Fantasy Football 2017: 4 Sleepers to target in drafts

Here are four underrated players that can help you win your fantasy football league this season.

You snooze, you lose. And with potentially thousands of dollars on the line in some fantasy football leagues — or even just pride — ain’t nobody got time for that.

We do, however, have time to discuss four sleepers that could help you win your fantasy football league. These players should be circled on you draft sheets as you head into the proverbial green room as guys who should well out-perform their draft position.

1. Martavis Bryant

Martavis Bryant will return after a year-long suspension for multiple drug policy violations. He’s reportedly clean now and prepared to go full speed ahead with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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Prior to his suspension, Bryant racked up 1,314 yards and scored 14 touchdowns in 21 games. In five of those games, he broke the 100-yard mark. If Bryant can focus on football, he should be able to pick up where he left off. Defenses will be forced to pick their poison as they won’t be able to contain Bryant and Antonio Brown. Given that he hasn’t played in a year, you can bet teams will be sleeping on Bryant.

2. Paul Perkins

We haven’t seen much of his game, but we’ve seen enough to know Paul Perkins will make an impact as the New York Giants starting running back. Last season, Perkins averaged 4.1 yards per carry as he recorded 456 yards on 112 carries. Out of those, 309 yards came in the last five games as Perkins replaced Rashad Jennings as the starter.

More impressively, Perkins posted 102 yards on 21 carries and propelled the team to a win over the Washington Redskins in Week 16. In addition to his rush yards, Perkins gained 162 yards on 15 receptions. This was just him getting started. Look for the versatile power back to carry the momentum into next season and propel your team to a win.

3. Marcus Mariota

Like every quarterback, Marcus Mariota has taken fantasy teams high and low. For a majority of the first half of last season, he was a sure starter on many fantasy teams. Mariota suffered a sophomore slump in the second half before breaking his right fibula in December, but was still regarded as a top-12 quarterback.

With the slump behind him, a healthy Mariota is well on his way to returning to top-notch play and now has another weapon on offense, Eric Decker, at his disposal. Expect the Tennessee Titans quarterback to add to his 3,426 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 350 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns from last year.

4. Bilal Powell

The New York Jets’ pass offense without Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker won’t leave the runway — and that’s before even getting to the quarterback situation. The Jets will need to switch gears and focus on the run game to get things rolling. And they’ll rely heavily on Bilal Powell while doing so.

Powell rushed for 722 yards and scored three touchdowns for the Jets despite splitting carries with Matt Forte for much of the season. The leading back for the Jets, Forte, posted 813 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns before being placed on injured reseve for a knee injury.

Next: NFL 2017: 20 Players with best shot at 2K receiving yards

Forte will be back this season, but with his recent injuries and age, Powell will be the starter for the Jets (whether officially or unofficially). Since Powell is one of the most underrated players, he’ll go later in drafts but would be a steal.

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Fantasy Football 2017: 4 Sleepers that can help you win your league

By Nafisa H | Jun 20, 2017