2019 Summer Sleeper: Kansas City Chiefs
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.
The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the biggest surprises last season with Patrick Mahomes and company setting the world on fire, both in real-life football and fantasy. Mahomes went on to be named MVP, Tyreek Hill balled out all year, and Travis Kelce did Travis Kelce things.
The Chiefs looked to be set in all skill positions until a TMZ video was released of Kareem Hunt getting into an altercation with a woman. Hunt never played another down for the Chiefs and therefore opened up a valuable starting spot on the most explosive offense in football.
With the allegations behind Hill for now, the wide receiver position seems to be quite full with Hill, Sammy Watkins, Mecole Hardman, and Demarcus Robinson. Most dynasty players know those names because of Hill’s situation, so finding a worthy sleeper in that group would be tough.
We then look at the tight end position, and I’ll also give a sack of marbles to anyone can name the number two tight end behind Kelce… It doesn’t matter.
Clearly, the position with the most opportunity in the upcoming season will be running back. While Damien Williams will man the starting gig, let’s evaluate a player behind him who could make an impact.
Darwin Thompson, RB
Category: Deep Sleeper
Not often does a top-15 dynasty asset switch teams at the age of 23 and leave a giant hole in one of the league’s most high powered offenses. Such is the case with Kareem Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs. Damien Williams went from deep stash or waiver wire pickup to high-value dynasty asset almost overnight.
I’m not a firm believer that Williams is one of the best backs in the league. I’m not even sure he is a great running back, but I do know that he fell into an extraordinary situation. The Chiefs will want to get fresh legs into that offense because Williams will not be a workhorse-type back. They signed Carlos Hyde, who will definitely be a factor either around the goal-line or even catching passes. When I look at all the running backs on that roster though, I believe Darwin Thompson is the most talented back.
Thompson is one of the few NFL players who started his college career at a JUCO. After two standout years at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, he transferred to Utah State. He made an immediate impact upon arrival, rushing for over 1,000 yards, scoring 14 times (second in the conference behind Alexander Mattison), all while averaging almost seven yards per carry. So why would a productive junior running back fall to the very end of the sixth round? The answer is his size.
Thompson is not your prototypical NFL size. He is 5’8”, 200 lbs. That itself could scare you away from drafting him. He was not invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, but if he was, he most certainly would have moved up the draft board. He ended up running a 4.48-second 40-yard dash which he was unhappy with (it would have been sixth among running backs).
He put up an insane 28 reps on the bench. Alex Barnes put up a very impressive 34 reps, but he is 6’0” and weighs almost 230. Thompson also had a 39-inch vertical, which would have been number three among running backs, and a 10’6” broad jump (fifth). The dude is athletic any way you cut it.
So let’s bring it back to the Chiefs. Thompson most likely sits in the RB3 range on the depth chart right now. But it should not take him long to pass Carlos Hyde who is on his fourth team in two years. Thompson could be used quite a bit on passing down work, and word out of training camp is that he is lining up as a wide receiver in some formations. That tells me the Chiefs want to find a way to keep him involved.
The Chiefs obviously have loads of play-makers and a large number of targets will not be readily available. But the positive side of that equation is that no team will ever be keying in on Darwin Thompson when Hill, Kelce, and others are on the field.
Before last season, Damien Williams had 477 career rushing yards and three career TDs. Yes, you heard correctly. Was the Miami coaching staff holding him back? Possibly. But he could never beat out Lamar Miller (who most people think is an average running back at best), Jay Ajayi (who can’t find a job), or Kenyan Drake. Maybe he is just an average running back, in a great system, on a fantastic team.
Are we really sure that a player who has 733 career rushing yards over five years is going to be a stud running back and receive 250+ carries? I am not, and I think Thompson could make a serious dent in Williams fantasy stock.
In DLF’s July ADP, Thompson is found at 177 overall and RB59 while Damien Williams is found at #46 overall and RB19… a hard pass for me. I’ll wait for ten rounds and secure the rookie with upside and value.
Andy Reid said it best: “He’s an explosive little guy… he wants to be a good football player”.
"He is an explosive little guy…" Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid talking about former @Norsemen_FB running back Darwin Thompson yesterday at camp. Catch your @KODESports at 10 tonight to hear from Darwin about his journey to the NFL. pic.twitter.com/BAAKMKldRR
— Ethan Schmidt (@_Coach_Schmidt) July 28, 2019
Not entirely sure who doesn’t want to be a good football player… but I’ll take coach Reid’s word for it.
Follow me on Twitter @Levichappell.
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