HOOP! There it is! At least that's what I yell every time Austin Hooper scores a touchdown (Okay I lied - I actually do that whenever he catches a pass. My friends really hate me). After he was seldom used in 2016, Austin could be Hoopin' it up a whole lot more in 2017.

Hooper wouldn't be a "sleeper" if he didn't have a legitimate shot to considerably outperform his ADP. According to the FF Calculator, Hooper's current ADP in 12-team redraft PPR leagues is 14.01, or, the TE21. The threshold for exceeding expectations isn't very high at the current moment. Let's assume his ADP rises to around the TE16. I think that's fair. He has a lot going for him entering his sophomore season.

Let's examine what makes Austin Hooper a potential value and fantasy football sleeper for 2017.

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Why Hooper's Ready to Leap Up Draft Boards

Rookie TEs rarely make any significant impact. Guys like Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper did about as much as they could reasonably be expected to do last year. The difference between Henry and Hooper is that Henry still has never going to retire Antonio Gates lurking around. Hooper had to deal with Jacob Tamme last year. Tamme is not around anymore. Hooper enters the season as the starting TE in the top offense from 2016. That alone gives reason for optimism. But wait, there's more.

Hooper, while he didn't play much last year, was extremely efficient when he did play. In 14 games played, he didn't see a single target in three of them. He saw just one target in five games. He saw exactly two or three targets in four games. In the two games where he saw five and six targets, he averaged 11.35 ppr fantasy points. He was only targeted 27 times all season, but when he was, he made the most of it. Hooper ranked fourth in yards per target and fourth in fantasy points per target. He's very agile for a tight end and has above average workout metrics as a whole. His 70.4% catch percentage combined with his efficiency numbers, while admittedly using a small sample size, support the inference that he is good at football.

So we have a player that is good at football and we project at least double, if not triple the opportunity. Matt Ryan can't throw to Julio Jones every play. Jacob Tamme leaves behind 31 targets, but it's also reasonable to think that a few of the 105 targets that went to the running backs could go Hooper's way.

Let's use conservative estimates and reasonable projections based on a likely decrease in efficiency to go with the increased opportunity share. Last year, 19 TEs saw over 70 targets, many of them not full time starters. If we assume a full season of health (which is never a given), I think it's fair to project Hooper for 85 targets. That would put him right in the Charles Clay, Lance Kendricks, Cameron Brate range based on 2016 numbers. Let's also assume a slight drop in catch percentage from 70.4% to 65%. That puts him at 55 catches. Last year, Hooper averaged 10 yards per target. Let's take that number and apply it to yards per reception (yards per target will always be lower than yards per reception). Now we're at 55 catches for 550 yards. Hooper scored three touchdowns last year. That extrapolates to nine touchdowns based on our projected increase in targets. Let's knock one off just to be fair, even though Hooper is a monster red zone target at 6'4". A reasonable Hooper stat line for 2017 looks like 55-550-8. That comes out to 158 fantasy points in PPR. Based on 2016's final numbers, that would put Hooper right between Jason Witten and Martellus Bennett as a low end TE1. Not bad for a guy with an ADP that's almost non-existent in re-draft.

Austin Hooper is currently quite undervalued and a guy you should at least be keeping an eye on, if not targeting when you find yourself waiting on a tight end. The cost is nothing, but the reward could be high. The latter stages of drafts is the time to take shots on those low risk, high reward options. While the reward of Austin Hooper might not necessarily be great, it only has to be decent for him to present tremendous value and be a viable TE1 for your fantasy team. Concluding with the cliché-est phrase to ever be clichéd -  don't sleep on Austin Hooper.

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