The Four Most Undervalued Fantasy Football Players

Somehow, I resisted the urge of not writing the 10,000 article on fantasy football sleepers. Fantasy info is so prevalent these days it’s hard to find unique so called sleepers. Even if the sleeper has a breakout season, he will not be starting on many of the best fantasy teams. Ultimately the goal of fantasy football owner is to score a ton of points, to win games and ultimately to win a fantasy Championship. All of these four players will be drafted, and based on their ESPN staff ranking they will provide tremendous value for your fantasy teams. In this article I will predict the top undervalued player among quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.

Jay Cutler, QB, Chicago Bears: Some people may say save the best for last. Not me, I’m coming out firing with my #1 undervalued player in all of fantasy football. Cutler somehow is currently ranked by ESPN as the number 15 quarterback and the 119^th best player. This season, he has the potential to be a top three quarterback.  He will be an x factor for your fantasy teams. Consider last season the Chicago Bears started two quarterbacks Cutler and Josh McCown. They scored 291 points in standard leagues. Those 291 fantasy points would have ranked 3^rd among all quarterbacks. Even after last year’s breakout offensive season, Cutler is going to finish as the number 15 quarterback? Does Cutler play in a great defensive division? No, The Minnesota Vikings were 31^st against the pass, the Green Bay Packers were 24^th, and the Detroit Lions were 23^rd. Cutler gets six games against bottom 10 pass defenses. Did Cutler lose all of his weapons? No, this comparison below charts the productivity of receivers on two NFL teams. I took the top four remaining receivers from last season including two wide receivers, running back and tight end. Below are the catches, yards, touchdowns of two teams from last season.

Team A: 250 catches, 3141 receiving yards, 36 touchdowns

Team B:  328 catches, 4068 receiving yards, 27 touchdowns

Team A is the Denver Broncos and team B is the Chicago Bears. Team A included Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Julius Thomas, and Montee Ball. Eric Decker and Knowshon Moreno weren’t included because they no longer play for the Broncos. Team B included Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery, Martellus Bennett and Matt Forte. All four of Chicago top performer’s returned for this season. So now the Bears have potentially better weapons than the team that broke all kinds of offensive records last year. This season, the makings for a fantasy breakout are eminent. Chicago plays in a sorry defensive division. Cutler is in his prime and can make any throw. The Bears have four incredibly productive weapons and head Coach Marc Trestman is widely recognized as an offensive genius. Draft Cutler now and thank me later when he puts up monster fantasy numbers.

Stevan Ridley, RB, New England Patriots: Ridley is currently ranked by ESPN 68 overall and the 29^th running back. Last season the New England Patriots were a team in transition. Injuries decimated their receivers and most importantly tight end Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots offense is so much better when Gronkowski is playing. Ridley in the past two seasons has seen a dramatic increase in production just by Gronkowski’s presence. Ridley averages 59 rushing yards, .38 tds per game and 8.82 fantasy points when Gronkowski is out. When Gronkowski plays, Ridley averages 74 rushing yards, .82 tds a game and 13.08 fantasy points. Worst case scenario, if Gronkowski doesn’t play a game, and Ridley averages those 8.82 points and plays 16 games, Ridley would finish as the #19 running back. If Gronkowski played all sixteen games and Ridley averages those 13.08 points for 16 games he would have finished as the #6 running back. That would put him ahead of rookie sensation Eddie Lacy and Adrian Peterson for fantasy points! Not bad for the #29 ranked running back. My final point is New England’s rush offense is much better than most people would realize. The Patriots were top 10 overall in rushing attempts, rushing yards and touchdowns in 2012 and 2013. No NFL team during these last two years have run for more touchdowns than New England. During that time Ridley has scored a team leading 19 rushing touchdowns. Those 19 rushing touchdowns are more than fantasy studs Jamaal Charles and Matt Forte have. Ridley is your best chance to get a top ten back at a great value.

Michael Crabtree, WR, San Francisco 49ers: Currently Crabtree is ranked 53 overall and 21^st among receivers. This is arguably my most controversial selection. I’m sorry if I offend the legion of haters but Crabtree can ball. Last season it took him only six months to recover from a torn Achilles surgery. Crabtree only played in the team’s final five regular season games and their three playoff games. I know fantasy doubters would point out that he didn’t put up big fantasy numbers in 2013. But after watching several games on NFL Game Rewind and watching some highlights, I was impressed with Crabtree’s ability. He is a combination of receiver’s Anquan Boldin and Dez Bryant. Crabtree is one of the best route runners in the game. He can get open because of his agility and quick change of direction. He is a physical presence at 6’ 1” 214lbs. He can make plays in the middle of the field and also excels at making catches down the sideline. Crabtree is a competitor, he will never give up on a play. For example, last season in week 15 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Crabtree makes one of the best 4 yard touchdowns you will ever see. He makes a nice stutter step towards the corner of the end zone, reverses field to the back of end zone, stops on a dime, and goes back to the corner and just gets both feet down inches from out of bounds for the touchdown. You can check out the video on NFL.com to see how sweet this play was. In my film study this type of ability is apparent. In his last full season in 2012 Crabtree was the #14 wide receiver with 1105 receiving yards and 9 tds. The 49ers didn’t sign quarterback Colin Kaepernick to a six year contract worth up to 126 million for him only to handoff. Crabtree is still the most talented receiver on the team and Kaepernick’s favorite target. Even if Kaepernick’s passing improves slightly, then Crabtree is poised for big time fantasy production.  

Jordan Reed, WR, Washington Redskins: Currently he is rated by ESPN number 146 overall and 10^th among tight ends. His play on the field reminds me of a recent tight end from the University of Florida. Reed gives the Washington Redskins a big target that the team desperately needs. For a tight end, he has great speed, quickness and agility. He creates mismatches because linebackers don’t have the speed or quickness to keep up with him. Cornerbacks and safeties will have trouble out jumping Reed and bringing him down. Reed is just in his 2^nd season, and was going to have a breakout rookie year before injuries ruined his season. Even though he played in only 9 games he had 499 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. If Robert Griffin III returns to his rookie year form, Reed’s upside is comparable to last season’s Jordan Cameron and Julius Thomas. Reed has the athletic ability, he just needs to stay healthy. He is a tremendous value right now. You can draft him in round 12 or 13 and potentially get top five tight end production from him.