Sleepers and the Experts Who Love Them
We introduced our series on Sleepers two weeks ago and thought that it would be a great idea to update our data one last time before the season kicks off. For those of you who still have fantasy drafts this week, this data may help you when choosing a mid to late round RB or WR. No one is suggesting that these players will win your league for you, but roster depth often comes into play when determining the best fantasy squads.
When we updated our data (based on our definition of a sleeper), it was not surprising that we did not have any QB or TE sleepers; only a handful of RB and WR sleepers surfaced.
RB Sleepers
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Of the four RB sleepers, three were from Fantasy Sharks. Maybe these guys know something that everyone else doesn’t.
Please note that both Cadillac and McFadden scored extremely high when comparing their Fantasy Sharks ranking to their ADP. Although Cadillac is prone to injuries, Fantasy Sharks points out that the Bucs have promised to feature him heavily in their offense this year, he remains the candidate for goal-line carries, and the Bucs have an overall favorable rushing schedule. Similar to Cadillac, McFadden has also been an injury waiting to happen. Nevertheless, Fantasy Sharks believes the Raiders will be resourceful in finding him some effective touches per game.
Fantasy Sharks does not predict a huge resurgence of the great LT, but they do believe that he will see plenty of action out of the rushing and passing game, and will also benefit from playing behind an excellent offensive line.
KFFL rates Maroney higher than other experts, noting that although Maroney has fallen short of fantasy expectations, he carries the upside of an RB3, but is usually drafted as an RB4. Just hope that he breaks through as the number one option in the Pats backfield roulette.
WR Sleepers
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I suspect that most of the WRs on this list are familiar names to fantasy managers. Let’s try to recap why some of our experts see these WRs as sleepers.
Yahoo believes that Meachem should see more action in the high-powered Saints offense than what other experts project.
Berrian and Robinson’s fantasy production are undoubtedly expected to benefit from injuries to their respective team’s star receiver.
Dave Richard is quick to point out that Breaston should benefit with the QB change from Leinart to Anderson.
Fantasy Sharks likes Hester’s upside in Mike Martz’s pass-heavy offense.
Gaffney may just find himself as the number one receiver in Denver.
Same goes for Mike Williams in Tampa Bay, where it looks like Coach Morris has no qualms about starting rookie WRs.
Over the course of the season, we will be checking in to see if these experts’ sleepers are truly the surprise studs of 2010 or if they just end up slapping a sleeper-hold on your team!
Photo Credit: Link
How is LaDanian Tomlinson a sleeper? The man is still alive – not in a coma!
Also, Cadillac should not be considered a sleeper if he’s the starting RB. Any starting RB is going to get a lot of carries and opportunities to earn fantasy points, so this isn’t rocket science.
Hey Major, these are the guys that were outputted from our strict sleeper definition, which we linked to in the post. Everyone has their own definition of a “sleeper” so we think our approach is unique in that we’re actually uncovering these guys through an objective process, and being completely clear about what our definition is (something that’s rarely done in the world of sleeper talk). I’d give props to these experts if their guys end up as RB1′s or WR1′s this year. Check out our post on Deep Sleepers though, if you’re looking for a less shallow definition.