Lottery tickets. Are they likely to hit? Maybe not. But when they do hit, they can hit big.

That’s especially the case for fantasy owners. While many believe in taking a conservative approach early in their drafts, experts feel it’s wise to take a few shots in the later rounds. Instead of investing in someone with a higher floor but a lower ceiling, why not mix in some high-upside plays?

That’s exactly what our writers are offering below. Here are their top fantasy football lottery tickets for 2020. To be considered for this article, the players must have an ADP of 130 or higher based on our consensus half-PPR ADP.

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Q: Who is your top lottery ticket to target in 2020 fantasy football drafts?

Justin Jefferson (WR – MIN): ADP 151st Overall
Jefferson is a unique talent, even in one of the deepest wide receiver classes in NFL Draft history, he was still the 22nd overall pick. He ran his 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds and posted a 37.5″ vertical jump. He had terrific stats in college with 111 receptions, 1,540 yards, and 18 touchdowns playing mostly from the slot position.

No rookie is a sure thing, especially in a preseason that saw virtual OTAs and no preseason games. Still, Jefferson is precisely what you are looking for in a rookie. He is an exceptional talent that put up monster numbers in college that is going to a place where he can play immediately. Kirk Cousins is a good enough quarterback for him to reach his potential, and Jefferson is going to work out of the slot this year, which is the same position he played in college. Yet, for some reason, Jefferson is only the 53rd ranked wide receiver, and the 151st ranked player. That gives him the potential to be one of those late-round lottery tickets picks that make a solid fantasy team a championship team.

I love his upside. With Stefon Diggs gone, there is a chance for him to see 100 to 120 targets this year, and if he plays up to his potential, he is going to blow past that ADP by about the 10th game of the season. Jefferson is going to be a player I target in the later rounds and use as bye week depth in good matchups, and he may even end up being a weekly wide receiver play if he can adjust to the NFL game quickly.
– Derek Lofland (@DerekLofland)

Preston Williams (WR – MIA): ADP 133rd Overall
With Albert Wilson and Allen Hurns opting out of the 2020 season, there will be targets for days for Preston Williams in this Chan Gailey version of the Miami Dolphins offense. Throw in the fact that better-late-than-never bloomer wide receiver DeVante Parker, as of Tuesday, September 1st, has missed a week’s straight worth of practices, and the opportunities are endless for Williams in Year Two.

The former highly touted University of Tennessee wide receiver burst onto the scene in 2019 during his rookie year. After signing with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent, Williams went on to lead the Dolphins in targets, receptions, and yards for the first half of the season. Below are Williams’ team-leading numbers through Week 9.

Unfortunately, Williams tore his ACL during a Week 9 contest against the New York Jets. The timing couldn’t have been any worse, as Williams was in the middle of having his coming out party, to the tune of nine targets, five receptions, 72 yards, and two touchdowns before suffering his season-ending injury.

With reports coming out of Dolphins’ camp that Williams looks “potentially better than ever,” the second-year standout receiver needs to be squarely on your radar as you hit the later rounds of your upcoming drafts.
– Rob Searles (RobBob17)

Henry Ruggs III (WR – LV): ADP 135th Overall
I’ll have to go Ruggs here, as the combination of opportunity and talent is too juicy to pass up. He’s currently ranked 136th overall, but I expect that ranking will rise over the next week, especially with Tyrell Williams headed to the IR. Ruggs was an early first-round pick for a reason, and he’ll face little competition for targets on a team devoid of playmakers at the wide receiver position. I’m also super high on Chris Herndon (145th overall) for similar talent/opportunity reasons, but the edge goes to Ruggs because of upside.
– Zak Hanshew (zakthemonster)

DeSean Jackson (WR – PHI): ADP 162nd Overall
DeSean Jackson only played in one full game with Carson Wentz last season, and he did it in Week 1. Do you remember how that went? He caught eight of his nine targets for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, he got hurt in Week 2, opted to attempt to rest and rehab instead of getting surgery, and ended up missing the rest of the regular season after trying to return in Week 9. Yes, he’s 33 years old. Yes, injuries are a concern. But when he is on the field with Wentz, he has WR1 potential, and he’s going off the board around pick 162. The speed is still there, and Wentz showed in Week 1 last season that he wants to be aggressive and get the ball to Jackson down the field. If those two are on the field together for most of the season, Jackson will finish the season as a Top 20 wide receiver.
– Mike Maher (@MikeMaher)

