This week I wanted to look at some players who weren’t high draft picks (some not drafted at all) but look like league winning stashes whether acquired in late round, via free agent pickups or even acquired in trades. It’s hard to believe six weeks have already passed and just seven weeks remain in the regular season. I believe all five of these players are poised to be big players in the second half of the fantasy season and qualify as league winning acquisitions. I also believe most of these players will be eligible for fantasy award nominations at the end of the regular season as well. I am very excited about the young receivers and running back on this list and included one vet player who I think will have a nice bounce back in the second half of 2020. While all of these players are rostered in BFFL I highly encourage you to seek out these players in other leagues and I will be aggressively targeting many of them in drafts next year if they pan out like I am hoping.
1.) Justin Jefferson
Justin Jefferson was somebody I didn’t have high hopes for as a rookie but somebody I would be aggressively targeting in Years 2 and 3 if he was able to step in and assume some of the vacated targets from Stefon Diggs. Jefferson had his breakout game in Week 6 leading all receivers with 9 catches for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns on 11 targets. Jefferson has some stat lines eerily close to Diggs’ production in 2020.
| Statistical Category | 2019 Stefon Diggs | 2020 Justin Jefferson |
| Yards Per Reception | 17.9 | 19.5 |
| Target Share Percentage | 21.9% | 18.8% |
The opportunities and yardage appear to be close enough to simulate that Jefferson will fill the void of Diggs’ recent production. With only one competitor in the passing game in Adam Thielen, Jefferson is going to set up fantasy owners with a nice second half of the season. While I think Jefferson may not be as consistent as other options I will list below due to unpredictable play calling and game script of Minnesota games, he will be a strong WR3 with WR1 upside (as we clearly just saw in Week 6).
2.) Chase Claypool
Yes as usual this analysis is coming a week too late but Pittsburgh is a team loaded to the teeth with weapons. Of all players I’m talking about in this article, I believe Chase Claypool is the most likely candidate to qualify as a league winning free agent add/stash. When the team is fully healthy, it’s challenging to establish a pecking order of the receiving weapons. You could tell me Juju Smith-Schuster is the best receiver on the team or the third best receiver on the team and I couldn’t tell you which one was accurate. As you know statistics can be handpicked to make Player A look better than Player B but I believe the following table tells the story of Pittsburgh’s passing game.
| Statistical Category | Juju Smith-Schuster | Chase Claypool |
| Average Target Distance | 5.0 | 13.4 |
| Air Yards Share Percentage | 12.0% | 26.6% |
| Target Rate | 17.4% | 27.0% |
Diontae Johnson was one of my favorite receivers to target in the middle rounds of the draft this year but with his injuries, the rookie has emerged and I believe carved out a nice permanent role in this offense. Claypool has been used creatively all over the field (his Week 6 touchdown came from a rushing attempt) and has provided the deep threat this offense has been looking to develop in players like James Washington and Diontae Johnson. Claypool’s unusually high target and air yard share percentages are fantastic trends that you want to see in fantasy football breakout stars. I think even with a return of a healthy Diontae Johnson that Claypool continues to be a viable WR3 with WR2 upside. Without Johnson he’s got WR1 upside.
3.) D’Andre Swift
As we see the season progress from the 2-3 Detroit Lions and I believe they miss the playoffs this year, this will open up more opportunities to assess the future pieces of the team and to decrease the workload of Adrian Peterson. Swift was one of the most hyped running back prospects in the draft this year and I love to get rookie running backs as I believe they present the best value for running backs in fantasy football. This year has been more challenging with the lack of preseason games and limited training camps so the rookie learning curve is a lot steeper than usual. Swift is in a timeshare with an aging veteran in Peterson (who to his credit has still looked decent with his opportunities) and an injury-prone Kerryon Johnson who missed 14/32 games coming into 2020. As the season progresses, I believe Swift has one of the highest upside potentials of any running back in a committee and will see a surge of opportunity and production in the second half of the season which will equate to a solid RB2 moving forward.
4.) Carson Wentz
Wait a minute are you sure you got the right Philadelphia Eagle on this list, don’t you mean Travis Fulgham? Maybe I will be eating my words at the end of the season but it’s hard to imagine Fulgham will keep this historic pace he’s on when the Eagles get back several weapons healthy on offense including Zach Ertz, Alshon Jeffery, Desean Jackson and Dallas Goedert. I have little faith that all four of these guys will remain healthy for the rest of the season and even if they do the production of Fulgham would be stupid to ignore and his role would be elevated in the offense. It just seems hard to imagine he is the first or second primary option when Wentz has so clearly favored his tight ends in the last couple of years. The return of all these weapons certainly helps Wentz’ case and makes me think we will see some decline in Fulgham. Wentz has a cupcake schedule coming up in the middle part of the season with the following four opponents in a row: NYG, DAL, NYG again and then CLE. What do all these defenses have in common: they are a QB delight. Wentz has performed well as of late with a brutal schedule and injury-riddled team and we can expect to see both of these things make a complete 180 in his favor which will result in some big games for the QB.
5.) Tee Higgins
While everyone is excited about AJ Green’s first good game of the 2020 season, I’m focused on the second half potential surge of Tee Higgins based on several factors: his chemistry with franchise QB Joe Burrow, age and workload working in his favor and John Ross asking for a trade. Listen to some of these analytics that make the case: Higgins has a commanding 29.3% of air yardage share through six games, 15.4 yards per reception and a respectable 18.6% target share on the team. Through six weeks, Higgins is only 3 fantasy points behind Tyler Boyd as the leading receiver on the Bengals despite being drafted in the 14th round versus Boyd being a 5th rounder. Higgins will be one of my trendy second year WR candidate next year so I’m quietly hoping he doesn’t break out too hard but continues to flash on these advanced air yardage stat lines.
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