2018 Summer Sleeper: New Orleans Saints
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 to 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.
It was no surprise to anyone that the Saints had one of the best offenses in the league in 2017. What was a surprise is how balanced they were last year. With Drew Brees aging just a little bit (though he set an all-time record for completion percentage in 2017) and the emergence of what just might be the best running back tandem in the league, the Saints became the first team since 2013 to have over 4,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing.
Mark Ingram earned himself a four-game suspension, but aside from that the Saints only added to their offense. Adding new weapons like Cameron Meredith, Tre’Quan Smith, and Ben Watson should ensure they are once again one of the top teams. The question is which will help the most.
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Ben Watson, TE
Category: Deep Sleeper
You can make a solid argument for acquiring any of those players I mentioned above. Michael Thomas is obviously going to be the lead dog in the passing game, Alvin Kamara is a beast catching passes out of the backfield, and don’t forget about Ingram, who is a very underrated pass catcher.
Meredith is probably the popular pick, but he hasn’t played a meaningful football game since 2016, is coming back from a knee injury, needs to learn the complicated Saints offense, and needs to develop chemistry with Brees. I’m not saying Meredith is trash, just that he might not be the fantasy WR2 that some are predicting. Smith is a great choice long term, but he might struggle to produce in 2018 like a lot of other rookies.
If we are talking immediate production in 2018, I think Watson might provide the best value of the group considering he has an ADP outside of the top 225 and is going outside of the top 30 tight ends in startups.
I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t Watson 85 years old? He almost is, but we have seen several tight ends over the last decade who were still effective at an old (for the NFL, at least) age. Watson isn’t quite the same pedigree as some of those tight ends, but he showed us as recently as last year that he could still be quite effective. While splitting time in the mess that was the Ravens’ offense last year, Watson put together 61 receptions, 522 yards, and four touchdowns. Going from Joe Flacco to Brees should only help him improve on those numbers, which should easily put him in the TE2 or better discussion.
The upgrade at the quarterback position isn’t the only thing working in Watson’s favor. I mentioned that Meredith might struggle a little bit as he tries to learn the Saints’ system. Watson doesn’t need to do that as it has only been a few years since he spent several seasons with the Brees-led offense. He should be able to step in week one and pick up where he left off. Speaking of where he left off, his last year with the Saints had him posting 74 receptions for 825 yards and six touchdowns, which was a top-ten finish at the position.
In addition to knowing the offense, I think the way Brees is adapting his game to his age will only help play into Watson’s hands. Brees has always been one of the most accurate passers in the history of the NFL. However, that has gone to the next level over the last few years. This in part due to Brees shifting his game from one where he pushes the ball down the field to one where he makes a lot of five-eight yard passes, hits his receivers in stride, and lets them get a little extra after the catch.
Brees was the league low in the distance his intended target was downfield at only 6.3 yards per pass. I don’t see that changing this year. It is what Brees’ game has become. He knows as soon as his pass catchers get a half step, he can hit them in stride and get the first down. The one thing he was missing last year was the big target over the middle of the field. Enter Watson. With his size and ability to separate, even at his age, he will give Brees another option to pick up those five-ten yard gains on a moment’s notice.
Watson isn’t a sexy name and might be aging, but he is familiar with the system and is the perfect fit for what the Saints need to make their offense even more potent. I think his ceiling is right around what he did his last season with the Saints while his floor would be right around what he did last year with the Ravens. With his current price tag as a waiver pickup or a pick outside the top 225 in a startup, that is quite the deal. Even if it ends up being only one year, he is well worth a look for a contending team or someone in need of a short-term fix at the position.
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- Final 2021 Pre-Draft Rookie Mock: Round Three - April 28, 2021
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