Darrel Williams Fantasy Outlook Makes Him an Intriguing Late-Round Deep Sleeper

When Kansas City Chiefs running back Damien Williams decided to opt out of the 2020 NFL season, rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire immediately became one of the top running backs in fantasy football.

Reports from Kansas City Chiefs training camp, however, suggest that Darrel Williams should be on your radar as a late-round sleeper pick in 2020 drafts as well.

Relevant & in reply to a quote from Bieniemy on importance of pass pro. Another reason I’m bulking on Darrell Williams as a late round flyer / insurance on CEH. I know folks love Washington but Darrel has been there, knows system, is a good blocker & has produced when given ops. https://t.co/AfKiN6WlPB
— Matthew Berry (@MatthewBerryTMR) August 28, 2020

The Chiefs' offense is one of the best in the NFL, and as we saw in 2019 that means whoever their RB1 is will be in play for fantasy football in any given week. Between Darrel and Damien Williams, LeSean McCoy and Darwin Thompson, there were 14 instances of a Chiefs RB eclipsing 10 PPR fantasy points in a game last season. Nine of those were 15-plus point performances.

Darrel only played more than 40 percent of KC's offensive snaps on three occasions, but he averaged a hefty 16.3 fantasy points per game in those three, scoring at least 12.3 in each.

There's no doubting that Edwards-Helaire is the RB1 in Kansas City, and he ranks No. 8 at the position in our 2020 fantasy football rankings.

With a shortened offseason, the rookie may be slow out of the blocks, and there could be enough room for Williams to carve out a role. As a late-round pick, the downside that Williams plays no role and you drop him in Week 1 isn't all that costly. The potential that he plays a real role in the league's best offense, though, gives him some big upside relative to his draft cost.

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Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.