Fantasy football managers should always search for the next collection of late-round sleepers to target who could provide league-winning upside at the end of drafts. Who are some of the most intriguing sleeper options at the quarterback position to consider adding to your fantasy team entering the 2024 NFL season?
Fantasy Football QB Sleepers
The term sleeper in the fantasy football world can be used quite loosely depending on the individual analyst’s definition of the word. For this exercise, we’re going to qualify these sleeper options as players who are currently outside of the top 120 overall, according to ADP data. This means these players should regularly be available past the 10th round of your fantasy drafts.
Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
After playing for three different teams in two years, most fantasy managers were not expecting much fantasy success from quarterback Baker Mayfield during his first campaign in Tampa, Fla., in 2023.
Well, not only did Mayfield help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play a winning brand of football last season, but he produced a career year across the board. His 4,044 passing yards and 28 passing TDs were career highs and helped him finish as the QB10 overall in 2023.
This may come as a bit of a surprise, but Mayfield threw for more touchdown passes than Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson last year. Some could argue that Mayfield played at a higher level in 2023 than Tom Brady’s final season with Tampa Bay in 2022.
Mayfield once again proved his toughness by playing through multiple injuries over the final month of the season and managed to win a playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card Round, where he was excellent — throwing for 337 yards and three touchdowns.
His strong season helped him secure a big payday with the Buccaneers this offseason, receiving a three-year deal to remain the starting quarterback in Tampa Bay.
It remains to be seen whether Mayfield can sustain his high level of play in consecutive years due to his injury history, the loss of his offensive coordinator (Dave Canales), and his record of inconsistent production over his six years in the NFL.
However, with the same cast of pass-catching characters returning with some improvement along the interior of the offensive line (namely with the selection of Graham Barton in the NFL Draft), Mayfield projects as a solid streaming option at the QB position in 2024.
Bryce Young, Carolina Panthers
To give you a better idea of just how rough Bryce Young’s rookie season was in Carolina, he finished with fewer fantasy points than Joshua Dobbs. It is worth mentioning that Dobbs played three fewer games and changed teams in the middle of the season.
Young’s rookie season was so bad that his very future as the team’s franchise quarterback is likely at stake after throwing the same amount of touchdowns (11) last year as he had fumbles throughout his rookie season.
He failed to top 200 yards passing in 11 out of his 16 games and had eight contests where he failed to throw a touchdown pass. And for the cherry on top of the disaster cake, Young was sacked 62 times in 2023, which was the most of any quarterback in the league not named Sam Howell.
Now, it’s time to provide a little bit of context behind this whole mess.
Young had arguably the worst collection of pass-catchers in the league, his offensive line was inconsistent at best, and his first head coach in the NFL got fired in the middle of the season. That is a recipe for disaster for almost any quarterback, even a No. 1 overall pick.
One small bright spot for Young was his rushing contributions — he had 253 yards on the ground despite that not really being his game. Due to his receivers’ lack of separation, Young was forced to extend plays and hang in the pocket while going through his progressions to find somewhere to go with the football.
FIND MORE: Fantasy Football RB Sleepers 2024 — Targets Include Zack Moss, Devin Singletary, and Blake Corum
Young still showcased plenty of exceptional processing skills and anticipation. They weren’t enough to save his disastrous 2023 campaign, but the signs of him playing quarterback at a high level in the NFL were far from completely absent.
Fortunately, new head coach Dave Canales has made it a point to bring in a new crop of playmakers to surround Young with talent heading into Year 2. The additions of Diontae Johnson, Xavier Legette, and possibly Jonathon Brooks could all have a profoundly positive impact on the second-year signal caller.
If these pieces can gel together to provide some easier snap-to-snap answers for Young in 2024, we could be reminded quite quickly why the Panthers traded up to the No. 1 pick to select the talented QB prospect in the first place.
Drake Maye, New England Patriots
A quarterback prospect with all the physical tools and a translatable, prototypical build enters the league every year. In the 2024 NFL Draft, this QB was Drake Maye.
When you turn on Maye’s highlight reel, you’ll quickly see why he is such an exciting prospect. His size, speed, arm strength, flashes of pre-snap processing, eye manipulation, anticipation, and off-script creation all give him the floor of a player like Justin Herbert.
Yet, Maye’s lack of refinement in throwing mechanics, inconsistent accuracy, and moments of playing a bit late when going through his progressions give him a scary and hard-to-determine floor in the NFL.
Fortunately, at Maye’s current draft price, he comes with no risk and all upside.
Many don’t believe in the upside because of the lack of proven playmakers on the Patriots’ roster. DeMario Douglas, Kendrick Bourne, and Hunter Henry are really all that is there from last year. Admittedly, though, I do like the additions of Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Polk is a great contested catch player who can be very effective as a possession receiver against zone coverage. Baker has the fluid movement skills, physicality, and wide catch radius to be a great outside receiver — if he can clean up his drops.
It’s worth mentioning that, while Maye isn’t exactly known as an elite dual-threat QB prospect heading into the NFL, his contributions in the running game certainly shouldn’t be overlooked. He is a great athlete whose rushing production floor projects to be lower than Jayden Daniels’, but it will still be present while he develops as a passer.
Maye has the type of dual-threat skillset that could lead to early fantasy success but comes at a significant discount when directly compared to Daniels or Caleb Williams entering the 2024 NFL season.
