Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers: Dontayvion Wicks, Jermaine Burton, Demarcus Robinson (2024)

Fantasy football draft sleepers! It’s something everyone wants to have on their fantasy football cheat sheets ahead of drafts. There will be plenty of names flying around the fantasy football community as September approaches. Here are a few early fantasy football draft sleepers that we love this summer.

Fantasy Football Draft Sleepers: Wide Receiver

In fantasy football best ball drafts in 2024, we’re all looking for wide receivers who can rise above their current ADP (average draft position) to become either league-winning players or even just regular contributors to your best ball roster. Of course, this season’s Puka Nacua, Tank Dell and Jayden Reed aren’t so easy to find in June, but if they were, they’d be drafted in every single draft and steamed up into the single-digit rounds.

That’s why today, we will name some fantasy football wide receivers that may or may not have the sizable impact of the wide receiver trio mentioned above but at minimum, are in line to leap well above their current ADP. Here are fantasy football draft dart throws to target at the wide receiver position.

Dontayvion Wicks (WR – GB) Underdog ADP: WR60

Dontayvion Wicks saw action as an outside receiver when Christian Watson‘s injury woes gave him issues throughout 2023. The Packers immediately trusted Wicks as an instant contributor and he was a regular receiver throughout the season and the playoffs.

“If he only ran more routes” is what people are saying about Wicks and he just may get that opportunity this season after a 2023 campaign that saw him put up an excellent 2.04 yards per route run (YPRR); a pretty loud signal to fantasy managers that he should be playing more.

First downs per route run vs. good 'ol receiving yards per game.

Looking above the line, spot the Year 2 WRs who could be more productive next year:

– Dontayvion Wicks

– Rashee Rice

– Tank Dell

I break down this predictive stat from @FantasyPtsData in the article below! pic.twitter.com/wq9u4lJw9S

— Ryan Heath (@RyanJ_Heath) March 19, 2024

Wicks is the cheapest way to play the Packers’ wide receivers and is one of the best values on the board in best ball formats. Wicks’ WR60 price tag makes him such an attractive pick in the 10th or 11th round. With Green Bay’s offense on the upswing and an imminent spike in efficiency, Wicks in Year 2 seems destined to pay off his WR60 then some on draft day.

Jermaine Burton (WR – CIN) Underdog ADP: WR70

As a wide receiver with Day 2 draft capital being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals, Jermaine Burton is criminally underpriced given the opportunity he has in front of him. Tyler Boyd no longer calls Cincinnati home as he’s now a Tennessee Titan. The other secondary wide receivers in Cincinnati failed to impress in limited duty, so Burton now jumps into the lead to play in the slot or on the outside while Ja’Marr Chase plays in the slot. Either way, the Bengals played the fourth-most 11 personnel in the league last season and as a Sean McVay disciple, Zac Taylor does use a limited amount of personnel on the field. Whoever the third receiver is for the Bengals will run at LEAST 80% of routes. That in and of itself is extremely valuable for fantasy purposes.

The third target in a Bengals offense that doesn’t have Boyd or Joe Mixon is incredibly valuable, as Boyd was taking an average of 88 targets over the last two seasons. With Boyd entering his age-30 season with last season’s 1.15 YPRR being the worst mark since his rookie season, it made sense for the Bengals to get younger and more athletic with that role in their offense.

To Burton himself, he’s incredibly talented and per Matt Harmon’s Reception Perception, posted quality numbers against both man and zone coverage:

Jermaine Burton #ReceptionPerception profile just went live on the site.

Some highlights:
– 75% success rate vs. man coverage
– 77.3% success rate vs. press coverage
– Among prospects on the site right now, both are top-3 in the class.

He has first-round WR talent. If he had… pic.twitter.com/CeG8bK6s91

— Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) April 18, 2024

The fact that this kind of wide receiver profile is available at a 13th-round ADP is crazy. Burton is not just a one-trick pony, can win against any coverage and if he can just get over the speedbumps of the other receivers not named Chase or Tee Higgins on the Bengals’ depth chart, then Burton is in for an excellent season in one of the more prolific passing games in the NFL and fantasy.

Demarcus Robinson (WR – LAR) Underdog ADP: WR80

After bouncing around several teams as a journeyman wide receiver, DeMarcus Robinson latched onto the Los Angeles Rams last season and languished as a rotational wide receiver until Week 12. In that week, he took over the third wide receiver role from Tutu Atwell and scored touchdowns in four straight weeks. Robinson was not only a touchdown merchant, however, as he earned targets at a 17.5% clip from Week 12 until the end of the season.

Rams WRs once Demarcus Robinson became a full-time starter (Weeks 13-17):

Puka Nacua = WR5 (17.2 FPPG)
Cooper Kupp = WR11 (14.8)
Demarcus Robinson = WR20 (13.3)

Current 2024 Price Tags:

Puka = WR7
Kupp = WR23
Robinson = WR80

— Wolf of Roto Street (@RotoStreetWolf) June 20, 2024

So why is Robinson currently WR80 in best ball formats?

DeMarcus Robinson

Well, Robinson just hasn’t been very good during his career and will turn 30 turning the first month of the 2024 season. Considering the Rams did not add a wide receiver until the sixth round and subtracted from their wide receiver room by trading Ben Skowronek to the Houston Texans, this job as the third receiver for the Rams looks to be locked up by Robinson. How good is this role from a fantasy perspective? Well similar to Burton above with the Bengals, the Rams utilize 11 personnel at the highest rate in the NFL and generated the seventh-most EPA out of that personnel grouping.

With Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp leading the charge for the receivers, Robinson may see some of the most advantageous coverage in the NFL with defenses rightly shifting resources to stop both Nacua and Kupp. Robinson could be in for a career season at the ripe age of 30. Getting him in the 15th round represents a massive ROI opportunity and the ability to pay off his shockingly low ADP in rapid fashion.

Fantasy Football Draft Picks to Target

Fitz’s Top Fantasy Football Draft Targets (Premium)
Erickson’s Top Fantasy Football Draft Targets (Premium)
DBro’s Top Fantasy Football Draft Targets (Premium)

Kevin Tompkins is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Kevin, check out his profile and follow him @ktompkinsii

NFL Puka Nacua Tank Dell Jayden Reed Dontayvion Wicks Christian Watson Jermaine Burton Tyler Boyd Ja’Marr Chase Joe Mixon Tee Higgins Demarcus Robinson Tutu Atwell Ben Skowronek Cooper Kupp