Fantasy football draft season is upon us, and Sleeper’s popularity for hosting leagues is growing. With more leagues being hosted on Sleeper every single year, knowing what you are facing heading into your draft is crucial. Therefore, we have put together a Sleeper fantasy football cheat sheet to help you be prepared to dominate your league as you head into your 2022 fantasy draft.
If you are looking to ask specific questions about your Sleeper league, be sure to join our free Discord server, where our analysts will be dropping in to answer your questions. All ADP numbers in this article were taken from FantasyPros and correct at the time of writing (Aug. 23, 2022).
Sleeper fantasy football cheat sheet | Hints and tips to help you win your league
Ahead of your draft, it is important you thoroughly investigate your league settings. Sleeper is a high customizable fantasy platform, and commissioners have several options. Sure, there are standard scoring settings and roster sizes, but these can all be altered with relative ease.
The great thing with Sleeper is that when you look at the ADP for your draft, it’s based on your scoring settings (within reason). If your league is PPR or non-PPR, Sleeper adjusts the ADP you see. It is the same for 1QB or Superflex. The only downside of that is that everyone in your league sees those adjustments, so your opportunity to get an advantage over them is diminished.
Sleeper fantasy football standard scoring system
The standard scoring format on Sleeper is PPR. All of the scoring is set to the standard at the setup of the league but is able to be changed by the commissioner in the league settings.
When it comes to passing, players get one point for 25 passing yards (0.04 points per yard), four points for touchdown passes, and two points for two-point conversions. QBs also lose a point for throwing an interception.
For run plays, players get one point per 10 yards (0.1 points per yard), six points per touchdown, and two points for converting a two-point conversion. As well as the PPR scoring, receptions earn 0.1 points per receiving yard, six points per touchdown, and two points for a two-point conversion.
There are also various points awarded for kickers and defense. Every PAT made earns a point, while every field goal and PAT missed costs the kicker a point. The scoring for made field goals is based on distance. Kicks between 0-39 yards earn three points, 40-49-yard kicks earn four points, and kicks over 50 yards earn five points.
Defenses earn points for a number of elements of the game. Touchdowns on defense or special teams are worth six points, sacks earn a single point, while interceptions, fumble recoveries, safeties, and blocked kicks each earn two points. There are also points based on the number of actual points a defense gives up, with a sliding scale from 10 to -4.
Additionally, players can also gain points for kickoff returns, punt returns, or fumble recovery touchdowns. Players also lose two points if they lose a fumble.
Sleeper standard roster requirements
The standard Sleeper lineup requirement is QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, Flex, Flex, kicker, and D/ST. Each team also has five bench spots to store reserves. There are no injured reserve spots as standard. Unlike other sites, there are no set limits to how many players can be rostered at a specific position.
There is not a standard size when it comes to creating a Sleeper fantasy football league. When setting up a league, the first option to appear is eight teams, but there are a number of different league sizes to select from. Therefore, it’s important to check the size of your Sleeper fantasy football league and not just assume it’s a 10-team or 12-team league.
If your league does have customized settings, then you can use PFN’s fantasy resources to help you understand how the value of players changes with different settings. The remainder of this article will examine the ADP that is generated from Sleeper’s standard league settings to look for any players to target or avoid in your drafts this year.
Sleeper ADP | Potential bargains to exploit
As we stated above, Sleeper is intriguing because, depending on your scoring settings, they actually adjust the in-draft ADP to reflect which setting you are using. However, PPR is their standard scoring setting of choice, and therefore, we will compare their PPR ADP to the consensus on FantasyPros in our search for players to target or avoid in drafts.
Sleeper ADP is one of four source ADPs utilized in calculating the consensus. Therefore, there may be limited differences between the two sets of data.
