Wide receivers can be found at any time during the fantasy football season.
That’s why wasting too many early picks on wide receivers is detrimental to your fantasy football roster. It doesn’t mean that wide receivers don’t hold value early in the draft. However, stockpiling wide receivers, like you should do with running backs, is an unwise move when constructing a fantasy football roster.
That’s why sleepers are so important with this position. And they’re not hard to find. Here are three sleeper wide receivers to consider when preparing for the 2018 fantasy football draft.
Pierre Garcon, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Garcon is going to offer tremendous value in the 2018 fantasy football season. He’ll get WR1 targets, but he’ll be considered a low-end WR2/high-end WR3 when drafting wide receivers in 2018.
That’s a major mistake in the ratings system. Garcon was a beast in 2017 with the garbage at the quarterback position in San Francisco. Now, you’re getting Garcon with Jimmy Garoppolo, who I anticipate will be a top-10 quarterback in the NFL in 2018.
Garcon has always been a target monster. His biggest drawback is his inability to score touchdowns at a high clip. When I’m looking for sleepers, though, I’m looking for players who generate opportunities, and Garcon will have plenty of those in 2018. In eight games last season before getting injured, he tallied seven targets in six of eight contests, with four of those efforts reaching double-digits.
He’s being overlooked on a team that will be much improved on the offensive side of the ball. Garcon has the ability to be a WR1 in targets, with a WR3 value in the fantasy football draft. He’s a solid bet as a sleeper.
Corey Davis, WR, Tennessee Titans
The hype-train was all-in on Davis in 2017. Since he didn’t deliver on that promise in his rookie season, the experts will completely ignore him heading into 2018.
That gives him solid sleeper value.
The inconsistency was evident during 2017 for Davis, but I wasn’t expecting him to be a dynamic contributor in year 1. He was coming from a small college, so it’s not surprising he struggled in his rookie campaign. It also didn’t help having quarterback Marcus Mariota obviously dealing with injury issues throughout much of the season.
Davis still has the confidence from the new coaching staff, and anybody has to bring a better offensive scheme than Mike Mularkey. Davis deserves more patience, so with a value that is likely to teeter toward WR3, he presents a steal later in fantasy football drafts.
Marqise Lee, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Nobody benefited more from Allen Robinson’s trade than Marqise Lee. And with the Jaguars reportedly releasing Allen Hurns, it’s evident that Lee is Jacksonville’s main wide receiver heading into 2018.
Will that increase his value a bit, compared to his ranking in 2017? Definitely. But even before the rankings are officially released, I still believe he’s going to be underrated.
Lee hasn’t been bad in recent years. Despite some injury issues in 2017, he led the Jaguars in catches. With him being the solid No. 1 in 2018, expect even more targets in an offense that will need a better passing game for continued success. I like the investment the Jaguars have made in Lee, so he should have plenty of opportunities to prove himself in 2018.
