Lineup Fantasy Football Show - 5 Rookie Sleepers to BUY in Dynasty Fantasy Football 2026 (With one HIDDEN GEM)

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

We share five of our favorite rookie sleepers to buy and target in Dynasty Fantasy Football leagues...including one HIDDEN GEM! Analysis and thoughts on the 2026 Fantasy Football season's biggest sleepers and breakouts in Dynasty Leagues! 0:36 - Zachariah Branch 4:40 - Skyler Bell 7:33 - Dae'Quan Wright 11:42 - Jeff Caldwell 15:34 - Demond Claiborne Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are identifying five rookie sleepers for Dynasty Fantasy Football, including one hidden gem that we are locked in on for the 2026 NFL draft. Welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mellow. And we are not going to waste anybody's time. Let's jump right into things mellow. And you give me your first rookie sleeper. This is a guilty pleasure of mine. I feel like I shouldn't love this guy the way I do. It's like forbidden love. I feel guilty, almost a little dirty. But it's okay. The heart walks.

what the heart wants. The disgusting boys are back. The disgusting boys are back. Disgusting brothers. Let me talk about Zachariah Branch wide receiver out of Georgia. Not the deepest of sleepers by any means. I think it could be a day two pick in the NFL draft. He's getting some buzz. But I do think he's being slept on a bit, so I'm calling him a sleeper. I'm sure me calling him a sleeper real upset some people because in some people's minds, unless you're like the third string long snapper on Timbuktu state, you're not a real sleeper. I'm calling Zachariah Branch sleeper, deal with it. He's a guy I like a lot.

Some guys are fast, some guys are quick. Zachariah Branch is both. He is electric, explosive, game changing, whatever adjective you want to use. He is so fun to watch. He's a bit undersized, actually pretty severely undersized.

He's 5'9, 177 pounds, so he's small. But he's tough. And the reason this is kind of like a guilty pleasure to me is we've seen this prototype of receiver before and we've seen this prototype of receiver bust actually quite a bit in the NFL. And that's how I'm like, man, I shouldn't take this bait. But just watch like five minutes of his college tape. Oh my God. Just watch him and you'll be convinced there's no way he's a bust. There's no way he's not going to be great in the NFL. He got a ton of manufacturer touches behind the line of scrimmage at Georgia

was in absolute yards after the catch king. He ranked fourth in all of college football last year in yards after catch. He profiles more as a slot receiver, but I do think he could stretch the field on the outside as well if a team did want to move him outside here and there to challenge defenses deep, keep the defense honest.

So I think he's more versatile than some people are getting them credit for. I think some people view him as sort of gimmicky because of those screens and those manufactured touches he got at Georgia. But I think he's also got reliable hands. He definitely doesn't have a very big catch radius. He's not out there mossing guys. But I think reliable hands, which is good. Played at USC before transferring to Georgia.

So he's played against the highest level of competition in college football, two big programs in USC and Georgia still produce. That's a really good sign. You're not worried about him going up to the NFL and just being completely outmatched by the competition. He's already played against college football's best. he's also a great returner, which is a little added bonus, and we've seen rookies excel as kick and punt returners before, which has eventually propelled them into bigger roles

on their offenses. Look at Tyree Kill, Tyler Lockett, even just last year, Tamere Adike, guys who started off really more heavily as returners were great and then got more involved in the offense. He kind of reminds me to Tavad-onston, which is super high praise from a college football perspective. And I've also heard Curtis Samuel comparisons, which I actually really like that a lot too. He does run me a lot of Curtis Samuel. But I'm hoping and I'm thinking he could be a much better NFL player than both of those

guys. Comparing college tape to Tavon Austin's crazy. There's some dude ripping a Zin like seven Natty Lights deep right now that's going to throw that on after the Tavon Austin hype tape. Might be me. I love this pick. Continued short king discrimination, 5-9. That's why we're not ranking him higher.

I completely agree with the sentiment of, yes, there's an opportunity he busts here and he's got the, the archetype for that to be possible. But when you start getting deeper in the draft and looking at these sleepers, like, everyone has a reason to knock them. That's why they're not being drafted as highly, not only in the NFL draft, but also in our fantasy mock drafts. And so there's obvious risk involved, but what we're looking for is the upside in kind of these lottery ticket type players. And you outlined it perfectly. I think this is a phenomenal pick. So much upside. And you're right. It's more short king discrimination. We love the short kings on this show. My lover, Zachariah Branch. All right, I'm going to jump into my first player,

