🤫 5 Sleepers To Draft

Ravens mascot expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Look for alternate options on the waiver wire...

In today’s Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by KFC:

• 5 sleepers to target in your drafts
• Aaron Rodgers played on drugs
• Fantasy Points ranks vs. Yahoo
• Last round pick target: Marvin Jones
• How to draft from the #8 slot
• It's 8/29. Take it away, Peter Overzet...

Before we get into recapping Week 3 of the preseason, we need to take a second to share the awful news that Commanders rookie RB Brian Robinson was shot multiple times last night during a possible attempted robbery.

The good news is he is in stable condition and his injuries aren't considered life-threatening:

Official word from the Commanders:

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter)
Aug 29, 2022

We'll be keeping close tabs on this situation and wish Robinson a speedy recovery and hope his friends and family can find some peace and solace through this scary time.

It's always jarring doing these transitions, but we'll do our best. Preseason is in the books and here are five sleeper targets who emerged over the weekend...

💤 Sleeper target: Treylon Burks

The future of the Titans is bright. It's been a rough offseason for first round rookie WR Treylon Burks, so it was nice to see him finally get off the schneid on Saturday. He started the game and even found his way into the endzone on a shallow crosser. Rookie QB Malik Willis looked awesome, as well, especially on this big run in the 2nd quarter. I continue to aggressively draft Burks around pick 100 and think its worth sprinkling in some Willis at the end of your Underdog drafts. 

💤 Sleeper target: Damien Harris

The Patriots backfield is consolidating. Ty Montgomery was having a great camp, but was carted off the field during the second drive of the game with an ankle injury. He's currently scheduled to undergo more testing. If he were to miss an extended period of time, this backfield could very well condense around Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson. Thinning this backfield to just two core contributors would make both very attractive draft targets with Harris being the cheaper of the two right now. 

💤 Sleeper target: Kyren Williams

A sleeper in the Rams backfield.  Jake Funk was the only Rams RB to play with the starters in their game vs. the Bengals. We know Cam Akers and Darrell Henderson are the lead dogs here when healthy, but the Rams holding out rookie Kyren Williams is notable. Considering Akers isn't able to complete full-speed workouts right now, Williams is a great late round sleeper and at the very least should be on your waiver wire speed dial.

💤 Sleeper target: KJ Hamler

Decoding the Broncos pass-catchers. Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy are locked in, but it's been touch-and-go of late with the TEs and WR3 battle. We got some clarity in their game against the Ravens, though. After appearing in the doghouse last week, Albert Okwuegbunam rested with the starters (along with rookie TE Greg Dulcich, who also didn't play). Speedster WR KJ Hamler saw his first preseason action since his ACL tear and played a nice mix of snaps out wide (18) and in the slot (7). I cannot stop drafting Hamler around pick 150 in my drafts.

💤 Sleeper target: Mo Alie-Cox

An overlooked TE to draft. Colts TE Mo Alie-Cox, who people sometimes forget played basketball in college, played all 13 snaps with the first-team. The Colts have long featured a frustrating committee at tight end, so this is an exciting development. It's easy to picture Alie-Cox having a nice redzone role with Matt Ryan this year. 

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We've also teamed up with KFC to help launch Fantasylife.com and the new Fantasy Life Podcast with Matthew Berry and Marcas Grant from the NFL Network. And we can't wait to introduce you to the rest of the crew! 

💊 Aaron Rodgers brags about playing on drugs. He's on a roll!

✉️ The Seahawks starting QB has been named. The nation can finally move on.

🔭 Don't overlook this Commanders WR. Very interesting target percentage in the preseason.

🚀 The rookie WR ready for a big role. He's free in drafts right now.

🚑 Oh no, mascot injured! Poor Poe. 

🍺 The best meme of the weekend. Thank you Isaiah Likely.

📅 Important cut down dates. Field Yates has us covered.

Our friends over at Fantasy Points have compared their ranks to the default rankings on Yahoo so you can crush your draft and find values throughout....

Finding hidden values in your drafts is a sure fire way to gain an edge against your competition. At Fantasy Life, we ALWAYS suggest using rankings or tiers to compare to in-house ADP on sites like Yahoo and ESPN. 

Today, our friends over at Fantasy Points are here to give you some of their biggest Yahoo values!

