Every season, in every draft, in every league, there are players that are drafted way later then they finish the year. Sometimes these players come from practice squads like Phillip Lindsay, other times it’s wily veterans that have to show the young bloods how it's done. No matter the situation or league, the value of where you draft players is vital. Far too long have people reached for players based on a potential breakout, a coaching change, or even just a hunch that some idiot in the street told them. Even the professionals over value players that don’t truly deserve it because rankings aren’t the end all be all. All players have to get drafted somewhere, but just because someone ranks a player low doesn’t mean they won’t outscore their ADP. Let's take a dive into some of my 2020 undervalued players.
Copyright: AP
Jarvis Landry
Year after year, the Juice is undervalued. He has not finished outside of the top 20 since his sophomore year in 2015. He finished 12th in 2019, 18th in 2018, 5th in 2017, 13th in 2016, and 9th in 2015. Every single one of those years, he outperformed his ADP. Landry has never had a year with less than 81 catches in a season. He has also never had less than 111 targets in his career, and averages 142 targets a year since coming into the league. Does that sound like a guy that should be drafted as a WR3? Juice is basically guaranteed 80 catches for 950 yards and 6 TDs. He is the most boring, yet most consistent pick you can make in fantasy football. He doesn’t give you the 40 point fantasy games, but he will never let you down as a reliable option. Landry is the perfect WR2 to own, locked into 12-18 points per game for your fantasy team year in and year out.
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Darius Slayton
This young stunner burst onto the scene along with Daniel Jones last year. He has the best report with Jones out of any WR on the roster because they were taking 2nd team reps in practice all last preseason. Jones relied on Slayton more and more as the year went on. Slayton is a deep threat that Danny Dimes looks for consistently. He had 8 TDs in 14 games last year, and only caught 48 balls on 84 targets. He had multiple 100 yard games, multiple games with more than one TD. With the Giants beefing up the offensive line, Danny Dimes should have more time to look deep to Slayton. He is currently being drafted behind his teammate Sterling Shepard, who does not have the upside that Slayton does. Now there are questions about how the offense will look for the Giants since they signed unproven HC Joe Judge, but he is a WR friendly coach, coming from a WR/Special Teams background. Regardless, in my opinion, he is currently the most talented WR on the team.
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Matthew Stafford
Another guy that is consistently undervalued in the fantasy football community but this year takes the cake. Week 1-9, Stafford was the 6th ranked QB in fantasy football. He was on pace for 5,000 yards, and 38 TDs. Before he decided to shut his season down for surgery, he averaged 20.8 fantasy points per game. This man has the weapons in Kenny Golladay (who finished in the top 10 with water boys as his QBs), Marvin Jones, and TJ Hockenson. Another reason why he will outperform his ADP is the Lions defense is a dumpster fire. They couldn’t stop anyone in 2019, and they traded their only respectable CB in Darius Slay. Bad defense directly correlates to more passing attempts.
Copyright: Cleveland.com
Kareem Hunt
Kareem Hunt has all of the talent in the world, but off the field problems have put him in a bad predicament. He missed 8 games last year due to suspension, but when he came back he was relied on in the passing game for the Browns. He averaged 4.6 receptions per game without having any reps with the team. He scored 101 fantasy points in PPR in that time, if you would put that on a 16 game pace it would’ve put him at RB18 last year. He is currently being drafted as RB 28, while his teammate, Nick Chubb, is going inside the top 10 without the pass catching upside. Hunt isn’t just a pass catching back, in his rookie season he led the league in rushing yards with 1,327 yards. This new coaching staff is not married to either one of these backs, so it is quite possible Hunt gets more touches than people think. Probably my favorite value pick in the draft after Stafford.
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Todd Gurley
I guarantee I will get hate mail for this one. “Todd Gurley has no knees” is what the basic fan will say. Last year, Gurley had 857 yards and 12 TDs with probably the worst offensive line in the league. Where he lost value was in the passing game, until the Rams remembered the only way they are good is to give him the ball in open space. The Falcons have produced high level PPR running backs because of how often the offense throws the ball to the position. When Devonta Freeman was healthy, he was easily a top 15 RB in fantasy football. Todd Gurley is just flat out better than Freeman. Gurley finished as the 14th RB last year without having an offensive line, or a team that trusted his knees. He now moves to a team that gave him a 1 year contract to see what he can do. I am a big fan of these 1 year contracts because they will use the player without worry of his future with the team. Expect a full workload for Gurley, including a massive uptick in the passing game.
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