50 players to snag in your fantasy football keeper league

Your season may be over, but your work is not — go get next year’s Melvin Gordon and Jordy Nelson!

Your fantasy football league is about a wrap for the year, but if it’s a keeper or dynasty league, your job is not quite done. If you keep players for next season, every roster spot should be used strategically. Dump your kickers and defenses and clear out any riffraff. Anyone not starting for you and without keeper value should be cut. There are all sorts of lottery ticket players worth stashing on your roster in case they’re useful by the time you start thinking about fantasy football again next July.

Last year at this time a savvy, forward-thinking owner could have stashed guys like Melvin Gordon, Tevin Coleman, LeGarrette Blount, Marvin Jones, and Davante Adams or injured stars like Jordy Nelson, Keenan Allen, Carlos Hyde, Jamaal Charles, and Andrew Luck. Of course there would have been other names on the list too, but not every lottery ticket pans out.

The players below are in five groups of ten, listed in order of upside for next year alone from top to bottom in each group. Pay particular attention to the first two groups — they’re the guys you definitely want stashed on your keeper roster as you hit the snooze button on fantasy football for eight months.

Many of the guys below will already be rostered, but be sure to double check them all — sometimes we just forget! Happy stashing!

Injured stars

A.J. Green CIN Rob Gronkowski NE Keenan Allen SD Sammy Watkins BUF Jamaal Charles KC C.J. Anderson DEN Eddie Lacy GB Eric Decker NYJ Jeremy Maclin KC Giovani Bernard CIN

It’s unlikely most of these guys are available in your league, but I bet you one of them is. You’d be amazed how quickly people forget and move on, to the point that I’m probably missing an obvious name on the list too.

If Green, Gronk, Allen, Watkins, Charles, or Anderson is available in your keeper league, shame on your league mates and shame on you. Pick them up immediately and thank me for the reminder. Most people would probably include Fat Eddie Lacy in that group, and he should certainly be rostered, though I’ve never been fan. The other three names are less exciting but if you keep four or five guys or are in a dynasty, they definitely should be owned.

High -upside keeper targets

Tevin Coleman ATL Derrick Henry TEN DeAndre Washington, Jalen Richard OAK Alshon Jeffery CHI (FA) Dion Lewis NE Kenneth Dixon BAL John Brown, J.J. Nelson ARI Duke Johnson CLE Paul Perkins NYG DeSean Jackson WAS (FA)

This is the real meat of this article. Anyone in the group above is probably owned, and the guys in the three groups below are mostly all long shots and/or guys that have somewhat limited upside. The players in this group are the ones you should scoop up, forget about, and find yourself sitting on a goldmine in July in some cases.

Tevin Coleman should be owned in your leagues, especially if it’s a keeper. He’s been dynamic for Atlanta as the RB2 this year and he would have #1 overall fantasy player upside if something happened to Devonta Freeman and he got the lead job in Atlanta.

Henry, Washington, and Richard are the exact sort of guys you should be rostering if you’ve come to this article. Henry has gained steam as the year has gone on. He’s behind DeMarco Murray for now but it wouldn’t be a shock to see him take the lead in 2017. Latavius Murray is a free agent and someone the Raiders have never seemed too in love with. It’s hard to know which Raiders rookie would be next in line — they’d probably end up splitting the job, which hurts both values — but I like Washington a bit more. Those first four RBs all have first round fantasy upside if they become the starter.

Alshon Jeffery is a free agent, and signs point to him leaving Chicago. He’s super talented and should likely be a WR1 on most teams, though he’s likely owned in your league. Dion Lewis might be owned, but grab him if he’s not. LeGarrette Blount is a free agent and feels like the sort of guy the Patriots won’t overpay, and Lewis is finally getting healthy and was a top-10 RB last year when he played. He looks like a great fantasy value next year.

Dixon, Johnson, and Perkins all have a decent shot at the lead gig for their respective teams. Kenneth Dixon is already almost there, and Terrance West is a free agent anyway, so the Ravens job should be his. Duke Johnson could get a similar shot for Cleveland with Isaiah Crowell a free agent. Both players are good at catching the ball and could have breakout potential in a bigger role. Paul Perkins has less upside for a Giants team that loves to use two or three RBs but there’s a growing role there regardless.

