#4 - Drew Brees, Marques Colston and Devery Henderson
What Happened? - QB Drew Brees was unceremoniously booted out of San Diego and landed in New Orleans, where new Head Coach Sean Payton was rebuilding the team. All-Everything tailback Reggie Bush was the talk of the league, but fellow rookie Colston and #3 WR Henderson ended up with plenty of fantasy glory themselves. Persistent injuries to #1 WR Joe Horn and a healthy Deuce McAllister also contributed.
Should We Have Seen This Coming? - Drew Brees, yeah sure. He was a good quarterback in SD, throwing for 3576 yards and 24 TDs in 2005. We knew the RB combo of Bush and McAllister would be a good one and Joe Horn was an experienced vet. Brees should have had a good year and a lot of people predicted that. But a 4400 yard, Pro Bowl season?! That required two unknowns in Colston and Henderson stepping up at the same time. Throw in the additional unknown of Sean Payton's offense, and it was a perfect fantasy storm of everything happening at the same time. If you had one (or more) of these guys, it was a storm that destroyed your opponents. If you didn't, then it likely destroyed you.
Who Aren't We Seeing This Year? -- Let's see, an experienced QB on a new team, with a new coach. A solid running game and a veteran #1 WR. Some overlooked WRs, maybe one of them is a rookie. Hmm....
Look, if Trent Green throws for 4300 yards this season, can anybody really say they didn't see it coming? Marty Booker and Derek Hagan are just waiting to explode, with maybe a little Ted Ginn thrown in. If anybody is going to be the next Brees/Colston/Henderson, I say it's the guys in the teal and orange.