It is that time of year again! The NFL is starting its 2022 season in less than a week and with that, Fantasy Football is back as well.

Around this time, football fans begin to convene and hold their annual draft parties in which they select a team consisting of more than a dozen NFL players to lead them to a season victory with possible money on the line.

Prior to their drafts, those participating in Fantasy Football begin to conduct research on players who can make a great impact if selected and those who might “bust” and not be such an impact.

The Sterling will break down a couple of perspectives of active Fantasy Football participants and who they think may be the “booms, busts, and sleepers” of the 2022 Fantasy Football season.

Hearing from senior, Matthew Ontiveros, he discusses who he believes will be sleepers, booms, and busts of the upcoming Fantasy Football season.

• Sleepers:
  • Sky Moore, “…with Tyreek (Tyreek Hill) gone they are going to spread the ball to other playmakers more than normal.”
  • Breece Hall, “He’s splitting reps right now but I think he will take over as RB1, become a big part of their offense and have the potential to be a Tier-2 RB.”
• Booms:
  • Michael Pittman Jr., “He had an outstanding year last year and they got an upgrade at quarterback, with this season everyone expecting a run-heavy offense, I think Pittman will rise with Matt Ryan at the helm.”
  • Courtland Sutton, “He is their WR2 but last year he had good and bad games. When he got targets he had amazing games so I think this year with an upgrade at QB he will shine especially with Russ(Russell Wilson).”
• Busts:
  • Derrick Henry, “Coming off an injury this season and also a loss of WR(AJ Brown), Henry will have to carry this year a lot of the workload, so I think he will bust.”
  • Kyle Pitts, “He’s a great TE but with the changing of the quarterback and having a small duel I think they won’t have a very efficient year, so I think he will bust with him having to really fight for targets amongst other receivers.”

Lastly, from former student of Morton West High school, Ryan Campos Class of 2022, goes into detail on his game plan as he approaches drafts for the upcoming season.

• Sleepers:
  • Julio Jones, “He’s due for another big season and I think him and the “goat” Tom Brady will be connecting a lot. He has proven his capability throughout his career and I believe his ceiling will be higher than others think.”
  • Curtis Samuel, “He finally has a solid QB to throw him the ball. The thing is he needs to stay healthy. I think he’ll be good with Wentz throwing the ball to him, especially while McLaurin is taking most of the coverage.”
• Booms:
  • Justin Fields, “From the One and Only The Ohio State University, he has a new coaching staff who are adapting to his play style. A duo threat type of quarterback who can sling the ball around and run. Look how he did this preseason.”
  • Jaylen Waddle, “Had a fantastic rookie season breaking the rookie reception record. Even though they have Tyreek hill now, they’ll be more focused on Hill opening up the field which will leave waddle on a 1-on-1 situation.”
• Busts:
  • Amari Cooper, “With a solid quarterback, (Dak Prescott) he hasn’t done much damage as he’s expected to. He won’t be good especially with no quarterback this season as you know Deshaun(Watson) [is] suspended.”
  • Ezekiel Elliott, “His name is overhyped. His production has been terrible he’s averaged four yards per carry in the last two seasons and needed all 17 games to get to 1000 yards.  The backup has been way more productive than he’s been. All honesty I think he’ll be replaced by Tony(Pollard) soon or later.”

This past off-season for the NFL was very exciting. With a handful of franchise players signing with other teams or being traded, offenses across the league grew greatly and some defenses may have to prepare in a variety of ways to stop these star-led schemes.

Fantasy participants have a lot to look forward to in their drafts, this NFL season will be one to remember with many familiar faces in different places.