Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here are the top fantasy football sleepers to play in Week 15.
The fantasy football playoffs are here with the majority of leagues starting up the postseason.
Congratulations to the teams that made it and especially those who have a bye this week. For those still fighting for a final spot or those entering the first round of the playoffs, finding sleepers will be crucial.
Be sure to check out The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as well as the start/bench list to help formulate the best lineup possible.
Here are some of the top sleepers to consider for fantasy football in Week 12.
With the fantasy football season entering the home stretch, managers know whether they have a chance to make a run for a playoff spot.
Regardless of whether you’re managing a team that’s making a run for the playoffs or one that’s looking to play spoiler over the final handful of games, hitting the right sleepers is vital.
There are six teams on a bye in Week 12, including the Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.
Be sure to check out The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as well as the start/bench list to help formulate the best lineup possible.
Here are some sleepers to consider playing in Week 3 of fantasy football.
Fantasy football managers are only entering the third week of the NFL season, but it already feels like a midseason grind given the significant injuries and unexpected performances.
Regardless of whether you started out hot with a 2-0 record or are still looking to grab that first victory of the season, hitting on the right sleepers brings a massive advantage.
Whether it’s selecting the right streaming option at the quarterback and tight end positions or finding a flex option who boosts the entire lineup, the search for sleepers is endless.
We will be using The Huddle’s weekly PPR projections and rankings as a reference to find some potential boom games this week. Don’t forget to check out our start/bench list either.
Could fantasy owners be sleeping on Hunter Henry?
New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry has displayed just enough production to be drafted as a TE1 on fantasy rosters. But, seven years into his career, he hasn’t shown the consistency to be an every-week starter.
As a rookie with the Los Angeles Chargers in 2016, Henry made a splash by scoring eight touchdowns on just 36 receptions. In his next three years, he had two seasons with 55 or more catches, despite missing time in each campaign. His career-best 60 receptions came in 2020, coinciding with his opportunity to hit free agency, where he signed a three-year deal with the Patriots.
Henry’s first season in New England saw him set a career high with nine touchdowns, catching 50 passes for 603 yards. It was his connection with young quarterback Mac Jones that gave the Patriots reason to believe at the time Jones would be the long-term answer.
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That didn’t happen, but Henry is a cornerstone piece of the offense as the team readjusts in the post-Bill Belichick era, and he is being asked once again to assist in the development of another young quarterback (Drake Maye).
New England had the option of moving on from Henry after last season as free agency neared. It isn’t unusual when a franchise in a rebuild sheds itself of some higher priced veteran players – even a team captain, like Henry. The Patriots did just the opposite, re-signing him to a three-year deal to keep him in New England.
The Patriots don’t have a lot of dynamic receiving options, so having Henry as a leader on the offense will be critical in the transition of the franchise.
It would appear Henry’s career is going to be defined as being the security blanket for young quarterbacks. In 2020, when he had the most receptions of his career (60 in 14 games), Henry was one of the go-to targets for rookie quarterback Justin Herbert. His last three seasons in New England were marked by him being a primary target for Jones.
While veteran Jacoby Brissett certainly could open the year at QB1, as the Patriots move into the Maye era, Henry is again front and center in the offensive plans. Tight ends routinely run shorter routes and settle in to soft spots in zones, giving a young QB a good target to deliver passes. Should Brissett linger in the lineup, he has a documented history as a game manager.
The other concern anyone considering drafting Henry should have is that he has a penchant for injury. He has missed multiple games in four of the last six seasons, so anyone who ends up with Henry on a fantasy roster does so with a realistic expectation that he will miss time.
Henry has consistently shown he can be expected to have about 50 receptions for 500-600 yards and four to five touchdowns – decent numbers, but not elite ones. He’s a grinder, who ideally is a No. 2 in tight end-mandatory leagues. With a growing number of athletic young TEs coming into the league, players like Henry will slide down in rankings, because he’s a proven commodity with a known ceiling. He will end up on fantasy rosters, but it won’t be to be a weekly starter.
Will this once-vaunted TE rise from the ashes to contribute line lineups this week?
Every week, at least one player becomes my fascination of whether he’s worthy of a fantasy football start as a streamer. The decision can be a mental wrestling match, but for the purpose of brevity, only one player can be chosen as my favorite fantasy football gamble of the week.
