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New York Jets running back (RB) Le'Veon Bell is a fantasy football sleeper and ADP value for the 2020 season. We break down his value in fantasy drafts.
BALLER MOVE: Target Around ~25 Overall
CURRENT ADP: ~35
ANALYSIS: Considering Bell a sleeper, with an ADP of 35 (late third round), might be a little too crazy, right? Bear with me here. Bell's current ADP of RB18, compared to where he is projected (per PFF numbers) to finish the year in PPR points (RB13) makes him a very nice bargain and a true sleeper to my eyes in most redraft leagues. With PFF projecting Bell to reach 223 PPR points in 2020, that'd make him around the 55th-best player overall in the NFL in fantasy leagues next season. He's got the fifth-best potential ROI among running backs projected to reach 200+ PPR points in 2020 (the others being Kamara, Cook, Drake, Conner, and Mostert), so you do the math.
The perception of Bell's 2019 season is that of a rusher past his prime, and not a very good one all things considered. That is far from reality, though, yet it is truly impacting his ADP a bit this summer leading up to the peak of the fantasy draft season. Bell finished last year as the RB16 in PPR leagues and although he closed the season on a low-scoring streak he was able to perform as an RB1 in six of the first 11 games he played, and only finished below the RB2 threshold six times in 16 games. Bell is, at the very least, a high-end RB2 with upside to turning into an RB1 in 2020 easily.
Most important for the purposes of this column, though, is the fact that he's one of only eleven RBs projected to 50+ receptions (52) and 60+ targets (62). Bell has it all. He is the no. 1 rusher on his team by a mile (he projects to get 58.4% of the Jets rushing attempts, the 13th-highest mark among all RBs), should reach 900+ yards on the ground, and also has the pass-catching ability to consider him a do-it-all player very valuable in PPR leagues. If you can get it early in the third, that's a win, but if you have to "overpay" a bit to snatch him at the end of the second don't overthink it and go for him.
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