NFL Photos | NFL Photography Gallery | NFL.com
Top 12 fantasy draft bargains of 2015
When it comes to winning your fantasy league, players that you drafted in the later rounds that end up finishing as top performers can make all the difference. Now that the 2015 campaign is in the rear-view, here's a look back at the top fantasy draft bargains of the past season based on NFL.com average draft position (ADP).

Robinson's rookie campaign in 2014 ended early due to a broken leg. That injury, coupled with his less than stellar 6.7 fantasy points per game average kept him off the fantasy radar for the most part heading into 2015's draft season. But a few Robinson pundits, perhaps none more passionate about the Jacksonville receiver's breakout potential than NFL.com's Matt Harmon, predicted that big things were in store for the young wideout. Still, Robinson wasn't drafted until Round 13 on average. With 14 touchdowns and 1,400 receiving yards, it's safe to say that he far out-produced his draft value finishing as the fourth-highest scoring fantasy receiver of the year. In standard scoring formats, Robinson averaged 14.0 FPPG and recorded six 100-yard contests and three multiple touchdown games. That's reason enough to put him at the top of this list.

Fantasy enthusiasts were down on Newton heading into 2015 drafts due to his statistical decline since his 2011 rookie season. Despite that decline, Cam remained a top-five fantasy quarterback in three of his first four years in the NFL. An injury-plagued 2014 led to two missed two games, and he never seemed 100 percent following offseason ankle surgery. When his top receiver, Kelvin Benjamin, was lost for the season with a torn ACL during training camp, Newton's fantasy stock took a blow. But if you took a chance on him as late as Round 9, you were handsomely rewarded with the highest scoring fantasy player of the 2015 season. Newton posted 35 passing touchdowns and added 10 rushing scores, his second-highest mark since scoring 14 his rookie year. He fell fewer than 11 fantasy points shy of the 400-point mark for the season. Since 2009 only two players -- Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers -- have scored more fantasy points in a season than Cam did in 2015.

The backfield competition in Atlanta between rookie Tevin Coleman and second-year runner Devonta Freeman lasted well into the preseason and even spilled over into the regular season . But once Week 3 rolled around, the situation became much clearer as Freeman handled 100 percent of the Falcons' backfield touches (35) for 193 yards and three touchdowns. From that point on, Freeman and his fantasy owners never looked back. He went on a streak of four straight games with 25 or more fantasy points and finished the year with 14 total touchdowns and over 1,600 all-purpose yards, averaging 16.5 FPPG for the season. By the time the season ended, Freeman remained the top scoring running back in fantasy. The fact that he was drafted, on average, in Round 13 and possibly even claimed on waivers following his limited usage the first two weeks, makes him one of 2015's best bargains.

When it comes to tight ends in fantasy, we've said for a long time that if you don't get Rob Gronkowski early in your draft, wait on the position. Tyler Eifert was one of those guys worth waiting for in 2015. Even with three missed games due to injury down the stretch and a zero-catch dud in Week 3, the Bengals tight end still led the position with 13 touchdowns for the year. He was a dominant force in the red zone and scored multiple times in four games. Snagging the season's sixth-highest scoring tight end in Round 15 was quite the bargain.

Palmer's 2014 campaign was cut short (he played in just six games) due to an ACL tear, so fantasy managers may have been reluctant to invest even a mid-round pick in the aging Arizona signal-caller last summer. Safe to say nobody really saw an offensive bonanza coming like the one Palmer led the Cardinals on. Arizona led the NFL with 408.3 yards per game and averaged over 30 points per game. Palmer posted a career-high 35 touchdown passes 4,671 passing yards (a Cardinals single-season record) on the year. He averaged 19.6 FPPG for the season, and until Week 17 when he was pulled early, never posted fewer than 15 fantasy points in a game with seven 20-plus fantasy point outings along the way. Palmer finished the year as fantasy's QB5 so his Round 13 ADP was an absolute steal.

Fantasy managers were cautious with Martin during draft season since he was coming off two straight disappointing and injury-plagued seasons following an amazing rookie year in 2012. He did have a strong preseason which led many to reach a bit higher for him in drafts but his ADP still fell into the double-digit rounds. Well, Martin responded by recording the second-most rushing yards in the NFL for the year (trailing only Adrian Peterson) and averaged 13.1 fantasy points per game in standard leagues. He averaged 18 carries per game as the feature back in Tampa Bay and registered a career-best 4.9 yards per rush on his way to over 1,600 all-purpose yards. The fact that he was able to remain healthy all season coupled with the attrition at the running back position in 2015 all factored into Martin being fantasy's third-highest scoring runner of the season, rewarding fantasy managers who believed that he was far from done after just three seasons in the NFL.

