DLF’s Summer Sleepers: 2015 Summer Review

Jacob Feldman

sleeperreview
This Summer (and every Summer for that matter) we took the time to sit down and highlight at least one sleeper per NFL team for you to keep your eye on. These aren’t the common “sleepers” some of the other media outlets will be feeding you. No, you won’t see Travis Kelce or Latavius Murray on our list this year. Not only are they too mainstream to be considered sleepers by us, but they were some of the players we highlighted this time last year! In order to make your life a little bit easier, this year we decided to break down our sleepers into categories so you can tailor this to your league size. Here are the rough guidelines for what we considered each of the groups:

Sleeper – Likely rostered in almost all leagues, but they could significantly outperform their current trade price. Their ADP is outside of the top 175 in most startups, so they are good late round targets or parts of minor deals.

Deep Sleeper – These are players who are likely on the very end of someone’s bench or on the waiver wire in a lot of 12 team leagues. These guys are definitely worth a flier.

Super Deep Sleeper – This group probably isn’t worth a roster spot quite yet in a normal 12 team league, but they are someone to keep your eye on. If you start seeing some positive news on them in camp they are worth grabbing.

Keep in mind these were written over the course of the summer, so some of these selections would be very different now due to injuries or performance. There are also a few players who would be in different categories now based on current ADP versus summer ADP. If you want the full list of all of the 2015 summer sleepers, you can find it here. Otherwise I have linked the team name next to each player to the respective sleeper article so you can read a detailed report on each player.

Within each category, I’ve made an attempt to rank the players in order of their potential to be fantasy starters over the next two years and their ceiling if they are a starter. After all, if these are end of the bench players you aren’t very likely to be sitting on them for any longer than that time frame!

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Sleeper

  • Stevie Johnson, WR SD
  • Markus Wheaton, WR PIT
  • Virgil Green, TE DEN
  • Kenny Britt, WR STL
  • Kenny Bell, WR TB
  • Allen Hurns, WR JAC
  • Cole Beasley, WR DAL
  • Roy Helu, RB OAK
  • Justin Hardy, WR ATL
  • Marlon Brown, WR BAL
  • Cameron Artis-Payne, RB CAR
  • David Johnson, RB ARI
  • Theo Riddick, RB DET
  • Josh Huff, WR PHI

Keep in mind this is just one man’s opinion and some of these players are very, very close together in my rankings. Since I am looking only at the next two seasons, it puts a bit of an emphasis on path to a starting role – this vaults Stevie Johnson to the top of the list pretty quickly since he is going to be the starter opposite Keenan Allen. The rest of the top seven with the exception of Bell are all likely to be on the field more often than not for their respective teams as well. I think Wheaton, Britt, Hurns and Beasley could all be solid WR3s if they hang on to their roles. Green and Bell are the highest risk players in the top seven, but I think they have some of the most upside as well. Green could be huge as a pass catching tight end given his ability, and Bell could turn into the long term complement for Mike Evans.

As for the second half of this group, it is largely made up of young players who are currently behind higher drafted players or established veterans. The second half likely needs some kind of injury for them to get their chance to show what they can do. Several of them have the talent to shine if they get that chance but without the opportunity, it simply won’t matter.

Deep Sleeper

  • Eddie Royal, WR CHI
  • Robert Turbin, RB SEA
  • Kamar Aiken, WR BAL
  • MyCole Pruitt, TE MIN
  • Chris Polk, RB HOU
  • Bruce Ellington, WR SF
  • Jacob Tamme, TE ATL
  • Tre McBride, WR TEN
  • Nick Toon, WR NO
  • Brent Celek, TE PHI
  • Rod Streater, WR OAK
  • Bilal Powell, RB NYJ
  • Branden Oliver, RB SD
  • Denarius Moore, WR CIN
  • Josh Robinson, RB IND
  • Travaris Cadet, RB NEP
  • Rob Housler, TE CLE
  • Niles Paul, TE WAS

With the injury issues the Bears’ wide receivers have been having, Eddie Royal really doesn’t qualify as a deep sleeper anymore (hopefully you picked him up when we suggested you should), but this Summer he fit the bill. There is a chance Kevin White could be out for most of the season, leaving Royal in a nearly every down role. If he’s somehow still out there, grab him. Turbin always has been and continues to be my pick for the heir to Marshawn Lynch in Seattle. Yes, I know all about Christine Michael, but I’ve always been in Turbin’s corner. More importantly, it seems the coaching staff still is as well. Aiken might be a starter for the Ravens early in the season, but I don’t think he has the talent to be a long term answer at the position. Pruitt is the exact opposite. Locked in behind the very brittle Kyle Rudolph, Pruitt is a favorite of the coaching staff and a very athletic tight end. He could excel in Minnesota when the annual Rudolph injury hits. As for the other tight ends on the list, Tamme is a very sneaky addition since he could be the primary pass catching tight end for Matt Ryan. Celek will continue to see the field thanks to his complete skill set and Zach Ertz’ injury could keep the window open. Housler and Paul looked a lot more promising a month ago. Paul is out for the year now and Housler can’t seem to put it together, leaving them on the bottom of the list.

People are probably wondering why Polk is only fifth on this list given the Arian Foster injury. I think Foster is back by mid-season and when he is out it will be a committee. None of the other rushers are talented enough to be a bell cow, limiting their value. The only other player I want to highlight from the list is Toon. If he wins the third wide receiver role in camp, he would be at the top of this list. He seems to be losing that battle though, making him a little more risky selection.

Super Deep Sleeper

  • Karlos Williams, RB BUF
  • Leonard Hankerson, WR ATL
  • Corey Washington, WR NYG
  • Thomas Rawls, RB SEA
  • De’Anthony Thomas, WR KC
  • Joseph Fauria, TE DET
  • Jaron Brown, WR ARI
  • Dion Sims, TE MIA
  • Kennard Backman, TE GB

Things change quickly in the NFL and between the time these articles were written and now, Williams has gone from a distant fifth on the depth chart and a likely NFL practice squad guy to maybe being the second running back for the Bills. He definitely isn’t a super deep sleeper now but maybe you scooped him up for next to nothing almost two months ago when he was first mentioned by us here at DLF. Much the same is true about Hankerson. He appears to be the leader in the race for the third wide receiver job, which could turn into the number two wide receiver if Roddy White’s knee keeps causing issues. Both need to be rostered if they aren’t already and I would have them both in the top 15 or 20 players overall if I combined the lists together.

Washington is fighting for a roster spot in New York with James Jones. If he wins, he is worth watching given the injury history of the other receivers on the team. Rawls made a lot of noise at OTAs, but he was a clear fourth in the first pre-season game. He did outplay Michael in that game though, so he is worth watching. I still think Turbin is the back to own in Seattle other than the obvious. As for the rest, if you’re in a really deep league they all have their potential, but don’t get your hopes up too much.

Special shout out to Dan Meylor on his selection of Kennard Backman. While he might be last in the rankings, he is a sleeper even those of you in the largest of leagues can likely find on your waiver wire. Given he’s a born and breed cheesehead, you might want to pay attention in super deep leagues when he is talking about the Packers.

That’s it for the summer sleeper recap. We did great with our picks last summer, so hopefully this batch lives up to those standards. Good luck with your final preparation for the season!

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jacob feldman