The players chosen in this series are meant to be fliers for fantasy owners in desperate situations or willing to take an intentional risk. No player is intended to be a lineup lock for guaranteed results, hence the name of the series.
Tracking my 2023 predictions: 1-7-0
All-time record: 19-38-3
Win: Player produces ≥ 75% of projected fantasy points
Loss: Player produces >75% of projected fantasy points
Tie: Player is ejected, leaves with an injury, or is ruled out after publishing
This year, we’ll also track the accuracy on a percentage basis to show relative results, since sometimes calling a player a loss doesn’t actually hurt gamers. An example would be if a projection narrowly falls short of the 75 percent threshold, the player is still of use in a lineup.
This train wreck continues … the absolute worst part of it for me has been two of the last three weeks I simply chose the wrong player. In Week 6, I strongly debated taking Tyler Boyd, and last week I stupidly ignored my gut and took Jamaal Williams over Gabe Davis. So, let’s see if I can pick the right guy (Royce Freeman is my other strong lean) and put another W on the board …
I fully recognize this one is about as risky as they come, and it doesn’t do me any favors from the W-L perspective, because the odds definitely are stacked against this one coming to fruition.
Henry has not topped 9.1 PPR points or scored since Week 2, and the former Los Angeles Charger has no more than three targets in the last month of play. The chemistry with Mac Jones just hasn’t been there, and that’s a major concern in this recommendation.
However, necessity is the mother of invention, and the idea here is the loss of wide receiver Kendrick Bourne (knee) as well as the utter void of connection between Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster. The Patriots are desperately in need of someone to step up in the passing game, so there’s a clear path to an increased target share for Henry.
Washington has totally flopped vs. the position in the last month. This matchup rates in the top eight for receptions and yardage per game as well as ease of TDs in relation to catches allowed since Week 3. Tight ends have averaged 5.8 receptions, 59.8 yards, and a TD every 7.3 grabs, good for 16.6 PPR points an outing. Only three teams have allowed more fantasy points per game in both primary scoring systems, and this is the fourth-most efficient matchup of the week.
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All four of the TDs against Washington have come in the last four weeks. In that time, Cole Kmet, Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith, and Darren Waller all posted at least 136 PPR points, with the New York Giant finishing with 22.8 as the high-water mark. Washington presents a matchup rating that is 66.7% higher than the league average in the last three weeks and 31.7% better in the most recent five games.
Henry isn’t going to be a volume guy in this one, but he certainly could tack on another touchdown to that list, and a pair of scores isn’t out of reach. Play him if you’re backed into a corner, but this likely will be an all-or-nothing result.
My projection: 6 targets, 5 receptions, 48 yards, 1 TD (15.8 PPR points)
Which TE — if either — should gamers be drafting in 2023?
If you read our breakdown of the New England Patriots’ receivers last month, you know that the team finished 20th in passing offense (208.0 yards per game) and tied for 19th in passing touchdowns (19) as part of a unit that ranked 26th overall. While the Pats made some moves on the outside, their biggest change to the overall structure figures to come from the hiring of Bill O’Brien, who spent four years calling the plays in New England before embarking on his head coaching career.
Perhaps what’s most interesting from O’Brien’s tenure under head coach Bill Belichick is his heavy usage of two-tight end sets, most famously with the duo of TEs Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, who confounded defenses during three seasons together under O’Brien. While no one should expect the second coming of that pairing, the Patriots have two starting-caliber tight ends in Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki to challenge defenses.
Take a fantasy football spin around the AFC East.
The 2022 fantasy football draft season is starting to heat up now that we’ve gone through the height of free agency and all of the chosen rookies have been assigned to their professional home cities.
The landscape has changed a great deal for many franchises after a whirlwind offseason, and our divisional preview series will help you stay on top of all of the changes to date.
Which direction are some of your fantasy players trending?
It’s never too early to be a step ahead of the rest of the owners in your fantasy football leagues. We’re heading into Week 4, which is the penultimate week before fantasy teams start crumbling and having their bench strength tested.
Thanks to an 18-week, 17-game schedule, bye weeks start in Week 6 and extend all the way to Week 14 – a record nine weeks with anywhere between two and six teams sidelined.
