Fantasy Sleepers - 5 Rookies to Draft in 2024 Fantasy Football

Everyone wants to know who the fantasy sleepers are in fantasy football. The PlayerProfiler Staff has gone one step further. Who are the Rookie Sleepers that should be targeted in this year’s fantasy football drafts? These are five players that should be targeted.

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Seth Diewold – Rasheen Ali, Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens backfield appears crowded on paper. Upon closer look there may be a legitimate chance for Rasheen Ali to make noise in Year 1 if he has a good training camp. Sure, Derrick Henry leads the way on the depth chart, but after him is Justice Hill (former fourth round pick) and Keaton Mitchell who is coming off of an injury (former undrafted free agent). It’s not crazy to think Ali could beat out those players and become the RB 2 in Baltimore. If Ali is able to accomplish this, he becomes impossible to roster given the Ravens propensity for running the football with Lamar Jackson and company.

Additionally, when we look at Ali’s talent profile and college production, it is very impressive. In Ali’s first full season as a starter in college, he rushed for 1,401 yards, caught 46 passes for 342 yards, and scored 24 total touchdowns. That’s right, 24 touchdowns! Ali likely would have continued being a super producer in his next season, but he only played in three games. In his final season at Marshall, Ali went right back to producing for his team. He rushed for 1,135 yards, caught 28 passes for 213 yards, and scored 16 touchdowns. This college production is impressive enough, but Ali also possesses an impressive talent profile. Ali is 5-11, 206-pounds and ran an impressive 4.48 40-yard dash. As far as fantasy sleepers go, this is exactly the kind of running back to draft at the back end of fantasy drafts. The upside is massive!

Matty Kiwoom – Javon Baker, New England Patriots

New England has sorely lacked offensive weapons over the last couple of seasons. The Patriots decided enough is enough and drafted three fantasy relevant players in their first five selections. And the other two were offensive linemen that will hopefully make the offense better overall. Javon Baker was selected with the No. 110 overall pick in the NFL Draft. Baker has a path to become a top three option for new OC Alex Van Pelt.

Last year as the Browns offensive coordinator, Cleveland had three players see over 100 targets. In 2022, when Jacoby Brissett was the quarterback for a majority of the year, three players saw 80 or more targets. According to Head Coach Jarrod Mayo, the New England WR room is “a wide-open competition.” Therefore, if Javon Baker cemented himself as the X receiver, he could see anywhere from 90-100 targets as a rookie. This makes him one of the better fantasy sleepers to roster.

College Career

Javon Baker started his college career at Alabama and finished at the University of Central Florida. Baker checks a lot of boxes that are necessary to be a productive NFL wideout. He has NFL size at 6-1 and 202-pounds. Baker is an above average athlete and possesses an 86th-percentile Catch Radius. Lastly, Baker was a high-end college producer. As a senior, Baker posted a 34-percent College Target Share which is in the 97th-percentile and finished with a 3.21 yards per route run which was No. 9 best in the NCAA.

Baker is currently getting picked in rookie drafts in the third or fourth round. At that cost, he has serious sleeper potential because he has what it takes to produce as a rookie and to be a part of an offense that projects to be better in the next three years than it did over the past three years. Javon Baker is a baller that will make fantasy managers stand up.

Jason Allwine – Ryan Flournoy, Dallas Cowboys

One of the bigger standouts at this year’s Senior Bowl was Southeast Missouri State WR Ryan Flournoy. It wasn’t that he was necessarily the best at anything, but he was demonstrably good at anything that was asked of him. He displayed solid hands and route running and incredible work ethic all throughout. Flournoy stood out so much at the Senior Bowl that he earned a late invite to the NFL Combine where he impressed again. He measured in at 6-1, 202-pounds and ran 4.44 40-yard dash putting his Burst Score in the 93rd percentile along with an 82nd percentile Speed Score.

Flournoy’s Profile

The digger you deep into Flournoy’s profile- you learn that he has shown up every step of the process. Before leading SEMO in receiving yards in back-to-back years and becoming a team captain as well as 1st-team All Ohio Valley Conference, Ryan Flournoy went the junior college route. At Iowa Western Community College, he tore his ACL, recovered, then led his team in receiving yards before transferring to D1 school Southeast Missouri State. Before JUCO, he was redshirted at D2 school Central Missouri. He then tore his ACL missing most of his second season. Then, of course, COVID happened. This is likely what made him take the junior college route to begin with.

Flournoy has gone through all three phases of College Football, recovered from multiple injuries, impressed at the Senior Bowl, then impressed at the NFL Combine. He even landed on the Athletic’s 2023 College Football Freaks List. Flournoy is a player with impressive college production, an impressive athletic profile, impressive character, and now lands in an incredible opportunity with the Dallas Cowboys. There’s a really solid chance Flournoy earns the WR3 role in an offense that threw the ball over 600 times last season. There’s even a decent chance he can even take the WR2 role as Brandin Cooks didn’t look very impressive last season. Simply put, as far as fantasy sleepers go, it doesn’t get much deeper and much better than Flournoy. Get him for cheap while you still can.

Matt Babich – Malachi Corley, New York Jets

We’ve reached the point where Malachi Corley is now one of the better fantasy sleepers out there. The first pick of the third round is now going in the third round of rookie drafts and has an ADP of WR74 on Underdog. This is quite the value considering Corley earned (basically) second round draft capital and is projected to be the Jets’ starting slot receiver.

The rookie out of Western Kentucky is known as the “YAC King” and has a ton of potential. He plays with a Deebo-esque level of physicality, inviting contact and pushing right through it. Despite his explosive playmaking ability popping on film, there are legitimate concerns about his college production. Corley was only able to accumulate a 60th-percentile College Dominator Rating and 68th-percentile College Target Share in spite of his lack of significant target competition at a small school. While this may indicate his inability to lead a receiving core, it doesn’t take away from his potential in a gadget-slot role in the NFL.

Fantasy Football is all about opportunity, and I expect him to earn more than some rookie receivers drafted ahead of him (Ja’Lynn Polk, Troy Franklin, and maybe even Jermaine Burton). Playing the Randall Cobb role in an Aaron Rodgers offense should net him around five targets per game (around a 17-percent Target Share). Combine his YAC and Red Zone abilities with his opportunity in what will be a highly productive offense, and you have one of the cheapest fantasy sleepers in fantasy football.

Theo Gremminger – MarShawn Lloyd, Green Bay Packers

Lloyd had one of the best offseasons for any running back in the 2024 NFL Draft class. He dominated the Senior Bowl as the top-performing running back and followed up with an outstanding NFL Combine. Lloyd weighed in at 220 pounds and ran a 4.46 40-yard dash. The Green Bay Packers selected him in the third round of the NFL Draft with the No. 88 overall pick. Lloyd’s draft capital was exciting, but some drafters fear that his pathway to viability is limited behind free agent signee Josh Jacobs.

While Lloyd will enter the season as the No. 2 running back on the depth chart, his fantasy upside and floor are enticing. The Packers regularly utilize a second back in the offense. In three straight seasons the No. 2 running back for the Packers has handled at least 180 touches. This workload could be enough for a player like Lloyd to be a weekly flex. Lloyd also has an incredible contingent upside. If Josh Jacobs were to miss time, Lloyd would be a weekly RB1 in one of the league’s ascending offenses. Draft Lloyd whenever you can this year.

For more from the PlayerProfiler Staff Series check out this article – NFL Prospects – Best Rookie Landing Spots for Fantasy Football (playerprofiler.com)