Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Don't IGNORE these 5 Late Round Sleepers in Fantasy Football

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Fantasy Football Draft season is upon us and as fun as those first few picks can be, league winners and championships are born in the late rounds. In this episode, Mitch and Mello break down the 5 best late-round fantasy football steals of 2026 draft season. Timestamps: 0:00 - Fantasy Football Sleepers and Values 0:48 - Stefon Diggs 4:28 - Antonio Williams 7:59 - Chris Rodriguez Jr. 14:04 - Jauan Jennings 18:26 - Chig Okonkwo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are always game-changing gems to be found late in your fantasy football drafts like Parker Washington and Matthew Stafford back in 2025. It is time to break down the five players in the late rounds of your 26 drafts that can change your season, including last year's wide receiver 17, who's going as the wide receiver 69 right now. Let's go. Welcome into the Lion Fantasy Football Show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And Mello, in the words of Jeff Probst, you got to dig. And let's dig in deep on some late round flyers with great upside and fantasy football this year. As always, I'm going to let you jump in first on the first of five players. Starting off with a survivor reference. I absolutely love it. That's how you

know it's going to be a good episode. That's how you know it's going to be a good episode. And you're right, you do got to dig. And sometimes you got a digs, because I'm talking Stefan digs here, who is being ranked 178th overall right now on the fantasy pros consensus rankings of wide receiver 69. Nice. Nice. Going so late. And I know he's not on an NFL team currently, but you know he will be,

and he's basically free at the end of drafts. I've quoted this already on this show on a previous episode, but I'm going to do again because it really is such a great bar. That's Stefan Diggs said himself. He played 52% of snaps last year and still finished with 85 catches for 1,045 yards coming off in ACL. And people talk about the ripe old age and everything. He was so productive last year.

And it wasn't just the status. that impressed. It was the tape as well. He was pro football focus's seventh highest graded receiver last year. No qualifiers, no criteria, no sign up, no credit card, no bullshit. Just a damn good receiver. If you had any doubt that there's still gas left in the tank, I hope I just removed it for you. And you just know he's going to sign the contender with a good quarterback, where he is in his career right now. Like he's going to want to go somewhere good, whether it's Kansas City, Baltimore, Washington, or even Buffalo, perhaps, a little reunion. with Josh Allen. He's going to be a factor on a very good offense once he does sign somewhere.

Is there a chance that the wheels fully come off in 2026? Sure. Yeah. At his age, like you can never count it out. But am I willing to take that risk with the very last pick in my draft? Absolutely. Like I said, he's like free right now in redraft. He's going a little bit higher at a more reasonable price in best ball. But even where he's going at best ball drafts, I love him. I'm taking the shot on him there as well, where I think his value and his ADP will probably move up once he signed somewhere, which is funny because we know he is going to sign somewhere. So why isn't just higher right now? But with all that said, take the shot on him. Even if he's just what he was last year or close to it, you're going to be super happy with the pick. I'm not saying you're getting

prime Stefan Diggs because you're not. But he was the wide receiver 17 overall last year. And I still think he has the upside of providing you with solid wide receiver two numbers or at the very least some strong flux consideration, which is such a phenomenal value at the end of drafts. So I just checked. He's wide receiver 57 in best ball. To me, that's like where the value actually is because like theoretically he signs and his redraft price is going to climb before you can actually go and draft him. Right.

But like you're saying, we know he's going to sign somewhere. Why would you not pay a wide receiver 57 price tag? I just talked about Jalen Naylor as the wide receiver 61 as excited as I am for him. I would much rather be taking a shot on Stefan Diggs no matter where. where he goes. And like you said, it's going to be a Kansas City or a Washington or even Buffalo, which it would be hilarious if we get another digs watching the conference championship celebration again. Like I said, his price is going to go up once he signs in terms of redraft. But sometimes when these guys sign later in the offseason, like, you can get one over on your league mates

because they haven't climbed up the consensus rankings as much as they should have when it's such a late move. People are like so married to consensus rankings too where even if they like him, they're just like scared to click the button or put the sticker up if he hasn't climbed enough yet, which, yes, I agree, like the best ball takeaway is get him now before he signs because then he will shoot up there. But even in redraft, he's getting ranked as the wider receiver 69 right now. Like, if he doesn't sign for another few weeks, he's still not going to be, even if he climbs redraft rankings, he's not going to be where he should be by the time you're drafting in August. So I think he's going to stay a value.

