Colts’ Dwayne Allen named top ten fantasy football sleeper by NFL Network

Since there’s not much going on during this part of the offseason, you could use it as a chance to prepare for your upcoming fantasy football drafts as you attempt to win your league. NFL Network’s Michael Fabiano recently accommodated that talk by listing his top ten deep fantasy sleepers for the 2016 season, and Colts tight end Dwayne Allen was included at number seven.

Allen was the second tight end included on the list behind only Detroit’s Eric Ebron (6), and he was ranked ahead of Oakland’s Clive Walford (10). Fabiano didn’t say much about Allen during the short video, but he did note that the Colts’ tight end appeared on the list in large part because Coby Fleener is now gone.

That reasoning makes a lot of sense: though a number of Colts fans didn’t particularly like Fleener, he still was a very productive receiving tight end and one of the top receivers on the team period. So now with Fleener in New Orleans, it opens the door for Allen to take over those targets - especially since the number two tight end, Jack Doyle, doesn’t provide the level of competition with Allen that would keep him from producing. When the Colts brought Allen back it was assumed that they had a much bigger plan for him in the receiving game moving forward, and so we could see a big year from the tight end.

Over the past three years, Allen has never fully regained his 2012 season form, when he played in every game and caught 45 passes for 521 yards and three touchdowns. Over the past three years he has played in 27 games but has recorded just 46 receptions for 524 yards and ten scores (eight of them came in 2014). Last year was a disastrous season for him, however, as he managed just 16 catches for 109 yards and a score. The Colts and Allen are both committed to improving on those numbers, however, and so that coupled with the departure of Coby Fleener could mean a big season for Dwayne Allen.

He likely won’t go anywhere near the top of fantasy drafts and he won’t be among the top tight ends taken (Fleener with the Saints likely will and should be taken ahead of him too), but it’s true that the Colts’ tight end could be a sleeper to keep an eye on.