Everybody loves a good sleeper in fantasy football. This past season, there were no better quarterback sleepers than Matt Ryan and Dak Prescott.
They were drafted late in fantasy football drafts (if at all) and they were top-six fantasy quarterbacks for the season, with Ryan totaling the second-most points overall.
I hate drafting quarterbacks early. Maybe that’s why I’ve been stuck with Philip Rivers for the past two seasons. He’s not horrible, but can never be a sleeper candidate because he’s not good enough to creep into that top-five.
So this year, it’s all about finding that sleeper, because I’m hammering home running backs and wide receivers early and often.
Here’s my three best sleeper quarterback picks in my way-too-early predictions for 2017.
Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans
I’m hopeful that experts continue to downplay Mariota.
According to FantasyPros, which aggregates expert opinions from multiple platforms, Mariota is the 13th-ranked fantasy quarterback for 2017, despite being hobbled by injury late in the season.
Had the injury bug not struck, Mariota would have easily finished in the top-10 among fantasy quarterbacks. Instead, he was relegated to 13th in scoring, finishing the season with three consecutive games of less than 10 fantasy points, before missing the season’s final game.
What I love about Mariota is his ability to put up major numbers. That’s a trait not shared by all. He tallied six games of 20 points or more, with a 30-point effort thrown in there for good measure.
He can do it with his legs and his arm, and something tells me that the Titans will depend on him even more in 2017. DeMarco Murray is aging, so to bring along Derrick Henry and that running game, they’ll need Mariota to shoulder much of the load. He’s a top-seven option for quarterbacks that may picked late in the draft.
Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The offense hasn’t been the most kind to Winston in the past in fantasy football terms.
Tampa Bay employs a running approach at times, thus limiting Winston’s pass attempts. But in his third year, I expect to see some growth, which should alter the offensive strategy.
Despite some growing pains, he still threw for more than 4,000 yards in 2016 with a career-high 28 touchdowns. The biggest issue, though, is that his interceptions also were a career-high, throwing 18 picks.
What I like about Winston and Mariota (drafted 1 and 2 in the 2015 draft) is that they’ve showed steady improvement. They didn’t regress in their sophomore year, so I anticipate that growth to continue.
If Winston can cut down on his turnovers and make strides in improving his touchdown total (he went from 22 to 28 from 2015 to 2016), he could be a serious contender at being a top-five fantasy option.
He has the weapons around him to be really good, and with his growth on the upward trend, I see him being extremely undervalued with a ranking of 15th among quarterbacks.
Sam Bradford, Minnesota Vikings
If you’re looking for a deep — really deep — sleeper, Bradford is your man.
He’s accurate in both short and long passes, and if he has some time to throw this season, he may produce in fantasy football.
FantasyPros has him listed as the 28th-ranked quarterback. Among those bottom-tier options, though, he has the most upside. His 2016 was marred by injuries to an offensive line that already wasn’t that good and losing an All-Pro running.
Oh, and he was thrust into the starting role a short time after being traded from Philadelphia after the preseason.
If he starts and the Vikings remain healthy, he could be a viable weekly starter. He won’t need to be drafted high, so you could wait until the end to pick him up. Then cross your fingers and hope.
