Overhyped "Sleepers" for 2023 Fantasy Football - Stop That Hype Train on Anthony Richardson, Damien Harris, more

Conductor, it is time to slam the breaks on the hype train!

Fantasy footballers love sleepers more than Mike Lindell and his MyPillow company. This time of year, with NFL training camps opening their doors, fantasy managers are feverishly working on their cheat sheets for their drafts and pegging which players could be sleepers this upcoming season. Picking the right sleepers in the right rounds always helps fantasy managers look like Bill Belichick-like geniuses and normally leads to fantasy championships.

There is a danger in falling in love with a player you think is destined to be a fantasy sleeper, though. The offseason is ripe with hype machines that talk up how fast someone’s 40-yard-dash time is or how an offensive coordinator is planning on getting the ball into a player’s hands more often. So which overhyped sleepers should fantasy GMs be weary of heading into the upcoming NFL season? Here are three players whose “sleeper” tags could ruin a few fantasy seasons.

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Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts

Everyone is talking about how amazing Richardson is. The guy has more tools than Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Ace Hardware combined when you hear people raving about him day after day. Start with Pat McAfee and work your way down to beat writers and fantasy pundits. It sounds like an open-and-shut case that the Florida product is going to turn out to be the next Patrick Mahomes because of his scintillating skill set.

Yet while Richardson is someone to definitely keep an eye on in dynasty leagues because his future is brighter than a pyrotechnics display at a Metallica concert, the jury is out on what he will give fantasy managers in 2023.

For starters, he has to win the starting signal caller job. Indianapolis brought in Gardner Minshew, who is no slouch under center and also played in head coach Shane Steichen’s offense in Philadelphia last year. While there is a chance Richardson could start all 17 games for the Colts, there is also a solid shot that Minshew is under center in Week 1 and gets some starts before Richardson is ready.

Richardson also will have to deal with the usual inconsistencies rookie signal callers go through, not to mention a supporting cast that did nothing to support its quarterbacks last year. Indy’s offensive line helped put Matt Ryan into retirement as the unit was exposed as overrated. The receiving corps is basically Michael Pittman Jr. and several unknowns.

The one constant, top tailback Jonathan Taylor, is battling preseason injuries and management. Couple all this with the lack of snaps Richardson had during his college career compared to other rookie quarterbacks and this is a hype train that needs a red light on the rails.

Damien Harris, Buffalo Bills

Fantasy managers have been salivating over Harris turning into Buffalo’s red-zone runner after he signed to be part of one of the most explosive offenses in the AFC. The between-the-tackles battler scored a career-high 15 touchdowns when he was New England’s bell-cow back. Being installed as the main man for short-yardage handoffs on a team that is always down by the end zone because of Josh Allen’s talents and tosses sounds like a fantasy match made in heaven.

Harris has a couple of things going against him though. One is that not only does he have to share touches with young playmaker James Cook, but he also has to fight a fellow veteran Latavius Murray for the role of early-down big back who gets handed the ball inside the five-yard-line.

Murray is ageless. In a time where 25-year-old Pro Bowl running backs have to beg to be paid as well as third wide receivers, the 33-year-old Murray is coming off back-to-back six-touchdown seasons. The backfield might not be big enough for Harris and Murray.

Another holdup is Harris’ durability.  He missed six games with a variety of ailments last season and missed another half-dozen during the 2020 campaign. Harris runs harder than his body can handle sometimes. In fact he has already been hampered by a minor injury during training camp.

I can see Harris running for 850 yards and 10 touchdowns if everything breaks right. I can also see him getting nicked up and falling behind Cook and Murray on the depth chart and finishing with 500 yards. Tread carefully, fantasy managers!

Chigoziem Okonkwo, Tennessee Titans

Because of the lack of depth at tight end in fantasy football, Okonkwo has become the poster-boy sleeper at the position. Not only do fantasy players love his name, but they also love his game, namely how he can stretch the field (led all tight ends with a 14.1 YPC last year) with his wide-receiver-like wheels and skills.

Okonkwo has a huge opportunity to be a playmaker in the Tennessee passing attack since he is the unquestioned No. 1 TE now that veteran Austin Hooper is no longer on the roster. The question is how many plays will he make?

I do not ask because he cannot make them if given the opportunity. With newly-signed DeAndre Hopkins and super sophomore Treylon Burks ahead of him on the target totem pole, and this being a run-first offense built around workhorse extraordinaire Derrick Henry, Okonkwo might only average five targets per game.

We do not know whether Ryan Tannehill or Will Levis will throw the bulk of the passes that Okonkwo catches, but that does not worry me as much as Okonkwo’s small sample of work and the Pro Bowl players who will get more touches than he will. I think Okonkwo could be a super stat man and give fantasy managers 800 yards and six scores someday, but I worry that he might be another Noah Fant or Tyler Higbee – a tight end with tools who ends up disappointing fantasy footballers – in 2023.

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