Let's dive in:

📈 Travis Kelce (FP's Rank 14/Yahoo Rank 17)

Travis Kelce is the most accomplished TE in the league, and he really needs no introduction. What's interesting here is that Yahoo has him ranked so low. Throughout the summer, I have not seen Kelce fall beyond 14 in a single Underdog best ball draft. 

If your league mates on Yahoo allow Kelce to fall into the mid 2nd, make them regret that mistake. 

📈 Rhamondre Stevenson (FP's Rank 59/Yahoo Rank 80)

Rhamondre Stevenson's ADP has been skyrocketing over the past two months, and likely for good reason. He's a 2nd year RB who is dripping with talent, on an offense without any true superstar talent in front of him.

As Pete mentioned in the intro to this newsletter, the Patriots backfield is consolidating. If Montgomery were to miss any time with injury, Stevenson would likely pick up a majority of his receiving duties. 

Here are our other favorite values on Yahoo from Fantasy Points:

• Gabriel Davis (FP's Rank 38/Yahoo Rank 63)
• Chris Godwin (FP's Rank 76/Yahoo Rank 101)
• Michael Gallup (FP's Rank 131/Yahoo Rank 234)

Click here to see Fantasy Points full top 150 vs Yahoo Ranks. Fantasy Life readers get 10% off a Fantasy Points subscription with promo code LIFE. 

Sure, your first round picks are important, but those decisions are generally pretty straight forward. Where we can really crush our opponents is at the end of the draft. In this new series, our contributors will highlight some of their favorite flyers to take with a last round pick. Take it away Sam...

🌌 Marvin Jones (Underdog ADP - WR77 / 174.2)

The situation for QB Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars can’t be worse than last year.

After mercifully moving on from their previous head coach and hiring Doug Pederson, Lawrence & Co. are poised to have a much stronger season.

A big beneficiary will be WR Marvin Jones. At 32-years old, he doesn’t appear to have much value, but his current ADP of WR77 leaves room for a ton of upside.

Last season, Jones finished top-36 in multiple categories:

• Targets (WR24)
• Receptions (WR28)
• Air yards (WR18)
• Receiving yards (WR34)
• Target share (WR36)
• Expected points/game (WR34)
• PPR (WR34)

Since 2019, Jones is tied for WR10 in receiving TDs. He’s proved exceptional at finding the endzone and that shouldn’t change this season.

Even if you go back to 2017, Jones has provided a unique blend of floor/ceiling. We know the TDs have been there but he’s also averaged nearly seven targets and 60 receiving yards per game over the last five seasons.

Jacksonville paid WR Chrstian Kirk to be their No. 1 wideout but Jones slots in perfectly as their WR2. If Lawrence is still one of the greatest QB prospects of all time, I want a cheap piece of this offense with the final pick in my draft.

Season long drafts are just around the corner. In this new series, our contributors will get you prepared from all twelve of the first round draft slots. Today, Jonathan shares how to attack a draft from the eighth pick...

Having the No. 8 pick gives you plenty of optionality. You can go several different directions in the first round and be successful. My preference would be for an Anchor RB build from this spot, but even within that strategy there are multiple paths to building a great team.

If you want a workhorse RB you can usually get Derrick Henry or Dalvin Cook in the first round. If you prefer the top target in an elite offense, either Stefon Diggs or Travis Kelce is a solid choice. 

The middle of the second round has several high upside RBs with Saquon Barkley and Alvin Kamara as the names that stand out to me. However, if you went RB in the first round I would look for Deebo Samuel on the way back in the second. 

I generally want to grab one RB in the first two rounds because there are so many good pass catchers in rounds 3 and 4. A.J. Brown, Kyle Pitts, D.J. Moore, and Mike Williams are some of my favorites, but there are even more to choose from. 

Ideally, I would recommend that you come out of the first four rounds with one RB and three pass catchers so that you have the flexibility to take value as it falls to you in the middle rounds. This sets you up to build a really strong roster that can compete with the teams who were fortunate enough to get one of Tier 1 players at the top of the draft. 

Although the eighth pick may not be the best spot to draft from, you can still be very successful if you plan ahead and take advantage of the different pockets within the draft. Follow one of the paths laid out above and you should end up with a really good team.

I wish Andy Isabella played RB so we could debate If Andy Isabellcow.

— Brian Johnson,🩸the ⏰ strategically (@btxj)
Aug 16, 2019