Fantasy Football Sleeper Watch: Tevin Coleman
The Falcons running back position is still wide open headed into the third week of the NFL Preseason. Devonta Freeman who was drafted in 2014 out of Florida State and Tevin Coleman drafted this year out of Indiana were expected to battle for the job, but the roles are still incredibly undecided with the dress rehearsal for the regular season looming on Saturday against Miami. Whoever gets the carries in Atlanta will be a nice fantasy football sleeper, so don’t miss out on your chance to grab some value if Coleman is available at the right price in your fantasy football draft this weekend.
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Coleman drew rave reviews coming into the NFL Draft his year with a report from NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport actually saying he could be the top RB off the board. While that didn’t happen, the Falcons did get a great value when they drafted him with the 73rd overall pick. Coleman was an amazing college back at IU running for 3,219 yards and 28 TD’s and averaging over seven yards per carry. He was very involved in the passing game and has a reputation as a very good pass blocker.
Before training camp began, he was projected by some (including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in this May article) to grab the top spot in the Atlanta backfield with Freeman moving to a more complimentary role. At the start of training camp, new Coach Dan Quinn said the two were battling it out for the starting job.
Unfortunately for both Freeman and Coleman’s fantasy football stock, the battle hasn’t materialized yet since both backs sustained hamstring injuries and have yet to play a down in the preseason. Both Coleman and Freeman have since returned to practice and are expected to play on Saturday, so we should have a better idea of their value after seeing them against Miami.
Coleman is a high-risk pick in fantasy drafts until we know for sure that he’s ready to contribute at the NFL level, but his absence from NFL Preseason has kept his buzz at a relatively low level and he’s currently going as the 33rd running back off the board according to fantasypros.com average draft position. If you can add Coleman as your third or fourth running back, he’s a fantasy football sleeper that will pay off at some point this season, and he could be in for a Tre Mason-like mid-season emergence even if he does start slow due to injury.
Don’t reach for Coleman and draft him in a place that you will be forced to start him early in the season, but he could emerge as a RB2 option very quickly if he can claim the job in Atlanta.