but if you're enjoying the video, make sure to hit that like button and drop us to subscribe if you would like to be notified every time we drop a brand new episode. I'm going to talk about Skyler Bell out of Yukon, right now projected as a third round pick. Like you said, let's start off easy. We're not deep in our sleep. We haven't hit the REM cycle. yet, but like, I took a melatonin gummy, CBD gummy in the mix. Like, I'm chilling a little bit. Little cat nap. A little cat nap. Six feet, 185 pounds senior, just lit it up at Yukon this year with 101 receptions for 1,278 yards and 13 touchdowns, literal video game numbers. He's a phenomenal route runner. I think he's just like one of those guys that like quick comes to mind when I watch

his tape. He's very quick. Fifth highest receiving grade among draft eligible receivers in college football last season. And I don't know if it's the number one on his back, but I'm about to give a comp. You just went Tavon Austin College. And so I was like, any comp I say here isn't going to be nearly as crazy as that. I could say Randy Moss. I don't know if it's the one on his back, but he reminds me so much of Malik neighbors when I watch his tape. If all things fell right, he reminds me so much of Malik neighbors. I like that. Stylistically, like the quickness, the explosiveness. I'd see some Stefan Diggs in his game as well. Yeah, sure. It reminds me out. I love Jeff Cald Bull.

I love the pick. As a New England guy, of course, I'm going to support a Yukon guy. But I actually think he's legitimately very good, too. I think him and Zachariah Branch are guys who were probably going to go in a similar range, likely in the NFL draft.

And then depending on where they go, I could see them also being probably similarly ranked in dynasty drafts as well. I think in that range, those are the two receivers I want for sure. wildly unrelated. We're recording this ahead of the final four matchups, but like, how much is Jordan sweating right now? He had that deal. Oh, Elliot from Jordan's furniture? Yeah, Elliot, sorry. I just think of him as Jordan. He's, like, I feel like everything he ever does with these crazy deals is something that's never going to happen. And then, of course, it's actually going to happen. Yukon Benson Women's in the final four, everyone's furniture free. No, yeah, everything was always like if David Ortiz can cusses, some dude in the ninth row of the green monster in the eighth inning of a game in September, you win a free love seat. And then for once, Jordan's finally getting held accountable.

People I said they knew that they're like, what the fuck are these two talking about? Yeah, maybe I'll cut this. I don't know. No, I'll leave. This is good. This is good shit. I'll leave it. This is good content. All right. The new second sleeper before people actually fall asleep. sleeper right here, Mitch. I almost didn't even pick this guy because he's a guy ranked so low in so many Diocese rookie rankings that he's probably going to go undrafted in a lot of rookie drafts. This is what we're looking for. This is what we're looking for. This is what the real sickos and demons want it. This is my inner sickos coming out with this one. I'm talking about Dayquan Wright, tight end out of Ole Miss. Like I said, probably going undrafted in some rookie drafts. I don't care though.

He's my guy. I want to talk about him. Take him with one of your last picks in your rookie draft. we talked about the yards after catch ability of Zachariah branch. Your guy, Skyler Bell, as well, really big yak guy. I think he actually might have been like first or second in yards after catching college football last year, Skyler Bell. But for tight ends, Dayquan Wright was the leader in yards after catch in all of the FBS. Yards after catch is Dayquan Wright's game.

And to put in perspective, how impressive that is to lead the FBS in that stat, I'd like to give you some of the other guys who have been. done so over the last few years. In 2021, Brock Bowers led the FBS in yards after catch, followed by Trey McBride and Isaiah likely at two and three that same year. In 2022, it was Brock Bowers again, followed by Dalton Kincaid and Sam Leporta. In 2023, it was Brock Bowers again. Holy fuck. Brock Bowers is a specimen. You should talk about that guy more. Yeah. I don't know what he's up to these days. He must be doing pretty well for himself. Yeah. And number two that year was Harold Fanon and then last year, two years ago, 2024, it was Harold Fanon who led the FBS and Tyler

Warren at number two. So all NFL guys, all NFL starters, and almost exclusively really good NFL starters, like creep of the crop NFL starters, 2025, it was Dayquan, right? Like I said. So that's a pretty predictive metric in my mind. And he's incredible with a ball in his hands. He's big. He's strong. He's fast. He fights for extra yards. He absolutely. cooks opposing linebackers who try to cover him in man coverage. I think he's not viewed as a complete receiver by some scouts, which is why he's projected to be a pretty late pick in the NFL draft. Also not a very good run blocker at all, which is for real life football pretty important, which I think is why he might slip in the draft. But to that, I say, just put the ball on his

hands. Like, watch him with the ball in his hands. He is incredible. And I mentioned he's not a good blocker, but if you remove the blocking from the equation, he reminds me a ton of George Kittle, that yards after catchability, George Kittle was also a late round pick. I think he was a six round pick, maybe, seventh. I don't remember exactly, but a very late pick for the San Francisco 49ers. I think Daypon-Rite will also be a very late pick, and I see parallels for sure. Any time you can be putting him in the conversation, like you look at guys that were, like, Brock Bowers is the second tight end off the board. Trey McBride. the first tight end off the board Harold fan and breakout year, Tyler Warren, breakout year

