It’s hard to know what a sleeper even is anymore when it comes to Fantasy Football, but, for the purposes of this article, we’ll use the term to mean an asset that’s likely to be undervalued heading into a given week. A player that’s going to be overlooked when it comes to ownership, yet one that has a reasonable path to make people regret that decision. Someone who might set your lineup apart from the pack in a GPP, if you will.
With that in mind, let’s go position-by-position for an early look at Week 10’s slate on DraftKings.
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QUARTERBACK
Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers, $6,300
I guess we’ve finally reached the point in Brady’s career where he isn’t necessarily guaranteed to bounce-back from a poor performance — as evidenced by last season’s AFC Wild Card game — but I doubt we see anything like what we saw against the Saints this weekend in a matchup with the Panthers. First and foremost, there’s simply too much skill-position talent on Tampa Bay’s roster for it to falter like that once again. Mike Evans ($6,300), Chris Godwin ($6,000), Antonio Brown ($5,800) and Rob Gronkowski ($4,700) are an embarrassment of riches, and I just don’t think Carolina’s defense has the personnel to compete. In fact, not only do the Panthers come into this Sunday’s contest in possession of the NFC’s worst overall defense by DVOA, but they’ve also conceded a conference-worst 8.2 yards per opponent pass attempt across their last three games. It’s not as if Brady hasn’t flashed a high ceiling in 2020, either. The 43-year-old has twice exceeded 35.0 DKFP this season, an upside most people will be ignoring when they roster Kyler Murray ($8,000), Aaron Rodgers ($7,900) or Josh Allen ($7,500) in smash spots.
RUNNING BACK
Antonio Gibson, Washington Football Team at Detroit Lions, $5,600
This is going to be a super weird week at running back. If Christian McCaffrey ($9,000) gets ruled out — and he didn’t practice on Wednesday, so it’s trending in that direction — everyone and their mother is going to be using Mike Davis ($4,000) as something not dissimilar to a free space. The effect of that will be that mid-tier RBs like Gibson might go slightly undervalued. Now, to be fair to all those that could be in line to overlook the rookie, it was J.D. McKissic ($4,900) that was putting up the insane statistics last Sunday, finishing the team’s 23-20 loss to the Giants with 14 targets and nine catches. It’s become very clear that this backfield is going to operate as a split and that McKissic, due to his receiving and pass-blocking abilities, will always maintain a large role. Still, who’s to say the script versus the Lions doesn’t play out like Week 7’s matchup with the Cowboys? Washington is a live underdog against a Detroit squad that’s looked terrible in recent games and, if the score remains close in this spot, we could see Gibson flirt with the 20 carries he saw in that blowout win over Dallas. It certainly helps his case that the Lions are surrendering the most DKFP to opposing RBs, along with 4.96 adjusted line yards per opponent rushing attempt — the worst mark in the NFC.
WIDE RECEIVER
Jakeem Grant, Miami Dolphins vs. Los Angeles Chargers, $3,000
On Wednesday, after being carted off of the sideline with an ankle issue in a 34-31 victory over the Cardinals, the Dolphins placed Preston Williams on injured reserve. Considering the team is less than two weeks removed from trading Isaiah Ford to the Patriots, to say the wide receiver depth in Miami is a little thin right now would be a massive understatement. So, it would seem that Grant is about to step into quite the expanded role in Week 10 against the Chargers. To wit, the 47.5% snap count the diminutive wideout registered versus Arizona was his second-highest figure of 2020 and it led to Grant tying season-highs in both receptions (4) and targets (5). That might not seem like a crazy amount of volume, but I’d expect the 28-year-old’s snap share to be north of 65% in Week 10’s matchup with the Chargers. Also, it’s not like Grant needs excessive opportunity to have an impact. As with many players who have mostly made their name in the return game, Grant’s speed — he ran a 4.38 40-yard dash at his Texas Tech pro day — is what makes him an intriguing DFS asset. With Los Angeles allowing 2.3 opponent passing touchdowns and 30.3 points over its past three contests, Grant should have a chance to shine at the minimum price. The fact that Tua Tagovailoa ($5,600) looked good in his second-career start definitely raises Grant’s ceiling, too.
TIGHT END
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants, $4,200
I get the impression that tight end ownership might be a little flat in Week 10 — especially with George Kittle (foot) on injured reserve — so going out of one’s way to find a truly unique play might not be necessary. Still, I can’t imagine that people are going to be all that drawn to Goedert following an underwhelming performance in his own return from injury back in Week 8. Despite suiting up for a team that currently ranks third in the NFL in total TE targets (83), Goedert finished with just a single catch for 15 yards in his matchup with a ghastly Dallas secondary. However, below the surface numbers of that contest, there were actually some pretty encouraging signs. Not only was Goedert on the field for 54 of the Eagles’ 64 offensive snaps in their 23-9 victory, but the former second-round pick also ran a route on 84.8% of Carson Wentz’s ($5,900) 33 drop backs. In this tight end friendly system, that kind of role is going to lead to some huge volume eventually. Why not this Sunday against the Giants?
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