While some fantasy owners made a point to keep an eye on the bye weeks on the night of their auction or draft — in most cases, that was a month and a half ago. A lot of has changed on rosters since.
The NFL is going to get rid of 10 teams for a week in Weeks 6 and 7 – the Falcons, Saints, 49ers and Jets in Week 6 and Bills, Cowboys, Chargers, Vikings, Steelers and Jaguars in Week 7. It’s an annual grind, but one not all owners in a fantasy league are aware of at this point.
You have two tasks as you head into Week 4, accomplished by quietly tipping away from the herd unnoticed. First is make sure you haven’t morphed into a roster that can get killed during a week or two of bye week season. Wins are hard enough to come by. You don’t give them away.
Second is to look at other teams that have owners who are too heavily invested in the 10 teams that are opening up the bye week period. Now is the time to see if you can swing a deal to “help them out” of their predicament.
A lot of times better positioning yourself comes with advanced scouting. Nobody else is talking about bye weeks now. By the time Week 4 is over, it’s going to be all the chatter heading into Week 5, because once Week 6 comes, there won’t be a week without byes until the weekend before Christmas.
Do your homework while others are oblivious.
Here is the Week 4 Fantasy Football Market Report:
Chase was a controversial franchise pick when OT Penei Sewell was on the board to be a decade-long anchor for Chase’s former college QB, Joe Burrow. However, through three games, he is making it impossible not to start him in fantasy lineups. He isn’t running the route trees of Tyler Boyd or Tee Higgins but is averaging 20 yards per receptions and has four touchdown catches – including on passes of 34, 42 and 50 yards. He is kind of a one-trick pony, but it’s a great trick. He can only get better as more routes are designed to make him the first option instead of the streaking deep threat. If you don’t have him, make a trade to get him. If you have him, the return offers may be crazy.
I’ve never been a fan of Cousins. He has tended to choke on the biggest stages at critical times of games and seasons. Every year, it’s difficult to endorse him as a full-time fantasy starter, but he has become a more polished field general. This season, he has thrown for 918 yards with eight touchdowns and a passer rating of 118.3. If you want a consistent option, Cousins is your guy. He has gone 17 straight games with a passer rating of 90.0 or above – only one player in NFL history under the passer rating standard has done that. That would be Peyton Manning (23). Name every great QB in the history of the game and, aside from Peyton, nobody other than Cousins can make that claim.
The Texans are a hot mess, but they are forcing the ball to Cooks – their only viable offensive weapon. Everyone has suffered without Deshaun Watson in Houston’s offense. Cooks dominating the team’s target share (35.6 percent) is on par with that of Green Bay Packers WR Davante Adams (35.8) over the first three weeks of the season. The Texans have thrown 90 passes – 32 to Cooks. They have completed 58 – 23 of them to Cooks. Nobody has more than nine targets or six receptions. It’s difficult to endorse anyone from the Texans. Given these numbers, some defenses may make it a mission to bracket him, but his value at the moment is as high as it may ever be.
I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been a “Darnold guy.” I thought he was overhyped coming into the draft and the Jets’ willingness to cut bait with him lent to that argument. However, in his first three games in Carolina, he has accounted for two touchdowns in each outing (three passing and three rushing), topping 300 passing yards twice and reaching 279 in the other. While he’s not getting a hearty endorsement, with bye week season coming up, it’s nice to have a replacement – even if just for a week – who has shown consistency in scoring points.
Typically we don’t put players who are obvious weekly fantasy starters, unless they’re playing so light’s out for your team, someone might come to you with a crazy trade offer to include him. Kupp is having that kind of start with Matthew Stafford. Through three games, Kupp has been targeted 33 times, caught 25 passes for 367 yards and scored five touchdowns. Robert Woods, on the other hand, has numbers of 19-11-124-1 through three games. Kupp has three more receptions than the next two Rams combined and has almost 100 more receiving yards than the next two teammates combined. It’s hard to imagine many fantasy owners with Kupp aren’t 3-0, because this is rarely seen dominance, especially with a new quarterback.
