Fantasy Football 2018: Ranking Sleepers, Busts and Safest Players This Year

Fantasy Football players are looking for value up and down their roster.

It's not enough to get a superstar like Le'Veon Bell, Antonio Brown or Tom Brady in your lineup. It's about finding a mid-to-late-round sleeper or two and avoid big-time busts.

Fantasy Football has evolved to the point where it receives nearly round-the-clock coverage and is the main point of interest for a growing percentage of fans. That means that the term "sleepers" is becoming a bit dated, since all players are getting a significant amount of coverage.

Sleepers are the most undervalued players, but we will call them sleepers for the purpose of this piece. Busts remain busts, but they are also overvalued players who have a number of factors that will cause them to disappoint or fail in the upcoming season.

We also present a list of 10 safe players, but those players don't include anyone who is likely to fall in the Fantasy Football top 10. Those players are more than safe, they are superstars that all fantasy owners know and it doesn't do any good to tout them. As a result, the 10 players presented are in the next tier, and owners should feel confident that they will provide excellent production during the upcoming season.

Sleepers

1. RB Jerick McKinnon, SF
2. QB Patrick Mahomes, KC
3. WR Will Fuller V, HOU
4. WR Sterling Shepard, NYG
5. TE Trey Burton, CHI
6. WR Robby Anderson, NYJ
7. RB Rex Burkhead, NE
8. TE O.J. Howard, TB
9. RB Kalen Ballage, MIA
10. RB Royce Freeman, DEN

Sterling Shepard appears to be the right man in the right place for the New York Giants. New York general manager Dave Gettleman made his statement when he drafted running back Saquon Barkley with the No. 2 pick overall, as the Giants have had one of the NFL's worst running games in recent seasons.

Barkley has the talent, skill, discipline and desire to upgrade the running game and the New York offense, and that will make life much easier for veteran quarterback Eli Manning. While Odell Beckham Jr. is the main cog in the New York passing attack, Shepard is an excellent receiver in his own right and has the steadier personality.

Manning knows that Shepard has the ability to get open and make big plays. Shepard caught 59 passes for 731 yards and two touchdowns in his second year, and that comes after catching 65 passes for 683 yards and eight touchdowns as a rookie. 

If Shepard can avoid ankle and neck injuries, along with the migraines that kept him out of five games last year, Shepard will bring maximum value to your fantasy lineup.

Busts

1. RB Lamar Miller, HOU
2. WR Brandin Cooks, LAR
3. RB Derrick Henry, TEN
4. RB Carlos Hyde, CLE
5. RB Mark Ingram, NO
6. WR Mike Evans, TB
7. WR Michael Crabtree, BAL
8. WR Alshon Jeffery, PHI
9. RB Adrian Peterson, WAS
10. QB Russell Wilson, SEA

Brandin Cooks may have game-breaking 4.33 speed in the 40 and look the part of a dominant wide receiver, but that has not been the case in New Orleans or New England. He has been solid in both places, but he is not a superstar and will not rise to that level with the Rams.

Start off with the competition on his own team from Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods. The belief here is that Kupp has the best chance to be the team's No. 1 receiver and that Woods is quite dependable. Cooks may be able to provide several big plays during the course of the season, but the dependability factor favors Kupp and Woods. 

As a result, he will not get targeted as often as he did last year, when Tom Brady threw the ball in his direction 114 times. That number may not reach 80 in 2018.

Safety Net

1. WR Michael Thomas, NO
2. RB Melvin Gordon, LAC
3. WR Keenan Allen, LAC
4. WR Davante Adams, GB
5. TE Rob Gronkowski, NE
6. QB Aaron Rodgers, GB
7. RB Devonta Freeman, ATL
8. WR T.Y. Hilton, IND
9. RB Christian McCaffrey, CAR
10. WR Adam Thielen, MIN

The Chargers have a chance to become the best team in the AFC West this year, and there is a growing feeling that the team is inspired to get the job done for 36-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers as he nears the end of his career.

He has a couple of outstanding contributors on his side in Melvin Gordon and Keenan Allen. Both have a chance to have explosive years as the Chargers put together one of the best seasons they have had in years.

Gordon may have been a disappointment as a rookie in 2015, but he has followed with two excellent years. Gordon is a tough runner with outstanding speed, and he has run for 997 yards and 1,105 yards the last two seasons. He has scored 24 touchdowns in the last two seasons as a runner and a receiver in the last two seasons.

Allen has shown off his spectacular talent throughout his career, and he has been a sensational receiver when healthy. Injuries ruined his 2015 and '16 seasons, but he was healthy last year and caught 102 passes for 1,393 yards and six touchdowns.

Allen was also targeted 159 times, and he should come close to approaching that figure in 2018.