Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers: De’Von Achane & JuJu Smith-Schuster (2023)

Thankfully the 2023 fantasy football season is just around the corner. Each year fantasy players want to construct their team with a proper mix of good-value players and upside sleepers while avoiding players with high bust potential.

In the first part of an eight-part series, I will identify two ADP values, two likely-to-bust candidates, and two potential sleepers from the AFC East. And here’s a closer look at two sleepers.

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Fantasy Football Sleepers: AFC East

ADP via FantasyPros

De’Von Achane (MIA): ADP 117.3 | RB41

Fantasy players can’t make heads or tails of the Miami backfield. The team reportedly offered Dalvin Cook a contract that the veteran turned down. If he signs with the Jets or another team, will the Dolphins sign a different veteran running back like Leonard Fournette or Kareem Hunt? However, that uncertainty has kept Achane’s ADP lower than it should be. Fantasy players should be 100% on board drafting the rookie as a 10th-round pick until news breaks that the Dolphins are signing a veteran running back.

Last year the Miami backfield scored 352.2 half-point PPR fantasy points. Had one guy earned 100% of the work, he would have been the RB1. Instead, the production was spread over several players, as the Dolphins couldn’t rely on one guy. However, even if one player accounted for only 60% of that production, he would have been the RB12 last season. If the Dolphins don’t sign a veteran, Achane will easily beat out Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr.for the lead role. He could be this year’s Dameon Pierce.

JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR – NE): ADP 128.7 | WR49

Unfortunately, Smith-Schuster has never been able to repeat his early career fantasy success. The former USC star was the WR21 as a rookie, averaging 11.6 half-point PPR fantasy points per game, before having the best year of his career in 2018, ending the season as the WR9, averaging 15.1 fantasy points per game. Since then, the veteran receiver has averaged over 9.2 fantasy points per game only once in his career. While his days as a fantasy superstar are over, fantasy players should target Smith-Schuster at his ADP.

The former USC star was the WR29 last season, averaging 9.1 fantasy points per game. Despite the disappointing fantasy points per game average, Smith-Schuster had over 100 targets and the second-most receiving yards of his career. However, the veteran will replace Jakobi Meyers as New England’s No. 1 wide receiver. Last year Meyers was the WR28, averaging 6.9 targets and 10.5 fantasy points per game. Furthermore, he led the Patriots in targets the past three years, averaging 6.7 per contest. While Smith-Schuster won’t be a fantasy star, he will be a safe floor WR3 or flex option for fantasy players.