2019 Summer Sleeper: New York Jets

Ryan Finley Posted On August 1, 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.

Well, it’s over, it’s finally over Jets fans. The Todd Bowles Experiment has officially come to a close. It started in a tantalizing way with a 10-6 record in his debut season as head coach, but Bowles and the Jets couldn’t crest the five-win mark for the three seasons after. But never fear Gang Green, the Jets went out and got themselves… Adam Gase?!? While many around the fantasy community have mocked the move to Gase, I actually rated him the second-best head coaching hire this off-season. With a more talented roster and someone else making personnel decisions, I believe Gase can be a good head coach.

So what will this mean for the Jets offense going forward? For one thing, I hope they can be a little more consistent. Bowles had three different offensive coordinators in four seasons. And last year’s OC, Jeremy Bates, might have gotten the job at least in part to help recruit free-agent quarterback Kirk Cousins. That worked out as well as most things the Jets tried to do last year. Anyhow, when thinking about Adam Gase, there are two offensive skill positions that I think he favors a bit more than most coaches – slot receiver and tight end. While Jamison Crowder has a lot to prove, I have a hard time calling him a sleeper, so instead, I’ll go with…

Trevon Wesco, TE

Category: Super Deep Sleeper

I know I know, anyone who’s anybody in the fantasy community just looooooves Chris Herndon right now, and for good reason. He had a strong rookie campaign where he piled up 39 catches for 502 yards and four touchdowns. When a rookie tight end manages to make any noise, the fantasy community takes notice. A darling “cheap” pick-up for the past few months, Herndon is also staring at four-game suspension to start the season due to a DUI incident.

It’s only a quarter of the season, but that might be a bigger problem than some people think. Herndon is only going into his second season, and this is a whole new coaching staff that has no prior exposure to Herndon and what he can do. Some other tight end may have to carry the early load, and if that tight end should make an impression, he could find himself staying on the field even with the return of Herndon.

So why the rookie Trevon Wesco and not one of the other options like the more experienced Daniel Brown or the freshly signed Ryan Griffin? Blocking, that’s why.

I believe we have a harder time scouting the tight end position in fantasy than any other position, and I think there’s a good reason for that. Tight end is the second most complicated skill position, in my opinion. The reason is that a good tight end often has to be strong in multiple areas – run blocking, pass blocking and receiving. Quarterbacks have a lot more they have to get right, but we can also clearly see who the starter will be in most cases. There is only one quarterback at a time, after all. With tight ends, I believe we focus too much on their receiving ability and too little on their blocking ability.

And let me tell you, Trevon Wesco can block. I don’t mean he sometimes gets it right, I mean he looks like a sixth offensive lineman out there. He’s a powerful man at 6’3” and 267 pounds. He did 24 reps on the bench press, the highest number for a tight end this season. Beyond his physical traits, he has the blocking skill set to boot. He is a strong run blocker and can take multiple assignments and levels in that area, from taking on defensive ends to getting to the second level and wiping out linebackers. He also was trusted time and again to protect Will Grier in the passing game. Many considered Wesco the best blocking tight end in this class, and it shows on tape.

Wesco’s blocking ability can get him on the field and keep him there. If Wesco can stay on the field, he will naturally find more opportunity to contribute offensively. He can be used in more ways like sneaking out of the backfield, sliding off defenders and heading down the seam, or finding soft spots in the red zone. The key is opportunity.

From a receiving perspective, he didn’t put up Rob Gronkowski numbers by any stretch. In his senior season, he had 26 catches for 366 yards and one touchdown. That production is middling at best, but usage at the college level is not always the best indicator for future success at the position. He doesn’t have the long speed to kill teams down the seam (he ran a 4.89-second 40-yard dash unofficially,) but he catches the ball with sure hands and runs with power and fluidity once he has the rock. He’s a very hard man to take down when he gets rumbling – defenders bounce off the powerful man, and another good sign is that Wesco protects the ball in those situations.

In order for most tight ends to succeed early, they need to get on the field and stay on the field. I believe Wesco’s ability to block, coupled with the Herndon suspension could very well give him both of those things. And as I said early on, Gase has often featured the tight end in his offensive scheme – think Julius Thomas in his breakout year in Denver. Couple Gase’s tendencies with a young quarterback who leaned on the tight end last year, and Wesco could potentially turn in a successful rookie campaign.

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