Summer Sleeper: Pittsburgh Steelers

Brian Malone

steelers

We continue our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series where DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

  • Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
  • Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
  • Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers like Allen Robinson or C.J. Anderson, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Alfred Morris is going to spring up.  Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

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Markus Wheaton, WR PIT
(Sleeper)

Just one year ago, Markus Wheaton was a trendy buy in dynasty leagues. Everyone saw the opportunity for a talented wide receiver lined up opposite Antonio Brown, and that caused drafters to push Wheaton into the ninth and tenth rounds of dynasty startups. (It probably didn’t hurt that the kid can play – Matt Waldman called him his “favorite wide receiver” in the 2013 draft.)

Then, Brown went out and earned 181 targets (top-15 since 1998) and Le’Veon Bell picked up another 105 (top-15 among running backs since 1998). Still, Wheaton was on pace for more than 100 targets, enough to make him a borderline flex play … until Martavis Bryant burst onto the scene. From week seven onward, Bryant and Wheaton matched targets, and the more-explosive Bryant knocked Wheaton completely off the fantasy radar. Now, Wheaton is a throw-in piece in trades, and he went undrafted in five out of six July DLF mocks. But maybe we shouldn’t be writing him off so quickly. The Steelers look to be near the top of the league in passing attempts again this season, and Bell’s suspension leaves a 6.5 target/game vacuum for the first three weeks of the season. Once again, Wheaton has an opportunity to earn a significant role in a high-powered offense.

For the first time in his career, Wheaton is slated to run most of his routes from the slot. With his build, agility, and quickness, that is likely his best fit as an NFL receiver. He actually wasn’t very effective working from the slot in 2014, but he’ll be getting reps there all offseason, and he should have better command of the role in 2015. Moreover, he faces very little competition in that role. The team’s two primary slot receivers in 2014 – Lance Moore and Justin Brown – are no longer on the roster. Moreover, Heath Miller saw 91 targets last season, and that number is likely to drop a bit. Despite Wheaton’s apparent demotion to the number three receiver, his opportunity isn’t much different than it was heading into 2014.

Wheaton also has a full year of NFL experience under his belt.   He lost much of his 2013 campaign to a pair of broken fingers, so 2014 was something of a second rookie season. The Steelers have a recent history of developing top-notch receivers in Wheaton’s mold. It would be unwise to count out Wheaton after just 1.5 NFL seasons. And even if he doesn’t earn a huge workload as the third (or fourth) fiddle in the offense, he’s a rookie after the 2016 season – maybe he can follow in his former teammate’s footsteps and find another future-hall-of-fame quarterback in looking for a number two wide receiver.

Not only is Wheaton virtually free based on DLF ADP, there is absolutely no hype surrounding him in training camp. Folks are predicting more of the same from Brown and even bigger things from Bryant. If you’re looking to buy into the Steelers’ offense at bargain basement prices, Wheaton is your guy. And don’t forget that he’s still young (only 24 this season) with name recognition and a decent draft pedigree. So if he puts together a few nice weeks early in the season, you’ll likely be able to flip him for a 2016 second-round pick pretty easily.

Finally, the Steelers are one of those offenses — much like the Colts, Packers and Broncos – where you want to own a piece … just in case. Aside from Bryant’s early season injury, the Steelers were relatively healthy in 2013. Brown, Bell, and Miller each played 16 games basically at full health. Going into 2014, we already know Bell is going to miss time. If one of those players (especially Brown) misses even a few games due to injury, Wheaton could be a top-20 PPR wide receiver during that stretch.

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brian malone
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