Those of you in dynasty leagues are probably already staring down your draft dates this week and those leagues go so deep it can be a struggle to find guys worth even throwing on the taxi squad late in the draft. Here are five guys beyond an ADP of 250 worth drafting.
Sam Howell – QB – SEA – ADP267
Sam Howell led the NFL in pass attempts last season and then joined the Seahawks in a trade to backup Geno Smith. If you were going to name the guys most likely to lose their jobs to their backups this season then there aren’t many names I am putting ahead of Geno Smith. Howell needs to get some things in order like throwing 21 interceptions, but Geno is going to turn 34 this season, was way down from his revelation of a season in 2022 and with an all new regime who went out and got Howell you have to expect that if Geno struggles the decade younger Howell is going to be given a shot to run this offense. QBs can be hard to come by in deep leagues and I think quite a few people are going to look past Howell.
Darius Slayton – WR – NYG – 271
Yes, Malik Nabers is in town, but Slayton led this team in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns last season and it wasn’t close. He is going to cede that lead role, but he is also being drafted behind Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt which is absurd. Slayton isn’t going to breakout suddenly at 27, but he is going to start opposite Nabers, who is going to pull all of the coverage with him. Slayton isn’t a sexy pick, but going this deep he should get snaps and points.
KJ Osborn – WR – NE – 336
KJ Osborn hype came and went pretty often while he was with the Vikings and now he joins a sad collection of WRs competing for starting slots with the Patriots. Osborn is probably going to win a starting spot when you look at the competition. Now, is that going to be an overly valuable in this offense being thrown to by rookie Drake Maye? Probably not. However, in deep leagues there are plenty of times where you just need someone who has a chance to score any points and to do that they need to be getting snaps and Osborn should get plenty and that’s all you need at an ADP of 336.
Spencer Rattler – QB – NO – 316
I am not sure how long Rattler is going to hangout below the 250 threshold if the hype continues and we sense any sort of struggle from Carr, but Carr’s contract pretty much demands that he is going to be the starter for this year and next (it would take nearly the same dead cap hit that the Broncos took to cut Russell Wilson to move on from Carr before then) so don’t board the hype train expecting it to depart this season. To me this is a slow burn pick like Jordan Love where outside of an injury you might be sitting on this coal for awhile hoping for it to turn into a diamond.
Jordan Whittington – WR – LAR – NA
As a Texas Longhorns fan I watched Jordan Whittington play for a long time and while he never lived up to the hype when he came on campus after an epic state championship game he was still on the field a ton last season despite playing in an offense that featured first round pick Xavier Worthy, second round pick Adonai Mitchell, third round pick Jonathon Brooks, and fourth round pick Ja’Tavion Sanders.
Despite falling in the draft to the sixth round, Whittington landed in a great spot with Sean McVay and the Rams. Whittington has a great skillset to be all over the field, is willing to do the dirty work like blocking in order to get on the field, and at 6’1 204 lbs is more than big enough for the NFL. He is so cheap that even in the deepest of leagues you can probably grab him off free agency and throw him on your taxi squad.
Draft him. Hype is building around him already and I think he could easily be on the field in 3 WR sets and McVay is going to find ways to get him on the field.