Fantasy Football: 9 Sleeper Wide Receivers to Target in 2018

Jaron Brown, Seattle Seahawks

Jaron Brown has spent much of his career going overlooked. He barely produced in college, with only had a fifth-percentile dominator rating, per PlayerProfiler.com. That cames as part of a Clemson offense that heavily featured both DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins, though, leaving little room for a third wideout to shine.

It took five NFL seasons for Brown to have something of a breakout, but in 2017, he ranked second on second on the Arizona Cardinals with 69 targets, turning those into 31 receptions, 477 yards, and 4 touchdowns.

Brown now finds himself playing with Russell Wilson in a Seahawks offense that no longer has Jimmy Graham, Paul Richardson, or Luke Willson -- players who combined for 20 touchdowns in 2017. Overall, the 'Hawks have 217 vacated targets (seventh-most in NFL), and Brown’s main competition for targets will be Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Brandon Marshall and Amara Darboh.

Assuming Baldwin is the primary receiver, Brown will be vying for the second or third role in the pass offense. Considering that he is going undrafted in both 12-team and 14-team PPR drafts, the upside of him landing the number-two role creates a ton of value.

Compounding the value is Doug Baldwin’s injury. His preseason knee sprain has kept him out of practice and likely will cause him to miss all of the preseason. Brown has reportedly been making the most of his increased opportunity, and Hawk Blogger recently Tweeted that “if scrimmages are at all predictive of player utilization in the regular season, Jaron Brown is going to have 300 catches this season.”

Obviously, Brown won’t get 300 catches, and Baldwin will continue to dominate the looks after seeing a 22.1% target share in 2017, but the chemistry he’s gaining in practice with Wilson is meaningful.

With the potential for significant volume in a Russell Wilson-led offense, Brown is well worth taking a flier on. - Granola Jeremy