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Hidden Gems and Sleeper Plays for Your 2022 Fantasy Draft

Many were impressed with Trey Lance's bomb but was Lance shaky in his first NFL action?
Many are impressed with Trey Lance can he help lead the 49ers to the playoffs?

In some ways, putting together winning drafts in your NFL fantasy gaming is becoming harder and harder.

Picking low-owned gems is harder these days given just how readily available deep stats are to even the most passive of fantasy gamers, and so you have to dig a bit deeper to find those sleeper plays that ultimately give your rosters the points boost they need.

But fear not. There are some potential breakout stars and hidden gems in the NFL that will largely fly under the radar this term, and here’s a handful that you should be considering for your draft in the early stages of the 2022 season.

Trey Lance

Okay, so it’s no secret anymore that Trey Lance will replace Jimmy Garoppolo as starting QB in San Francisco this season.

But because he made just two starts for the 49ers last term, the 22-year-old is still effectively considered to be a rookie – somewhat in the shadow of fellow sophomore quarterbacks like Trevor Lawrence and Mac Jones. 

However, Lance is observed by many to be an elite-tier playmaker in the making, and he will have plenty of quality targets to aim for – Deebo Samuel, Elijah Mitchell and George Kittle being three such options. 

If the 49ers show no regression in switching from Garoppolo to Lance, they could well challenge in the NFC Conference once more. For those who bet on NFL futures, the 49ers’ odds of +1600 to win the Super Bowl may well be realized. 

Over/Under: 3,799.5 Trey Lance passing yards in ’22-23? – Powered By PickUp

Travis Etienne

With Trevor Lawrence directing traffic at Bank Field and some sensible offseason recruits swelling their roster, many pundits are predicting a much-improved turn from Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022.

Playing with a risk-and-reward QB like Lawrence can yield plenty of upside for his rushing and receiving corps, and of those, it’s forgotten man Travis Etienne who is perhaps of most interest.

He missed the whole of last season with a freak foot injury, but scouts suggest the 23-year-old has looked particularly sharp in training camp – Lawrence himself commented that ‘right now, his body looks great, I think he’s running real well, picking up the offense, done a great job in the protections.’

It’s hard to make projections for a rookie coming off the back of a serious injury, and so you’d expect Etienne to be lightly owned in fantasy games. That could be to your advantage…

Darnell Mooney

Of all the quarterback-receiver pairings in the NFL, it’s doubtful that Justin Fields and Darnell Mooney will generate too many column inches in pre-season.

Both will need to improve their output this term, but the feeling is that Fields has the ability to crack the 3,000+ yard ceiling, while Mooney has already shown his prowess as a fleet-footed receiver.

The 24-year-old ranked tied 20th for receptions and 19th for yards gained in 2021 – impressive numbers given Fields’ occasional waywardness, and 13 yards per catch for all receivers with 80 or more attempts puts him in the company of Cooper Kupp, Ja’Marr Chase, and co.

If Fields improves then so too will Mooney – he, like Etienne and Lance, could be savvy options for fantasy gamers in the early going of the new season.

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