As always, I choose my sleepers in relation to their ESPN.com Weekly Rankings. I chose 3 sleepers last week, and I did a pretty decent job. #Modesty. Since I am not a selfish person, I figured I would continue to help filling out your weekly lineup. This week I will be giving you just one player that is being criminally underrated by the experts while also showcasing a different way at evaluating players on a week-to-week basis.
Travis Benjamin - Ranked 30th amongst WRs
Travis Benjamin has been a top 5 WR this season, and he continues to get no respect. This isn't because of some fluky performances either. He has performed well each week in '15, and is the consensus #1 guy in Cleveland. People continue to shy away from him because he isn't a big named receiver like Julio Jones or Antonio Brown, but his output in 2015 is right on par with the elites. He has the huge play-making ability, and has also seen 10 targets in each of the two past weeks. If your league also awards special teams yardage, then there is no reason for you to be benching Benjamin. Oh, and he is also facing the Ravens who rank right near the bottom of the league when it comes to defending WRs this season. So yeah, get him in your lineup this week.
Let's take a closer look at how well Benjamin has been performing on a week-to-week basis. My main league is one of the few that awards season-long performance by putting more of an emphasis on total points instead of total record. However, most leagues do not do this and it's important to get guys who do well each game. A good way at measuring this is by using the Week-To-Week Output System (WWO)-where the goal is to have the lowest possible number.
According to NFL.com, Benjamin finished 7th amongst all WRs in Week 1, 4th in Week 2, 34th in Week 3, and 40th in Week 4. Keep in mind that this is by standard league scoring, so these numbers would go way up if it were a league that awards return yardage/TDs.
7 + 4 + 34 + 40 = 85
85 / 4 weeks = 21.25 WWO for Travis Benjamin
This means that Benjamin has been, on average, the 21st best WR on a week-to-week basis in the NFL according to the WWO system. Let's compare him to another top 5 WR this season, AJ Green. Green's numbers are as follows:
33 + 34 + 1 + 36 = 104
104 / 4 weeks = 26 WWO for AJ Green
No matter format your league is using, Julio Jones is probably going to be the #1 ranked WR in this season thus far. Let's see what his WWO is.
1 + 21 + 3 + 67 = 92
92 / 4 weeks = 23 WWO for Julio Jones
Interestingly enough, Larry Fitzgerald has the best WWO so far for WRs (who have played 4 weeks) with a 17.5 rating. Fitz has apparently been sipping from the Fountain of Youth, and is more than deserving of being in all lineups. Julian Edelman's WWO is 17.3 through three games.
WWO is important to use in standard leagues because the ultimate goal is to outscore your opponent. Total points do not matter. Winning a game by the score of 60-55 is much better than losing a game by a score of 120-115. You need consistency in standard leagues. You need guys that are going to play well each and every week. A random 40 point outing by one player that follows with lousy outings does you little to no good.
The WWO is especially useful for daily leagues because it shows that while you are probably going to get a decent outing from an elite guy, you are better off putting a guy like Travis Benjamin in your lineup. Not only because he has been great on a week-to-week basis, but mainly because he doesn't take up nearly the same amount of space in your salary cap. I know 4 weeks is a very small sample size, but his 2015 performance cannot be ignored. I am also not saying to brush off all of the expensive/elite players from your lineup, but having a guy that has been performing well (and costs dirt cheap) can do wonders for the quality of your remaining roster spots. It is likely that Julio and AJ will eventually be on par, if not pass, Benjamin on the WWO system. However, you should get him in your lineup while he's performing well. If he actually does stay on-par with these elite WRs, you should get him on your team while his value is relatively low.
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