In today's Fantasy LIfe Newsletter, presented by Underdog:
Look, everyone loves a good sleeper. But every year, there’s that player who analysts and experts latch onto and try to be the loudest tweeter about, claiming him as their own. You see his name everywhere, and as you take a step back, it’s apparent that everyone is trying to surf the same wave because that’s where the one TV camera is pointing.
In 2022, it was Jerry Jeudy. In 2023, it was Brandon Aiyuk. Last year, it was Jonathon Brooks. Fantasy experts climbed all over each other like the zombies in World War Z to be the most in on them.
And while it might be a little too early in the process to declare him The Most Annoying Sleeper of 2025, I’m getting Jayden Higgins fatigue.
It’s MAY, people!! I shouldn’t have Jayden Higgins fatigue yet—in fact, we shouldn’t have it at all. He’s a perfectly fine sleeper with some risk baked in. And now here’s his Google Trends chart for the last week. He’s on the rise …
“But what about Cam Skattebo??” you may (or may not) ask. He has all the makings of The Annoying Sleeper, but his search interest has actually gone down over the last seven days as we transition off Draft Analysis Phase and into “Here Are My Sleepers!” season. Skattebo, in short, has held steady with potential annoyingness; the Higgins hype is just getting started. I’ve been around long enough to know these trends will hold.
For what it’s worth, Fantasy Life is projecting Higgins for 80 targets, 49 receptions, 643 yards, and four TDs. Our consensus ranks have him at WR65. We’re calm about it all, as far as I can tell.
The way I’m reading the tea leaves overall in the industry, though, this is my hunch: you will see “Jayden Higgins” way more than you were expecting over the next three months. Helium, hype, attention-seeking tweeters projecting 1,000+ yards just so they can say they were more in on him than anyone else — whatever you want to call it … Higgins, through no fault of his own, will likely be everywhere by August. And you may end up being sick of him, despite some very real upside.
Higgins’ current ADP is 101 … 👇👇👇👇
… BUT WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE??
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NFL News: Carr Retirement, Stafford’s Official …
Yes, rookie mini-camps are breaking out all over the NFL, and one will get plenty of attention as the Saints launch a QB competition in the wake of the retirement of Derek Carr. Is rookie Tyler Shough ready to take his shot fresh off getting selected in the NFL Draft? And with Matthew Stafford officially back in the other LA, we take a look at how he can elevate the Rams’ WRs Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Kendall Valenzuela covers the latest news, including an update on 2024 draftee Jonathon Brooks’ injury misfortune.
WHO’S IN THE SAINTS’ QB COMPETITION?
WTF is aDOT?
It’s been easy to miss in the hullaballoo of draft, dynasty and rankings coverage, but Chris Allen has done an absolutely fantastic job of taking advanced metric terms that seem kind of intimidating and breaking them down into simple-to-understand “explainer” pieces:
- EPA? More like E-P-YAY!
- His “what are air yards?” column kicked off with a “40 Year Old Virgin” reference.
- Do you not ‘get’ running as an activity? That’s aDOT!
- Want to know more about targets? There’s a garam masala connection.
- Are ‘routes’ stats important? Quentin Tarantino can help!
- Yards per route run? Let’s bring in Mr. T!
And on that note, I pity the fool (MUAHAHAHAHAHAA yes, I did set myself up for that, thank you) who doesn’t at least bookmark Chris’ author page to read up on these terms later. Or today.
Around the Watercooler
The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds.
😮 Derek Carr calls it quits. There’s only one person we want to hear from about it.
🍕 Leaf has made a Pope Leo XIV trading card with a deep dish pizza background
🌭 There’s also one with a Chicago-style hot dog.
👩⚖️ 5 fantasy football debates, settled by Judge Valenzuela.
✍️ Sam Wallace hosted an AMA on the DynastyFF subreddit Friday. Drop some Qs in—he’ll still answer them!
👀 We don’t mention this enough here—we have a 6,000-person Discord where everyone just talks fantasy and the experts drop in for Q&As
