What makes a fantasy football sleeper? It’s a term that has been thrown around over the year. We’ve done our best to quantify the phrase fantasy football sleeper. To us, sleepers are players that have a strong chance to exceed expectations to become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers. We’ve put together some ranking parameters for these sleepers and asked our experts to share their top draft values and potential difference-makers. You can find all of our fantasy football sleeper rankings here. Let’s take a look at our expert sleeper rankings.
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Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers the Experts Target
Here are how experts rank 2023 fantasy football sleeper targets.
Fantasy Football Quarterback Sleepers
Our QB sleepers are based on a poll of experts that selected their favorite QBs with high upside. Each QB has a consensus draft rank below #15.
| Rank | Quarterbacks | Team | Bye | Num Experts | ECR | ADP |
| 1 | Anthony Richardson | IND | 11 | 17 | 15 | 16 |
| 2 | Jared Goff | DET | 9 | 12 | 17 | 17 |
| 3 | Russell Wilson | DEN | 9 | 10 | 18 | 18 |
| 4 | Jordan Love | GB | 6 | 4 | 22 | 26 |
| 5 | Brock Purdy | SF | 9 | 5 | 23 | 21 |
| 6 | Kenny Pickett | PIT | 6 | 4 | 21 | 19 |
| 7 | Sam Howell | WAS | 14 | 4 | 27 | 28 |
| 8 | Ryan Tannehill | TEN | 7 | 3 | 24 | 30 |
| 9 | Bryce Young | CAR | 7 | 2 | 26 | 22 |
| 10 | Matthew Stafford | LAR | 10 | 1 | 20 | 23 |
The Colts rookie quarterback is my favorite long-shot bet to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and to break out in Year 1. The former Gator brings an exceptional level of athleticism to the table, and with the right coaching staff, his sky-high potential can be fully realized. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him secure the Day 1 starting position, especially with Gardner Minshew as his only competition. Even if the Colts don’t have a strong real-life record, Richardson’s rushing production and off-script playmaking will put him over the top. At Florida, Richardson averaged 60 rushing yards per game. Also, Richardson’s extremely low pressure-to-sack rate (sub-10%, first in the 2023 QB Class) further highlights his off-script playmaking.
It’s this exact rushing that will give Richardson a high floor in fantasy, with an improvement as a passer taking him to the next level. Because if you just look back at first-round rookie QBs that offered value with their legs, their production matched that of a low-end fantasy QB1.
The points per game marks ranged between 17–19-point averages which has been the QB15-QB10 range over the past two seasons. That’s considering the rookie years of Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Jalen Hurts, Kyler Murray, Daniel Jones, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. Of course, only by factoring the games, they were the featured/starting QB.
At any price outside the top-15 QBs, Richardson is a no-brainer selection. Especially in 1QB formats.\
-Andrew Erickson
More Players to Target & Avoid
- Pat Fitzmaurice: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Andrew Erickson: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Derek Brown: (Targets | Avoids) (Premium)
- Fantasy Football Sleepers for Every Team (Premium)
- How to Identify Fantasy Football Busts (Premium)
- Erickson’s Guide to Drafting Players on Good Offenses
- Fantasy Football Draft Values for Every Round
- Hoppen’s Final Round Draft Dart Throws
- Predicting First-Round Bust Candidates
- DBro’s Wide Receiver Lottery Tickets
- Erickson’s Running Back Lottery Tickets
- Hoppen’s 4 Players Who Could Become First-Round Picks Next Year
- Players to Target in Each Round (v2 | v3)
- Players to Avoid in Each Round
- Late-Round Draft Targets
- Late-Round QB Targets in Superflex Leagues | More QB Sleepers
- Late-Round RB Targets | More RB Sleepers | July RB Targets
- Late-Round WR Targets
- Late-Round TE Targets
- Deep Dart Throw Draft Targets
- WRs to Target in the RB Dead Zone (v2)| RBs to Avoid in the RB Dead Zone | RBs to Target in RB Dead Zone
- Identifying the Next WR1s | Identifying the Next RB1s
- 2022 Duds That Will Become 2023 Studs
- 4 Kickers To Target at the End of Drafts
- Making the Case for RB1
- Post-Hype Sleepers
- The Worst Fantasy Football Team You Could Draft at ADP
- 7 Safest Players to Draft
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