Fantasy Football Sleepers: AFC West

What is a ‘sleeper’ in fantasy sports? Basically, it is a player who exceeds their average draft position (ADP) over other players from the same position with a similar draft cost. An example of this from 2021 would be Cordarrelle Patterson, who was undrafted in most leagues before his tremendous start to the season and finishing as a top 10 running back.

To help you out with identifying a number of athletes who could fall into the ‘sleeper’ category, I will list one player from each NFL team that could provide a huge boost for your squad at a nicely discounted price. We’ll go by divisions for this article so you can more easily access these spicy picks.

AFC West

Denver Broncos – WR K.J. Hamler

One of the hottest tickets in fantasy right now is the entire Broncos offense. They’ve got a couple of stud running backs, a couple of exciting, young tight ends, and a handful of receivers, any of which could become relevant for fantasy and in the future. The defense is also great, leading to more offensive opportunities. The one-piece they’ve been missing is an upper-tier quarterback.

The Broncos addressed their issue at quarterback by bringing in a former Super Bowl winner in Russell Wilson. The former Seahawk signal-caller represents stability and leadership at the most important position in football. Obviously, such a move gives a boost to the value of all the pass catchers. Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy make up the top two receivers in the group.

After the unfortunate loss of Tim Patrick with an ACL tear, K.J. Hamler immediately becomes part of the conversation. He’s easily the third or fourth man in the pecking order with Albert Okwuegbunam also in the mix. Hamler has all the tools to be an elite deep threat in the passing game. An offensive weapon like Halmer is just what Denver and Wilson need to be able to keep up with the other three powerful offenses in their division.

Hamler was virtually undrafted before the Patrick injury and hasn’t seen much of a spike yet. He’s a great selection at the end of drafts who could find himself in a very profitable role in 2022. The value of Hamler should flare up to Patrick’s 14-round ADP and even beyond players like K.J. Osborn and Christian Watson.

Kansas City Chiefs – WR Juju Smith-Schuster

A lot of fantasy managers have been let down by Smith-Schuster in the past couple of seasons. After his breakout campaign in 2018 of 111 catches for 1426 yards, we thought we were seeing the next big thing at wide receiver. Limited by an aging Ben Roethlisberger and injuries in two of the following seasons, Smith-Schuster has failed to reach 850 yards receiving since 2018 and his yards per reception dipped to 9.8 in those three seasons.

Now, after joining the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, we can look back to 2018 again with promise in our eyes. Smith-Schuster joins the Chiefs after the departure of Tyreek Hill, Byron Pringle, and others that open up 340 targets from 2021. Kansas City still has Mecole Hardman and they brought in Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore to fill out the wide receiver room.

Hardman and Valdes-Scantling are deep-threat receivers who have shown little consistency and Moore is a rookie trying to cement his place. Any of those three pass catchers could blow up in production this year, but Smith-Schuster is the guy with the experience and the history of success.

Mahomes is also not an aged quarterback looking for one more shot at glory. Even with perennial all-pro tight end Travis Kelce around soaking up his usual targets, there is so much available for the former Steeler to demonstrate as the top receiver.

Smith-Schuster is going off at one heck of a discount, in my opinion, as the 38th wide receiver taken in drafts well into the 8th round. There is a top 25 potential written all over this boisterous pass catcher who could end up eclipsing the likes of Gabriel Davis, DeVonta Smith, and Hunter Renfrow while driving your fantasy squad into the playoffs. Buy the value on this man and thank me later.

Las Vegas Raiders – RB Zamir White

In 2021, the Raiders found a way to sneak into the playoffs after a drama-filled season. With arguably the biggest move in the offseason, they look to stay in the race after a number of flashy moves by their divisional counterparts. Zamir White comes in as a fresh set of legs and an early favorite to lead the backfield in 2023, but could he also be getting a significant role in 2022?

As everyone knows by now, Davante Adams comes to town after scoring 69 times in the past four seasons. Along with Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller, they make up one of the most potentially dominant pass-catching corps in the league.

With so much firepower through the air, teams could over-focus on that aspect of Las Vegas’ game plan and leave bigger opportunities for the ground game. Josh Jacobs is still the lead candidate for touches out of the backfield, but the new staff doesn’t have any stake in him.

Selecting White in the most recent draft is noteworthy as it shows us that the current staff sees potential in his future with the team. Also, Jacobs and Kenyan Drake will likely not continue with the Raiders after their contracts expire this season.

White is a considerable dart throw in drafts and can be acquired very late. If he does fall into an expanded role early, he’ll be a hot commodity and could explode in value over other late-round rookies like Rachaad White and Tyler Allgeier. Again, he is a dart throw, but one that could nail the bullseye.

Los Angeles Chargers – WR Josh Palmer

Last year, Josh Palmer was selected in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft and started off very cold. After some time, he was given a bigger role in the offense and showed why the Chargers valued his abilities. Across the final five games, he saw a spike in playing time and caught 18 of 28 targets, caught three touchdowns, and more-than-doubled his yardage total for the year.

The Chargers didn’t make a lot of changes to their offense as their most notable addition was tight end Gerald Everett after the retirement of Jared Cook. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams are still around and will get their chunks of the target share, but there is more than enough pie left over for Palmer to eat well.

Justin Herbert has become an elite NFL signal caller with the ability to put his throws into tight windows at any level of the field. Reports from training camp have also been favorable in regards to Palmer and it seems like a solid connection is brewing.

Palmer could easily double his yardage numbers from last year of 353, putting him in line for over 700 yards in 2022. Pair that with a ceiling of eight or nine touchdowns and you’ve got a seasonal projection that could amaze fantasy managers like a cat chasing a laser pointer.

We saw the potential ceiling for Palmer at the end of 2021 as he scored in every other game down the stretch. More team bonding, a top three fantasy quarterback, and positive camp reports point to a much bigger season in 2022. Another developing player coming out of the 14th round of fantasy drafts, this sophomore receiver could be jockeying for position with stud rookies like Chris Olave and Skyy Moore in the fantasy rankings.

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