While the early picks in your fantasy football draft set the floor for how good your team can be, the late-round steals are what determine your ceiling. Most, if not all, of your late-round selections will not help your team, but if you can find good starters with your final picks, you have a leg up on your competition. The following five players are not guaranteed to put up a top-five finish, but they should easily outperform their current average draft position.
Note that, for the sake of this exercise, “late round” is defined as a player selected outside of the top-100 picks per FantasyPros Consensus Average Draft Position.
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5 Fantasy Football Late-Round Steals
Rashaad Penny (104th Overall, RB40)
Rashaad Penny and D’Andre Swift are battling for the Philadelphia Eagles starting running back job, but as long as both players are healthy, Penny should win this battle. The former first-round pick has quietly been one of the most efficient runners in football over the past few seasons and does not get the credit he deserves for his impressive play.
Last year, the running back led the league in true yards per carry (5.40) while averaging an absurd 3.79 yards created per touch. He did all this while seeing an average of 7.1 defenders in the box, the third-highest mark in the league. Injuries are a major concern, but if he can stay on the field behind Philadelphia’s elite offensive line, he will be one of the biggest fantasy football steals of the season.
Odell Beckham Jr (116th Overall, WR48)
As evidenced by his current ADP, nobody (understandably) expects Odell Beckham Jr to recapture his All-Pro form in 2023. Beckham will not play like his 2016 self with the Baltimore Ravens, but he could easily match his 2021 output.
Beckham came alive during the Rams’ Super Bowl run, recording 21 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns on 26 targets. Keep in mind that Beckham joined the Rams during the middle of the season and didn’t have time to develop chemistry with quarterback Matthew Stafford or the rest of the offense. If that version of Beckham can come back in 2023, then he should be a solid flex play with low-end WR2 upside, which makes him a fantasy football steal this late in the draft.
Odell Beckham Jr. made a crazy fingertip one-handed catch: 🤯#Ravens receivers coach Keith Williams:
“Oh, I like that type of stuff! I like that type of stuff!”
All BAL. wideouts: “No you don’t!”
Williams: “Only from him.”
🤣🤣🤣
(Via @sgellison & @Ravens) pic.twitter.com/WTG42SnFWE
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) June 29, 2023
Kyler Murray (153rd Overall, QB23)
Do not draft Kyler Murray to be your QB1 for Week 1. Even if he is back on the field, the Arizona Cardinals franchise quarterback probably won’t look like his old self for a while. However, once he knocks off the rust, Murray could be a league-winning force down the stretch.
Running quarterbacks are basically a cheat code in fantasy football, and getting a dual threat like Murray this late in the draft is a steal. Keep Murray on your bench for the first few weeks, roll with someone like Derek Carr to start the season, and then unleash Murray during the back half of the campaign.
Very, Very Late-Round Picks
The first three names on this list will probably suffice for your typical 12-team redraft league, but what if you’re playing in an extremely deep league? Well, it is admittedly harder to find fantasy football steals in those formats, but there are a few players slipping through the cracks.
Terrace Marshall (260th Overall, WR95)
The Carolina Panthers have what is probably the worst wide receiver room in football. Despite signing veterans Adam Thielen and D.J. Chark in free agency, team reporters believe that Terrace Marshall will be the top option in the passing attack. The former second-round pick actually showed some signs of life down the stretch last year, and now that he has a real quarterback and head coach, he could be in for the best season of his career. Again, he won’t be a top-12 receiver, but he’s going to get targets and has a knack for the deep ball.
I think the national media is sleeping on Terrace Marshall Jr. this year. pic.twitter.com/aAT9WV69uh
— Michael Bell (@avl_mike) March 20, 2023
Richie James (284th Overall, WR99)
With Kadarius Toney injured once again, the Kansas City Chiefs incredibly shallow depth chart just got even worse. Somebody is going to have to step up in this room, so you might as well bet on one of two guys that have actually done it at the NFL level.
Richie James spent the 2022 season with the New York Giants and their similarly bleak wide receiver depth chart. The former seventh-round pick stepped up in a big way, recording 57 receptions for 569 yards and four touchdowns on 70 targets. While this is solid enough on its own, the advanced metrics paint a prettier picture. James finished the year as PFF’s 38th-best receiver out of 113 eligible players while also recording a respectable 1.91 yards per route run, the 35th-best mark in the league.
Obviously, the “someone has to catch the ball” analysis is not sound if you’re trying to justify a top-100 selection. However, if you’re at this point in the draft, you might as well take a shot at someone that will be a fantasy football steal if he plays as well as he did last year.
Main Photo: David Reginek – USA Today Sports
