Fantasy Football: Justice Hill is an intriguing sleeper

Three big factors:

There are three things that make Justice Hill an intriguing sleeper this year. First, the Ravens spent a high fourth round pick on Hill, 113th overall. At almost a top-100 pick, the Ravens expect him to contribute in his rookie season.

Second, the Ravens should be a run-first offense again this season. Which means there are plenty of carries to go around in the backfield. As of right now, Justice Hill looks to be third on the running back depth chart behind Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards. Those two should get a good share of the carries. If something were to happen to one of them however, Hill would have huge opportunity to gain some important touches on offense.

Third, Justice Hill is an elite athlete with tremendous college production and has pass-catching ability. In PPR formats, the new “standard” Fantasy Football scoring system, Hill will have awesome value. Hill has the opportunity to emerge as the main third-down back for the Ravens. If he does, there is potential for around 20-30 catches just in a limited role, with the ability for much more if he climbs up the depth chart.

The final big plus about Justice Hill is he will virtually be free when it comes to drafting him in Fantasy Football this year. In 10-team leagues he will be a great value pick in 15th or 16th round. You might even be able to get him off the wavier wire during the early part of the season. In 12-team and bigger leagues he’ll probably go a few rounds earlier. He may be your 5th or 6th running back on your roster to start the year but has FLEX appeal and could flirt with RB3 numbers if he starts getting more touches throughout the season.

Landing a rookie running back with the talent and “potential” for opportunity like Justice Hill late in your draft has been a great strategy recently. In their respective rookie seasons, Alvin Kamara, Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb were late round Fantasy Football picks and/or waiver-wire adds that were second or third on their team’s depth chart at the time. All three ended up being league winners for Fantasy Football owners.

A lot of things would have to break a certain way for Justice Hill to have the impact of those players. Given an opportunity though, Hill has the talent to make Fantasy Football owners very happy they took a shot on him this season.