The Monday Morning Sleeper
Welcome to this weeks’ edition of the Monday Morning Sleeper, where every Monday morning I profile a different potential sleeper candidate and present you with my arguments on why I think you should reach for this late ranked talent who may help you to take down your league championship.
[the_ad id=”693″]My first 2017 sleeper candidate is Paul Perkins. He is a 22-year-old running back entering his second season with the New York Giants, and I predict that he will take a huge leap forward in his sophomore season and blow away his current draft ranking, and be the biggest draft day steal of 2017. Here’s why.
Perkins is currently ranked in the mid 90’s in most dynasty, and standard rankings, he is ranked as low as in the mid 60’s and high as just over 110th. However, he is currently number one on the depth chart in New York. With the Giants releasing Rashad Jennings, who was his biggest road block to feature back status, and with Shane Vereen closing out another injury plagued season, the starting job is his to lose. Barring the Giants drafting, or signing, a superior talent… watch for Perkins to feature out of the gate.
He has an impressive college resume during his playing career at UCLA. In his final season in 2015, he rushed for 1343 yards on 237 carries, which was good for an average of 5.7 yards per carry. He also added 30 receptions for an addition 242 yards. Perkins finished his final season for the Bruins with a total of 15 Touch Downs while leading his conference in rushing. He completed his college career with an impressive 621 carries for 3488 yards, averaging 5.6 yards per carry, and 29 Touchdowns in three seasons. The New York Giants drafted him in the 5th round of the 2016 NFL draft, 149th overall.
He had a moderately successful rookie campaign in New York, despite playing behind Jennings, Vereen, and even Orleans Darkwa for a brief period. He completed the season with 112 rushing attempts, which was good for respectable 456 yards, averaging 4.1 yards per carry. He also added 15 receptions for 162 yards. Not too bad for someone who started the season buried on the depth chart. He didn’t have a TD in 2016, but with the new season, comes new opportunities. Perkins will improve on these numbers in 2017, and in my opinion should become the feature option in that backfield.
[the_ad id=”471″]I would try to grab Perkins in the late 6th or early 7th round in standard leagues, and early 6th in PPR leagues. If you are playing in a dynasty league, I would try to grab him in the early 5th round. He will provide you with a good risk vs. reward gamble at this point in the draft, and could return a top 10-15 positional value in return by season’s end. With his receiving ability, he will prove to be a versatile threat for Eli Manning in 2017, and potentially a top 15 fantasy Running Back, especially in PPR leagues.
With the running back position fluctuating like the stock market, gambling on young talent can pay out huge, especially in a dynasty league and PPR formats.
As mentioned earlier, there is the risk of some new talent joining the roster through free agency or the upcoming draft. There is also a (small) chance that Darkwa excels in training camp, and steals the starting job for himself. So before drafting him on my advice, monitor the situation and make your decision based on all the information available to you, at the time. The Giants have signed veteran RB Shaun Draughn, but he should only be viewed as a change of pace back and a low tier hand-cuff.
Next Monday, I will be profiling another Running Back poised for a breakout sophomore season, so check back for next weeks’ edition of The Monday Morning Sleeper.
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Thanks James. You know what you’re talking about. Look forward to your next post.