Fantasy Football Sleepers: Khalil Shakir, Christian Watson, Gus Edwards, Jaleel McLaughlin

Winning your fantasy draft comes down to selecting the guys who end up returning a positive ROI relative to their draft cost. What’s great is that once you get to the middle and late rounds, you don’t need to hit on every player (or even half of them) to wind up with a league-winning squad. You just need to be right enough so that the value your picks provide is greater than that of your competition. That’s where targeting the right fantasy football sleepers becomes important.

Part of the difficulty built into this game we love is that no two sleepers are created equally. You can’t just nab a bunch of upside players in the late rounds and expect to dominate your draft. You need to know which sleepers are the most undervalued and offer the most upside compared to their price. To help you figure out which mid-to-late rounders stand out from the pack, we have polled 25+ experts on who the best sleepers are at every position in half-PPR heading into the new season. Check out who they chose below.

Want to see more fantasy football sleepers, according to the experts we asked? Check out our complete Consensus Fantasy Football Sleepers from 25+ Experts article.

Consensus Fantasy Football Sleepers

Khalil Shakir (WR – BUF)

“Khalil Shakir has the opportunity to be one of the best sleepers this year at the WR position. With Diggs and Davis now gone, Shakir will come into a lot of vacant targets. Shakir is the only remaining starting receiver from last year and earned the trust of QB Josh Allen near the end of last season. Shakir should look to build off the success from last year and lead Buffalo in receptions as Allen’s go-to target. Shakir should be a consistent WR3 for the entire season.”
– Brett Tomlinson (FantasyPros)

Christian Watson (WR – GB)

“Packers WR Christian Watson has averaged 15 yards per catch in his first two seasons. He had a four-game, seven-TD stretch as a rookie. He scored four touchdowns from Week 11 to 13 last year. He has to stay healthy, but Watson offers WR1 upside at WR4 prices.”
– Bob Harris (Football Diehards)

Gus Edwards (RB – LAC)

“Gus Edwards was a rock-solid fantasy RB2 in Baltimore last season on the heels of double-digit touchdowns, and he’s now coached by John Harbaugh’s brother Jim in what is expected to be a very run-heavy offense. Initial reports aren’t great on rookie Kimani Vidal, and J.K. Dobbins is coming off a serious Achilles injury. I expect Edwards to be the lead back for the Chargers, and with the expected volume could eclipse 1000 rushing yards while finding the endzone 10+ times again. We could be looking at this year’s Raheem Mostert (albeit a much slower version), and he’s currently being drafted as the RB36. ”
– Bart Wheeler (Hail to Fantasy Football)

Jaleel McLaughlin (RB – DEN)

“Jaleel McLaughlin. I’m very much in on Broncos RB Javonte Williams, but Sean Payton’s offenses typically gave us two or more fantasy-relevant running backs during his tenure with the Saints. Javonte is Batman; McLaughlin is Robin. Denver had a league-high 153 RB targets last year, and rookie QB Bo Nix was a checkdown and screen machine in college. There’s going to be a ton of pass-catching value in the Denver backfield this year. McLaughlin is also a speedy and elusive runner who averaged 5.4 yards per carry last year and could be effective in a change-of-pace role in 2024.”
– Pat Fitzmaurice (FantasyPros)