Fantasy Football: 5 sleepers for the 2022 NFL season
5 fantasy football sleepers for the 2022-2023 NFL season
With the 2022 NFL season only a matter of weeks away at this point, and the training camps for all teams underway, we now have a good idea of how the rosters will shape up. With this, we also start looking at fantasy football. This includes how to improve our rosters in dynasty or draft well in re-draft. As always, everyone will be fascinated with getting value late and finding the next sleeper player that comes out of nowhere and provides your team with value. In this article, I will be going over 5 of my biggest fantasy sleepers, as well as why I believe they are either undervalued or will outperform their value by a large amount. So without further ado, let us start with our first player:
Fantasy Sleeper #1: Kenneth Gainwell – RB – Philadelphia Eagles
Gainwell has become less and less of a sleeper lately after reports that he was getting RB1-type snaps in training camp. While head coach Nick Sirianni still stands pat that Miles Sanders is the lead back, he also said that they like to rotate their backs. Gainwell had a good rookie year, putting up 544 scrimmage yards on 68 rushing attempts and 33 receptions, as well as 6 all-purpose touchdowns. Gainwell will start to go earlier in re-draft right around now, so he is closer to the correct ADP than most of these other players.
However, he has the potential to fill a much more significant role in 2022 and create some production for the Eagles. The other reason I would consider him is due to Miles Sanders’ injury history, which was extremely prominent in 2020 and 2021. While he has not had any extremely severe injuries, his hand fracture at the end of last season is worth noting. If Sanders goes miss time, Gainwell will be in line for a lot more touches. On top of that, he would have quite a bit more fantasy production.
Sleeper #2: Isaiah Spiller – RB – Los Angeles Chargers
The next fantasy sleeper on our list is another runningback, however this time we have a rookie 4th-round pick, Isaiah Spiller. Spiller played all 3 of his years of college at Texas A&M, putting up some very solid stats, including the following in 2021:
- 12 games played
- 179 rush attempts for 1011 yards (5.6 YPA) and 6 rushing touchdowns
- 25 receptions for 189 receiving yards (7.6 YPC) and 1 receiving touchdown
Spiller was a relatively productive college running back, and this has translated to camps now, as he has already been taking some first-team reps in the first two weeks. We have seen how the Chargers can utilize their later drafted runningbacks as well. Current starter Austin Ekeler was an undrafted free agent in 2017. He got his role when the previous starter Melvin Gordon held out for a season. Ekeler is now one of the more premier backs in the NFL, both in fantasy football and actual production, and was taking the majority of snaps last year. There is a good chance we can see a good influx of snaps for Spiller this year as well. While he may not absolutely blow up and become a top-tier back in year one, the potential is there, and picking him up if possible in dynasty drafts is 100% worth a chance.
Sleeper #3: James Proche – WR – Baltimore Ravens
Now we get to one of the deeper sleepers in fantasy football, James Proche. Proche was drafted in the 6th round of the 2020 NFL Draft, and ever since has not really had a chance to break out. Stuck at WR4 or lower on the depth chart, he ended up being relegated to play whenever he could. Now, with Marquise Brown gone, Proche slides into the starting slot receiver spot and should get a huge bump in snaps. Proche was a quiet producer in college, playing for SMU, however, he put up two 1000+ yard receiving yard seasons in his last two years.
James Proche good hands alert. pic.twitter.com/O2oVw4EsXA
— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) August 3, 2022
His production will come down to if he can win the starting spot for the Ravens at slot receiver. If he can pull this off, which I would expect him to do, he will be in for a much bigger role in fantasy football. He is most definitely worth taking a look at in fantasy drafts, both re-draft and dynasty, as he will be productive hopefully this year and the future.
Sleeper #4: Harrison Bryant – TE – Cleveland Browns
My next sleeper gets forgotten by most fantasy players, including myself at times, in Harrison Bryant. With David Njoku signing a relatively large extension this offseason, he is clearly seen as the TE1. However, Bryant has put in two years of consistently decent production and has been a good red zone threat. While Bryant is not a shoo-in for a huge role, the upgrade the Browns made at the QB position was immense.
#Browns Jacoby Brissett to Harrison Bryant pic.twitter.com/q0teC4IrzQ
— Fred Greetham (@FredGreetham9) August 3, 2022
Deshaun Watson will likely miss 6+ games this year, however, when he returns/if he returns this season, he will immediately improve all his pass catchers. With Amari Cooper and David Njoku being the only two really good pass catchers, we should see Harrison Bryant make steady improvements to his game. Bryant has started 12 games over two seasons, which is a good sign for his continued utilization in the coming years.
Sleeper #5: Mitchell Trubisky – QB – Pittsburgh Steelers
Frankly, the whole QB room of the Steelers is sleepers at this point. Trubisky is pretty much seen as a complete bust by most people now, which is fair, but he still could be productive this year. As of right now, my guess would be he will be the starter unless rookie Kenny Pickett shows some insane level of talent in camps and takes the spot. Trubisky may not be very talented in comparison to other QBs in the league, but he has the weapons to make it work. Najee Harris, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, Pat Freiermuth, and more all make for a great room to put around a QB.
While Trubisky should not be expected to be a top 10 QB or anything, if you are in a 2 QB league, or want to focus on all your other positions first in a re-draft, Trubisky should be on your radar. The chance at a high level of production should be considered, as regardless of his throwing skills, he has a lot of YAC players around him to where his passing stats will likely be inflated. As long as he takes the starting role, you should expect some quality production this season in fantasy from Mitchell.
