2024 Fantasy Football sleepers: Ranking 25 late-round players who could beat ADP by a wide margin
What is a sleeper? We set some parameters and then swing for the fences in preparation for your 2024 Fantasy Football drafts
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Last year, we debuted a formula that first established a pool of players who were eligible of being called "Fantasy football sleepers," then set about ranking our top 25 picks to meet our criterion by the end of the season. The first three names never lived up to that sleeper billing. The fourth was Nico Collins, who was the 61st-ranked receiver by average draft position when we put our list together and wound up finishing top 12 in PPR (top 10 in non-PPR). We talked about the upgrades at quarterback and offensive coordinator mattering a great deal, and the Texans' top three pass-catchers from the previous season departing, leaving Collins with an excellent opportunity to emerge as a WR1.
The rest of last year's list featured some more hits, including Jerome Ford, Brock Purdy and Jared Goff; players who didn't quite meet our target but still outperformed ADP like Zay Flowers, Romeo Doubs and Devin Singletary; and at least one who looked on his way to being a success before injuries struck in Anthony Richardson. We'll try to improve our hit rate this year while understanding that these players are all competing for the same final ranking positions well north of where they sit in ADP.
So how do we determine potential options for our Top 25 Sleepers list? First, we take consensus ADP from FantasyPros and throw out the first 96 players, or the first eight rounds of a 12-team league. We'll consider players in that range for our Top 10 Breakouts list instead, but sleepers should be found in the back half of Fantasy drafts. Then, we pull out the players we feel have the best chance of finishing twice as high at their position in Fantasy points scored than their ADP, rounded up. For Collins last year, ranking 61st in ADP meant that he had to finish top 30 to be a successful sleeper pick, for example.
Again, we won't be too hard on ourselves if late-round picks exceed expectations but don't quite meet that level of outperformance, like Flowers, Doubs and Singletary from last year. But we're mostly looking for those like Collins who could be league-winners without costing too much of an investment.
I'm come up with a list of my favorite sleepers for 2024 Fantasy Football drafts who all meet our first parameter of being outside the top 96 picks, and below I've ranked them by how confident I am they'll achieve the second parameter of paying a huge profit on their draft price. Consider it a target list after you've built the core of your Fantasy squad in the first eight rounds of your draft.
So who gets the top spot as the best Fantasy sleeper of 2024? And which running backs and receivers have the best chance to provide incredible value for their Fantasy teams? ... Join SportsLine here to see R.J. White's sleeper rankings for 2024 Fantasy football leagues!
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