Through three games, if a fantasy receiver had 20 catches for 184 yards and no touchdowns, he would be no great shakes. Unfortunately, those are the combined numbers of Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith (10-109-0 for Henry, 10-74-0 for Smith). Then there is the matter of their contracts (three years, $37.4 million for Henry, four years, $50 million for Smith). You kind of get the idea the front office thought Cam Newton was going to the be the QB when free agency opened. While both were likely brought onto fantasy rosters to be regular starters, they’re killing owners who have them.
Diggs was the league leader in targets, receptions and yards in the league last year. This season, he has 19 receptions for 191 yards – never hitting 70 in any game – and one touchdown. He’s second on the team in receptions, third in receiving yards, and third in touchdowns on his own team, much less the league. With Josh Allen at the wheel, the big days will come along. But, for now, if fantasy owners have options, it won’t take long before they start looking elsewhere, if they have viable options and Diggs has an unfavorable matchup.
Taylor was an investment in most leagues to be RB1 and a cornerstone player. Granted, his first three games were against Seattle, the Rams and Tennessee – all playoff teams last year – but still, the numbers are pretty brutal. He hasn’t hit 65 rushing yards in a game, his number of carries has dropped in each contest (17-15-10), he has just eight receptions (six in Week 1 and two since), and he hasn’t scored a touchdown. For a Colts team that hasn’t won yet and has its season swirling like a toilet bowl, those forced to keep riding Taylor can’t wait for the Texans and Jags to show up.
The fourth overall pick was expected to be an impact player right out of the gate. While he has flashed the ability to be a downfield threat, the reality is that he is fourth on the team in receptions – behind retread Cordarrelle Patterson for receptions, yards and touchdowns. In three games, he has caught just 11 passes for 139 yards and no TDs – with 35 or fewer yards in two of them. He’s going to be an immense talent, but, for now, he’s an anchor tied to a fantasy owner’s leg, and the Falcons don’t have the look of an offensive juggernaut anytime soon.
Both Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones were viewed not necessarily as starters, because they were slated to split time. But few could have expected how little they would have to split up. Fournette is the lead dog by default but has just 24 carries for 92 yards. Jones has just 15 carries for 52 yards. The only rushing touchdowns the Bucs have are from Tom Brady and Chris Godwin. Brady has thrown the ball almost six times as often as Fournette and Jones have run the ball. At this point, both are too poisonous to play, unless you’re forced into it.
Pro Football Focus believes Chargers Hunter Henry will have a big season in 2020.
Chargers tight end Hunter Henry has been on the outside of being considered one of the NFL’s top tight end. It’s primarily because he has struggled to stay healthy consistently. But Henry should be near the top of fantasy owner’s draft board this year.
Pro Football Focus’ Ian Haritz made fantasy football predictions for all 32 teams ahead of the 2020 NFL season, and he believes that Henry will finish as the offense’s most fantasy-friendly asset relative to their position.
Henry has emerged as one of the league’s most-talented TEs; his average of 8.95 yards per target is the eighth-highest mark among 52 TEs with at least 100 targets since 2016. Charles Clay had over 500 yards in each of his three seasons with Tyrod Taylor in Buffalo in offenses that also included the likes of Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods. There’s a non-zero chance that Henry finds a way to lead the post-Philip Rivers Chargers in targets, and he’s talented enough to truly ball out with this type of role.
Henry flourished with Philip Rivers distributing the wealth to him, amassing 136 catches, 1,709 receiving yards, 12.6 yards per reception and 17 touchdowns in 41 games.
However, the quarterback change, whether it’s Tyrod Taylor or Justin Herbert, could lead to higher production than what he managed to do with Rivers.
When Taylor was the starter for the Bills from 2015-17, he favored tight end Charles Clay as his primary target, as Clay was targeted 238 times in 41 games. He caught 157 of them for 1,638 yards and six touchdowns.
If there is a switch at the quarterback position and the team decides to go with Herbert at some point during the season, Henry could quickly become the rookie’s go-to option.
During his time at Oregon, Herbert favored the team’s tight end in Jacob Breeland. The two linked up 74 times for 1,225 yards, 16.6 yards per reception and 13 touchdowns in four seasons.
Taylor and Herbert’s favoritism towards tight ends in the past could lead to a bright 2020 campaign for Henry, as he looks to earn a big contract extension. Health will be the biggest determining factor to his success.
