Summer Sleeper: Green Bay Packers

Matt Price Posted On August 12, 2016

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 Tyler Lockett or Carlos Hyde, 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 Willie Snead 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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Jared Abbrederis, WR (sleeper)

It has been Abbrederis impressing in training camp thus far, not Jeff Janis, Davante Adams, or TY Montgomery, who recently returned to practice this week after recovering from ankle surgery. The 2014 fifth round draft pick is currently ahead of everyone on the team’s wide receiver depth chart who is not named Jordy Nelson or Randall Cobb. Looking a bit more into the Packers 2015 season makes that fact not seem as odd as one may initially think. While Adams and James Jones largely disappointed in 2015, Abbrederis earned the praise of quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Most scouting reports on Abbrederis agreed that the 6’1” 195 Wisconsin product showed great hands, savvy route running, and high football intelligence during his stint in college. These are all things Rodgers loves in his receivers so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Abbrederis has earned the trust and respect of his quarterback after demonstrating those same abilities during his limited opportunities in the NFL. While Rodgers won’t have the final say on which of his weapons play a key role on Sundays, Coach Mike McCarthy certainly wants his franchise quarterback to be comfortable with who he is throwing to.

Realistically, Abbrederis will likely be no better than the WR4 for the team entering the regular season. Despite his poor play in 2015 and in training camp, Adams will still likely be the receiver on the field most in three-wide sets. If Adams continues to struggle with efficiency, however, it is far from inconceivable that Abbrederis could overtake him for that role. If Cobb were to miss time, Abbrederis seems to have the best skillset to fill his role in the Packers’ offense. Several things have to happen before he gets there, but fantasy owners should at least have Abbrederis on their waiver wire radar because there are multiple paths to significant playing for him in 2016. In startups, he isn’t being drafted in the top 265 picks according to DLF’s July ADP data, which means he is basically free if you have an empty roster spot.

Trevor Davis, WR (deep sleeper)

It was a bit of a surprise pick considering he went two rounds before Kenny Lawler, Davis’ teammate at Cal, and a player who was considered the better receiver prospect in the predraft process. It’s possible he was drafted for his special teams ability as a kick returner which would potentially allow Ty Montgomery to be more involved in the offense after looking good on his limited opportunities before suffering an ankle injury in week 11. Davis was a special teams star during his college career at Hawaii and Cal, where his 4.42 40 time shows up at game speed on the film.

In the NFL, prowess on special teams can earn you a roster spot that leads to playing time in other phases of the game. While it’s a longshot for Davis to see significant work on offense any time soon, there is reason to believe that the same speed which serves him well in the return game can get him behind opposing defenses for big plays, something the Packers’ offense was sorely lacking in 2015. I’ll be paying attention to Davis in the preseason for deeper dynasty leagues. If he looks good and Montgomery isn’t completely healthy after recently being cleared from the PUP list, Davis could be an intriguing player to watch in 2016.

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Matt Price

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Senior writer and co-host of the DLF Dynasty podcast, the longest running dynasty focused podcast on the planet

Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.

Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.