NFL expert Chris Raybon’s 2024 fantasy football sleepers are part of this season’s fantasy draft kit, which includes updated projections and rankings for every player, positional tiers, cheat sheet builders, an in-depth draft strategy guide, and more tips to help you win your fantasy leagues! Click here to access now!
The term sleeper can be loosely defined as a player who is expected to significantly outperform their average draft position (ADP, but exact definitions of the term can vary.
My personal definition of a fantasy sleeper is a player who is expected to produce starting-caliber value but at the cost of a bench player in terms of ADP
Hitting on this type of sleeper in fantasy football effectively gives your team an additional starter, which is advantageous in numerous ways: It increases the number of potential lineup combinations at your disposal each week, allowing you to bench underperforming players, avoid bad matchups, or use a different position in the FLEX; it provides bye week/injury insurance; and it can give you an extra trade chip.
Conversely, early-round sleepers will have less room to outperform ADP, and thus aren’t as valuable, while late-round sleepers who smash ADP but still fail to return starter value (e.g., WR70 ADP finishes WR50) are not going to end up in your starting lineup very often, if it all (unless your team stinks) and aren’t going to be meaningful trade chips.
With that said, here are my top 10 fantasy football sleepers for the 2024 NFL season..
2024 Fantasy Football Sleepers
10. TE Zach Ertz, Commanders (TE29 ADP)
Note: ADP referenced via 4for4.
Rookie second-round pick Ben Sinnott has been going ahead of Ertz, but Ertz has been operating as the Commanders’ TE1 all offseason and will retain that role as long as he’s healthy if new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s track record is any indication. As head coach of the Cardinals in 2022, Kingsbury also entered the season with a tight end depth chart featuring both Ertz and a talented second-round rookie (Trey McBride), and Ertz outsnapped McBride 575-132 over the first nine games before getting hurt in Week 10.
Despite Ertz resting in Week 2 of the preseason, Sinnott only played 3-of-18 (17%) snaps with the starters, which suggests Sinnott will likely follow the McBride plan for as long as Ertz is healthy. In seven games last year at age 33, Ertz posted three top-12 PPR finishes and three top-14 half-PPR finishes.
Ertz will be in the Week 1 streamer discussion against a Bills defense that is shaky at safety after letting Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde walk, and at linebacker after losing Matt Milano to a biceps injury. Don’t be surprised if Ertz ends up providing consistent low-end TE1 value from there.
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9. TE Taysom Hill, Saints (TE24 ADP)
Last season, Hill finished as the TE11 in half-PPR and TE12 in PPR. In 2022, he finished as the TE6 in half-PPR and TE16 in PPR.
With Sean Payton long gone and longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael also not returning for 2024, there was some fear that Hill’s role would be minimized under new OC Klint Kubiak. However, Hill played on 20-of-31 (65%) snaps with the starters across the first two preseason games while logging a 47% route participation rate and a 31% share of team carries – both of which eclipsed his numbers from last season (36%, 17% respectively).
While Hill’s preseason usage may not fully translate into the regular season, it does serve as an indication that he will still have a significant role in the offense, thus a good chance to once again post borderline TE1 numbers at a discount.
8. WR Demarcus Robinson, Rams (WR79 ADP)
Robinson leap-frogged Tutu Atwell for the Rams No. 3 wide receiver role in Week 12 and averaged 3.8 catches for 55.3 yards and 0.67 TD on 6.0 targets per game from that point on (excluding a meaningless Week 18 game in which he was pulled early for rest).
Robinson averaged an 85% route participation rate and finished as the WR25 or better in 5-of-6 games over that span. While Atwell and/or rookie preseason standout Jordan Whittington could push Robinson for snaps, his upside is too great to ignore at his current ADP.
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