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Thunder Dan Palyo's fantasy football sneaky bench stashes, sleepers, and late-round draft targets for 2026. Potential league-winners, including Gunnar Helm, Dylan Sampson, Devaughn Vele, and others.
Every year, we see some players drafted late -- or not drafted at all -- become valuable fantasy football contributors.
This article is meant to help you identify players who stand out from the rest of the pack near the end of the draft. Not all of them will hit, but perhaps we can unearth a few diamonds in the rough.
All five of these players are talented and could have the opportunity to contribute in a big way for their respective teams this season. Draft these guys in the last rounds of your fantasy football drafts and get ahead of the field, who will be chasing them on the waiver wire early in the season.
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Dylan Sampson, RB - Cleveland Browns
ADP - 181
This pick goes hand in hand with my fade of Quinshon Judkins. I much prefer Sampson's potential to beat his price about 10 rounds later based on a few factors. For one, Sampson was highly productive last season as a receiver, catching 33 of 40 targets for 271 yards and two scores.
He was targeted at a high rate (28%) on his routes run and was among the most efficient receivers in terms of converting his routes run into fantasy production. His 70.9% DVOA rating ranked fifth in the league behind only Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Christian McCaffrey, and Dalton Kincaid.
It's admittedly a smaller sample size for Sampson, but a great sign to see him produce on a per-touch basis as a pass-catcher out of the backfield.
Dylan Sampson goes for 43 yards 😤
CLEvsCHI on @nflnetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Km6FWPu6wD— NFL (@NFL) August 15, 2026
Sampson struggled as a runner, averaging just 2.7 yards per carry. But then again, so did Judkins, who averaged just 3.6 YPC as the Browns struggled to run the ball efficiently.
They have overhauled their offensive line in the offseason, which includes a top draft pick, Spencer Fano, at tackle. But I think this unit is still largely mediocre, and Cleveland could continue to struggle to run the football without the threat of a consistent passing game.
I wrote about the importance of high-value touches for running backs in fantasy earlier in August. Only 17% of Judkins' touches last season qualify, while 34% of Sampson's did. The value of receptions for running backs, especially in PPR formats, cannot be understated.
There are two other factors here that point toward more production in 2026 from Sampson. One would be the departure of Jerome Ford, who shared the third-down and change-of-pace role with Sampson last season. Ford had 26 catches on 32 targets last season, and Sampson is the player most likely to inherit the majority of those.
Furthermore, I think the Browns are highly likely to be playing from behind quite often this year, which could help Sampson's snap share and opportunities.
If we dig into Todd Monken's tenure in Baltimore, we can see that whoever occupies the third-down back role in his offense, as Justice Hill did for several years, can have some standalone value. Hill caught 42 balls for 383 yards and three touchdowns in 2024, finishing as RB37 in PPR leagues.
Devaughn Vele, WR - New Orleans Saints
ADP - 199
I know I am not the only one who is high on the Saints this season. Chris Olave is getting a lot of buzz leading into this year, and I've already written about Tyler Shough several times as a breakout candidate and late-round option at quarterback.
New Orleans absolutely should be better in Year 2 of the Kellen Moore era, and its season win total is set at 7.5 -- my favorite over on the board (for you bettors).
But one bummer for this Saints offense is the injury to first-round pick Jordyn Tyson that is going to keep him out for what looks like the first half of the season. Tyson was expected to slot in as the WR2 opposite Olave and help give Shough another weapon in a passing game that came on strong down the stretch last season.
Back in June, Kellen Moore said he regretted not making Devaughn Vele a bigger part of the offense early on in the season.
The month after the Shaheed trade and before his season ending injury, Vele had a 20.3% target share and slightly more yards than Chris Olave. https://t.co/Kaun1asF8L
— Rich Hribar (@LordReebs) August 17, 2026
Vele was part of that second-half surge for the Saints, posting an average of 4.8 receptions, 59.8 yards, and 0.25 touchdowns over four weeks from Weeks 11 to 14 before suffering an injury that ended his season. He's the favorite to inherit Tyson's role for now, and I'd expect him and tight end Juwan Johnson to serve as the other two main options in the passing game after Olave.
He had a solid rookie campaign in Denver back in 2024, catching 41 passes for 475 yards and three touchdowns. The opportunity should be there for him to produce early in the season, and drafting him is an extremely cheap way to get some more exposure to a Saints offense that played at the fastest tempo in the league last year.
Gunnar Helm, TE - Tennessee Titans
ADP - 226
I'm all about waiting at tight end this year, but even if you do draft a Brock Bowers or Colston Loveland early, you'll want to invest in some depth at the position. Helm is one TE2 who is going very late in drafts and interests me. I've been snagging him sometimes with my very last pick, as it seems he's off the radar for a lot of drafters this season.