I fully agree with that. He's actually the perfect segue as we get into our next guy, someone who is, somewhat threatened by the looming Stefan Diggs signing that could happen. And that's Antonio Williams, the rookie for the Washington commanders, number 172 off the board right now, wide receiver 70. I don't think you're going to be blown away by his production in the first few weeks of the year, as you often aren't by rookie receivers. But these guys can take a little bit to come on and then the opportunity in front of them

just explodes. That being said, Antonio Williams is a guy who has the opportunity kind of right out the gate as long as they don't sign a Stefan Diggs-esque free agent wide receivers. meaning he could just be the wide receiver too in a Jaden Daniels-led offense. And I think that there's this stink that's going around with the commanders because of last year. And I hate it because Jaden gets her and everyone's like, oh, they're bad again. Or, oh, here's RG3 all over again. I'm fully bought into this team bouncing back hard.

And I'm looking like at the 2024 commanders and how hard all of us were trying to get a piece of that offense. What if it looks a lot closer to that than it did in 2025? I think you're looking at a massive value on a lot of these guys. this quote holds almost no water, but I thought it was hilarious that Benjamin Solac from ESPN, his prediction for Offensive Rookie of the Year was Antonio Williams because of the opportunity that he has. And although I think that is an outlandish take, it's based somewhat in truth that when you look at the opportunity that he's going to be able to get, it's potentially up there in terms of volume with guys like Tyson, guys like Tate, guys like Lemon. And so I don't think

it's as outlandish as it might seem. I'm looking at a guy who, who's a true slot who could work into this offense immediately, one of those high-volume, low a-dot safety blanket kind of guys for Jaden Daniels that could have tremendous upside. And it kind of feels to me like you're getting a Josh Downs-esque guy introduced into this Washington offense that you're getting at a wide receiver 70 price tag that I just don't think that matches the upside. And when you look at best ball and honestly, any format of fancy football,

when you look towards the end of the season and playoffs, you want a guy who's booming down the stretch and Antonio Williams fits that mold perfectly. I like that you brought up to his strength and his play style as a slot. That's something Washington doesn't really have right now. So that's something they could use. Obviously, if they go signs fun digs, like we mentioned as a possibility, or who knows, even Brandon Ayuk, who's like, he's entering some Antonio Brown waters right now. Well, that would hurt his production for the first three weeks because then Brandon Ayuk would be off the map by week four.

He'd be running off the field of his jersey off like Antonio Brown. Yeah, you'd be going to the long. locker room at half time or before half time. But if he dodges those bullets of one of those veterans signing especially, I'm super in. I drafted him 14th overall in one of my rookie drafts, which is a little bit ahead of where most people are drafting him. Because I do believe, I mean, long term playing with Jane and Daniels, but even in the short term, he's got this great opportunity far from a lock at hitting. But I believe in the talent and at cost where he's going, it's a worthwhile shot on upside. It kind of feels like it's. It's a worthwhile shot. It's

priced in already, no, the Stefan Diggs thing. Like, it kind of feels like that is where he should be if Stefan Diggs was there. Like, he's still going to get opportunities in that offense, even if they sign a guy like Diggs. I think Y-Receiver 70's insane. Wide receiver 70 for a quarterback we're taking as one of the first four or five off the board. Yes. That's, you know, if he can be the true number two receiver on that offense, this guy's the limit. 100%. All right. Well, I got somebody who was on this Washington offense last year, but he is now a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars. And that's Chris Rodriguez Jr. being ranked 141st overall, RB 47. And I know what you're thinking, Mello, I thought you were a Tuton guy. I am, I'm absolutely a Tudin guy. That hasn't changed at all.

