8 Fantasy Football Sleepers for Week 1
Tajae Sharpe, WR, Tennessee Titans
A fifth-round pick this year, Tajae Sharpe has impressed in training camp and the preseason, and he is locked in as a starter for the Tennessee Titans.
While Sharpe isn't an athletic freak, he was a productive receiver in college with 196 receptions and 2,600 yards in his junior and senior seasons. According to PlayerProfiler, he had a strong 37.8% Dominator Rating, which essentially tracks the percentage of a team's offense that players produces (his ranks in the 72nd percentile), and his Breakout Age (the age at which a player first posts a Dominator Rating above 20%) was 18.7, which is truly elite in the 95th percentile.
As Kevin Cole has looked at, college production is a huge deal for wide receiver prospects, and Jon Moore took a look in 2014 at the importance of Dominator Rating and age.
Sharpe really stands to benefit from the Titans' lack of receiving depth. Kendall Wright is already ruled out for Week 1 with a hamstring injury, Dorial Green-Beckham was traded away, and the only real competition Sharpe will have for targets this week is fellow TItans' newcomer Rishard Matthews and tight end Delanie Walker.
Hey may not have a big impact in what is a bit of a tough matchup against the Minnesota Vikings this week, but there's a possibility he ends up with solid season-long numbers this year. If he's on your waiver wire, now is probably the time to grab him before he plays well and becomes a hot commodity.