Big Blue View
A look back at the preseason diamonds in the rough
With Conference Championship Sunday almost upon us, I decided to go back and take one last look at the 2024 fantasy football season. Let’s just say that over the past weekend of wall-to-wall football, watching Ray Davis score a rushing TD (with James Cook getting a breather) got my attention, and so did Jameson Williams throwing an interception on a trick play gone awry. Don’t get me wrong – I loved watching all four games this past weekend and I continue to think that the Divisional Round is the NFL’s best weekend of the year. I just can’t shake the fantasy lens from my glasses. That Jameson pick was a minus-2 for somebody...
I’ve already given my 2024 fantasy takeaways. I’ve also looked back at how my preseason prognostications fared. These were my 2024 not-so-bold fantasy predictions (I won’t revisit them; some were good, some were a lot less than good, but it’s fun to go back and read them). There’s one final piece I want to revisit. In August, I wrote a sleepers column that tried to identify some lower-ranked players that could be great values in the double-digit rounds of drafts. So how did I do? Well, I honestly don’t remember. The NFL season is long, folks. Half of the reason I’m writing this column is to jog my own memory. But also, I want to revisit my thought process, and take notes on the types of players that surprised us this year. Maybe there’s something valuable to learn something for next season.
The late rounds of fantasy drafts are important. I’ll almost always wait until the last two rounds to grab my D/ST and kicker. That helps me maximize my late-round swings at players with upside who could, if things break right, be meaningful contributors on my roster (and not just for a week or two when other players are injured or on a Bye). These are players you aren’t spending a lot of draft capital on, and most of them will invariably end up being bench depth (including a handcuff or two if you go that route), or eventual waiver drops. That’s to be expected. But if none of them pop and they ALL end up in those buckets, you’ll be at a disadvantage vs. those managers who unearthed great value at the end of your draft. This isn’t an absolute, but you usually need to hit on a sleeper or two to win your league.
When I use the word sleeper, I mean it, and the rankings cutoffs for inclusion in my column were pretty low. Players like Baker Mayfield, Chase Brown, Zach Charbonnet, Brian Thomas, Jr., Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jordan Addison, Ladd McConkey, and Jameson Williams were all too highly-ranked to qualify for my column, just to give you an idea.
As you’d expect I missed more than I hit, but I did include a number of players that blossomed into weekly starters. Let’s take...
