a look at Dak Prescott in 2019 (Amari Cooper/Michael Gallup) or Ben Roethlisberger in 2018 (Antonio Brown/JuJu Smith-Schuster). They were league winning QBs because they had such great receiving talent. Goff is getting fantasy points when his receivers get fantasy points. It’s the most basic concept, but it seems drafters have forgotten.

It is up to you as a savvy drafter to recognize situations like this and capitalize. Load up at RB and WR in the early rounds and draft Goff in the middle of the eleventh round. He is the quintessential sleeper at the QB position in 2020.

QB Tyrod Taylor (LAC) (@neverenoughglt)

Tyrod Taylor is currently going 22nd round or undrafted. In his last full season, he threw for 14TD and 4 Int while running for 427 yards. In that season his O-line was ranked 31st and his receiving options were nowhere near what he has now.

The Los Angeles Chargers also have the 5th easiest schedule for QB (per FantasyPros). Taylor is going to be the sleeper of the season. It’s 2020 y’all. 

WR Mike Williams (LAC) (@SenraSays)

This season, there will be a new QB throwing passes to the Los Angeles Chargers receivers. And while Keenan Allen has been the clear cut No. 1 for the last few years, that is not necessarily guaranteed in 2020. Yes, there is a decent chance that both Tyrod Taylor and Justin Herbert view Allen in that light, meaning that any QB change will not affect his status.

However, it is not as if Allen is the only talented receiver on the team. Mike Williams was the 7th overall pick in the NFL draft just a few years ago. The big-bodied WR has made massive strides since entering the NFL. While he struggled at 1-on-1 separation as a rookie, Williams has improved in that aspect. Adding separation to his contest catch ability will make Williams a threat all over the field.

Perhaps either Taylor or Herbert sees the imposing stature that Williams presents and changes the team dynamic so that Williams is the go-to-guy. While that may not be the most likely scenario, his ADP does not reflect this possibility. Currently, in 12-team PPR formats, Williams is being drafted — on average — at the 14.03. In a range that features defenses and low-end QBs, Mike Williams presents a tremendous opportunity to massively outproduce his ADP. 

WR Preston Williams (MIA) (@GMenJay)

Preston Williams is going as the 56th WR off the board with an overall ADP of 146. Prior to tearing his ACL in his breakout Week 9 performance (5 catches, 72 yards, 2 TDs), Williams was emerging as the WR1 in Miami. He scored double-digits in five of his 8 games he played before the injury and was averaging 7 targets and 12 points a game.

He outpaced DeVante Parker in targets 59 to 50, and Parker’s breakout didn’t start until Williams went down. He’s being drafted behind guys like Anthony MIller (WR52, 134 overall), Sammy Watkins (WR49, 127 overall) and even a kicker, Justin Tucker (ADP 144). These guys have nowhere near the upside as Williams (especially a kicker) and have no business going before him.

With Ryan Fitzpatrick poised to be under center most of the year while keeping the seat warm for Tua Tagovailoa, this offense should be fun to watch and offer plenty of opportunities for Williams to vastly outperform his ADP and continue his breakout from last season. 

RB Damien Harris (NEP) (@GeoffLambert77)

The rumor going around the NFL is that Sony Michel could start the season on the PUP, forcing him to miss at least the first six games. The recent signing of free agent RB Lamar Miller only made those rumors louder. There are some people that think Miller’s presence hurts Damien Harris, but I disagree.

Miller is 29, coming off a season-ending knee injury and has been sitting on free agency since the end of the 2019 season. I’d be willing to bet the house that if Michel is put on the PUP, Harris leads the Patriots in carries in Week 1. If that happens, he may not give the spot back even when Michel is healthy.

WR Justin Jefferson (MIN) (@reynoldst5858)

Coming off one of the best college football seasons as a receiver with 111 receptions, 1540 yards and 18 touchdowns, Justin Jefferson was drafted 22nd overall in this year’s draft to replace the long time Viking Stefon Diggs who was traded to the Buffalo Bills.

Diggs vacates 94 targets and 1130 yards over 15 games last season and Jefferson is slated to come in and should receive a bulk of those targets. In addition, Kirk Cousins threw the least amount of passes in a season last year (444) since becoming a starting quarterback in 2015. I would expect those numbers to rise once again back into the low to mid 500s for Cousins which leaves even more additional targets available for the Vikings offense.

This presents the rookie Justin Jefferson an extremely safe floor with a ton of upside. With an ADP of WR48 Jefferson seems like a lock to outdo his current draft position and become a solid low WR2 high WR3 for your fantasy team.

WR Terry McLaurin (WAS) (@TheBLeagueSays)

I know the flavor of the month isn’t the Washington (lol) Football Team but in Fantasy Football as sometimes it’s good to ‘zig’ instead of ‘zag’. Fantasy Football to me is about fine margins. And the closer you look at the top of the food chain, there tends to be minimal changes. But I’m looking for that guy that’s got the room to grow and break into the upper echelons like what D.J. Moore did for you last season.

And for me that guy is Terry McLaurin this year, who checked into the 2019 season as a rookie with less hype than some of his draft counterparts. In the end he was a target hog (93 targets) and had one of the highest snap percentages in the league while crossing for 7 TDS in his maiden campaign.

Now consider the following: there’s no one last years roster aside from Steven Sims that can take work away and even then I’d doubt it interferes at all and now he gets further continuity with Dwayne Haskins. There is minimal options on that roster to get in his way of improving upon his 6.6 targets per game.

They did recruit Antonio Gandy-Golden and Antonio Gibson but with how COVID-19 has affected this offseason (and considering there’s also no preseason games to make adjustments) what impact they have at the start of the year is anyones guess. And if you want to throw in coach talk and narrative I brought up D.J. Moore earlier and he racked up a ridiculous 135 in his second season as a pro, but considering that’s 9 targets per game and he was dealing with Christian McCaffrey and Greg Olsen 9 even Curtis Samuel at times.

But now we also have the same coaching staff that took D.J. Moore and his game to the next level who by the way have already made the comparisons between the two (https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/redskins/ron-rivera-explains-working-terry-mclaurin-has-been-treat-thus-far).

And by no means am I saying this guy is being faded at all; for the most part I believe he is being selected at around market value where fantasyfootballcalculator.com has him at 55th overall as the WR23 after finishing as the WR29 with 13.7 ppg (24th overall) and to me if he is only being looked at at face value then he could well be a screaming ‘buy’ before a snap has been played. Fantasy Football doesn’t have to be hard. This is A+B=C and Terry McLaurin this year has the coaches backing to grow into more work, continuity with a quarterback he has grown up with and minimal around him to take off his plate. Terry McLaurin is this yers ‘Sleeper of the year’.

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