Joe Burrow and Russell Wilson have increased value on Sleeper
The QB position, in general, follows a similar trend both in terms of Sleeper and the consensus ADP. However, two top-12 QBs stand out for having differences that are notable. Joe Burrow’s consensus ADP is 62.2, but on Sleeper, he goes nearly a full round earlier at 53 overall. It is similar for Russell Wilson, who has a 73 ADP on Sleeper compared to 81.6 overall.
The pattern of QBs going off the board shows there are no sustained runs in 1QB leagues. Josh Allen has an ADP inside the second round of a 12-team league. Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert then both go close together in Round 3 on average.
Lamar Jackson’s ADP puts him in the late fourth round. Burrow and Kyler Murray are in the fifth round on average, and Jalen Hurts slides into the sixth. Wilson and Tom Brady then both have Round 7 ADPs, while Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers are usually in the eighth.
It is a very steady and consistent pattern of quarterbacks being drafted. Therefore, you have an opportunity to really lock onto where you want to take a QB and target that part of the draft specifically. Of course, individual leagues will vary and panic will set it, so be prepared to pivot if there is a player you are targeting this year.
RB values have a similar pattern on Sleeper to the consensus
There is a high degree of closeness between the pattern of RB selection on Sleeper and the consensus. All the way through the 60th RB off the board, the major landmark backs (5, 10, 15, 20, etc.) come off the board at roughly equivalent times in the draft.
A total of 45 backs come off the board on Sleeper by the 150th overall pick. However, that is heavily front-loaded. Even in PPR, seven of the first 10 players selected on average are RBs. By the time you reach pick 30, 15 of those selections have been RBs. From that point on, it shifts towards the other positions, but Sleeper drafts are very heavily dominated by RBs early.
In the first 50 overall selections, the individual values remain pretty close. The first real discrepancy is Breece Hall, who has a Sleeper ADP of 43, compared to a consensus of 52.8. Kenneth Walker III is going 81st on Sleeper on average but has a consensus ADP of 105.2.
Amazingly, those are the only two backs inside the top 100 on Sleeper with a huge ADP differential to the consensus. The remaining group of backs in that part of the draft have their Sleeper ADP largely reflecting their consensus value.
Very few differences in Sleeper ADP at WR
There is little in the way of differential for WRs when it comes to Sleeper ADP. Through the first 40 players at the position, the pick trend is in a similar place to the draft. Between WR40 and 55, the position then has a slight increase in value on Sleeper compared to the consensus ADP. The difference in that region is approximately a round, but nothing too wild.
In terms of individual players, the first major difference comes with Jerry Jeudy. The Broncos’ receiver has an ADP of 49 on Sleeper, compared to 65.6 for the consensus. His fellow Broncos’ WR has a similar pattern, with an ADP on Sleeper of 51 and a consensus ADP of 63.
Other players who are valued higher on Sleeper than the consensus include Allen Robinson (59 vs. 70), Michael Thomas (64 vs. 76.8), JuJu Smith-Schuster (69 vs. 81), Rashod Bateman (76 vs. 91.8), Drake London (82 vs. 96.2), and Treylon Burks (95 vs. 116.8).
In terms of players who present bargains, they are less extreme in terms of their ADP differential. Brandin Cooks going at 63 compared to 54.4 is one of the bigger differences. Other values include Hunter Renfrow (86 vs. 79.4), Elijah Moore (90 vs. 84.6), and Tyler Lockett (97 vs. 87.6).
Tight end values remain largely consistent on Sleeper
One thing that’s noticeable is that on the major fantasy sites, tight end values — much like quarterbacks — are relatively stable across them. A couple of individual players vary, but the general theme is the same. Sleeper ADPs for tight ends are within five picks on either side of the consensus on average for the top nine options.
The first discrepancy is Dawson Knox, who has an ADP of 89 on Sleeper and 98.2 in terms of the consensus. We then see TEs start to go higher on Sleeper in general than the consensus has them going. Therefore, if targeting a later-round player, you may find yourself having to move earlier than planned on the likes of Pat Freiermuth, Cole Kmet, and Albert Okwuegbunam.