Fantasy Football 2024: Sleeper WRs You Must Target Late in Drafts (2024)

Fantasy football championships are often won and lost duringthe late stages of a draft.

While anyone can land can't-miss stars with their early picks, shrewd managers spend their time performing due diligence on the litany of unheralded options projected to be available in the latter rounds.

Identifying players with immense upside, ones who can provide a massive return on investment, puts these managers in a great position to thrive during a long fantasy campaign and makes it far easier for to win it at all at the end.

Wide receiver is a particularly important position to have several sleepers in mind before starting up a fantasy draft. With so many wideouts available, it's easy to get overwhelmed and make a suboptimal choice when you are on the clock.

Don't panic if you haven't prepared your list of sleepers at the receiver spot quite yet. We've done the work for you by coming up several late-round wideouts who will not only pad out your depth, but potentially even emerge as fixtures in your starting lineup this season.

With that in mind, read on to see which sleeper receivers you shouldn't let slip by when you are on the clock late in your fantasy draft.

All suggested WRs have an average draft position (ADP) of100 or higher and are available in at least 20 percent of Yahoo! leagues thathave already drafted.

Fantasy points, rankings and other data uses PPR metricsand is courtesy of FantasyPros

The Jacksonville Jaguars may have gotten one of the true stealsof the 2024 NFL Draft when they selected Brian Thomas Jr. with the 23rd overallpick. The LSU product only began realizing his vast potential during hisfinal season in Baton Rouge—one in which he racked up 1,177 yards and a whopping17 touchdowns on 68 catches—and could make another leap in the pros.

Thomas has all the unteachable qualities a receiver needs to become a star in the NFL. He possesses a rare blend of size (6'3", 209 pounds), speed (4.33-second 40-yard dash) and athleticism (38.5-inch vertical leap) that will make him borderline uncoverable at his best.

If BTJ spent training camp refining his route-running abilities and improving his focus to avoid drops, Jacksonville will have one of, if not the best rookie wideout in the league this year. He'll get plenty of opportunities to earn that distinction within a passing attack that already ranked No. 9 last year and could be even more dangerous in 2024.

With both Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones departing during the offseason, Thomas finds himself as the prime candidate to take on the lion's share of the 200 targets the pair vacated. While Evan Engram and Christian Kirk will still account for a large share of looks after ranking second and third, respectively, on the team in targets last year—and free-agent signee Gabe Davis is also a factor to consider here—Thomas is a good bet to secure at least 100 targets as a rookie.

Although the Jags haven't produced many elite level fantasy wideout in recent years, Thomas has the potential to break the mold. He landed in an ideal situation alongside rising star Trevor Lawrence, a quarterback with the cannon arm required to push the ball downfield. Lawrence shouldn't be afraid to launch the long ball towards his new receiving weapon and trust Thomas will outplay the coverage to come down with them.

While you likely won't be able to wait and see how Thomas fares in the opener—he's only available as a free agent in 21 percent of leagues—he's worth snagging in the final rounds of your draft and stashing on the bench due to his incredible upside alone.

The Buffalo Bills' passing game will appear far different in 2024 than it has in recent years. With Stefon Diggs departing after logging a herculean 644 targets during his four years with the organization and big-play threat Gabe Davis also exiting this offseason, a new hierarchy is going to be established in the early stages of the upcoming campaign.

It's reasonable to expect wideout Khalil Shakir should not only carve out a prominent role in this revamped offense, but also emerge as superstar quarterback Josh Allen's favorite target.

Shakir had a relatively slow start to his career and rarely saw the field as a rookie but came on strong in the back half of the 2023 campaign. That surge, coupled with the need for a new playmaker to arise in Buffalo, should lead to a massive leap in Year 3. It would hardly be a shock to see Shakir quickly become one of fantasy's most prolific producers from the receiver position, especially in PPR formats.