and to be getting a guy this deep in the draft that, as you mentioned, might not even be getting drafted in your rookie drafts. Like, this to me is like such a crazy screaming value that, again, you're not giving up all that much to get him. Why not take the shot on the guy that could be something rather than a guy who's median outcome is just like a bench clogger? Yeah, like, it's so interesting too, because there'll be tight ends that are just like, maybe good blocking tight ends like kind of prototypical could be like a second or third

tight end on a team that'll get drafted in real life like three rounds higher and they'll go higher in dynasty rookie draft when they shouldn't. A guy like Dayquan Wright who is an elite receiving threat

with that upside like you talked about that's the guy you should be taking. And like we always mentioned this but you know the better you are at run blocking the more opportunities you're going to have to be on the field and so that's something to take into account

but like you're so right that NFL teams are not drafting a guy based on how good he'd be in offensive production for fantasy football. They're drafting him based on how helpful he'll be to their offense in the NFL. And those things don't always go hand in hand, but sometimes we as drafters get monkey brain and are just like higher draft pick, higher draft pick. Yeah, 100%. Especially with tight ends, I think, more than any other position. So that is definitely a name to keep in mind. Dayquan right. I'm falling in love with him too. I might be cheating on Zachariah a little bit here. Oh, that was a quick.

turn around. Scandal. Scandalous. All right, let me jump into my second guy. I'm going to get a little bit deeper than the first one. I'm going to talk about Jeff Caldwell out of Cincinnati. Slightly deeper. He's around a projected fifth round pick in the real life NFL draft, not in your rookie mock drafts. This guy is a real, like, project type player. He didn't have the craziest production in his senior year at Cincinnati. He had 32 catches for 478 yards and six touchdowns. He actually played behind Cyrus Allen, but was Interestingly enough, invited to the Combine and Alan wasn't after a 13 touchdown year. Here's where it actually starts getting interesting with Jeff Caldwell, though. 6'5, 215 pounds.

This guy is an absolute monster. The craziest part, he was 5'8 as a high school junior, which honestly just makes me wonder in a multiverse where Jeff Caldwell stayed 5'8 and started a fantasy football podcast and I went to the NFL. But Jeff Caldwell was number one in relative athletic. score after the combine with a 10.0. Consensus is the fifth or sixth round. The dream for Caldwell is obviously that he goes to a team that has a path for him to get on the field out of necessity. He is the type of guy that if he goes to the wrong situation, like, there's, he's not

someone who's so obvious to get opportunity. But for an NFL comp, he kind of reminds me of a skinnier Mike Evans watching his tape. I like that. The size, the physicality. He had a one- handed catch at Cincinnati, which is one of the better catches I've ever seen at the sideline. Unbelievable catch. So he's that kind of player. But even though he's big and even though he's not the best separator necessarily, he's pretty good with the ball on his hands too. Like he is quick. He is fast. Like crazy athlete like you mentioned. So there's a ton of upside. Obviously landing spot will matter a ton as it will for any prospect like you mentioned. But all else equal, I think he has the upside and the path

that a lot of similarly ranked receivers don't have because of his physical tools. So he excites me as well. And we harken back to these episodes a lot, but it was when we first started the show and we talked about the hindsight's 2025, what can we learn from last year? One of the things we learned about

is looking at these physical outlier players when you're talking about sleepers because they are the ones that give you that. opportunity to like exceed expectations. When you're that physically gifted, sometimes it just works. Yeah, especially for guys, like you mentioned, like he'll probably be a fifth round pick. It's interesting because if you look at like the first round of the NFL draft, oftentimes you really do want the guy who's proven, who's done it, who was productive in school. But once you go to the later rounds, like how often is there a guy that doesn't have a great athletic profile but was productive

in college and then was a day three pick, a fifth, six-round pick and was really good in the NFL. It's not that it never happens, but more often than not, it's the guy that maybe wasn't super productive in college, but has this crazy athletic profile and was able to grow and develop in the NFL. Right. And maybe it wasn't in the right system in college and didn't have coaches that knew how to use him. Exactly. So I think, you know, high-end early prospects, I like to look for that college productivity. But these later picks, go upside. Go down. with the athletic profile. Go with the guys who showed flashes,

even if they weren't, you know, the wide receiver 2 on Ohio State. So, Caldwell absolutely fits that bill for me. All right. Let's get into our final player. I was trying to think of a good name for this one, and it came to me.

We're going to call him our hidden gem or our super sleeper for the 2026 NFL draft. Mello, I talked about Zay Flowers' last episode because he came to me in a vision. I want you to talk about your guy because you sparked this conversation. Yes, he came to me in a vision.

