2020 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.
With the arrival of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and the somewhat unexpected returns of both Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson, the Chiefs’ offensive skill positions are both loaded and crowded. Between those three, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Mecole Hardman, and Damien Williams, Patrick Mahomes has seven promising weapons to play with, each who at least flashed serious productive potential last season.
One of those names — Robinson — stands out to me as a potential sleeper. However, I featured him in this series a few years ago, and he may have failed to strike while the iron was hot last season. So I’ll be digging into someone else here. It’s hard to see much production reaching a player beyond that list, but if I had to pick one, it might be Kansas City’s off-season addition at tight end.
Ricky Seals-Jones, TE
Category: Deep Sleeper
Seals-Jones entered the league in 2017 as an undrafted free agent after playing wide receiver at Texas A&M. Seals-Jones was simply too slow to play receiver in the league, evidenced by a 4.69-second 40-yard dash time at the NFL Combine, but the Arizona Cardinals saw enough promise in the rookie to convert him to tight end. His development was quick, and he saw playing time toward the end of that season, posting an impressive 201 receiving yards while playing on just 12 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. His ADP and dynasty value peaked the following off-season.
Again in 2018, Seals-Jones was reasonably impressive in a smaller sample size: Playing on a Cardinals team whose passers combined for just 2,884 passing yards on the season, Seals-Jones played in 57 percent of the team’s snaps and posted 343 receiving yards, fourth on the team behind Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, and David Johnson. The issue, of course, was that Seals-Jones didn’t actually take a step forward; consequently, that off-season, his dynasty value fell and the Cardinals moved on from him. The Browns picked him up for a 2019 campaign that included 229 receiving yards and four touchdowns on just 14 receptions while he split time with several other tight ends.
In turn, Seals-Jones became an afterthought before turning 25 and just after his third year at tight end — a position with one of the league’s highest learning curves. However, Seals-Jones may have recovered some value this off-season after signing on to the splendid Chiefs offense.
While there is a surplus of established receivers in Kansas City’s passing game today, Seals-Jones could first step up into a favorable receiving situation if Travis Kelce were to fall to injury. At that point, RSJ’s primary target competition would be Deon Yelder, a guy who may offer similar upside, but who is also less proven than Seals-Jones. I’d expect Andy Reid to go with Seals-Jones on a contender. That starting tight end role in Kansas City would be extremely valuable for RSJ, as long as he could hold onto it, which gives him short-term value.
Long-term, his value would likely have to come on another team. But if Seals-Jones gets a chance to prove himself this season, he could be a reasonably attractive target for a team next off-season: The man ran a strong 40-yard time at the Combine when you compare him to other 240-pounders instead of other receivers, he’s shown to be dynamic at times in space, and he’s displayed a fair amount of productive promise for a guy who isn’t old and is still pretty raw at the position. In short, there’s a chance that he turns into a good vertical threat at tight end, a role which can be valuable for fantasy owners in the right offense.
The good news is that RSJ might not need a Kelce injury in order to show that development to prospective 2021 teams. Last season, Reid ran a surprisingly high amount of plays using 12 personnel (one running back and two tight ends). As a result, Blake Bell, Kansas City’s second-string tight end in 2019, finished the season logging over a third of the team’s offensive snaps. The more-explosive Seals-Jones could certainly turn heads if he, too, got nearly 400 snaps to show his development.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that Seals-Jones turns into anything more than what he’s been the last three seasons: an inconsistent receiver and a poor blocker. There’s no guarantee that he exceeds Yelder as the clear second-string in the offense. And there’s certainly no guarantee that Kelce misses time due to injury. But given the hypothetical upside and that you can get Seals-Jones virtually for free in most formats, he might just be worth your time. That could mean a roster spot in a deep, tight end-friendly league, or simply that you keep your eye on him in other formats. He might also just make you sleep a bit easier at night if you’re a Kelce owner.
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