Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers the Experts Target (2023)

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 for each position.

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

Anthony Richardson (IND)

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.

This THROW by Anthony Richardson ?

Richardson reportedly once again took all of the first-team reps in his return to practice.

Richardson said that he’s gained “8-12” pounds of muscle over the off-season.

Richardson reportedly plans to play around 250 pounds, which is 10… pic.twitter.com/iTkTsFQ6NN

— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) August 2, 2023

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.

2020: Jalen Hurts Year 1: 3 full games played as a rookie: Fantasy QB1 (top-12) in all three games averaging 282 passing yards per game (27.2 ppg)

2019: Kyler Murray Year 1: QB12 (18.6 ppg) as a rookie, 3rd in carries, 2nd in rushing yards. QB7 overall. 11th in top-6 finisher %.

— Andrew Erickson™ (@AndrewErickson_) June 30, 2023

At any price outside the top-15 QBs, Richardson is a no-brainer selection. Especially in 1QB formats.\

-Andrew Erickson

Fantasy Football Running Back Sleepers

Our RB sleepers are based on a poll of experts that selected their favorite RBs with high upside. Each RB has a consensus draft rank below #45.

Rank	Running Backs	Team	Bye	Num Experts	ECR	ADP
1	Tank Bigsby	JAC	9	19	49	47
2	Jaylen Warren	PIT	6	18	43	51
3	De’Von Achane	MIA	10	14	45	41
4	Roschon Johnson	CHI	13	15	52	54
5	Kenneth Gainwell	PHI	10	10	48	48
6	Ezekiel Elliott	NE	11	9	50	44
7	Raheem Mostert	MIA	10	4	47	45
8	Kendre Miller	NO	11	5	54	53
9	Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	10	5	58	58
10	Jerome Ford	CLE	5	4	57	65

Tank Bigsby (JAC)

I remain bullish on Tank Bigsby‘s ability to eat into Travis Etienne‘s workload in 2023. Bigsby has looked fantastic at every opportunity. Among 69 running backs with at least 10 preseason rushing attempts, Bigsby ranks 12th in breakaway run rate (per PFF). I’ll continue hammering him in the later rounds of drafts as a weekly flex play with massive upside if Etienne were to miss time with injury.

-Derek Brown

Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Sleepers

Our WR sleepers are based on a poll of experts that selected their favorite WRs with high upside. Each WR has a consensus draft rank below #55.

Rank	Wide Receivers	Team	Bye	Num Experts	ECR	ADP
1	Skyy Moore	KC	10	18	46	50
2	Romeo Doubs	GB	6	13	60	55
3	Zay Jones	JAC	9	5	57	63
4	Michael Gallup	DAL	7	5	63	61
5	Marvin Mims Jr.	DEN	9	7	85	75
6	Van Jefferson	LAR	10	5	65	71
7	Darius Slayton	NYG	13	4	73	85
8	Odell Beckham Jr.	BAL	13	5	54	45
9	Isaiah Hodgins	NYG	13	5	75	78
10	Tyler Boyd	CIN	7	5	55	58

Skyy Moore (KC)

A lackluster rookie season has everybody writing off 2022 second-round WR Skyy Moore. But the young WR showed bright spots as the season progressed. After JuJu Smith-Schuster got hurt in Week 10, Moore went on to lead all Chiefs WRs in targets over the next two weeks (12 targets, 10 catches for 99 yards, 3.19 yards per route run) as the team’s primary slot receiver. Moore was hyper-targeted on 36% of his routes (25% snap share, 4 targets) in Week 17 vs. the Broncos when, again, he saw high usage from the inside. And in the conference championship game, Moore once again commanded 6 targets, while running 12 routes from the slot (second-most in 2022).

Many draft pundits and Chiefs beat writers are crowning Kadarius Toney as the heir to the KC WR1 chair (if and when he gets healthy) but Moore looks like the dark horse to earn starting slot duties that Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman left behind. Simply put, Moore saw 6 targets in the games where he ran at least 10 slot routes. He also had at least 2 receptions in five games where he ran at least 7 slot routes. Hardman and Smith-Schuster averaged 13.5 slot routes per game last season. Therefore, don’t count Moore out quite yet. Recall, Moore ranked second in college football in his final year in yards per route run from the slot.

-Andrew Erickson

Fantasy Football Tight End Sleepers

Our TE sleepers are based on a poll of experts that selected their favorite TEs with high upside. Each TE has a consensus draft rank below #15.

Rank	Tight Ends	Team	Bye	Num Experts	ECR	ADP
1	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	13	14	14	14
2	Sam LaPorta	DET	9	12	18	17
3	Gerald Everett	LAC	5	9	17	22
4	Hunter Henry	NE	11	5	21	30
5	Jake Ferguson	DAL	7	5	35	29
6	Juwan Johnson	NO	11	4	19	20
7	Hayden Hurst	CAR	7	3	22	26
8	Irv Smith Jr.	CIN	7	3	20	21
9	Trey McBride	ARI	14	3	24	34
10	Cade Otton	TB	5	2	33	36

Dalton Kincaid (BUF)

Rookie Dalton Kincaid is an intriguing option after the Buffalo Bills selected him in the first round of this year’s draft. Kincaid projects as a hybrid slot receiver in the Bills’ offense. Dawson Knox led all tight ends last season in passer rating generated (137.5) from the slot last season.

The rookie tight end spent his first two college seasons at San Diego playing a limited role. But he made the most of every touch he got, averaging nearly 19 yards per reception. His 21.0 yards per reception in 2019 ranked second among all TEs in both the FCS and FBS. After the impressive showing, Kincaid transferred to Utah in 2020 but missed the majority of the season due to COVID implications. It wasn’t until 2021 that Kincaid truly got his shot, and he absolutely dominated. Kincaid posted a 25% dominator rating as the 11th-highest-graded tight end in the nation per PFF. Kincaid followed up his impressive 2021 campaign nicely in 2022 with another eight-touchdown season. His dominator rating jumped to 26% as he led the nation in PFF receiving grade and finished 3rd in yards per route run. Kincaid led Utah with 70 receptions (5.8 receptions per game, 22% target share), the most by any tight end in the nation. At 246 pounds, Kincaid is on the smaller side of the tight end spectrum, making him perfect for the slot in the NFL. He ran 55% of his routes from the slot in 2022.