2022 Dynasty Fantasy Football Summer Sleeper: Jacksonville Jaguars

In our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series, DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.

Deep Sleepers – An end-of-the-roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.

Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top 175 or so.

Because we aren’t going to give you the likes of mainstream sleepers, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Adam Thielen or James Robinson is going to spring up. Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

Gone is Urban Meyer with his authoritarian nightclub ways as a new day shines in sunny DUUUVAL for the Jaguars. Doug Pederson returns to coaching and should be a bright shining light for the offense. Look for improvements from quarterback Trevor Lawrence, with that spreading to the other skill positions.

In what seems like ages ago for fantasy football fans, it typically wasn’t till year three when a player would “break out” at the wide receiver position. So what player on the Jags offense has day one or day two draft capital, an elite size/speed combination, and is coming into his third year in the league? Luckily the Jaguars have just such a player on their roster. Fantasy Twitter favorite…

Laviska Shenault, WR

Category: Sleeper

PRODUCTION

Shenault had a dominant sophomore season in college at Colorado. Even while dealing with injuries as a sophomore, it was wheels up in the devy community.

Statistics from Sports Reference.

During his time at Colorado, he dealt with nagging injuries and had trouble staying on the field. Fans were excited when the NFL Scouting Combine rolled around and were fascinated at what the 6-1 receiver might be capable of when he weighed in at a stout 227 pounds for the position.

Posting a 4.58-second 40-yard dash was unimpressive for the position, but that is good enough for a 103.18 Speed Score – in the 79th percentile. The only other event Shenault completed was the bench press. He pulled himself from the rest of the Combine and quickly was reported to be undergoing core muscle surgery for an injury.

Statistics from Sports Reference.

So far, Shenault has failed to shine at the NFL level. A rookie season with Gardner Minshew and Mike Glennon probably wasn’t the best introduction to the NFL. He followed that with a season in an Urban Meyer quagmire and I would like to think the best is yet to come.

DEPTH CHART

The team didn’t exactly give a glowing report for Shenault when they backed up the brinks truck to overpay Christian Kirk and then signed Zay Jones. Marvin Jones is still on the roster and the team will likely try their best to force-feed Kirk targets after the deal they signed him to.

Add in that the team brought in athletic tight end Evan Engram, who has also dealt with injury and consistency struggles, and things aren’t looking too bright for Shenault.

Shenault does have a few positives going for him off this depth chart though. Jones turned 32 this off-season and Kirk was exactly dominating the Cardinals system where he never managed to break 1,000 receiving yards or go over six receiving touchdowns.

COACHING CHANGE

Fantasy fans should be excited about the arrival of Doug Pederson. Things fell apart towards the end of his time in Philadelphia but it was a fantastic offense for fantasy purposes. Zach Ertz was the star of those offenses while an aging Alshon Jeffery led the receiving room on a who’s who of elder receivers and flamed-out prospects.

When Pederson came to Philadelphia, his offenses typically were at the top of the list for total offensive snaps. The Eagles finished in the top ten from 2016 to 2019 for total offensive snaps, three of those seasons being top two.

Run/Pass Percentage from DLF Coaching History App.

Looking at run/pass Percentage on the DLF Coaching History App shows that Pederson typically runs a fairly balanced offense.

Looking at the two receivers who were on the team last season working with Lawrence, taking into account a new offense, there are some positives here. Jones’ MS Air Yards show he was the preferred target in the offense, but looking at RACR, Shenault was much more efficient with the targets he received. Coming into the Pederson offense, those short yardage targets should continue to funnel through Shenault.

CHALLENGES

Shenault needs to overcome his struggles with nagging injuries. Then he will also have to earn targets over both Jones’, Kirk, and Engram.

With Pederson taking over play-calling duties, we should expect to see improvements from Lawrence at the quarterback position which should bump all players involved.

CONCLUSION

Shenault is just around that “sleeper” value for this exercise. In DLF June ADP for non-superflex leagues, he has an ADP at pick 172. In DLF June ADP for SuperFlex leagues, he is pick 193. This isn’t a player you’ll likely be able to pick up off waivers after your drafts. In recent trades from the DLF Trade Finder, Shenault AND Kenny Golladay were traded for a 2023 second-round pick. As much as the fantasy community loves the 2023 draft class, that is a solid deal for a competitive team.

It is a solid time to snag Shenault as a sleeper stash for your fantasy teams.