There’s nothing more butthole clenching and brow sweat-inducing than sitting on the clock in a fantasy football draft and having a brain fart. You frantically scroll through names as you search through average draft position (ADP). The clock continues to tick down. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. This is how auto-draft picks are made. Don’t allow this to happen to you in any draft this year. Make sure you have a list of targets for every round, and let us help you put together a fantasy football draft cheat sheet. To help, here are a few of Derek Brown’s top fantasy football sleepers to target at wide receiver.
- Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2025 Best Ball Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- Free Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
Fantasy Football Sleepers to Draft
Wide Receiver Sleepers
- Travis Hunter
- George Pickens
- Tetairoa McMillan
- Ricky Pearsall
- Josh Downs
- Jayden Higgins
- Tre Harris
- Joshua Palmer
Ricky Pearsall (SF)
If I were to tell you that there’s a wide receiver entering his second season in one of the best offenses in the NFL, that’s a former first-round NFL draft pick who flashed in the final weeks of his rookie season, that’s dirt cheap in fantasy football drafts…you’d tell me I was insane. Well, I present to you Ricky Pearsall. Pearsall’s rookie season was derailed early by camp injuries and then off-the-field circumstances that were out of his control. All of these factors delayed Pearsall flashing his immense talent, but eventually, the cream rose to the top. In the final two weeks of the regular season, Pearsall finished as the WR7 and WR14 in weekly scoring while seeing a 21.7% target share and 30.4% first-read share and producing 2.84 yards per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Brandon Aiyuk is coming off a torn ACL in 2025, and Deebo Samuel is gone. If Pearsall can establish himself as the 1B in this passing attack behind George Kittle, he’ll crush his ADP and help plenty of Fantasy GMs to titles in 2025.
Tre Harris (LAC)
Harris, the soul-snatching route savant, landed with the Bolts in the second round of the NFL Draft. He should quickly become Justin Herbert’s trusted second option in the passing game opposite Ladd McConkey. Yes, Harris will have to hop either Mike Williams or Quentin Johnston to crack the starting lineup, but I’m not worried about his ability to do so. We’re discussing a player who has ranked first and ninth in yards per route run over the last two years, stacked up against arguably a former first-round bust and a veteran who looked like he was running on empty last year (per PFF). If the Bolts remain a pass-happier team than people realize in 2025, Harris could be one of the best values in fantasy football drafts this season. Last year in Weeks 7-18, the Bolts ranked eighth in neutral passing rate and sixth-best in pass rate over expectation. If that continues and Harris can spread his wings in this offense, he could crush his ADP in 2025.
Joshua Palmer (BUF)
Palmer is a solid and cheap bet to make on the Buffalo offense. His surface stats don’t jump off the page. In the games in which he played at least 50% of the snaps last year, he had a 13.7% target share, 1.57 yards per route run, a 17.2% first-read share, and 0.075 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). It’s when we pop open the hood and peek at his per-route metrics that things get interesting. Last year, among 112 qualifying wide receivers, Palmer was one of the best separators in the NFL, ranking 16th in separation and 12th in route win rate. Now, those numbers are eye-popping, especially when you discuss one of the best offenses in the NFL, yet only one receiving option was able to draw more than a 20% target share last year (Khalil Shakir). Palmer’s route running and separation ability could lead to consistently heavier usage in Buffalo, where they don’t have a receiver commanding a high target share. Palmer is worth the late-round flier to find out.
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