2020 Summer Sleeper: New England Patriots
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.
As a team, the Patriots have the second-worst ADP (using DLF’s data) with an average ADP of 169.9. Only Washington as a team is worse with an average ADP of 170.3. Clearly, the Patriots are nothing but a team of “sleepers”.
Sony Michel, N’Keal Harry, and an aging Julian Edelman get most of the attention as fantasy-relevant players. Damien Harris will gain some attention as a sleeper with a June ADP of 168.
However, in this article, I will go into the super deep sleeper category with a player who holds an ADP of 232. He is likely available in many 12-team leagues with 20-man rosters, and in rookie drafts, he holds that value of a fifth-round pick, making him mostly undrafted and available on waivers.
Dalton Keene, TE
Category: Deep Sleeper
In the third round of the NFL Draft, the Patriots double-tapped tight ends, hoping to reinvigorate their group beyond the fill-ins last year who were typically reserved to special teams work. They took Devin Asiasi and Keene just picks apart, at 91 and 101 respectively.
Last year, the team became predictable with the personnel and could not mix-up their plays on in no-huddle or hurry-up situations. Keene provides versatility and the ability to mix formations from using him as a full-back to a tight end.
Here is the post-draft conference call with the Patriots’ director of player personnel, Nick Caserio, on Keene:
“Really played essentially from day one, a three-year starter,” said Caserio.
“Really had to kind of search for some things with him on tape. He took advantage of his opportunities. A couple of things that stood out were just some of his catch-and-run type plays. Good size, 6-foot-4 and change, 255, 260.
“Fairly athletic, tough kid, smart kid. Was asked to do a number of different things in their offense.”
Given that they gave up two fourth-round picks and a future sixth-round pick to move up to get Keene, it is clear he is a player the Patriots were specifically targeting.
Keene projects to be utilized similarly to how Aaron Hernandez was used as a complement to Rob Gronkowski. In Hernandez’ rookie season, he hauled in 45 receptions, 563 yards, with six touchdowns. While this isn’t going to win your league, it would bring Keene’s dynasty value from nearly an undrafted rookie in dynasty leagues to be a solid depth TE on your roster, with potential for more, if Cam Newton can elevate the offense beyond 2020.
Although Keene’s production is nothing to suggest he has the ability to perform in the NFL, we have seen TEs fitting similar molds that had little college production, but make a big impact in the NFL. George Kittle at Iowa never had more than 22 receptions in a college season, and that was his senior year. As a sophomore, Kittle played only three games and had only a single reception. Flashback to 2017, fellow DLF writer Austan Kas wrote a Summer Sleeper on Kittle, outlining his opportunity with the 49ers and mentioning Kittle was a TE to keep an eye on. Keene could go from little production to a lot in a similar fashion.
We don’t always see the breakout TEs coming, so sometimes we have to rely on draft capital and opportunity. The Patriots clearly spent draft capital to move up into the third round to acquire Keene, who was projected to go in the sixth round. So in spite of Keene’s college production, I am going to be riding the Patriots coattails on Keene and giving him every opportunity to surprise me in dynasty.
- 2023 Dynasty Fantasy Football Rookie Prospect: Jalin Hyatt, WR Tennessee - April 6, 2023
- 2021 Summer Sleeper: Las Vegas Raiders - August 14, 2021
- 2021 Summer Sleeper: Cincinnati Bengals - August 13, 2021
