Few feelings are better during a fantasy football draft than watching your opponents take guys off the top of the board like they’re on auto-draft while you pluck players off your personal board, seemingly at will. There’s nothing wrong with strategizing and having your own personal board, even though it can lead to some overthinking at times. Finding steals each year requires plenty of vision and foresight but some of these fantasy football bargains are hiding in plain sight.
If you want to put together a championship-caliber roster, you’ve got to find those guys the rest of the fantasy football community is sleeping on. You’ve got to dig deep for some sleeper picks that can turn your roster into a weekly juggernaut.
Luckily for you, I’ve got five players that are being completely slept on by the general consensus of fantasy football ADP (average draft position). These draft positionings come courtesy of Fantasy Pros.
2022 Fantasy football sleeper no. 1: Courtland Sutton, WR, Denver Broncos
Current ADP: 58 overall (WR 20) – Round 5-6
There might not be a bigger fantasy football bargain right now than Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. His overall draft position right now is within the top five rounds, which is still where you’re drafting key position players for your starting lineup, but he’s going right on the cusp of round five in 12-team leagues, and if you can land Sutton in round five or six of your draft? That’s a highway robbery if I’ve ever seen one.
Unfortunately, the Denver Broncos lost receiver Tim Patrick to a season-ending ACL injury, so he won’t be playing this year. With Patrick’s injury and the departure of Noah Fant, a ton of targets are going to be opening up in the Broncos’ offense, which now has star quarterback Russell Wilson at the helm.
And Sutton has developed a great chemistry early on with Russell Wilson.
Patrick and Fant leave behind 175 total targets, to be exact, which means that Sutton and his teammate Jerry Jeudy are going to absolutely feast this season as the primary pass-catchers in Denver. If you can land Sutton this year, he should be able to easily beat his career-best numbers from a Pro Bowl season in 2019.
2022 fantasy football sleeper no. 2: Dameon Pierce, RB, Houston Texans
Current ADP: 124 overall (RB44) – Round 10
The last time I can recall a Houston Texans rookie running back being so hyped going into a season was Arian Foster way back when. Go figure, Foster would end up thriving in Gary Kubiak’s offense and is now the Texans’ all-time rushing leader.
Now, it’s Dameon Pierce’s turn for the unreal preseason hype. In the first week of the preseason, Pierce definitely lived up to the hype and Houston Texans fans have to be elated. They have a young QB in Davis Mills worth putting some investment into, and now they might have a featured back that they stole in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
If you’re a fan of the “Zero RB” fantasy strategy, Dameon Pierce is sort of the ideal mid-to-late-round target for you. I know I took this strategy in my only redraft of the year and I was elated to get Pierce with one of my final picks before going after kicker and special teams.
He has the potential to be the featured back in Houston, even ahead of free agent acquisition Marlon Mack.
2022 fantasy football sleeper no. 3: Noah Fant, TE, Seattle Seahawks
Current ADP: 159 overall (TE17) – Round 13
The Seattle Seahawks don’t have a solidified quarterback situation at the moment, but especially if Drew Lock ends up winning the job there, I think Noah Fant is a steal coming in as the 159th player overall and the TE17, basically an afterthought in most leagues with that average ranking and draft positioning. Fant comes over from the Denver Broncos with the following rankings in his first three NFL seasons among NFL tight ends:
Noah Fant rank at TE in average points per week (PPR formats)
- 2021: 9th
- 2020: 8th
- 2019: 16th
Over the last two seasons, Fant has clearly been a top 10 option and in his rookie season, he was among the NFL’s best in yards after the catch per target. Even if Seattle has one of the worst QB situations in the NFL, Fant has proven that he can rack up fantasy points regardless, and there’s no way Seattle’s scheme is going to be worse for him compared to Pat Shurmur’s offense the last two years.
Fant led the Broncos in receptions last season and obviously he’ll have to compete for targets with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, but he should be the clear third option in that offense with a chance at a third straight top-10 finish at the position.
2022 fantasy football sleeper no. 4: George Pickens, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Current ADP: 157 overall (WR62) – Round 13
If we’re looking at a stock report for Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers, Chase Claypool’s value has plummeted while George Pickens is being talked about like this year’s version of Ja’Marr Chase. I think expectations at this point for Pickens are reaching heights that might be unfair for the former Georgia Bulldog, but at the same time, maybe not.
Pickens is a natural at the position and wins with a combination of size, speed, strong hands, and great body control. No matter who the Steelers’ quarterback is, I think Pickens will be able to be productive, but we saw in his first NFL preseason game that this guy has some serious game.
You can currently steal Pickens with a round 13 pick (or later) unless you’re playing in a league with a bunch of Steelers fans in redraft. If you’re in a dynasty league, Pickens probably isn’t much of a sleeper at this point but he’s undoubtedly worth a first-round pick in that type of league.
2022 fantasy football sleeper no. 5: Isaiah McKenzie, WR, Buffalo Bills
Current ADP: 222 overall (WR81) – Round 18
Some sleepers you can see coming from a mile away, while others are really flying under the radar. One player that is really flying under the radar right now is Buffalo Bills receiver Isaiah McKenzie. McKenzie has had a good offseason and with Emmanuel Sanders and Cole Beasley no longer in the fold, McKenzie’s role is slated to increase substantially.
Sure, the Bills added veteran Jamison Crowder to the mix this offseason as well, but McKenzie seems to be firmly in place as one of the Bills’ top three receivers along with Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis.
There are plenty of mouths to feed in Buffalo, there’s no doubt, but there’s going to be a substantial role for McKenzie. Not everyone playing fantasy football is playing in 10-12 team leagues. Some of you are playing in 14-team leagues or more, and players like McKenzie can be extremely valuable in the later rounds.
The departures of Beasley and Sanders vacated nearly 30 percent of the Bills’ target share from last season. While Gabriel Davis is expected to get WR2 treatment behind Stefon Diggs this year, I would peg McKenzie as the favorite here to be third in the pecking order which could mean a very productive year for fantasy football managers at his current ADP.