Last season ended in disappointment for Tampa Bay wide receiver Chris Godwin, who prior to tearing his ACL in Week 15 had already set career-highs for targets and catches. Before his injury, Godwin had five touchdown receptions, but even without effectively playing in the last four games of the season, he still finished with the fourth-most red zone targets among all NFL receivers with 25. Leading your 2022 Fantasy football rankings with a focus on scoring potential can help set you up for a winning season and help you identify the biggest 2022 Fantasy football sleepers, breakouts, and busts.
The top Fantasy wide receiver last season, Cooper Kupp, also finished with the most red zone targets (37), and Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs was next with 34. Diggs was a top-three wide receiver in preseason Fantasy football ADP, but still rewarded owners as the seventh-best wide receiver in PPR formats. Before setting your 2022 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2022 Fantasy football cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Last year, the model accurately predicted that Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was being dramatically undervalued. Taylor was being drafted behind running backs like Aaron Jones, Ezekiel Elliott and Austin Ekeler last season but the SportsLine projection model predicted that he’d outproduce all of those backs and be a fixture in your Fantasy football lineups. The result: Taylor led the NFL with 1,811 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns to finish as the overall RB1 in 2021.
The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, also identifying A.J. Brown as another sleeper in 2020 and players like Julio Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster as Fantasy football busts last season. Additionally, it’s called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.
The model is powered by the same people who generated projections for all three major Fantasy sites, and it beat human experts last season when there was a big difference in ranking. The projections update multiple times daily, so you’re always getting the best Fantasy football advice.
Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2022, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2022 Fantasy football sleepers
One of the 2022 Fantasy football sleepers the model is predicting: Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen. His reputation as a productive Fantasy wide receiver is often overshadowed by his injury history, but he matched his career-high for games played in a season in 2021 with 16 and set a career-high for receptions with 106.
Allen hasn’t had fewer than six touchdowns in a season since missing 2016 with a torn ACL, and last year he finished tied with Tyreek Hill for the fifth-most red zone targets with 23. The Chargers threw the third-most passes in the NFL in 2021, and Allen finished with 24 percent of the team’s total receptions. Although the Chargers re-signed fellow wide receiver Mike Williams to a new deal during the offseason, Allen is the more consistent receiver and the top option in a high-volume passing attack. The model projects that Allen offers more value at his current 2022 Fantasy football ADP than others being drafted ahead of him like Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and CeeDee Lamb. See more Fantasy football sleepers 2022 here.
Top 2022 Fantasy football breakouts
The model is also projecting Jaguars running back Travis Etienne as one of its top 2022 Fantasy football breakouts. The 2021 first-round selection missed his entire rookie year after he suffered a Lisfranc injury early in the preseason. He appears ready to make up for his lost season this year and was a full participant for nearly the entirety of the Jags’ OTA program.
Former head coach Urban Meyer envisioned Etienne as an all-purpose back when the team drafted him. Video released by the team and media has shown Etienne bursting in-and-out of cuts on passing routes and looking fluid in his movements. The team is banking on both James Robinson (Achilles) and Etienne to make full recoveries and contribute sooner rather than later, but Etienne has a much higher ceiling as a pass-catcher. That upside is why the model projects Etienne to have a better Fantasy season than others being drafted ahead of him like J.K. Dobbins, Miles Sanders and Elijah Mitchell. See more Fantasy football breakouts 2022 here.
Top 2022 Fantasy football busts
As for players to avoid, the model lists Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins as one of its 2022 Fantasy football busts. Dobbins was the most productive back Baltimore had as a rookie in 2020, averaging 6.0 yards per carry and scoring nine times. That put him in line to be the No. 1 option in 2021 before a preseason ACL tear cost him his entire sophomore season.
Now, Dobbins is expected back into the rotation, but he’s still going to have to battle for carries with Gus Edwards and Mike Davis while all three backs play second fiddle to quarterback Lamar Jackson, Baltimore’s most dangerous threat on the ground. Dobbins has been the 16th running back off the board on average in early PPR drafts and is being drafted at the tail end of the third round overall. However, the model predicts that he finishes outside the top 20 running backs in 2022. See more Fantasy football busts 2022 here.
How to find proven 2022 Fantasy football football rankings
SportsLine is also extremely high on a surprising quarterback you aren’t even thinking about being taken in the middle rounds of 2022 Fantasy football drafts. This quarterback is listed as a shocking top-five option ahead of superstars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. You can only see who it is, and the 2022 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.
So which 2022 Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2022 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jonathan Taylor’s huge season, and find out.
