The sleeper, the hidden gem, the late-round lottery ticket, this is the player that every dynasty manager is trying to acquire in their rookie drafts to try and gain an advantage over the rest of their league. If you’re the one that acquires that diamond in the rough you gain a huge edge on your competition.
The 2022 NFL draft brought us day three picks like Dameon Pierce, Romeo Doubs, Isiah Pacheco, and Brock Purdy who all crushed their ADP in rookie drafts.
2023 brought us a few more late-round lottery tickets that cashed in:
Obviously, Puka Nacua is the headliner from this group after he set the rookie receptions and receiving yards record with 105 catches for 1,486 yards and 6 touchdowns. Nacua finished as the WR6 in PPR formats last season on a per-game basis.
While Nacua steals the show, we have a few more players who had respectable rookie fantasy seasons while also flashing some upside for the future. Wicks finished as the WR58 while being only a part-time player for the Packers during the first half of the season. AT Perry’s rookie season was similar. After not recording a single catch during the first nine weeks, AT Perry had 12 catches for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns in the final eight games of the season and looks to be a regular rotation player for the Saints heading into 2024.
This class wasn’t as deep with gems as the 2022 class was, but with the crown jewel of Puka Nacua, it’s hard to compare the two. We’re going to look at each round of the 2024 draft and try to identify one player from each that has the potential to be a late-round lottery ticket for your dynasty team heading into the season.
Round Four
I’m going to avoid discussing three obvious names in this round: Ja'Tavion Sanders, Troy Franklin, and Javon Baker. Sanders and Franklin probably should have been day two picks but were selected with the first two picks in the 4th round. Further, Baker is everyone’s favorite sleeper, and some dynasty analysts have gone as far as to say you should be drafting Baker over his future teammate Ja'Lynn Polk who was drafted with the 37th pick. It’s safe to say that none of these three fit the bill of a sleeper.
Instead, I want to look at Kentucky’s Ray Davis as a potential sleeper out of the fourth round of the NFL draft. Davis was drafted with the 28th pick of the 4th round, 128th overall, by the Buffalo Bills. He’s currently the RB10 according to DLF’s superflex rookie ADP and is going at the 3.11 in rookie drafts.
Davis isn’t a perfect prospect by any means. He’s a 5th-year senior who amassed 3,640 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns during his stints at Temple, Vanderbilt, and Kentucky. His 3.39 yards after contact per attempt and 25.2% missed tackle forced rate are both about average for this class.
