Five Deeper Wide Receiver Sleepers for 2020

September 7, 2020

Justin Carter takes a look at five wide receivers who can be deep sleepers for the 2020 fantasy football season. These are players to target in the late rounds in deep leagues.

Something that doesn't get touched on enough in fantasy football analysis is the deep, deep sleepers. I'm talking "plays in a league with 20-plus roster spots and/or 16 teams" style deep, deep sleepers.

So, let's talk about some deep, deep sleepers.

Today, I'm going to be highlighting five wide receivers who currently are being drafted outside of the top 80 at the wide receiver position. Each of these players has upside and can be had for cheap during fantasy drafts. Per Fantasy Football Calculator, none of these five players are being drafted in most 14-person leagues.

Antonio Gandy-Golden, Washington Football Team

Washington's passing situation is obviously not great. In one corner, you have second-year quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr., who completed 58.6 percent of his passes last year with seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in seven starts. In the other corner, you maybe, potentially have the return of veteran game manager Alex Smith, who last played in 2018, when he suffered a devastating leg injury that endangered his life.

Neither option is great for whoever lines up at wide receiver for Washington, aside from Terry McLaurin, whose role as the team's No. 1 receiver should lead to him getting enough targets to be a viable starting fantasy receiver.

But secondary receivers on bad teams can be valuable fantasy plays. Remember when Allen Hurns just kept catching touchdowns from Blake Bortles a few years back?

Anyway, Washington lost Kelvin Harmon before the season to an ACL injury. Steven Sims Jr. is looking like he'll be the starting slot receiver, while there's room for either rookie Antonio Gandy-Golden or veteran Dontrelle Inman to be the team's other outside receiver.

Inman's been around a while, and the last time he had a touchdown reception was Week 17 in 2018, and his last 100-yard game was Week 12 of 2016. The past few years have seen Inman play inconsistent football that's usually verging on the "meh" side of things.

Gandy-Golden's at least got upside, which Inman doesn't. As you can see below, AGG's got a 79th percentile speed score, an 81st percentile college dominator, and a 90th percentile college target share, though it should probably be noted that he played for a non-Power 5 school in Liberty.

AGG's got the upside to win the role as the No. 2 outside guy here, making him a viable deep-league dart throw during bye weeks, with the potential to exceed that projection.

Danny Amendola, Detroit Lions

People really just keep forgetting about Danny Amendola.

I think the case for the 5'11'' receiver is an easy one. He's going to be the starting slot receiver on a team that's historically passed the ball a lot with Matthew Stafford at quarterback. Amendola's getting up there in age, but he still caught 62 passes last year, finishing with 678 yards and a touchdown.

Those numbers came with Amendola posting his lowest catch rate since 2012. If that number comes back up this year and Amendola approaches 100 targets again -- he had 97 last year, his most since 2012 -- then Amendola might not just be a deep league target, but a viable play in full PPR 12-team leagues.

Of course, that target number might drop because of competition for targets, but even a drop could lead to similar reception and yardage totals if the catch rate rises. I think Amendola's got too much upside to be undrafted in 14-team leagues.

Russell Gage, Atlanta Falcons

All the talk about the Falcons at wideout revolves around Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. And obviously, that makes sense, because Jones and Ridley are top talents.

But beyond those two, the receiver group in Atlanta is Russell Gage and, uhh, Laquon Treadwell?

So yeah, Russell Gage is going to be a guy who steps into a pretty significant role if Jones or Ridley miss time. The duo only missed a combined four games last year, but injuries are hard to predict, so having a handcuff option isn't a bad idea.

(Don't handcuff receivers in normal-sized leagues but in a 14 or, especially, in a 16-team league? It's a solid strategy.)

Last season, Gage caught 49 passes for 446 yards and a touchdown. He saw a rise in usage down the stretch and ended the year with three games in a row with at least five catches. He'd pretty clearly rise in the pecking order for quarterback Matt Ryan if any kind of injury issues show up.

Adam Humphries, Tennessee Titans

Humphries moved from Tampa to Tennessee before last season, which resulted in a huge drop-off in production.

He went from 105 targets to 47. 76 catches to 37. 816 yards to 374 yards. 51 yards per game to 31.2 yards per game.

But look at the receiving situation in Tennessee. Tajae Sharpe's 35 targets are gone. Corey Davis's 69 targets aren't gone, but Davis has largely been a disappointment since being drafted and doesn't offer Ryan Tannehill the same level of safety that Humphries does -- Davis had a 62.3 percent catch rate last year, while Humphries was at 78.7 percent.

Tennessee also largely ignored the receiving corps this offseason, further solidifying the fact that three-receiver sets will be A.J. Brown, Corey Davis, and Adam Humphries. I think in full-PPR leagues, Humphries at his current draft stock is a much better value than whatever draft pick you'd have to burn on Davis.

Tajae Sharpe, Minnesota Vikings

I know everyone thinks Justin Jefferson is going to be lining up across from Adam Thielen but I don't think we can discount that 2020's going to be a tough year for rookies. While Jefferson's going to end up as the strongest second option by the end of the year, someone else might have a chance at getting significant snaps early in the year.

Maybe that someone is Tajae Sharpe?

Sure, Sharpe's not a league-winner, but he is an option who can be had for free and could be useful in the early going.

Last year, Minnesota ran 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends, and two receivers) on 27 percent of their plays, the fifth-highest rate in the league, so there's not a ton of room for a third receiver to make an impact here, making Sharpe riskier than all the other guys on this list.

But beyond Jefferson, Sharpe, and Bisi Johnson are battling for that third role and to be the guys who play in three-receiver sets. One of them will get snaps early in the year. Sharpe's going to be the more affordable of those options in terms of draft capital, and he is coming off a season in which he had a 71.4 percent catch rate, the highest of his career. With an accurate passer in Kirk Cousins throwing him the ball, Sharpe could have a bit of a resurgence in Minnesota, and while it'll likely be very short-lived, I think it's important to not ignore that moves to help you around the margins in the short term early in the season are still good moves to make!

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