While Shakir's sophom*ore stats don't jump off the page—he finished the year with 611 yards and two touchdowns on 39 receptions—he flashed the potential for stardom. Over his final three appearances of 2023, including the playoffs, Shakir reeled in 16 of his 18 targets for 180 yards and scored in both of his team's postseason contests.

Shakir now looks primed to build on those performances by leading the Bills in all major receiving categories. His established rapport with Allen, as well as promising usage once Joe Brady took over offensive coordinator duties last November, has him uniquely positioned to outperform the rest of Buffalo's receiving corps this season.

The 24-year-old should have little trouble putting up big numbers even with rookie wideout Keon Coleman—Buffalo's top selection in the 2024 draft—in the mix. Having Allen's trust and the need to fill so many vacated targets could result in a monster year from a receiver who isn't even being drafted in 43 percent of leagues.

Brandin Cooks may not be the high-profile fantasy asset he was earlier in his career, but most managers have been writing off the 30-year-old far too early. Despite his advanced age, Cooks still has a prominent spot in the pecking order of a high-powered Dallas Cowboys offense and could greatly exceed expectations from his lowly average draft position.

For the meager price of a 12th-round pick in most leagues, managers can nab a player who has upside to record his seventh top-20 finish in the last decade.

Even though Cooks was only the WR38 last year and struggled with a WR49 finish the prior season, he's now established within Dallas' system and has a great opportunity to build on a solid ending to the 2023 campaign.

Although it did take some time for Cooks to find his footing during his initial season with the Cowboys—the fifth team he's played for since entering the league in 2014—he eventually broke out as the third-highest scoring fantasy wideout in Week 10. Cooks went on to post four more top-23 finishes down the stretch and even helped fantasy managers win championships by scoring in each of his last three games.

Cooks' role should grow in 2024 with both Michael Gallup and Tony Pollard—two of the team's top-five pass-catchers last year—exiting during the offseason. While he'll still be a distant No. 2 behind All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb, there should be more than enough volume to go around in a passing attack that ranked No. 3 in the league this past season.

Factor in that the Cowboys could have one of the NFL's weakest running games—the team brought in a pair of rapidly declining backs in Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook to replace Pollard—and it's readily apparent that Cooks will get his chances to feast.

If you are looking to fill out your roster with an excellent depth receiver who has upside to become a plug-and-play starter each week, look no further than Cooks in the latter rounds.

Ja'Lynn Polk may have been the 10th wide receiver taken in the 2024 NFL Draft, but he's one of just a handful of rookies who have a realistic chance to emerge as their team's top pass-catcher.

There is a clear path for Polk to shine within a New England Patriots' offense that has been downright desperate for playmakers. Last season, the Patriots had seven receivers log at least 100 snaps, but none breached the 600-snap mark or truly separated from the pack with their production.

Considering seventh-round rookie DeMario Douglas led New England with a pedestrian 561 yards and zero touchdowns on 49 receptions lastyear, there will be no shortage of opportunities for a new No. 1 to emergefrom this ragtag group.

Polk's chances of becoming a key contributor received a boost when it was revealed that Kendrick Bourne—the team's second-most prolific wideout in 2023—would be starting the year on the PUP list. His absence leaves the door wide open for Polk to establish himself as a go-to weapon during the first month of the campaign.

Polk already began capitalizing on this expanded opportunity by seeing plenty of snaps withthe starters during training camp and finished the preseason slate havingcaught seven balls for 53 yards across three contests.

While those stats don't jump off the page, Polk is only scratching the surface of his potential. He showcased his ability to dominate opposing defenders during his tenure at Washington and put up great numbers despite working within a crowded receiving corps.

Polk finished his final season in Seattle having notched 1,159 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 69 receptions. The 6'2", 190-pounder also displayed versatility at the collegiate level—lining up both outside and in the slot—and that trait will help him get integrated into the Patriots' offense immediately as a rookie.

Considering Polk's lowly ADP and availability as a free-agent in over three-fourths of leagues that already drafted, managers could do far worse than taking a late-round flier on this high-upside talent.