ESPN highlighted a sleeper prospect for New Orleans Saints fans to watch in the 2024 draft. Get to know Mohamed Kamara:
As we have officially entered the month of April, now 23 days away from the 2024 NFL Draft, many league experts are zeroing in on potential team fits for prospects heading in. In an article written by ESPN’s Matt Miller, Miller highlights all 32 teams positional needs and which players could potentially fill those voids on their roster.
The player that Miller slotted for the Saints is Colorado State defensive end Mohamed Kamara. The pass rusher has been one that has received a lot of buzz as a potential Day 3 selection after an impressive pre-draft process. Here’s what Miller had to say about the player and potential fit for the Saints:
“An early Day 3 prospect, Kamara would work immediately as a situational pass-rusher giving the Saints much-needed burst off the edge of the defensive line. He had 13 sacks in 2023 after posting 16 in the two seasons prior combined.”
Kamara could be an intriguing option as a late round selection as he’s a player with a ton of athleticism to go along with great production. Something that is noteworthy though is that Kamara isn’t your typical Saints edge rusher. At only 6-foot-1 248 pounds, Kamara is undersized compared to the Saints’ prototype at the position. His 7.93 Relative Athletic Score is beneath their established thresholds, too.
With that being said, taking a chance on a guy like Kamara in the later rounds doesn’t really hurt you as a team in terms of the investment. If he can come in and generate 4 to 5 sacks in a limited role his rookie season, it’s a win for the team. If not, you’ve only probably wasted a fifth-round pick or so.
Based on where this team lives at the moment, taking a flier on a player like Kamara makes a ton of sense for this team. A low-risk investment with the potential for a high reward. Besides, how awesome would it be to have a set of Kamaras on the team?
All 32 NFL teams were in attendance at Duke’s pro day, including the Saints — who could view center Graham Barton as an answer to their problems at tackle or guard:
Here’s a name to keep in mind for the New Orleans Saints in the 2024 NFL draft: Graham Barton. All 32 NFL teams were represented at Duke’s pro day to clock the Duke offensive lineman as he went through his paces, per ESPN’s Jordan Reid, and he impressed with top marks in every category.
Barton played both left tackle and center in college, and pro scouts are confident he could line up at all five spots along the offensive line in the NFL. He certainly has the athleticism for it. After weighing in at 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds, Barton timed the 40-yard dash in just 4.84 seconds, per Duke’s official announcement (though Reid’s sources clocked him at 4.94 to 4.97). The school also said that he recorded a 4.43 in the short shuttle (Reid had him at 4.54 and 4.56 on his two attempts) and a 7.34 in the three-cone drill (Reid said 7.31 and 7.32), showing off high-end agility no matter how you slice it.
And while he may not be a common pick for the Saints in many mock drafts right now, Barton may not be much of a reach at No. 14. Some evaluators grade him as a top-15 prospect in the draft class. His versatility to play all five spots could help the Saints field their five best linemen whether he’s replacing Trevor Penning at left tackle, James Hurst at left guard, or Ryan Ramczyk at right tackle. He’s most often projected to stay at center in the NFL, but the Saints are known for moving guys around after turning pro (with mixed results).
These players could help you win your fantasy football league this season.
With the 2023 NFL season set to kick off tonight, last-minute fantasy football drafts will be wrapping up over the next few hours.
We all know who the stars of fantasy football are, but the managers who win their leagues often land several sleepers late in the draft. So we’ve put together a list of 25 fantasy football sleepers to target in 2023.
To be clear, these sleepers are not unknown breakout candidates. There are plenty of players on this list who are household names, some of them even being drafted as starters.
What we consider to be a “sleeper” is a player who will outperform his average draft position this season. We consider a sleeper a player who you draft with an ADP of RB20 and he ends up finishing as RB10 (as an example).
Each player listed below is sorted by position and their ADP relative to their position. Let’s get to the list and win some fantasy football leagues!
These ten running backs could prove to be great value in your fantasy football draft.
Football season has returned!
The 2023 NFL season will kick off tomorrow when the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Detroit Lions on Thursday.
Before the regular season begins, fantasy football drafts will be wrapping up in the coming days and fantasy managers will all have the same question — who are the sleepers to target this year?
Each player is listed in order of his average draft spot relative to his position. We consider a “sleeper” to be a player who we expect to outperform his ADP during the season.
These running backs aren’t getting the love they deserve in fantasy football drafts.
Fantasy football managers love sleepers, players who end up outperforming their average draft position (ADP) and return great value during the season.
With limited workhorse running backs in the NFL, it can be especially important to land value picks at RB, a position that gets thin quickly after the early rounds of the draft.
Here’s a quick look at seven sleeper running backs who could provide great depth to your roster and potentially become starter-worthy RBs at some point during the season.