There’s an outside chance John Brown or J.J. Nelson could be the WR1 for the Cardinals next season. Michael Floyd is gone, and there continues to be retirement whispers surrounding Larry Fitzgerland (don’t go, Larry!). Brown especially would have great post-hype sleeper status in that scenario. DeSean Jackson is a free agent who is likely to leave Washington. He has a decent shot of becoming a WR1 wherever he signs, though his upside has always been a bit limited.

Upside WRs with team WR1 potential

Corey Coleman CLE Kevin White, Cameron Meredith CHI Martavis Bryant, Sammie Coates, Eli Rogers PIT Sterling Shepard NYG Josh Doctson WAS Tyler Lockett SEA Malcolm Mitchell NE Breshard Perriman BAL DeVante Parker MIA Laquon Treadwell MIN

A few of these guys are going to end up being their team’s WR1 next year, and a lot of them will find their way into the 5th to 7th rounds of your draft. They’ll all be question marks going into next year, but there’s a pretty good chance a couple of them break out and finish in the top 15–20 WRs next year.

Coleman is the most likely WR1. Terrelle Pryor is a free agent, and Coleman performed well early in the year before getting injured. Alshon Jeffery could likely be gone in Chicago, and while Cam Meredith has done a nice job lately, it’s Kevin White who has the higher upside.

Neither Shepard nor the Pittsburgh trio will be a WR1 in name, as Odell Beckham and Antonio Brown aren’t going anywhere, but they have similar upside as the other guys on the list. Bryant may or may not even be back in Pittsburgh, but he made some freakish plays last year and got a lot of hype. Shepard got better as the year went on and should be valuable next year especially in PPR leagues.

Josh Doctson is an interesting name for Washington with both DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon free agents. Jamison Crowder isn’t going anywhere but Doctson was a first round pick this year and will get his shot.

Lockett and Mitchell could be WR1s for really good teams but might still be the third or fourth option in their offense, so that limits them. Perriman, Parker, and Treadwell have a shot to be their team’s WR1 but probably have limited upside in their respective offenses.

Lottery tickets

RB Alfred Morris DAL RB C.J. Prosise SEA RB Fitzgerald Toussaint PIT RB T.J. Yeldon JAX RB Devontae Booker DEN QB Tony Romo DAL QB Tom Savage HOU RB Wendell Smallwood PHI RB Ameer Abdullah DET RB Josh Ferguson IND

No one is rooting for injury, but if something happens to Ezekiel Elliott, Alfred Morris has immediate first round upside. Prosise looked really good for a few weeks and Thomas Rawls has never been a real beacon of health. Toussaint is the only Steelers RB under contract next year for now. All three of those guys have huge upside, even if they only have a 5–10% chance of hitting it.

Yeldon could get another crack at the starting role for the Jaguars with a new coach, and there’s still a chance Booker could break out for Denver and be a lead back in front of C.J. Anderson by next fall. Smallwood, Abdullah, and Ferguson are other deep long shot RBs but it’s hard to imagine any of them being worth keeping.

If you’re desperate for a QB, Romo is clearly the target. You have to think he is starting elsewhere next year. Houston’s new starter Tom Savage could be worth a shot in an offense featuring Lamar Miller, DeAndre Hopkins, and Will Fuller.

2017 free agent lottery tickets

RB DeAngelo Williams RB Darren McFadden WR Michael Floyd WR Josh Gordon RB Terrance West RB Christine Michael RB Kapri Bibbs RB Mike Gillislee RB Tim Hightower RB Danny Woodhead

We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel now. There’s a good chance most or all of these players are on a new roster next year, as all of them are free agents this offseason, so you’re really just taking a shot in the dark here.

LeVeon Bell is not signed on past this summer, and Pittsburgh already knows DeAngelo Williams can produce. If something breaks down and DeAngelo comes back as a lead Pittsburgh runner, he’s probably a first round pick. McFadden looks like the next most likely guy to get a shot at an open starting gig somewhere, maybe a place like Indianapolis or New England.

It’s probably time to give up on Josh Gordon and Michael Floyd, but both are so talented that they could be a WR1 on a desperate team. Floyd has a chance to shine for New England on its playoff run and could impress enough to catch on there or elsewhere. Most of the RBs on the list are guys that can still impress in December or January, maybe enough to catch someone’s eye.

It’s really tough to imagine one of these guys going from zero to hero but hey, this is all about loading up your roster with potential and seeing what it looks like in eight months. Good luck!

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