Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Love: Wide Receivers

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football sleepers below. And check out all of the fantasy football sleepers experts love in our consensus sleeper rankings.

Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft: Wide Receivers

Here are fantasy football sleepers the experts love to target in drafts.

Who are Fantasy Football Sleepers?

Fantasy football sleepers are players who have a strong chance to exceed expectations and become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers.

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Wide Receivers

Rank	Wide Receivers	Team	Bye	Num Experts	ECR	ADP
1	Jayden Higgins	HOU	6	19	57	52
2	Marvin Mims Jr.	DEN	12	16	55	57
3	Cedric Tillman	CLE	9	8	58	65
4	DeMario Douglas	NE	14	10	65	67
5	Keenan Allen	LAC	12	7	59	53

Jayden Higgins got the capital I was hoping for as the fifth wide receiver selected in the NFL Draft at the top of the second round. Higgins should immediately file in as the starting outside receiver opposite Nico Collins in two wide receiver sets. Higgins was an underrated player throughout the entire draft process, ranking 27th and 16th in yards per route run and first and 18th in receiving grade during his final two collegiate seasons (per PFF). He’s a sure-handed receiver who will become a trusted safety blanket for C.J. Stroud after posting a 2.2% drop rate or lower in each of the last three seasons and a 55.6% contested catch rate in college. The addition of Higgins and fellow former Iowa State wide receiver Jaylin Noel should push Christian Kirk while also hopefully fueling a big bounce-back season for Stroud. Higgins is a WR3/4 that could easily evolve into a weekly WR2 as the 2025 season rolls along.
– Derek Brown

Marvin Mims flashed major upside in the second half of 2024, averaging 62 receiving yards per game and leading all WRs in yards per route run (3.63) from Week 11 onward. He also posted a strong 28% target rate per route run on the year, ranking 13th in the NFL. Still just 23 years old, Mims is a prime third-year breakout candidate in a Broncos offense looking to grow alongside Bo Nix. His preseason usage has indicated he is going to see a full-time role for the first time…
– Andrew Erickson

Demario Douglas is a low-end dice roll receiver in the later rounds this season. He was a flex-viable player at times last season. In his ten full games with Drake Maye starting, he had a 16.3% target share, 1.67 yards per route run, a 19.7% first-read share, and 0.079 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Nothing jumps off the page there, but he did manage three top 36 wide receiver finishes in those ten contests despite only managing five red zone targets. If Maye takes a big step forward in 2025, Douglas is likely coming along for the ride as a bye-week flex option.
– Derek Brown

Cedric Tillman flashed major second-year breakout potential in 2024, stepping up as the Browns’ top wideout after Amari Cooper’s departure and Jameis Winston’s promotion to QB1. From Weeks 7-12, Tillman averaged 12.8 fantasy points per game (WR16), totaling 330 receiving yards and clearly outproducing Jerry Jeudy during that stretch. Unfortunately, a concussion cut his season short, sidelining him for the final six games. Now fully healthy and with past chemistry with Joe Flacco, Tillman is well-positioned to re-emerge as a key piece in Cleveland’s passing game and could be a sneaky value pick in 2025 drafts.
– Andrew Erickson

Keenan Allen returns to the Bolts after a one-year dalliance with Chicago. I’ll lead this off by saying that we can toss Allen’s yards per route run and first downs per route run in the trash as every Bears wide receiver’s efficiency metrics were tanked last year by Caleb Williams’ struggles. Allen finished as the WR31 in fantasy points per game. Among 85 qualifying receivers, he didn’t have any issues still earning volume at a high rate, ranking 20th in target share (23.5%) and 26th in first-read share (28.8%, per Fantasy Points Data). His route running and separation skills remained solid. Among 112 qualifying receivers, he ranked 45th in separation and 40th in route win rate. Last year, his slot rate dipped slightly to 54%. I expect that to creep back up toward the 60% mark in Los Angeles. The Chargers will also likely incorporate more 11 personnel this season after having the 11th-lowest rate of three wide receiver sets last year (56.2%). Greg Roman hasn’t utilized 11 personnel massively in his history, but the Bolts’ ranking 11th-best in EPA per pass last year from 11 personnel could twist his arm. Allen is a WR3/4 who could easily revert back into a solid volume-fueled WR2 with his long-standing rapport with Herbert helping in 2025.
– Derek Brown