The Jets offense provided a grab bag of bargain fantasy picks at almost every skill position last summer. With quarterback issues heading into the regular season, many were unsure how New York's passing game would play out with preseason backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick leading the way. Some thought Brandon Marshall was cooked and that Eric Decker, coming off a five touchdown season, needed 2013 Peyton Manning to remain fantasy relevant. Welp, the receiving duo became the first Jets teammates ever to record at least 10 touchdowns and 1,000 receiving yards each in the same season, combining for 26 scores when the curtain fell on the 2015 fantasy campaign. Both wideouts finished as top 10 options at their position with Marshall the WR3 and Decker the WR10 for the year. Together, the duo is arguably the top bargain of 2015 fantasy drafts. Think of it this way: You could have drafted your team's WR1 and WR2 after Round 8, and gotten WR1 value from both of them.

The young Jaguars quarterback improved mightily in his second season in the league, but still had his share of mistakes. And by his share I mean he led the league with 18 interceptions. Despite those mistakes, and even though his team won just five games all year, Bortles was a stud for fantasy owners, averaging 20.3 FPPG on his way to a 35-touchdown pass, 4,428-yard campaign. Bortles was on nearly 20 percent of championship winning teams on NFL.com which makes sense given all of the quarterback injuries to players like Tony Romo, Andrew Luck, Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning. Having a talented receiver like Allen Robinson to pepper with targets didn't hurt either. Bortles wasn't even drafted in many leagues back in August and finished as the fourth highest-scoring quarterback in fantasy.

The Washington tight end was plagued by injuries (concussions, hamstring) during his first two seasons in the NFL, playing in just 20 games and scoring only three times in 2013 and 2014 combined. But in 2015 Reed managed to stay healthy enough to play in 14 games, and late-round risk takers reaped the rewards, especially during the fantasy playoffs. Reed's health coupled with the breakout of Kirk Cousins in Washington resulted in just shy of 1,000 receiving yards and an 11.5 FPPG average for the season. Reed led his team with 114 targets, 87 receptions and 21 red zone targets which he converted into 10 of his 11 touchdown catches. His two-touchdown, 129-yard game in Week 16 boosted many fantasy owners to a league title, proving that a Round 15 investment in a guy who finished as the season's TE3 was quite the catch.

Hey everyone, remember Joseph Randle? He was on average, a fifth-round fantasy pick last summer, played in six games and then fell off the face of the Earth. And then Darren McFadden stepped in. In a career-reviving campaign, Run DMC rushed for over 1,000 yards and averaged a solid 10.0 FPPG despite scoring just three touchdowns all season. His volume, 18.3 touches per game, was enough for his fantasy owners to survive on given his solid weekly yardage totals. Many shied away from the veteran during draft season due to his injury history and hoped to land the "upside" that Randle presented. Anyone who was able to get McFadden in the later rounds and hang onto him until he really took over the Dallas backfield in Week 7 was rewarded with RB2 value for the second half of the 2015 campaign.

A glimpse at Baldwin's season-long stats can be a bit misleading, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a bargain on draft day. Baldwin finished the year with career highs in receiving touchdowns (14, tied for most in the NFL), receptions (103) and receiving yards (1,069). But through Week 11 he only had scored three times and had just two double-digit fantasy point games to that point. The Seahawks receiver delivered fantasy outings of 32.5, 21.4, 26.2, 16.5 and 17.8 during Weeks 12 through 16, with 11 touchdowns in that span. If you managed to keep room on your fantasy bench for him down the stretch, or even scooped him on the waiver wire late in the season, he returned top-10 fantasy value at the wide receiver position, finishing 2015 as the WR7. Yeah, Russell Wilson was pumped about it, too.

Back in July, I published an article on five "low-cost" tight ends with upside for 2015. Walker was on the top of that list because he was coming off of two consecutive career years with less-than-ideal quarterback situations. Following a third consecutive year where he posted career-high numbers in receptions (94) and yards (1,088) and scored six touchdowns Walker ended up being one of the best bargains at his position in 2015. Walker was the most targeted tight end in the entire league (133) and produced well enough to finish as fantasy's TE5 for the season. Fantasy owners who were able to score him as late as Round 12 ended up laughing their way to the fantasy playoffs ... especially when you consider that tight ends like Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz were selected in earlier rounds, and finished with fewer points.