I wrote about vacated targets recently here, and when you look exclusively at the number of targets vacated at the tight end position from last season, Tennessee has the largest raw total with 79. Those targets departed when Chig Okonkwo left for Washington in free agency.
.@Titans rookie TE Gunnar Helm scores his first NFL TD on National Tight Ends Day!
TENvsIND on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/uLFeGXdRmX
— NFL (@NFL) October 26, 2025
Helm was targeted 55 times himself, as Cam Ward targeted his tight ends at a higher rate (134 times) than any quarterback last season during his rookie year.
While I expect incoming slot receiver Wan'Dale Robinson to soak up some of Chig's target volume, I think the potential for Helm to see 75+ targets himself is there.
The Titans did add Daniel Bellinger from the Giants to give them another solid blocker and pass-catcher at the position. But I also think we will see them both used together in 12 personnel. Brian Daboll's Giants went 12 personnel 32% of the time last year, which was twice as often as Tennessee did in 2025.
Speaking of Daboll's Giants, Jaxson Dart targeted Bellinger and his other tight end, Theo Johnson, 100 times last year. The formula is there for more tight end targets in Tennessee with a young QB and a thin wide receiver room.
Helm is a talented second-year player with a potentially huge increase in opportunity this year. While I am not investing in Cam Ward's receivers at cost, I think a dart throw on his TE1 is well warranted considering how often he used them and how often Daboll used his in New York last season.
Kayshon Boutte, WR - Houston Texans
ADP - 237
Once we get this late in the draft, there is absolutely zero risk attached to making these picks, so why not go after some players with upside? Boutte flashed some big-play potential in New England, but was edged out by second-year player Kyle Williams on the depth chart after the Patriots also brought in Romeo Doubs and A.J. Brown in the offseason.
Now, he gets a fresh start in Houston, which brought him in after losing Jayden Higgins for the season to an ACL tear. The Texans could sure use some help in their wide receiver room, and the latest on Tank Dell is that he's still very far away from returning from his horrific injury last year.
Houston also brought in Zay Jones and Sterling Shepard for depth, but neither of those guys really move the needle all that much. Jaylin Noel and Xavier Hutchinson have both failed to establish themselves as reliable options, too.
Kayshon Boutte led all receivers in multiple important statistics via NextGenStats:
EPA/Target: +0.74
CPOE: +20.0%
Passer rating when target: 133.2
Yards per target: 12.0He immediately becomes one of the best downfield threats C.J. Stroud has had over his career.
— Jacob (@JacobBarzilla) August 24, 2026
While Nico Collins and Dalton Schultz will surely be the main targets for C.J. Stroud to keep the chains moving, the competition for the WR2 slot should be wide open at this point.
Houston wants to run the football, and adding David Montgomery behind an improved offensive line could open up some play-action opportunities down the field for Boutte, who averaged 17.1 air yards per target last season behind only Christian Watson and Alec Pierce.
He's made some impressive contested catches in his career, and has the type of speed and big-play ability that could help take this Texans offense to the next level. I think he could make a pretty big impact in short order, and he's easily one of my favorite picks at the very end of drafts.
Ted Hurst III, WR - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
ADP - 239
Another player who I keep drafting with my last pick is rookie Ted Hurst III. The 22-year-old was taken by Tampa Bay in the third round of the draft this spring. He doesn't come with a big-school pedigree, but he posted a 1,000-yard receiving season at Georgia State in 12 games in his senior season. He caught 15 touchdowns in 24 games in college, averaging 15.5 yards per reception.
Hurst showed modest speed at the combine, running a 4.42 40-yard dash, but is a big-bodied receiver (6-foot-4, 206 pounds) who has already been turning some heads in training camp.
Iron sharpens iron ⚔️😤 pic.twitter.com/z6eoqou6bn
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) August 25, 2026
While it's not typical for a rookie who is penciled in at WR5 on the depth chart to contribute much in their first NFL season, I think Hurst has a compelling path toward playing time. The Bucs wide receiver room is one that is full of players who have dealt with injuries recently.
Emeka Egbuka is dealing with a toe injury that has put his Week 1 status in jeopardy, while Chris Godwin Jr. has played in only 13 games over the last two seasons due to various ailments. Jalen McMillan is third on the depth chart, but missed almost all of last season with an injury and has been nursing a sore knee throughout training camp.
Last year, Tampa Bay deployed 11 personnel at a 68.7% clip, which was the second-highest rate of any team in the league. That means three wide receivers on the field for the vast majority of the snaps. If any of the Tampa Bay receivers ahead of Hurst were to miss time, he'd be in the mix for the WR3 job with Tez Johnson.
It's a gamble on a talented player who could find his way into a good offense.
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