The wide receiver position is becoming more critical by the year.
The evolution of the passing game isn’t going away and there are certain wide receivers, like Antonio Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr., who own a marked advantage in the amount of looks they see per game.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the more targets a players receives, the better chance that person has of putting up major fantasy football numbers.
There’s no need to look any further than Brown and Jones last season. They were heavily targeted and finished with more than 300 yards more receiving than the third-best option at wide receiver last season — Brandon Marshall, according to total fantasy points accumulated.
Some draft experts will go crazy over wide receivers early. I’m more in the camp of taking running backs early, based on my perceived ability to pick up solid wide receivers later in the drafts.
Just look at last year’s standings among fantasy wide receivers. Marshall, Allen Robinson, Doug Baldwin, Eric Decker and Larry Fitzgerald weren’t first or second-round options last season and finished in the top-10 in scoring. Baldwin was even on the waiver wire until absolutely exploding in the second half of last season.
There’s value to those top receivers, but for my draft strategy, I’m waiting a couple of rounds before pulling the trigger on wide receivers. That makes these three sleepers even more valuable to my roster.
Kendall Wright, Tennessee Titans
The Titans aren’t known for slinging the ball all over the field. But I’m getting a semi-top team option with an average draft position of 211, according to FantasyPros, which aggregates several fantasy websites’ data, so I can’t pass that up.
The maturation of quarterback Marcus Mariota is important for this pick to be an ultimate sleeper. Most are in agreement that Mariota should improve this season, opening up the possibility that Wright generates more targets, and thus more catches and fantasy points this season.
He’s gone a long way down since his breakout season in 2013, when he went over 1,000 yards receiving. Last season, he missed six games and tallied only 40.8 yards per game. However, with a full bill of health and a new offensive coordinator, Wright should be closer to his days in 2013 than in the past two years.
Brandon LaFell, Cincinnati Bengals
Picking a consistent wide receiver in New England’s offense is difficult, especially if the last name isn’t Welker or Edelman. LaFell was part of that machine in the last two years and was generally non-existent on the fantasy radar, other than a brief time in 2014 when he went on a touchdown brigade for a few weeks.
Now he has some new scenery and could become a better playmaker. The Bengals aren’t generally known to air it out, but in the last few years, their numbers would likely surprise people. The talent is all over the place for pass-catchers and Andy Dalton has quietly become a fantasy stalwart, with at least 25 touchdown passes in three of the last four seasons.
What makes that even more remarkable is that last season he missed three games, but still threw for 3,250 yards with 25 touchdowns, compared to seven interceptions.
LaFell should benefit from being the number 3 option, behind A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert. There’s enough balls to go around to make sure LaFell gets some touches. That will bode well for any fantasy owner drafting him, since he has an ADP of 288.
Ty Montgomery, Green Bay
Montgomery represents a deep sleeper candidate, but don’t just leave him off your draft board entirely. Montgomery doesn’t have an ADP, meaning other leagues are leaving him on the waiver wire.
That could be a mistake.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is poised to dominate this season. And while Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb will generate the most headlines, I anticipate Montgomery could slide into that third position in only his second year in the league.
He showed flashes last season of what he can do, and patience is running out on Davante Adams and his inability to catch the football.
Montgomery may not produce right away for your fantasy team, but he’s on a pass-heavy offense and should make a move up the depth chart this season. If you believe that could happen, he may be a sneaky-good last pick.