But two things can be true at once. One being that I am a huge believer in Bachel Tudin and the potential that he has, but two being that Chris Rodriguez is still a steel at ADP, because even though I personally project Tootin to get this job, potentially even run away with it. There is still a very real world where Rodriguez has a major role in this offense. He's the veteran with more experience, even though he's never had a full-time gig or a full-time starting gig consistently. He was better last year than I think a lot of people give him credit for. He had Pro Football Focus's 20th highest Russian grade among 55 running backs who at least 80

carries. Shockingly, Tootin actually ranked second to last in that metrics, 54th out of 55. That one definitely caught me by surprise. Rodriguez also ranked eighth in yards after contact per attempt among those same 55 running backs. All that to say, he was pretty good last year, and he's probably a better player than most people want to admit. And I think it goes without saying we all want pieces of this offense. We keep joking on this show, and I think a lot of people keep joking that we're projecting Trevor Lawrence to throw for like 6,000 yards with the way we're statting out these receivers. So it stands to reason that we want the running backs to. If this offense is going to be that good, if there's that type of opportunity on this offense, you want the running backs.

And I'm not trying to talk you about a to tunin because like I said, I am a tooting guy. Yeah. But we have to at least acknowledge there is a path where Rodriguez gets the bulk of the early down work and the goal line work. That was some people's assumption just a couple months ago. A lot of people were saying that he's going to be the first and second down back. But then I think the foot injury kind of put a damper on things as well as the Tootin hype. Just that's really revved up pretty hard. But the newest reports in regards to that foot injury and the surgery that he had are that he's still expected to be a full participant in training camp.

So all signs as of now at least point to him being fully available, fully ready for week one to get him in the 12th or 13th or 14th round and to get a chance at a starting running back on a good offense. I'm willing to take that shot every single time, even if I personally believe the other guy in the offense is the better one and the guy who will get the job, which I do believe. But I just also think we've let this warranted Tutton hype blind us from what Rodriguez could be,

and now all of a sudden he's a major value. This is a pick that I think I originally wanted to kind of push back on and disagree with you on, because I think I'm so high on Tootin. But the more I dug in, here's what I'll say. Where you're drafting him around, the other running backs in this area are Isaiah Pacheco. They're handcuffs. They're handcuffs.

And so when you talk about which handcuff you want to go for, I hate playing the this guy's more injury prone than this guy because you're going to get yourself in trouble trying to play that. I think the bigger one is who's in line for a more meaningful opportunity that the team would fully trust to take on? running back one, like volume, should the lead guy go down? And I think Chris Rodriguez actually fits that mold. And then like you're saying, I don't think he's just not going to be part of the offense either. I do think that they're going to use him in short yardage situations. And so I think this is kind of a two-for-one type of guy where I think you're getting like really, really good RB2 upside from him in an offense because we're so high on Jacksonville.

We want every cheap piece we can get of them. But also a guy that like should Tootin go down? or should things not be working out with Tootin? He's not as efficient as they want. They might switch to Rodriguez and down the stretch you've got a genuine starting running back that you got the RB 47, which is ridiculous. Yeah, and to be honest, like, even if you don't want to play the game of O, Will Toon could get hurt?

You might not have to play that game. And I'm sort of, I'm almost hedging against myself here because I am one of those people fully on the Tutin hype train. But like, do I really want to drop Pacheco and just hold them all season and kind of half-heartedly hope that Jemir Gibbs gets hurt or do I want to draft Chris Rodriguez and then if week one he gets six carries and Tuton rushes for 120 yards. Okay, I'll just cut him. But also there's a chance. Yeah, that's actually a great point too. Like, I'm not just going to let him be a roster clogger because there's a chance he goes out week one. He gets 13 carries, goes for, you know, 90 rushing

yards and scores a touchdown. And then it's like, okay, I have something here. Instead of just like taking these guys that have no chance of being relevant without a injury ahead of them, and then they just clog up your roster. I want to come out in no uncertain terms and declare that as a show, we are fully out on Isaiah Pacheco. Yeah. I don't want it to ever come off like we're talking out of both sides of our mouth on him. Like, I want it so clear that we are so out on him.

Him and I brought up him and Woody Marks because I think that both of us agree, they are a roster clock that honestly if Jamir Gibbs went down for the season, I would not be shocked if they went out immediately and signed another running back. And Isaiah Pacheco still doesn't have a meaningful work in that offense. Yeah. The Pacheco downfall needs to be studied. But it is a downfall. And I agree. There's no circumstance I'm taking in. Very few circumstances, I should say. It's pretty rare I would ever even consider it. But to go back to your point, go back to the positive angle of things, I do think there's a lot of upside for Chris Rodriguez. injury or not in that offense to get real work in a high-powered Liam Cohen-led offense.

