NFL training camps have officially begun which means that fantasy football draft season is right around the corner. For those playing in best ball and/or dynasty leagues, perhaps you have already embarked on a number of drafts. As always, obtaining optimal value with each of your draft picks is key. Of course, a big part of this focus involves drafting fantasy football sleepers.
When most think of prospective fantasy football sleepers, they consider players at the running back or wide receiver positions. However, there are also some quarterbacks who can be obtained in the late rounds of the 2022 fantasy football draft. Managers who wait to take a QB with a lower fantasy profile will benefit from the opportunity to bolster other roster positions in the early and middle rounds of their draft.
Here are three sleepers to target at the quarterback position in your fantasy football draft.
Fantasy Football Draft 2022: Quarterback Sleepers
ADP values taken from Fantasy Football Calculator and are for 12-team PPR leagues.
Trey Lance, San Francisco 49ers
Current ADP: 9.09 (QB14)
Jimmy Garoppolo may still be in San Francisco, but it will be second-year pro Trey Lance who takes the field as the 49ers’ Week 1 starting quarterback. The No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft started or appeared in six games total last season. Lance averaged 10.62 fantasy points spanning the half-dozen games in which he saw the field. In the two of those six games that he actually started, Lance totaled 64.9 fantasy points.
Thanks to his dual-threat capabilities, there figures to be plenty more production on the way for managers who take Lance in their fantasy football draft. Despite completing an underwhelming 57.7% of his pass attempts last year, Lance still threw for over 600 yards. He also had five touchdown passes. The former North Dakota State standout also scored a rushing touchdown while averaging 4.4 yards per attempt. Thanks to his rushing ability, Lance has the potential to turn broken plays into something positive.
With the 49ers just recently extending the contract of do-everything receiver Deebo Samuel, Lance will have no shortage of weapons at his disposal this season. Samuel, star tight end George Kittle, and promising young wideouts Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings are all poised to make an impact. Thanks to all of the talent surrounding him, Lance won’t have the pressure of needing to do TOO much, something that often plagues many young QBs.
When it comes down to it, the positive outlook in San Francisco along with Lance’s dual-threat abilities make him a very appealing fantasy football sleepers candidate. If nothing else, his upside in 2022 is much higher than his current ADP relative to other players at the position.
Matt Ryan, Indianapolis Colts
Current ADP: 12.10 (QB19)
Despite having a rookie tight end as his most talented weapon for the majority of last season, Matt Ryan threw for nearly 4000 yards and finished as the QB19 in fantasy. The former league MVP’s reward was an offseason trade to the Indianapolis Colts, a franchise that believes itself to be a quarterback away from contending for a Super Bowl.
The one constant theme from last year to this that Ryan will have to overcome is a lack of surefire weapons. Michael Pittman Jr. is viewed as the top receiver in Indianapolis, but he still has a lot to prove. Aside from Pittman and the oft-injured Parris Campbell, the Colts’ wide receiver corps is a crapshoot. On the bright side, fantasy managers only need to look back one season to see that the 37-year-old Ryan is capable of putting up decent numbers whilst working with an underwhelming group of pass-catchers.
Ryan also suffered from poor scheming and atrocious pass protection last season. Neither of those two elements figures to work against him in Indy. The Colts boast one of the best offensive fronts in all of football. Simply knowing that Ryan won’t be running for his life on every other dropback raises his stock in the 2022 fantasy football draft. He will also have last year’s rushing champ, Jonathan Taylor, lining up behind him in the backfield.
A more balanced offensive attack combined with much better pass protection could be the perfect setup for Ryan to make the jump to a top-12 fantasy football QB. After all, he came within 46 points of the QB12 spot a year ago despite all of the factors that were working against him.
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Daniel Jones, New York Giants
Current ADP: Undrafted
The court of public opinion on New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones seems to always land on one extreme or the other. As the 2022 fantasy football draft season heats up, Jones is firmly in the doghouse as far as public perception is concerned. The reason for this is anyone’s guess.
Prior to having his season ended early with a neck injury, Jones averaged 15.23 fantasy points over 11 games played. To put that average into perspective, Carson Wentz played in all 17 games and finished as the QB13 last year with the Colts while averaging 15.18 fantasy points per contest. Based on these numbers, had Jones been healthy enough to play a full 17-game season, his fantasy football draft stock entering the 2022 campaign would certainly be higher.
One of the major keys for the former No. 6 draft pick this season will be reducing his turnovers. Jones has struggled mightily with fumbling the football since coming into the NFL. With a pair of First Round draftees now stationed on either end of the offensive line, the Giants are hopeful that their pass protection will take a major step forward. In theory, this should help Jones to cut down on both his fumbles lost and interceptions thrown.
From the standpoint of weapons, Jones will benefit mightily from having Kenny Golladay fully healthy entering the season. Managers must not sleep on the 25-year-old’s rushing abilities either when assessing his potential as a fantasy football sleepers pick. Despite having his season cut short, Jones still finished tenth among all QBs last season with 298 yards rushing.
