22 Sleepers and 4 Traps to Avoid in 2026 Fantasy Leagues

Jul 23, 2026

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Sleeper is a term that gets thrown around quite a bit in the fantasy football realm, but what goes into mining out those players isn’t something that gets highly focused on. People in the industry and those who spend most of their days arguing about the hidden value and potential busts on social media are well-versed in most players who can be considered sleepers, but there are plenty of you out there just wandering back to fantasy football after a hiatus or are just slightly researching the upcoming season since it's still July, relatively early on the football calendar.

This piece is for you folks and will go over several ways to find potential sleeper candidates and a few possible traps based on each criterion mentioned.

* All ADP is courtesy of 4for4's Multi-Site ADP Tool.

Still not a 4for4 subscriber? Use CODE JEN25 for 25% off any plan now!

Available Targets and Touches

Opportunities breed fantasy output, so identifying any changes in NFL offenses can help us find some players who could outperform their current perceived value. We’re looking for turnover in the form of free-agent departures, retirement, or any other player movement.

Justin Edwards explains this concept in a bit more detail and goes over the teams and scenarios with the most opportunities in his available targets and carries series. Here are a few players that stand out this season as sleepers and busts based on this data.

Sleeper: Greg Dulcich, TE - Dolphins

Miami has the most overall available targets (240) and the third-most TE balls (69) available from last season. Greg Dulcich has yet to live up to expectations in the NFL with stints in Denver and New York in his four-year NFL career, but he's in a sweet spot to finally pay off for fantasy managers in 2026. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle left town and were replaced by two third-round rookies and a few free agents who combined will make less than the $3.5 million the Dolphins shelled out for Dulcich.

The floor is fairly high for Dulcich as likely the top target getter in the Miami offense, and his ceiling will depend on the quality of those targets from Malik Willis. He's being drafted as the TE26 at 16.06.

Sleeper: Kenneth Gainwell, RB - Buccaneers

After a clearly defined backup role in Philadelphia for four seasons, Kenneth Gainwell took on a meatier load for the Steelers from Week 8 on in 2025, averaging 14.4 touches per game, which translated to 11.8 in half-PPR scoring on a per-game basis as the RB20 in that time frame. Now in Tampa Bay with Rachaad White no longer wearing pewter, or creamsicle, or whatever the Buccaneers color scheme is these days and 174 RB opportunities up for grabs from 2025, Gainwell has a shot to be a solid late-round RB value as Tampa Bay likes to utilize multiple backs and Gainwell's receiving chops should earn him plenty of looks. His aggregate ADP is 90 courtesy of some of the sharper sites like FFPC and NFFC, but Gainwell can still be drafted in triple-digit spots on Underdog (108), Yahoo (102), and ESPN (108).