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It's notably difficult to identify sleepers in fantasy football IDP leagues. The skill of the players in question is very important, but situation also plays a large factor, as does a recent history of injuries.
Rather than bucketing them into groups, it's better to analyze each one individually, look at where they are in terms of ADP, try to determine what their ceilings and floors are, and see if they should be ranked higher than where they are now. That's not always easy to do, though.
That is why I write, though. I will forever be appreciative of RotoBaller's readers, and because I care about you guys, I pour a ton of effort into my research to give you the best analysis possible. Let's dive in.
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Paulson Adebo, CB, New York Giants
Adebo fits firmly into the never-ending list of players who could have had monster seasons and showed signs of dominance, at least on the stat sheets, but had their seasons cut short due to bad injury luck.
Adebo was on an absolute tear in his first six games in 2024 with the Saints. He played in Week 7 as well but got injured that week. Even with that included in his stats, he was on a season-long pace to have finished tied for fifth in points per game with 14.8.
Adebo logged 52 tackles and three interceptions, with all of his picks coming in his first six contests. The weakness of the NFC South boosted his potential, and he can continue to thrive with the Giants, the team he signed with in free agency. He showed great strides in his game before his season was cut short, too.
Yeah Paulson Adebo can play for my team any day. pic.twitter.com/IdlaK85Y3d
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) February 20, 2025
Adebo is not only a bit of a ball hawk but a heat-seeking missile in the run game. He has the size, speed, and strength to play outside corner, though that's not where he was always used. And he's an excellent tackler, as you can see from the above clip.
He'd likely be ranked a lot higher if he hadn't just gotten hurt. Bad luck changes players' fortunes but not how good they are. He could end up as one of the best defensive back scorers in all of IDP in 2025.
Alex Singleton, LB, Denver Broncos
The injury blurb from the above section applies to Singleton as well, who played in just three games in 2024. Singleton will turn 32 in early December and is coming off a torn ACL, but he was on a blistering pace with the Broncos in his first three contests before his injury.
Alex Singleton was such a vital player for the Denver defense in '22. A sure tackler in the open field (6.2% missed tackle rate) who reads out blocking concepts at an elite level. Would love to see him back in Blue and Orange next season. pic.twitter.com/5Cf8aA9yv6
— Frankie Abbott (@FrankiesFilm) March 4, 2023
His injury and potential release from the team will, of course, make him fall very far in drafts, but it's likely he still has some juice left. And for such a low price, that's worth taking a shot on.
Blake Cashman, LB, Minnesota Vikings
Despite ranking 11th in points per game for linebackers in leagues with standard IDP scoring settings, former Houston Texan and New York Jet Blake Cashman is ranked just 22nd among LBs in average draft position by DraftSharks for 2025. He had a fantastic year with Minnesota, amassing 111 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery.
Cashman had only logged 5.5 sacks in all his previous years combined. He only played in 15 games in his first three seasons, yet he only got three sacks in 2022 and two in 2023, so the improvement there is nice. And he's finished just his third season of playing more than seven games, logging 16, 14, and 14 contests in his last three years with the Texans and Vikings.
Blake Cashman was a top 5 Linebacker in the NFL this season.
What a signing 🥱 pic.twitter.com/t2WqheKJLK
— Cam (@42Cyc) February 8, 2025
He has even more room to grow. If he can put together a full healthy season, he could end up with closer to eight sacks, flirt with double-digit quarterback takedowns in the backfield, come close to 150 tackles, and log other stats, like forced fumbles and fumble recoveries.
The Vikings defense is a solid unit, which gives Cashman a chance to thrive. He might be slept on right now.
Foyesade Oluokun, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars
Heading into the 2024 season, Oluokun was ranked as the No. 1 linebacker and No. 1 overall player for IDP fantasy football. But a lot can change in one season, and a series of mediocre performances, as well as injury issues, tanked his production. It's not entirely his fault.
Oluokun is the Jaguars' best linebacker, bar none. The injuries he suffered likely impacted his ability to perform, and while it's important to take injury-proneness into consideration, it's just as crucial to determine how the player would have performed if healthy. Oluokun was a tackling machine in his first two games and still had some very nice stretches.
#ProDog Foye Oluokun with the sack on 3rd down!#DUUUVAL
📱 Tune In: https://t.co/mI2qMYdzY1
📺https://t.co/pERFUwJbhH pic.twitter.com/9w9Rwo3dmy— Yale Football (@yalefootball) November 12, 2023
Oluokun will turn 30 before the 2025 season starts, so he still has at least one good year left in him. And it's hard to imagine that he won't exceed his 2024 production in 2025. For players under 31-32 years old, an injury-ridden season is less likely to represent their new baseline of production when they had a much better, healthy season the year before.
He's in the middle of a full offseason of recovery due to the plantar fasciitis that landed him on injured reserve and likely bothered him for the entirety of the season. There's another angle to this as well. One problem with the Jaguars defense was that the secondary was so poor that teams could pass on them, essentially at will.
The 2020 Lions are the ONLY team in the past 25 years with a worse pass defense than this year’s #Jaguars (circled below) pic.twitter.com/1vKeObc7Wc
— Gus Logue (@gus_logue) November 21, 2024
Being able to constantly hit open receivers down the field kept the ball further away from linebackers and concentrated more tackles among the defensive backs. The new defensive coordinator, Anthony Campanile, should be able to field a better unit than the disaster that took the field each week last year.
He was a linebacker and run game defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, which means Oluokun could be under better defensive tutelage moving forward. A pathway to clear top-5 production is there since he showcased that before as well.
Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Detroit Lions
He doesn't meet the same criteria as the biggest "sleepers," but he's significantly underrated heading into 2025. This is just how it works with players who suffer injuries. Hutchinson broke his leg in Week 6 of 2024, and while his injury was gruesome to see in real time, it's unlikely to cause him continuing problems moving forward.
Simply snapping a bone cleanly isn't something that usually causes long-term issues for athletes. Even for non-athletes, the recovery process is straightforward, and most younger people make full recoveries. His injury was simply a freak accident, and it wouldn't have increased his risk of picking up any more ailments.
Aidan Hutchinson is running just four months after a season-ending leg injury. 💙
(via @aidanhutch97) pic.twitter.com/TdPxGGePmi
— NFL (@NFL) February 18, 2025
Many IDP leagues have scoring systems that are extremely favorable toward linebackers, but Hutchinson could have a truly legendary season in 2025. If your scoring settings are more balanced in favor of big plays, especially sacks and forced fumbles, Hutch could be a star and league-winning pick for you.
Through just five games last season, the Detroit phenom had already logged a ridiculous 7.5 sacks, 12 solo tackles, seven assist tackles, and one forced fumble. He was on pace to break the NFL record for sacks in a season, and though it was a small sample size, it showed how much Hutchinson had developed after his first two years in the league and part of his third.
Aidan Hutchinson yesterday
95.3 defense grade
11 pressures
Sack to send the game to OTAn absolute monster pic.twitter.com/V5iSSztjMT
— Josh 〽️ (@UMFanJosh) September 9, 2024
His play from the closing games of the 2023 season and those he played in 2024 were that of a top-3 defensive end in the entire league. There's an argument to have him as the No. 1 player at his position for IDP leagues, though he's not there yet currently.
That makes him a good value in drafts for 2025.
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