Fantasy Football Sleeper: RB Kevin Smith

"Ha-ha, the Lions suck!" 

Make sure you say that early and often at your fantasy draft this year.  WR Calvin Johnson will probably be the first Lion drafted, so make sure you relentlessly harp on how terrible the Lions are going to be. Bring up rookie QB Matt Stafford.  Talk about the legacy of incompetence. You can even mention how the Red Wings choked away the Stanley Cup.  Say whatever you have to in order to deflect attention away from this year's big RB sleeper, RB Kevin Smith.

Smith finished with 976 rushing yards and 8 TDs on last year's 0-16 Lions - arguably the worst NFL team in 30 years.  This season the Lions will still be bad, but they'll be much better than last year.  Rookie QB Matt Stafford has a legitimate NFL stud in WR Calvin Johnson, while veteran WR Dennis Northcutt and rookie WR Derrick Williams gives Stafford a decent all-around WR corps. 

Rookie QBs like to hand off the ball though. Last year Matt Ryan handed the ball to Michael Turner 376 times, while Joe Flacco gave it to Le'Ron McClain, Ray Rice and Willis McGahee a combined 509 times.  Matt Stafford will be no different this season.  Smith will be expected to be a workhorse for the Lions and his 4.1 yds per carry average last year means he should be a very successful workhorse.  Don't act surprised in December when Smith racks up his 1200^th rushing yard.  Kevin Smith is going to be big this year, so jump on the Lions fantasy bandwagon now.

There's plenty of room up here.