What makes a fantasy football sleeper? It’s a term that has been thrown around over the year. We’ve done our best to quantify the phrase fantasy football sleeper. To us, sleepers are players that have a strong chance to exceed expectations to become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers. We’ve put together some ranking parameters for these sleepers and asked our experts to share their top draft values and potential difference-makers. You can find all of our fantasy football sleeper rankings here. Let’s take a look at our expert sleeper rankings.
- Erickson’s Fantasy Football Sleepers for Every NFL Team
- Snake Draft Pick Strategy: Early | Middle | Late
- Best Ball Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers the Experts Target
Here are how experts rank 2023 fantasy football sleeper targets for each position.
Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Sleepers
Our WR sleepers are based on a poll of experts that selected their favorite WRs with high upside. Each WR has a consensus draft rank below #55.
| Rank | Wide Receivers | Team | Bye | Num Experts | ECR | ADP |
| 1 | Skyy Moore | KC | 10 | 37 | 51 | 52 |
| 2 | Michael Gallup | DAL | 7 | 11 | 62 | 62 |
| 3 | Romeo Doubs | GB | 6 | 11 | 61 | 55 |
| 4 | Odell Beckham Jr. | BAL | 13 | 9 | 56 | 44 |
| 5 | John Metchie III | HOU | 7 | 9 | 74 | 71 |
| 6 | Jonathan Mingo | CAR | 7 | 9 | 70 | 67 |
| 7 | Jayden Reed | GB | 6 | 11 | 78 | 79 |
| 8 | Zay Jones | JAC | 9 | 5 | 58 | 64 |
| 9 | Isaiah Hodgins | NYG | 13 | 8 | 71 | 78 |
| 10 | Adam Thielen | CAR | 7 | 7 | 60 | 54 |
Andrew Erickson shares his takes on a few popular fantasy football sleepers.
A lackluster rookie season has everybody writing off 2022 second-round WR Skyy Moore. But the young WR showed bright spots as the season progressed. After JuJu Smith-Schuster got hurt in Week 10, Moore went on to lead all Chiefs WRs in targets over the next two weeks (12 targets, 10 catches for 99 yards, 3.19 yards per route run) as the team’s primary slot receiver. Moore was hyper-targeted on 36% of his routes (25% snap share, 4 targets) in Week 17 vs. the Broncos when, again, he saw high usage from the inside. And in the conference championship game, Moore once again commanded 6 targets, while running 12 routes from the slot (second-most in 2022).
Many draft pundits and Chiefs beat writers are crowning Kadarius Toney as the heir to the KC WR1 chair (if and when he gets healthy) but Moore looks like the dark horse to earn starting slot duties that Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman left behind. Simply put, Moore saw 6 targets in the games where he ran at least 10 slot routes. He also had at least 2 receptions in five games where he ran at least 7 slot routes. Hardman and Smith-Schuster averaged 13.5 slot routes per game last season. Therefore, don’t count Moore out quite yet. Recall, Moore ranked second in college football in his final year in yards per route run from the slot.
Jayden Reed checks off all the boxes of a Day 3 sleeper WR, but the Green Bay Packers couldn’t wait until Day 3 draft him in the 2023 NFL Draft. They selected Reed 50th overall. Expect the Michigan State product to step in and be the immediate No. 2 WR. He broke out at an early age, at 18 years old while playing alongside NFL talent at Western Michigan. In 2021, Reed blew up as a junior, with 1,026 yards and ten receiving touchdowns en route to a career-high 34% dominator rating. His 23-year-old age isn’t ideal, but his experience might just help him hit the ground running sooner rather than later, especially considering that Reed flashed ability as a downfield threat with a top-5 deep target rate (29%) in his draft class in 2022. He also caught eight receiving TDs on 20-plus air-yard throws in 2021, which trailed only A.T. Perry and Jordan Addison in the nation. Reed also returned kicks at both Western Michigan and Michigan State, further bolstering his sleeper status. In 2018 as a true freshman, Reed was PFF’s 4th-highest graded punt returner in the nation. In 2021, he led the FBS in yards per punt return (19.8).
Reed has been constantly praised during the start of Packers training camp showcasing his speed and versatility. Can’t say I am surprised based on his college profile.
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