Highlighting one potential fantasy football sleeper pick from each of the 32 NFL teams.
There’s a lot that goes into winning fantasy football championships, including team managers finding some gems hidden on an NFL team’s depth chart in the later rounds of their fantasy draft.
There are some players who are being slept on that have the potential to develop into weekly starters on your fantasy team, which could mean the difference between playoffs and a swift exit.
We’ve rounded up our NFL Wires editors to find one sleeper from each NFL team that could ultimately help you win your league at a bargain price.
With the news about Washington releasing running back Adrian Peterson on Friday aside, the ramifications are potentially big when it comes to Antonio Gibson and your fantasy team. The rookie was already flying under the radar as a sleeper in some deeper leagues, with many hoping that his usage rate in Scott Turner’s offense was going to grow as time went on. But now that he is the de facto No. 1 back in Washington, things could get a bit interesting.
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This is where we have to work to calibrate our expectations. Any starting running back in the NFL is worthy of being rostered in fantasy football, but just because Gibson is the RB1 in Washington doesn’t mean that he is someone you’ll be starting each and every week. However, he is absolutely someone that you should be picking up off of your waiver wire if he’s available, and there is a high-ceiling for what he can do if all goes right.
We also need to be ready for the possibility that Gibson is a bit underwhelming, considering the high expectations that are now on him to perform. As a rookie running back who only has 33 career carries out of the backfield, there’s definitely a big chance that he gets overwhelmed in his rookie season and struggles to make much of a difference. Of course, we hope the opposite is true, but it’s smart to prepare for either.
What it boils down to, for fantasy purposes at least, is taking advantage of a low-risk, high-reward player that could potentially pay dividends for you down the road. If you are able to grab Gibson off of the waiver wire, or if you haven’t drafted yet and you add him to your team in the middle-to-late rounds, how much will it hurt you if he busts in his rookie season?
ESPN College Football Analyst Trevor Matich calls the Texas Longhorns his sleeper team in 2020. Are they worth the hype?
With the season approaching for the major conferences in college football, media outlets will be putting out their picks to win the conference, qualify for the playoffs and of course the upset picks. ESPN Analyst Trevor Matich recently gave his sleeper pick for the 2020 college football season, the Texas Longhorns.
ESPN college football analyst Trevor Matich, who appeared during a game-break at halftime of Saturday night’s Austin Peay-Central Arkansas season opener, revealed Texas as his sleeper team in 2020 for one primary reason — Longhorns’ starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger.
There’s no player in college football I have more confidence in as a leader or as a guy who can carry a team on his back than Sam Ehlinger,” Matich said during ESPN’s halftime break on Saturday night. “He’s back for his senior season and I expect big things.”
Brad Crawford went on to say the Longhorns have their most talented team under Tom Herman in Austin. Given that his confidence derives from the quarterback, shows you the impact that Ehlinger has had on this team. The senior quarterback is without a doubt the leader in the locker room.
Under new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, Ehlinger is expecting to carry the load for this team. Brennan Eagles, Jake Smith and Jordan Whittington are all expected to play larger roles in the offense. Losing Collin Johnson and Devin Duvernay puts more pressure on Sam to succeed this coming season. However, he has plenty of help in the backfield with a trio of runners that will get their opportunity.
On the other side of the ball, the defense is expected to be much improved. Chris Ash is an “elite coach” according to former head coach Urban Meyer and he will have ample opportunities to prove it. Deploying a new pass rush that includes Joseph Ossai should generate more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
On the backside D’Shawn Jamison and Caden Sterns are the guys expected to take the ball away in 2020. Chris Adimora is your likley starter at nickel and big things are expected of him. As a whole, the secondary has plenty of depth including B.J. Foster who could play multiple spots in the defense. All in all the Longhorns look to be a much better team than some think in 2020.
The Seattle Seahawks’ acquisition of cornerback Quinton Dunbar could very well be the free-agent sleeper of the NFC West this offseason.
Teams around the league are busy gearing up for the 2020 NFL Draft which will take place in a completely virtual format due to the coronavirus pandemic. With a month of free agency in the books, clubs are now able to evaluate which holes still need to be filled.
So ahead of the big event, Adam Maya of NFL.com took a division by division look at where things stand in his roster-reset series, naming the biggest acquisition, loss and free-agent sleeper player in the NFC West.
Seattle’s addition of cornerback Quinton Dunbar earned the top sleeper nomination.
“The Seahawks have been trending in the wrong direction on defense for the past four seasons,” Maya writes. “Their secondary, once flush with All-Pros, has been the biggest culprit, culminating in last year’s performance when the pass defense ranked 27th in the NFL. Only two teams allowed more first downs through the air.”
