Fantasy Football Rankings 2022: Sleepers, breakouts, busts by advanced model that nailed Taylor’s huge year

Championships can’t be won or lost in the offseason, but owners can gain a leg-up on their competition with strong 2022 Fantasy football draft prep. The NFL offseason has seen major shakeups to the 2022 Fantasy football rankings, with big-time playmakers like Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams and A.J. Brown all finding new homes. Will Adams, who’s surpassed 1,300 receiving yards in three of his last four seasons, continue to be among the top wideouts in the 2022 Fantasy football WR rankings with the Las Vegas Raiders?

Can Hill build a strong rapport with Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa like he had with Patrick Mahomes? These are the types of questions owners will have to answer before deciding which players to draft and which to avoid with their 2022 Fantasy football picks. Before setting your 2022 Fantasy football draft strategy, be sure to check out the 2022 Fantasy football cheat sheets from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Last year, the model accurately predicted that Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was being dramatically undervalued. Taylor was being drafted behind running backs like Aaron Jones, Ezekiel Elliott and Austin Ekeler last season but the SportsLine projection model predicted that he’d outproduce all of those backs and be a fixture in your Fantasy football lineups. The result: Taylor led the NFL with 1,811 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns to finish as the overall RB1 in 2021.

The same model has a proven track record providing Fantasy football tips, also identifying A.J. Brown as another sleeper in 2020 and players like Julio Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster as Fantasy football busts last season. Additionally, it’s called past Fantasy football sleepers like Derrick Henry in 2019, Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara in 2018, and Davante Adams in 2017. Anybody who banked on players like those made a run at their league title.

The model is powered by the same people who generated projections for all three major Fantasy sites, and it beat human experts last season when there was a big difference in ranking. The projections update multiple times daily, so you’re always getting the best Fantasy football advice.

Now, SportsLine has simulated the entire NFL season 10,000 times and released its latest Fantasy football rankings 2022, along with plenty of sleepers, breakouts and busts. Head to SportsLine now to see them. 

Top 2022 Fantasy football sleepers

One of the 2022 Fantasy football sleepers the model is predicting: Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb. The former Oklahoma standout is now the clear-cut No. 1 receiver after Dallas traded Amari Cooper to the Browns in the offseason.

Lamb is coming off his best season as a professional, setting career-highs across the board with 79 catches for 1,102 yards and six touchdowns. Lamb was targeted 120 times in 2021, and with Cooper no longer in the picture, it’s easy to see why SportsLine’s model has Lamb ranked among the top 10 wide receivers, ahead of players like Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown and Keenan Allen.

Top 2022 Fantasy football breakouts

The model is also projecting Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III as one of its top 2022 Fantasy Football breakouts. After two seasons as a valuable but underutilized piece of Wake Forest’s backfield, Walker transferred to Michigan State and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award as the nation’s top offensive player.

He rushed for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns and was drafted No. 42 overall by the Seattle Seahawks. Walker has 4.38-second speed in the 40-yard-dash with a powerful build that allows him to run through arm tackles. Even in a crowded Seattle backfield, he figures to get a lot of early-down work, and the model ranks him ahead of more established runners like Melvin Gordon and A.J. Dillon.

Top 2022 Fantasy football busts

As for players to avoid, the model lists Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow as one of its biggest 2022 Fantasy football busts. Despite coming back from an ACL tear suffered late in his rookie season, Burrow became a top-10 Fantasy football quarterback in his second season by leading the NFL with a 70.4 percent completion rate and throwing for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns.

However, Super Bowl losers have historically struggled in their next season and Burrow is probably a candidate for regression in Year Three despite the fact that most are understandably bullish on his career as a whole. Burrow was sacked an NFL-leading 51 times last season, threw 14 interceptions and fumbled five times. The model predicts he finishes as QB14 next season.

How to find proven 2022 Fantasy football football rankings

SportsLine is also extremely high on a surprising quarterback you aren’t even thinking about being taken in the middle rounds of 2022 Fantasy football drafts. This quarterback is listed as a shocking top-five option ahead of superstars like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. You can only see who it is, and the 2022 Fantasy football rankings for every player, at SportsLine.

So which 2022 Fantasy Football sleepers, breakouts and busts should you target and fade? And which QB shocks the NFL with a top-five performance? Visit SportsLine now to get 2022 Fantasy Football cheat sheets for every single position, all from the model that called Jonathan Taylor’s huge season, and find out.