Training camp is in full swing and the narrative engines are roaring to life as football analysts attempt to add context to the 2020 rookie class. Cam Akers had an inept offensive line at Florida State. Jalen Reagor suffered from terrible quarterback play at TCU. Henry Ruggs faced unprecedented wide receiver competition at Alabama.
This type of context can be helpful, but the Ruggses and Reagors of the world still command premium picks. In a WR class heralded as historically deep, I wondered: Are we giving enough scrutiny to the bottom of the draft class? Shouldn’t there be similarly underrated WRs that would have been scooped in rookie drafts in previous years, but are still on the waiver wire because of this year’s unusual depth?
THE MOST OVERLOOKED WR IN THE 2020 CLASS
With our premium picks, we want players that tick all the boxes–early breakouts, early declares, elite production and athleticism. But for our deep sleepers, I’m looking for the opposite–players that don’t check the usual boxes because of unusual circumstances:
- Players that took an unusual path to their college programs like Michael Gallup or Kenny Golladay
- Players limited by competition for opportunity, like Jarvis Landry
- Players held back in some way by their college scheme, like Michael Thomas and Terry McLaurin
I like targeting players that are rising through the combine and draft process in real life, but have no accompanying buzz from the fantasy community. One late-round player this year stood out to me in particular.
He has the seventh-best Adjusted SPARQ score among WRs in this class, nearly broke out as a junior with 29% of team receiving yards and a 27% overall dominator rating, and was drafted in the fifth round to a top landing spot, but is going unranked on many analysts boards and is unowned in 95% of dynasty leagues.[1]
Footnotes
| ↑1 | On MFL.com. |
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