“Enter Dunbar, who not only looks the part of a prototypical Pete Carroll corner (6-foot-2, 202 pounds) but covered like one last year in what was his first full season as a starter,” Maya continues. “He was graded as the second-best CB in coverage and overall by Pro Football Focus (minimum 100 snaps). Dunbar also recorded a career-high four interceptions while appearing in just 11 games. It makes you wonder why it only cost Seattle a fifth-round pick to get him.”
The Seahawks will undoubtedly look to the NFL draft as well as they continue their hunt for the most impactful defensive players available.
Every year during Day 2 of the NFL Draft, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn surprises fans with selection most are unfamiliar with. Who will be this year’s player?
Every year during Day 2 of the NFL Draft, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn surprises fans with a selection most are unfamiliar with.
In Quinn’s first season in Detroit, he played it safe, but year two of the Quinn era saw the addition of little known Northern Illinois’ wide receiver Kenny Golladay in the third round. The next two seasons saw Quinn target the defensive side of the ball and land two more lesser-known players in Louisiana safety Tracy Walker (third-round pick in year three) and Hawaii linebacker Jahlani Tavai (second round of last year’s draft).
Golladay and Walker are already two of the most important players on the Lions roster, while expectations are high Tavai steps into a much larger role in 2020.
So, who is this year’s player not enough Lions fans know about but could end up being selected on Day 2 by Quinn? Here’s my best guess:
McTelvin Agim, DL, Arkansas
Agim was a five-star defensive end in high school, winning the Arkansas player of the year award, and electing to stay in-state to attend college instead of accepting offers from several larger schools, including Alabama and LSU.
Agim started at defensive end as a Freshman at Arkansas and was named to the SEC Freshman All-American team. Over the next two seasons, Agim continued to start in Arkansas’ multiple front, racking up 11 sacks and 23 tackles for loss.
Entering his senior year, the Razorbacks asked Agim to add weight and shift inside to the 3-technique, filling a hole on their roster. He accepted the new challenge and went on to be named a captain.
After his senior season — adding another five sacks and eight and a half tackles for loss to his resume — Agim accepted an invitation to the East-West Shrine game and dominated, earning a call up to the Senior Bowl.
At the Senior bowl, Agim was placed on the North squad and practiced under the tutelage of the Detroit Lions coaching staff. Here’s a picture of Agim (on the right) giving coach Matt Patricia a Gatorade shower after the victory.
AP Photo/Butch Dill
Because Arkansas operates a multiple defensive front, it’s common to see teams like the Lions — who run a similar scheme — tap into their system for defensive linemen. The Lions’ Trey Flowers and Patriots’ Deatrich Wise are great examples of how an Arkansas defensive lineman can find success in the NFL in this scheme.
Athletically, Agim fits the mold of what the Lions look for in a defensive lineman. At 6-3, 309 pounds, and 33.5″ arm length, Agim was able to add weight last season without losing any of his athleticism.
My Quinn Influenced Benchmarks (QIB) system looks for a defensive lineman to have high marks in the 10 yard-split, broad jump, and short shuttle. Agim (a FULL QIB qualifier) passes each with flying colors with a 1.76 10y/s, 9’1” broad jump, and 4.66-second short shuttle.
On the field, Agim continues to check the boxes the Lions prefer. Here are some of his positive attributes:
He is durable, never missing a game
Capable of 2-gapping
He is excellent against the run
Penetrating skills are improving with experience
Uses length to create leverage and hold ground at point-of-attack
Aggressive hands
Uses hands to hold gap and shed blockers versus the run and pass
4-years starting experience in Arkansas pipeline
Team captain
Intelligent with high character
McTelvin Agim, DL, Arkansas
1st clip Agim is to quick for the C – he gets the TFL. 2nd is same play but C tries a cut block – Agim is to quick/balanced and avoids it. 3rd Agim uses Patricia's favorite bull rush to get the TFL. 4th Agim lines up at 0T, stack and shed for stop. pic.twitter.com/QlrDPxqpzU
He does have some areas where he needs to improve:
Needs to get stronger, as he can get out leveraged when he gets upright too early in the rep
Struggled to shed double teams
Only one year experience inside which has led to him being behind in interior technique development
From a Lions perspective, Agim is one of only three defensive tackles to check every box both physically and athletically and is the only one capable of immediately contributing in year one in the NFL.
Agim’s positive attributes heavily outweigh the negative and all three negative areas can be improved/corrected with NFL coaching.
If Agim is Drafted by the Lions, he would fill a need as a rotational defensive tackle, alternating snaps at the 3-technique and as a BIG DE with Da’Shawn Hand, Nick Williams, and Kevin Strong.
Most NFL analysts have placed a fourth-round grade on Agim — though his agent Nicole Lynn notes the buzz surrounding him suggests his value is much higher — and as Quinn has shown in the past if he has his focus locked in on a player he’s not afraid to go get that player ahead of the curve.
