2019 Summer Sleeper: Los Angeles Rams

Matt Price Posted On July 9, 2019

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.

One of the things I love most about fantasy football is how each season is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The players, the fit with their team, the team’s overall offensive outlook, and how they match up against their competition are the pieces of that puzzle. Our job is to figure out where and how they fit for the championship run. The biggest piece of the 2019 puzzle may very well be correctly predicting how the Los Angeles Rams backfield shakes out.

We still have no idea where Todd Gurley’s knee is at health-wise. After two disappointing postseason games and rumors swirling all off-season about arthritis in the knee ending his run as a true bell-cow back, it has become quite difficult to feel good about him as your RB1, especially in the first round of a startup draft.

Meanwhile, the Rams traded a late third round pick to move up 24 spots to draft Darrell Henderson with the sixth pick of the third round. It’s tough to argue with him being considered one of the most exciting playmakers in the entire draft class. Dynasty owners have reacted, dropping Gurley’s ADP like a rock each and every month since December 2018.

word image

Henderson is experiencing the opposite and has shot up nearly three rounds since May mock drafts and it’s certainly possible he rises even higher with just a single big play in the preseason since Gurley is unlikely to see the field until week one.

word image 1

This has created an uncomfortable situation for dynasty owners. Despite Gurley falling out of the first round in startup drafts, there’s a chance it’s still too high a price to pay given the concerns with his long term outlook. The same is true for Henderson who will now cost you a mid-first in 2019 rookie drafts and seems to be headed toward becoming a top 50-60 pick in startup drafts.

What if neither is the right answer? I’d like to present option three.

Malcolm Brown, RB LAR

Category: Deep Sleeper

With a June 2019 ADP of RB71 and 219 overall, Brown is an intriguing hedge play who is basically free and might even be on the waiver wire in shallower leagues.

Back in March, the Detroit Lions signed Brown to an offer sheet and the Rams matched it, paying him $2.1 million in guarantees with a cap hit of close to $3 million in 2019. It seems likely that if Todd Gurley misses any time, Brown will be in the mix for touches in the Rams backfield as it appears the team has a specific role in mind for Henderson.

General Manager Les Snead is on record, saying: “The Memphis guy gives us a Alvin Kamara element.” If Gurley misses a game, it’s unlikely Henderson will slot right into his role as the every-down back.

So who is Brown anyway? He was signed by the Rams as an undrafted free agent following the 2015 NFL draft. The 5’11, 222-pounder led the Texas Longhorns in carries and rushing yards his final two collegiate seasons.

Now 26 years old and coming off a clavicle injury suffered in week 13 of 2018, he will likely enter camp as the backup to Gurley. In 2017 and 2018, he showed the ability to fill in as a spot-starter when called upon.

In terms of Brown’s playstyle, he won’t blow you away with his long speed, but he is surprisingly nimble for a man of his size, posting a 6.86-second three-cone time, landing him in the 80th percentile.

Interestingly enough, one of Brown’s closest comparisons according to Mockdraftable is in fact teammate Todd Gurley. Another one is rookie Josh Jacobs who is expected to do big things in 2019.

Brown is a bully as a runner. He runs through arm tackles with ease and will deliver a crushing blow when the defender attempts to tackle him. He is a violent finisher. Skilled as a zone runner, he immediately hits the hole once he spots it. If not for the clavicle injury, it could have very well been Brown, not CJ Anderson who had the big postseason running in the inside zone scheme the Rams implemented for him while spelling Gurley.

Brown will never be Henderson as a receiver but he has shown the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and is fantastic in pass protection. That last point could be huge for protecting quarterback Jared Goff who lost two key starting interior offensive linemen this off-season.

All of that sounds great but we are still probably going to need some things to happen before Brown gets a shot at actual production for our fantasy teams. Because of that, we aren’t going to want to spend much (any?) capital to acquire him. Let’s head over to the DLF Trade Analyzer to see what he has been moving for in recent trades.

On June 30th, he was acquired for a 2020 fourth-round rookie pick
On June 28th, he was acquired for a 2020 fifth-round rookie pick
On June 27th, he was acquired for the 2019 5.05 rookie pick
Several times in June, he was acquired for a 2020 third-round pick

For a fourth or fifth round pick, I’d consider the Malcolm Brown side of the deal a slam dunk. The third round territory is where things begin to feel a bit dicey but if you’re a contender, that will likely have a late draft slot in 2020 or maybe even a Gurley owner who wants a security blanket if the nightmare scenario occurs, it’s still a gamble I’d probably make.

It seems worth it for the potential production in 2019 alone, but let’s not forget that another NFL team was interested enough to sign him to an offer sheet. Even if the Rams choose not to bring him back in 2020 there’s a glimmer of hope for his future value if he lands a role with another team next season.

Author
Recent Posts

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.