I'm feeling really good about my persuasion skills right now if I got you to cave into my take here. But I'm glad I brought you over to the dark side. Let me see if I can convince you on a guy. Let's jump into our fourth player. But before we do, if you're listening right now on audio on the player profiler feed, make sure to follow us on Spotify and Apple at the lineup fancy football show. And then if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you hit that subscribe button and like button if you're enjoying every single episode to be notified every time we drop a brand new one. Mello, let me convince you on Joanne Jennings. I'm just kidding. I know I don't have to. Number 154 off the board, wide receiver 61, I will never pass on an opportunity to talk about our Prince Juan Jennings. Once he got to Minnesota

Mello and he said it was basically the exact same thing as KD coming to Golden State, it got me thinking. Of everyone on the Vikings, shot to the end zone, the fate of the universe on the line, the Martians have the death being pointed at Earth. You better hit it. I want Joanne Jennings. Oh my God. Despite dealing with a litany of injuries last season from week nine on, he was the wide receiver 13 in PPR scoring.

In the process, an absolute elite red zone threat with Brock Purdy. Of all 49ers wide receivers, he finished first in red zone targets with 19, second place being Ricky Pearsall with five, which, yes, you heard that right, five. Of course, the guy who had the most was Christian McCaffrey with 24. but Joanne Jennings absolutely dominated that room, and he played really for half the season healthy. And so, admittedly, this wasn't the most ideal landing spot in Free Agency. We didn't want to see him go to Minnesota. And he's going to battle for targets with Jefferson, Addison, and Hawkinson,

and a Kyler Murray offense that we've recently discussed as pretty likely to hyper-target Justin Jefferson based on Kyler Murray's track record. But the difference here between what I thought about Jordan Addison and Joanne Jennings is the price discrepancy. You can go out and get Joanne Jennings for the wide receiver 61 versus Addison for the wide receiver 41. And so for me, this is an extremely late round flyer, a veteran receiver who has tremendous touchdown upside that you're grabbing honestly right at the end of your draft. I don't think there's a lot of sure bets that you can get quite like Joanne Jennings. I don't want to admit it, but I'm a little conflicted on this one. Oh, no.

I'm not conflicted on the Juan Jennings talent because you know I love Juan Jennings just like you. The situation. It is the situation. And I mean, on one hand, I'm bullish on this Vikings offense. I'm bullish on Kyler Murray and fantasy and what he can do for Justin Jefferson. I'm a little bit less certain about what he can do for all of his past catchers. We've never really seen him support multiple pass catchers in a major way. You mentioned it with Jordan Addison.

And I do agree with you, like, I think Juan Jennings, in terms of overall talents and ability, is very comparable to Jordan Addison. So I would way rather take Joanne Jennings at price than Jordan Addison. The risk is just what's the target share going to be? Because if he's sitting at like 12% target share, that's just not going to move the needle. Like last year, the Vikings' Wide Receiver 3, Jalen Naylor, had just over an 8% target share. And granted, like, the pie could get bigger because this offense could be better. But if it's still 8% or 9%, even if it's a bigger pie, that's not going to move the needle.

So that's why I'm a little scared to click that button for Joanne Jennings. With that said, talent absolutely there. I'm bullish on this offense as a whole. And I'm certainly taking him at cost over what I'm taking, you know, Jordan Addison at with where he's going in drafts. Yeah. And I think that's completely fair. Just a couple of wide receiver names going around where Joanne Jennings is right now,

like Omar Cooper Jr. One guy I'll give you, like, if you want to go after a guy like Jaylin Camilla near him, I understand that a little bit more. but like I'd much rather take him over a Trey Tucker or like I don't know a guy like Jerry Judy like or I agree with that. People are getting excited about like I think that he just makes a whole lot more sense to me as a guy who could actually give you fantasy value this late in the draft. That I will agree with it. I actually would take him over any name.

You just said even Jalen Nick Millen. So I do hear that. And people forget how good he's been the last couple years. Two years in a row now. He's been exceptional. I think he's an extremely unsexy name in fantasy football. And I mean, we actually just talked about this with Zach from Fantasyland. He was like, he could kind of be a Joanne Jennings type.

