Fantasy Football Sleepers - Part 1

by Skeller on Sep 5, 2008 3:26 PM EDT in Football

Sleepers! Everybody loves sleepers! So for the next four days I'm going to go over my sleepers for the year -- one for each team.

I know that each SBNation blogger has been giving their sleepers too and some of them match my selections and some of them don't. When it comes to sleepers, you can never have enough information. (Pssst...if they don't match I'm right)

NFC South

Atlanta – Laurent Robinson, WR – He’s fairly tall (6’ 2”) and damn fast. It doesn’t matter if Ryan is starting for the Falcons, they’re going to throw the ball to the WR2 quite a bit with Roddy White no longer being a surprise.

Carolina – Jeff King, TE – It’s hard to call a guy who caught 46 passes last season a sleeper, but he could be a legitimate fantasy TE this season. That’s especially the case considering the state of Delhomme’s shoulder and the odds that Matt Moore Josh McCown Brett Basanez might be the starting QB for a portion of the season.

New Orleans – Robert Meachem, WR – He has far more raw talent than either Devery Henderson or David Patten. If he can harness it and muscle his way into the starting lineup, he has big upside.

Tampa Bay – Maurice Stovall, WR – You can expect Galloway and Hilliard to miss games at some point in the season and that means Stovall becomes the next best WR in a solid passing offense. He’s also a 3^rd year WR if you’re into that.

NFC North

Chicago – Kyle Orton, QB – This isn’t meant as an endorsement of the Bears’ running game (which stinks) or their receiving corps (which really stinks). It’s the fact that if the Bears commit to him starting all 16 games, he has fantasy value. There’s no telling if the Bears will commit though.

Minnesota – Chester Taylor, RB – How can a guy with 844 rush yds and 7 TDs be so overlooked? In non-PPR leagues he put up numbers comparable to Roy Williams last year. He’s not just an essential handcuff for AP, he’s practically a regular flex starter on his own.

Green Bay – Brandon Jackson, RB – He was the “unknown rookie” who was handed the starting job last season despite the fact there were established veterans on the team. Then he got injured a little and stunk a little and lost his job to Ryan Grant. Now the tables might be turning, as Grant hasn’t played a down in the preseason.

Detroit – Rudi Johnson, RB – Ha-ha-ha! You're kidding, right? RB Kevin Smith is the “unknown rookie” who has been handed the starting job despite the fact there are established…wait, haven’t I written this before? Don’t say you weren’t warned -- it wouldn’t take much for Smith to “lose” the starting job and for Rudi to get the nod. Oh what, you're SO confident in the Bengals' ability to make personnel decisions?!

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Chicago – Kyle Orton, QB – This isn’t meant as an endorsement of the Bears’ running game (which stinks) or their receiving corps (which really stinks). It’s the fact that if the Bears commit to him starting all 16 games, he has fantasy value. There’s no telling if the Bears will commit though.

I don’t understand this one bit.

Fantasy value? Virtually every player has positive fantasy. Not to write your definition of a sleeper for you, but I’d imagine it’s along the lines of “a player who will go undrafted, or taken in the later rounds of a draft, but their performance warranted a higher draft spot”.

Even if the Bears do commit to Orton, is he more valuable than JT O’Sullivan, Tavaris Jackson, Matt Ryan, or Trent Edwards? All of these QBs were either taken in the late rounds of my drafts, or not taken at all, and are expected to be “committed” to as the starting QB. Frankly, I’m taking all 4 of those guys ahead of Orton if I’m need of a 3rd QB on my roster.

You know Selig? Ombudsman.

by rolub on Sep 5, 2008 4:08 PM EDT reply actions

Wow

Carolina – Jeff King, TE – It’s hard to call a guy who caught 46 passes last season a sleeper, but he could be a legitimate fantasy TE this season. That’s especially the case considering the state of Delhomme’s shoulder and the odds that Matt Moore Josh McCown Brett Basanez might be the starting QB for a portion of the season.

You might want to consider getting your info somewhere other than ESPN. First, Delhomme’s shoulder is, was, and always has been fine; he had elbow surgery last year. Second, the odds of Basanez playing are slim; assuming something happens to Delhomme, you still have to go through McCown (okay, yeah, he’s probably Carr 2.0) and Moore when he comes back in week 4-6. Third, King is strictly a dump-off guy with little goalline value; he runs five yards, turns around, and waits for all the other options to not pan out. He might have a little value in weeks 1 and 2 with Smith out, but probably not much.

The guy you might want to keep an eye on for late-season activity at TE for the Panthers is Dante Rosario. He’s shown the ability to stretch the field, make tough catches, and bounce back from hard hits in the middle of the field.

by nuke187 on Sep 5, 2008 6:22 PM EDT reply actions