NFL
By Scott Engel, The Game Day
The calendar has flipped to July, which means it’s time to get more serious about your upcoming fantasy football drafts. Many experienced players have already started drafting sleeper picks.
Here, we’ll take a look at some early fantasy football Average Draft Position Reports and share some highlighted value targets.
All ADP data is via fantasypros.com.
David Montgomery (ADP: 33, RB18): Montgomery is going to be a significant focal point of the Chicago offense. He is versatile and will have to carry a heavy offensive load. I have seen Montgomery fall further than the 20th running back taken in some early drafts, and he will be a solid fantasy RB2 this season.
Breece Hall (ADP: 46, RB21): Hall may be the most productive fantasy RB1 of the 2022 season. He is a dual threat as a runner and receiver and will emerge as the crux of a young and possibly promising Jets offense. Hall has high-end fantasy RB2 potential in his first pro season.
Courtland Sutton (ADP: 58, WR24): Sutton already has a 1,100-yard campaign in his pocket, and now should have his best season yet with Russell Wilson taking over at quarterback for the Broncos. He will likely be the No. 1 wide receiver in a much-improved Denver offense. Sutton has top 15 fantasy WR upside for the 2022 season.
Allen Robinson (ADP: 70, WR29): Robinson gets the best quarterback upgrade of his career and will re-emerge as a top fantasy starter. Cooper Kupp should have another great year, but Matthew Stafford will assure Robinson of a revival. Both top Rams wide receivers can be key performers on fantasy championship teams this season.
Gabriel Davis (ADP: 73, WR31): Davis is one of the most polarizing players on social media among fantasy experts this preseason. But let’s not overthink this one. He is a big-play wide receiver on one of the premier passing offenses in the league. Any guy who catches four TD passes in an NFL playoff game has signaled he is ready for stardom. The Bills have cleared the path for him to be a big part of the offense this year, even with Jamison Crowder also in the picture.
JuJu Smith-Schuster (ADP: 81, WR34): He is not getting enough respect for a wideout who caught 97 passes and had nine TD receptions in a much worse quarterback situation two seasons ago. Now Smith-Schuster could become a top target for Patrick Mahomes, and he is also playing on a one-year contract. He will be very motivated to show he can still perform well.
Dallas Goedert (ADP: 84, TE8): The Eagles leaned heavily on the running game last season, but they have made upgrades to the passing game and Goedert will be one of their primary receivers. The pressure is on Jalen Hurts to improve, and to do so, he must rely on his most familiar and trustworthy target. Goedert has yet to catch more than five TD passes in a season, but this is the year where he can improve in that category.
Matthew Stafford (ADP: 93, QB12): Most fantasy players naturally would prefer a running quarterback over a pure pocket passer, but Stafford engineered the NFL’s fifth-ranked passing game in 2021. He also finished as the fifth-highest scoring QB in fantasy football. He is proof that you can wait on a quarterback and still land a strong starter.
Derek Carr (ADP: 108, QB13): Throughout his career, Carr has been dragged down by mediocre receiving crews. That is not the case any longer. With a trio of Davante Adams, Darren Waller, and Hunter Renfrow, Carr has by far the best receiving group of his NFL life. You can expect his best fantasy season yet in 2022.
Allen Lazard (ADP: 114, WR48): Lazard is ticketed to be the new No. 1 wide receiver for Aaron Rodgers. Green Bay made no real efforts in the offseason to prevent him from having the opportunity to claim that role. The Packers’ front office is showing confidence in Lazard, and Rodgers has not complained about needing someone better than Lazard, either. So take those signals and have some confidence in Lazard, too.
Marlon Mack (ADP: 152, RB46): The Texans wanted to upgrade the worst running game in the league, and they brought in Mack, who is looking to kick-start his career with an opportunity to be the No. 1 guy again. All indications are that he has put a 2020 Achilles injury far enough behind him to make a strong push for a starting job. When you get this deep into drafts, a potential RB1 on any NFL team is a viable value target.
Austin Hooper (ADP: 198, TE26): Hooper should regain fantasy relevance in Tennessee, where he can be a trusted target for Ryan Tannehill on key passing downs. The Titans traded A.J. Brown and need a combination of pass-catchers to fill the void. Hooper should step forward and become a quality fantasy option again.
