It isn’t difficult to nail the first few picks of your fantasy draft – but selecting the right sleepers can mean the difference between an 11th-place finish and a fantasy football title.
We had 65 experts participate in our 2020 sleeper accuracy competition by submitting rankings at QB, RB, WR and TE. You can find the details on how we assess the accuracy of rankings in our full methodology. For those of you looking for the TL:DR version, here are the highlights:
- Experts were tasked with submitting 13 sleepers at fixed position counts:
- 2 QB, 4 RB, 4 WR, 2 TE, 1 DST
- They were also asked to rank their picks within each position based on sleeper potential.
- Experts only saw players available for selection that are outside specific Expert Consensus Rankings cutoffs:
- QB: Outside the top 15
- RB: Outside the top 45
- WR: Outside the top 55
- TE: Outside the top 15
- DST: Outside the top 10
Experts were then judged based on how well their sleeper picks performed compared with the replacement-level season-long point total at each position, with multipliers applied to each player rank. Each of those resultant point totals were then added together to determine which expert was most successful at identifying top sleepers for the 2020 season.
Here’s a look at the cream of the sleeper crop for the 2020 fantasy football season:
Top 10 Sleeper Accuracy Experts in 2020
| Rank | Expert | Top Sleepers |
| 1 | Jamie Calandro – Fantasy Team Advice | J. Robinson, A. Gibson, B. Aiyuk, J. Smith |
| 2 | Ryan Noonan – 4for4.com | J. Robinson, A. Gibson, C. Edmonds, J. Smith |
| 3 | Nick Zylak – Fantasy Football Advice | J. Robinson, A. Gibson, C. Claypool, C. Edmonds |
| 4 | Wayne Bretsky – BretskyBall | J. Robinson, A. Gibson, B. Aiyuk, C. Edmonds |
| 5 | Site Rankings – FantasyOmatic | J. Robinson, B. Aiyuk, Bucs D/ST, J. Smith |
| 6 | Alex Blickle – Fade the Noise | J. Robinson, A. Gibson, R. Anderson, C. Edmonds |
| 7 | Greg Smith – TwoQBs | A. Gibson, B. Aiyuk, C. Edmonds, J. Smith |
| 8 | Anthony Cervino – FF Faceoff | A. Gibson, C. Edmonds, Colts D/ST, J. Goff |
| 9 | Mick Ciallela – Fantrax | A. Gibson, R. Tannehill, B. Aiyuk, J. Smith |
| 10 | Michael Petropoulos – BRoto Fantasy | A. Gibson, R. Tannehill, C. Edmonds, J. Smith |
(Note: 65 experts submitted sleeper picks)
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An enormous hat tip to the affable Jamie Calandro, who trounced the field to become the 2020 sleeper accuracy champion. Calandro scored the most points in the tight end sleeper category (taking Jonnu Smith and Eric Ebron) while ranking fourth at both running back and wide receiver. No one finished within 100 points of Calandro, whose other deft sleeper choices include Antonio Gibson, James Robinson and Brandon Aiyuk.
Ryan Noonan of 4for4 finished second; he’s no stranger to our accuracy leaderboards, having posted back-to-back top-20 performances in the draft accuracy competition while finishing 20th in last year’s in-season rankings. Not only did Noonan match Calandro’s Smith-Ebron tight end combination, he scored well in the D/ST department with his selection of the Indianapolis Colts, who boasted the No. 3 fantasy defense in the NFL last season.
Fantasy Football Advice’s Nick Zylak rounded out the top three, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Chase Claypool as his No. 2 wide receiver sleeper. Zylak was the only expert to list Claypool, who dramatically exceeded expectations in his rookie season en route to a WR23 finish in 1/2 PPR formats.
Other performances of note:
- Michael Petropolous of BRoto Fantasy slipped into the top-10 on the strength of the No. 1 quarterback sleeper ranking. He and his brother Jason (both of whom went with Ryan Tannehill and Jared Goff) were among only five experts to include Tannehill, and the only ones other than Legion Report’s Tozzi Brothers to have him as their No. 1 QB sleeper.
- Zylak not only connected on Claypool, but also had the No. 1 sleeper picks at RB, rolling with Gibson, Robinson and Chase Edmonds as his top three.
- The FantasyOmatic site rankings came through at wide receiver, winning that sleeper category with Ayiuk as their No. 1 option.
- RotoBaller’s Scott Engel was the only expert in the field to select the Miami Dolphins, who were the top sleeper D/ST of 2020, finishing second in fantasy points at the position.
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