Ladd McConkey – NFL Draft Sleeper Alert
Jay Felicio
Bettings
With all that said, let’s take a quick look at some of my favorite targets this week.
I just talked about the problems with easy scoring environments and how they often turn into a putting contest. There aren’t many teams I’d rather have this week if this was a true putting contest. Add in some forecasted wind for much of the week, and I like these two to crush it on and around the greens.
Wallace has all-world talent if he wasn’t hitting it off the planet once a round. In a team event, they can hopefully strategize a way to keep the high leverage drives out of his control. As for Thor, his all-around skillset is well suited to be anyone’s partner. He finally popped in the States with a top 15 at the Valero and this week I have this duo projected 11th in expected strokes gained but just 45th in projected rostership. That smells like dollar signs.
Matt struggled early in the year, but he figured out some equipment issues on his driver and the results have been great in the last four starts with four top 30s on his game log. This brotherly duo posted a top 20 together last year and that was before Alex had really gained confidence on the pro stage. At that point he had on top 10, and it came on the Challenge Tour. He’s added six more in the last year while posting a steady stream of top 25s along the way. This feels like a lot to pay when you have the power packed teams available for $1,000 more so it’s no surprise to see the Fitz’ projected under-15% rostership.
This South African duo definitely has my attention this week at just $7,100 on DraftKings. Potgieter is having quite the year as he became the youngest ever to win a Korn Ferry Tour event and shortly after became the youngest to post a 59. Oh, and Lawrence isn’t too shabby himself being a four-time winner on the DP World Tour.
I thought this value duo would be popular, but after running the rostership numbers, they are sitting under 5% in the projections. I wouldn’t make them a top priority, but at that rostership, they become one of my favorite salary savers when looking to load up on star-packed teams at the top. They show the fourth highest improvement in split stat performance versus baseline, so the splits fit their game nicely.
Pendrith has been shaky in 2024 but three of his four made cuts have doubled as top-15 finishes. That includes a T-11 last week at the Corales. Combine that big-finish upside with Conners steady striking and you have a formidable duo. This team would be incredibly popular if it weren’t for the fact that DK boosted their price to the mid-$9k range.
It’s hard to go wrong with these two who have a long history of playing together in team events. Here in NOLA they won the 2022 edition and returned to land a T-4 finish last year. They aren’t getting overlooked by any means, currently projected to have 35% rostership. I have no problem with plugging them in at the top though, if you surround them with some high-leverage teams.
