Summer Sleeper: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, 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, 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 Adam Thielen 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.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the fashionable pick to take the next step into offensive dominance. Jameis Winston appears to have finally grown up and realized he has to work hard to succeed at this level. Mike Evans is all-worldly at the wide receiver spot and the Bucs improved at both the second and third wide receiver position by adding DeSean Jackson in free agency and Chris Godwin in the draft.
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Through the draft, the team also added Jeremy McNichols at running back and O.J. Howard at tight end. Whenever a team drafts a promising rookie, the inevitable “rookie fever” takes hold and a veteran players start to slip in drafts and become forgotten throughout the preseason. I believe this to be happening on the Bucs right now and my sleeper is tight end Cameron Brate.
Cameron Brate, TE
Category: Sleeper
Cameron Brate finished the 2016 season as the TE7 overall in PPR leagues while averaging 11.4 points per game. On a per game basis that was good enough for eleventh, ahead of guys like Antonio Gates, Eric Ebron, Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett. Even though Howard was selected in the first round, 19th overall, and may very well be the future in Tampa Bay, Brate isn’t going to be rendered useless on day one.
The chemistry between Brate and Jameis Winston isn’t something that goes away overnight. He caught eight of Winston’s 28 touchdowns last year – only Evans (12) caught more and the next closest was Adam Humphries and Russell Shepard with two apiece. Brate also finished second on the team with 57 receptions and 660 yards.
Howard is a bit of a throwback to the traditional tight end mold at 6’6” and 251 pounds and offers huge upside as a run blocker. His first season impact will most likely be made doing just that as Brate holds onto his receiving role. Currently, Brate’s ADP is at 177, as the TE22 between guys like CJ Fiedorowicz and Julius Thomas while Howard is being taken on average with pick 85 as the TE8, ahead of Kyle Rudolph, Zach Ertz and Delanie Walker.
Obviously when it comes to dynasty you’re drafting with a long term outlook but it is so rare for rookie tight ends to make an impact in the NFL. I’m not even saying reaching for Howard that early is a bad decision, if you believe in him, take him, but ignoring Brate for players like Fiedorowicz or Julius Thomas is giving away points.
With Doug Martin suspended the first three games of the season and a lot of new faces in Tampa, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Evans and Brate continue to be the top two targets for Winston, especially in the red zone. With DeSean Jackson keeping defenses honest running deep routes and an effective running back committee led by Jacquizz Rodgers, Charles Sims and rookie Jeremy McNichols, Brate should see plenty of open field to operate in.
If you reach for Howard early you are going to have to find a viable option for 2017 and grabbing Brate makes a lot of sense because things get dicey after the top 14 tight ends but they get hideously ugly after the top 20. Savvy owners could always try to flip Brate after the first couple weeks as they start out versus the Dolphins and Bears before playing Minnesota in week three. He should be a TE1 option the first two weeks but that matchup versus the Vikings will be a tough one and the schedule doesn’t get much easier over the next month. If you own Brate but missed out on Howard, hope for a hot start from Brate and desperation from the Howard owner because while I consider Brate a 2017 sleeper, the long term buy is still going to be Howard.
Follow me on Twitter @OlingerIDP.
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