Mecole Hardman (WR – KC): ADP 141st Overall
I am more than willing to bet on a piece of the Kansas City passing attack, so if you want a lottery ticket, look no further than Mecole Hardman. After averaging an eye-popping 20.8 yards per catch, Hardman is set to break out in his sophomore season. His 4.33 speed makes him a threat to score any time he gets the ball, so the only real question this year is how many touches will he see. Hardman ranked fourth among Chiefs wide receivers with just 41 targets last year, which makes his 528 yards and six touchdowns all the more impressive. I am projecting him to cut into some of Sammy Watkins and Demarcus Robinson‘s market share, so if Hardman can crack 70 targets, he has an outside chance of a 1,000 yard/10 touchdown season. With an ADP just outside of the 12th round, I will be targeting Hardman quite a bit in my drafts this coming weekend.
– Jason Kamlowsky (jasonkamlowsky)

Ito Smith (RB – ATL): ADP 247th Overall
We talk a lot about handcuffs like Tony Pollard RB48), Chase Edmonds (RB52), Alexander Mattison (RB44), and Latavius Murray (RB40). All three have proven their upside. But what if I told you that there’s a player just below that tier who is getting wholly overlooked? Ito Smith (RB74) is a clear threat behind Todd Gurley and his banged-up knee. He played just under half of his team’s snaps in 2018, and he was on a similar pace before he got hurt last season. The Falcons have treated Smith like a committee back, not a backup, and you can expect them to find a role for him even with Gurley in town. Smith earned eight or more fantasy points in five of his career committee appearances, and the Falcons have featured him in the red zone. There are fair concerns that Brian Hill (RB72) or Qadree Ollison (RB246) could limit his production, but Hill was embarrassingly ineffective in his big break last season, and Ollison seems like just a goal-line back. At his overall ADP of 249, Smith is a low-risk, high-upside lottery play. If you play in a much deeper league, Ollison could be worth a dart throw.
– Isaiah Sirois (@is_sirois)

Joshua Kelley (RB – LAC): ADP 186th Overall
With Melvin Gordon now in Denver, there are 162 vacated rushing attempts (44 percent) up for grabs in Los Angeles from a season ago. Austin Ekeler had a breakout campaign in 2019, but he did so with just 132 carries. He did most of his damage in the passing game, catching 92 balls for 993 yards and eight touchdowns through the air. If Ekeler is going to have a repeat performance in 2020, it won’t be because he’s all of a sudden a bell-cow back. They line him up all over the field and utilize him as a receiver as much as they do a running back.

When Gordon left for Denver in free agency, Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn had said the team needed to fill the void with a big-bodied back who could pound the rock like MGIII. Justin Jackson, a 2018 7th-round draft choice out of Northwestern, isn’t that guy, so the Chargers went out and drafted 5-foot-11, 212 lbs bruiser Joshua Kelley out of UCLA in the 4th round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Kelley was a workhorse in his two seasons as the Bruins starter, rushing for over 1,000 yards and 12 TDs in each season. Reports out of Chargers camp are that Lynn is extremely pleased with Kelley, and he had the following comments about his performance: “I believe Joshua is having an outstanding camp. He shows up every day with a smile on his face, works extremely hard. He’s made plays. I’ve thrown him in with the ones; he’s made plays. He’s in with the twos; he’s made plays. And he has shown versatility. He can catch the ball out of the backfield well.”

Now add in the fact that Jackson is dealing with a foot injury, and we’ve got all the makings of Kelley potentially opening the regular season in the Melvin Gordon role from a season ago. If that’s the case, we could see 150+ carries from him in just his rookie season. As the ECR’s 188th overall ranked player in half-PPR leagues, I’ll be owning him in as many places as I possibly can in hopes of cashing in on my lottery tickets.
– Adam Koffler (@AdamKoffler)

Teddy Bridgewater (QB – CAR): ADP 166th Overall
What more do you want in a late-round quarterback dart throw than an efficient distributor with elite weapons around him? Completing his remarkable comeback from a gruesome injury that had many wondering if his career was over, Bridgewater has a new home and is the undisputed starter under center for the Carolina Panthers. He’s currently ranked at 166th overall and as the QB26… and will be getting the ball to dynamic playmakers Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, and Ian Thomas, amongst others.

The Panthers not only made a change at quarterback, but also to their coaching staff – Matt Rhule, formerly of Baylor, takes over at head coach, and Joe Brady, the passing game coordinator from LSU, is the new offensive coordinator. While there have been a lot of changes to this offense, the scheme and the talent around Bridgewater should allow him to thrive as a facilitator.

Last year, after taking over for Drew Brees when Brees was sidelined, Bridgewater was mediocre at best for his first two games. After that, however, we saw some great football out of Bridgewater. Over a three-game stretch, Bridgewater was the QB13, averaging 278.3 passing yards per game with a 7:1 TD to INT ratio. With an offseason to prepare as the undoubted starting quarterback, surrounded by elite playmakers, Bridgewater is a diamond in the rough in the late rounds of fantasy drafts.
– Jon Helmkamp (@DynastyBeard)

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