And it's like that's becoming like synonymous with being a boring guy that has high production. Yeah, and it could absolutely carry over. I think for him to really smash a ADP, he'll have to be second on this team and target share. But that's not out of the question. Absolutely not. Ready for the big one here? I'm ready. This is our mega sleeper.

Apparently we have to keep talking about the commanders today. This is our third guy that has been tied to them. Big commanders episode. We're going to be talking about Shig Akonkwo here going 161 overall, according to consensus rankings on fantasy pros, the tight end 20. And Mitch, I know you were in on Akonkwo before me. And I was a little bit reluctant at first, but now I'm all the way in. Let's go.

I've been shooting him up by my rankings. I keep moving him up, my redraft rankings. he's going so late in drafts almost free. If I'm punting on tight end and just grabbing a couple of guys late, he's one of my very favorite targets, one of the couple guys I want to grab with one of my last couple picks.

The height train is full steam ahead. We're not unique in saying we're growing on Chigakonkwo. And part of the hype train is Chig himself. He's adding fuel to the fire. The recent quote I think a lot of people have seen. I feel like this is the place where I can finally just unleash.

So far, there's been so many opportunities to use my true talents. and abilities. It's awesome, man. I can't wait. Neither can we. It's like me when I go to Daven Busters. You and me both. I'm going to get back to Daven Busters soon. That's where I can forever. Love Busters. Absolutely love Busters. I don't think Chig is going to be a bust this season though. I think he is, like my witty little remark there. I think he's a smash at his current ADP. This is the same offense and the same quarterback that elevated Zach Ertz to a tight-in-seven overall finish in 2024.

and he was the tight in eight overall in 2025 through week 13 before he tore his ACL in week 14. So, I mean, think about that for a second. That's a 30-something-year-old Zachertz, who was coming off a torn ACL and MCL from his time in Arizona. He had back-to-back top 10 finishes prior to him tearing his ACL again last year. Now that same role is filled by Chica Conquo, who admittedly has yet to show us a full body of work or at least impressive work. Yeah. or productive work on the stat sheet. But he's always profiled as an athletic specimen who can contribute as a receiver.

And Mitch, this is where I started getting hot under the collar, which I really started looking at these underlying metrics. Just last year, he was fourth in yards after the catch per reception among all tight ends with at least 50 targets. He's not just good after the catch, though. He was also third in contested catch rate among tight ends with 50 targets. So he's good after the catch. He's good during the catch.

What about before the catch? Great question. He was also third in average separation among all tight ends with at least 50 targets. So to recap all of that, fourth in yak, third in contested catches, and third in separation on a per reception basis. That is in a shockingly elite profile. I have fully bought back in to the talent after my research, despite the lacklester fantasy finishes in the past. Now on this offense that we talk about that recently has fed the tight end, it's going to be him. The reports are they are going to feed him too.

It's not just like it's hypothetical. Like all of the reports out of Washington are he's going to be a major part of this offense. One of my biggest risers, like I said, one of my favorite late round targets, especially at a position where I only want to look for upside late in drafts at tight end. He's a no-brainer to me at ADP. I don't have a ton to add to this because I think I did really my whole spiel about him a few episodes ago. But what I will say is I think both of us are extremely bought in right now on Washington having a bounce back offense.

You talk through a ton of the stats about Jake that I have in my notes. The one I'm going to mention is like from week 11 on last year, he was the tight end 13. And he finished with career high numbers and yards and receptions. So if you're worried like, oh, Chigaconk was like falling off and we're asking him to like bounce back. Like he's still been very talented. He just hasn't been on the fantasy football radar. And it might feel like a decade ago.

But it was just the summer of 2023 when we had him as a tight end one in Dynasty fantasy football and like, who's to say just three years later, he can't, like, be in a better situation and, like, really, dare I say it, unleash in Washington. I'm going to start using that exact verb for players I like, that they're going to unleash. I think that's my new favorite word. Those are five of our favorite late round values for fantasy football here in 2026. If there's anyone that didn't make this list, make sure to let us know down below and let us know why we need to talk about them in a future episode.

If you disagree with anyone, also let us know. But Mello, before we get out of here, do we miss anybody? Think we got it all. All right, we'll catch you guys' next episode.