The Top Fantasy Football Sleepers in the AFC North Including Shedeur Sanders
The fantasy football preseason puts such a heavy emphasis on the top draft picks. Who should go 1st overall? Who is a first-round pick? Who is a 3rd round steal? Those are all things that are heavily researched. However, it can be counterintuitive. The league-winning assets often come from the late rounds and/or waiver wire pickups that become weekly starters at their position. Those are the players we seek out, going division by division. Today, we check out the 4 best sleepers in the AFC North.
QB, Shedeur Sanders
Ranking: QB33
The Browns enter 2026 with a new, offensive-minded head coach. Todd Monken's offense currently lists Sanders as the QB1, ahead of Deshaun Watson. It will be smart to keep tabs on this matter in case Deshaun Watson gets the starting job. Either way, the starter may be a sleeper.
The quarterback in Cleveland will have intriguing, young weapons at their disposal. The Browns roster Jerry Jeudy as their WR1, who had 1,229 yards as recently as 2024. Next to Jeudy is a duo of rookie 2nd-round draft picks in KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. Beyond them stands tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who is commonly ranked a top-5 tight end in 2026 fantasy football.
If Sanders can play competent football, he can end up trending quite highly in excess of 230 passing yards per game.
WR, Denzel Boston
Ranking: WR60
A ranking of WR60 suggests that Boston is a WR3 on his roster. While he does actually list as the WR3, the upside is tremendous. Jeudy only put out 602 yards in 2025 as the Browns' WR1. Very easily, Concepcion of Boston can jump up to their expected target shares. Boston is a volatile asset, but one worth a target share that may well exceed 20% in the best case. He is also a big body, which helps his touchdown upside exceed 0.4 per game.
WR, Ja'Kobi Lane
Ranking: WR110
At this ranking, the risk is zero, and the upside is, well, rather high. Lane is a rookie draft pick by the Ravens. On the depth chart, he sits behind Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, and DeVontez Walker. However, those three wide receivers carry their own risks. Why? New staff is in town, and they did not bring their inherited wide receivers.
Lane and Elijah Saratt were drafted in the 2026 NFL Draft, and with good reason. The Ravens want to use these young assets. As Bateman and Walker have proven nothing more than WR3 status, they can easily be surpassed by Lane or Saratt. We side with Lane as he was drafted ahead of Saratt in the NFL Draft. For that reason, the Ravens logically prefer him. Nonetheless, both rookies are great sleeper picks, especially in dynasty formats of deep rosters.
TE, Darnell Washington
Ranking: TE39
Aaron Rodgers trusts who he trusts. He will go to a guy in the red zone who will come up with the football. That is where the values are found with Washington. The 6'7", 264 lb tight end will be a red zone target for Rodgers, and do so quite often.
The Steelers currently have Washington as their projected TE1 over Pat Freiermuth. While much can change regarding that matter, Washington will certainly play a part. Especially in non-PPR formats, Washington could become a top-25 tight end given his perceived touchdown upside. Expect no less than 5 touchdowns from Washington, and a chance at 10+ if all goes perfectly.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.