Top Sleeper Wide Receivers for 2020 Fantasy Football

This is a really intriguing year for the wide receiver position in fantasy football. The position is as deep as it has been in years, and it seems as if you can find legitimate starting options much later in the draft than you normally would.

But sifting through all that talent can be a difficult task, so here at The Duel, we're here to help identify some undervalued options. Let's take a look at the best WR sleepers for the 2020 fantasy football season.

All Average Draft Position (ADP) information is courtesy of FantasyPros' PPR ADP rankings.

4. Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans (WR35)

It's not really fair to classify Brandin Cooks as a sleeper. He's a household name who has been both real life and fantasy relevant since entering the league in 2014. But coming off the worst year of his career, people seem to have forgotten just how good this guy really is. Aside from his injury-riddled 2019 campaign, Cooks has averaged a stellar 14.9 PPR points per game since 2014. For reference, that career average would've made him the WR15 among wideouts with at least 14 games played last season. The speedster notably does his best work on deep routes. That should instantly endear him to his new QB Deshaun Watson, who had a top-10 average depth of target (aDOT) in 2019. His concussion history is worrying, but Cooks is an absolute bargain at his current WR35 price tag.

3. Jalen Reagor, Philadelphia Eagles (WR48)

Philadelphia Eagles fans may have hated the Jalen Reagor pick during the 2020 NFL Draft, but they'll likely be singing a different tune once the season kicks off. Reagor looks like a perfect fit with Carson Wentz. In his near-MVP campaign in 2017, Wentz posted an absurd 9.9 aDOT. Without many outside threats on the team, however, his aDOT fell to 7.7 and 8.0, respectively, over the two subsequent seasons. Reagor's blazing speed, and 15.2 yards per catch he averaged in college, should finally allow Wentz to utilize that deep ball once again. He'll likely be a bit of a boom-or-bust asset on a weekly basis, but he's hard not to love at WR48.

2. Curtis Samuel, Carolina Panthers (WR60)

Curtis Samuel is going way too late. At his current ADP, there's a chance he even goes undrafted in some smaller leagues. Don't let that happen in yours. Samuel was one of the unluckiest players in football last year, with a whopping 42 percent of his targets being deemed uncatchable, by Pro Football Focus. Much of that was due to his ability to get open downfield, combined with Kyle Allen's inability to throw an accurate deep ball. In fact, of the 23 QBs with at least 50 deep attempts in 2019, no one had fewer completions on such throws than Allen's 13. Meanwhile, Samuel's new QB Teddy Bridegwater completed a much-more palatable 7-of-14 deep attempts across his 6 appearances (5 starts). With some competency at quarterback, Samuel is a legitimate breakout candidate being drafted outside the top 50 at his position. That's fantasy gold.

1. Diontae Johnson, Pittsburgh Steelers (WR38)

Diontae Johnson might be the most talked-about breakout candidate of the offseason. Even a cursory look at his numbers points to big-time potential in 2020. He carved out a real role for himself by the end of the 2019 season, playing at least 75 percent of the snaps in each of his final three games. During that stretch he averaged 7.7 targets, 5.7 receptions and 65.7 yards per game. That translates to a 16-game pace of 91 catches for 1,051 yards. Johnson is also an analytics darling, as no wide receiver created more separation on average than his 3.6, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Obviously, he was held back by the horrendous play of Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. But with Ben Roethlisberger looking healthy, Johnson is an unbelievable value at his current ADP of WR38.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. 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 their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.