It was this beautiful, euphoric moment. Demond Claiborne, the running back out of Wake Forest. That is our super sleeper. He is a big play waiting to happen, a home run hitter. And this is overall a pretty weak running back class, which is probably why we haven't talked about any other running backs to now. But for these later running backs are going to probably day three picks in the draft. He's the one who stands out to me the most as having incredible

upside because it's not too often you see day three picks or less highly regarded prospects with this kind of explosiveness, this kind of speed and agility. He really feels like a very complete running back to me with a great athletic profile. I'm super excited to see where he lands. Obviously, if the draft capital isn't there, which it probably won't be, landing spot will matter a ton. Hopefully it's somewhere where you can get opportunities. The good news is there's kind of a lot of teams that could use a running back. I feel like more than most years and it is a weaker running back class, meaning demand is higher than supply. So hopefully that means he goes to a, you know, a good landing spot where he can get work.

He was used in the passing game as well at Wake Forest. I mentioned he's a complete receiver. He got a ton of design screens at Wake Forest that he turned into big plays as the home run hitter that he is. I think part of the reason he's not being talked about as a better prospect overall is pass protection, which like similar to run blocking for tight ends, it doesn't get you fantasy points, but it is really important to keep you on the field. So he needs to get better with blitz pickup. He also really struggled with ball security last year, which is a quick way to get in the coach's doghouse. I think he had five lost fumbles last year. The good news is, though, those are things that can be cleaned up. Those things, those are things that can be fixed.

I don't think he is a broken player. He just has some things he needs to clean up, which is good. But all the physical tools are there. Home run hitter, like I mentioned, I see shades of Travion Henderson in his game, who last year was hopefully not all the shades of Trayvon Henderson. Yeah, hopefully not all the shades, because it was very beast or famine for Trayvion last year. struggled with consistent efficiency, but we saw the home run hitting ability. Like, he gets to the second level, and he's leaving linebackers in the dust.

That is super similar to Claiborne for me. So I think there is absolutely a ton of upside here. This is so similar to the reason I brought the Zay Flowers thing is I texted you about Zayflowers, all excited. And you texted me about DeMont Claiborne. And it was almost the exact same thing where I was like, okay, all right, I'll look into it. And I found myself getting so excited. 22 years old, finished his senior year with 179 carries for 970 yards and 10 touchdowns.

And he's just got that zero to 60 speed. You feel like it's the blink of an eye and he's absolutely flying. But you put it so perfectly that it's actually very beneficial that this isn't a strong running back class. And there's a lot of running back needy teams. So landing spot's so critical. I had one dream landing spot for him that I actually think he could be insanely productive. I hate to pump the brakes on the Bachel Tutin hype train, but the Jaguars have three picks in rounds four and five,

and I do think they could look to bring in a little depth because right now it's just Bachel Tutin and Chris Rodriguez Jr., who we've actually had some people in the comments excited about him. I can see it. If they don't draft a guy, I can see it. You can get me to buy in on Chris Rodriguez Jr., but as of right now, I do think they're going to bring somebody else into that room. And why not bring, like you've said, a home run hitter,

a guy that could absolutely electrify that backfield. That would excite me a ton. To finish off, my comp, I thought he reminded me a ton of Rahim Moster, but I loved your Treveon pick. I see Rahim too, like that breakaway speed that we've seen from Rehmeister, the zero to 60. 100%.

I see that parallel a lot. I would love Jacksonville. I'm not anti-Bacial Tootin or Chris Rodriguez, I guess, for that matter. Me neither, me neither. But, I mean, that would at least give him a chance. I think there's a lot of teams like that, though. like Washington or the

giants, the Titans, the Seahawks, the Vikings. Like there are a lot of teams that if he landed, I'd be like he has a path to be their starter by midway through the season. It's very interesting because it's so hard to project out what team he could go to because there's so many running back needy teams that are going to get filled with a running back in those first two rounds that we just don't know yet. Right.

Especially, I mean, obviously, whoever takes Jeremiah love, like you can cross them off the list. But the good news is there are options and he will go late enough in the draft that it could kind of just be any one of them. And I'm really excited to see who it is. I think the very funny irony behind this guy is how anti-day three running back we are in terms of long-term projections. So it's like, we'd be like, yeah, you got to go drop them on Claiborne. It's like, turn your calendar a year and we're going to be like, we got a great sell high for you in today's episode.

No, that's literally what it'll be. I will be doing, like, I'll be absolutely dancing on this take a year from now, talking about how right I was, how good he was, and then I'll in the next breath be talking about how he's a cell. But first, we got to make sure he hits as a rookie. Yeah, let's make sure he has a good 2026 first. Well, if you're still here, thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure to hit that subscribe button to catch every new episode.

And if you're not listening to us on audio yet, you can find the podcast on Spotify, Apple, and everywhere else you get your podcast. Mello, we miss anything? I think we hit on everything. All right, we will catch you guys next episode.