Previous Tiers: Tier 1 - Tier 2 - Tier 3 - Tier 4 - Tier 5 - Tier 6 - Tier 7
Bernard Berrian, Min – Berrian is on a lot of fantasy owners’ sleeper lists and that’s a shame – he should be on everybody’s sleeper list. Which wouldn’t really make him a sleeper, would it? Anyway, Berrian had a decent season last year (71 catches, 951 yards, 5 touchdowns) and that was with the terrible Bears’ QB situation in Soldier Field. Now he goes to the merely bad Vikings QB situation and he plays 11 of his games indoors this season. He’s bound to improve based just on that. He may start off very slowly because of a lingering injury and if the suspension of Bryant McKinnie means Tarvaris Jackson starts the season running for his life.
Chris Chambers, SD – The San Diego Chargers are arguably one of the top five teams in the NFL. So why is their WR1 such a low-rated fantasy option? Mostly because he’s not the best receiver on the team (TE Antonio Gates is), partly because the Chargers run the ball a lot, and partly because he’s not all that good. Philip Rivers continues to improve though, and if Vincent Jackson (or second-year WR Craig Davis) can draw coverage, Chambers should be a 1000 yard receiver this year. But just barely.
Laveranues Coles, NYJ – Coles has the opportunity to play the role Greg Jennings played last year for the Packers; Favre points to him in and says “Go deep!”. The problem is that Coles is five years older than Jennings and – unlike Jennings – Coles seems to hate Favre’s guts. He might put that aside for the chance at 1100 rec yards and 10 touchdowns, which is the type of upside he has this season. Most likely he’ll produce about 75% of that, but the upside is there.
Bryant Johnson, SF – He gets a special write-up.
Dwayne Bowe, KC – Bowe was another one of those rarest of fantasy animals: the successful rookie WR. He racked up 70 catches for 995 yards and five touchdowns with a team that ended up losing nine straight games to end the season. This season the Chiefs might be even worse. Last season most of the snaps were taken by Damon Huard (QB Rating: 76.8) while this season the full-time starter will be Brodie Croyle (QB Rating: 69.9). Larry Johnson is poised for improvement, but the WR on the other side of Bowe will be…Devard Darling. Yikes. I admit I’m not sure how he finished with almost 1000 yards last season, so I guess I can’t rule out him doing it again, but I can’t see it.
