Fantasy Football -sleepers
 

I have my big money draft tonight (not a keeper) and I really haven't had time to do research this year. Who are the big sleepers this year?

I'm picking at the 5 spot and thinking about getting Addai or Bush (we get points for a catch).

Brandon Marshall Wr Denver- is pretty much a late round sleeper (#2 wr)
Jacoby Jones Wr Houston- See Marshall

"Big sleepers" = the guys who end up going two rounds too early because everyone has them as a "big sleeper" and they just itch to pull the trigger on them.

That being said, one guy you hear mentioned a lot, and someone I grabbed on my team, is Anthony Gonzalez in Indy, filling the slot WR role...you know Peyton will keep spreading the ball around.

Everyone seems to be in love with DJ Hackett this year.

Demetrius Williams, WR, Baltimore
Marty Booker, WR, Miami

These guys are worth more than their ADP.

where are they getting drafted because is 40-50 catches and 3-5 TDs something to get worked up over?

I guess if they are going in round 10 or 12.

WR Gonzalez - Colts
WR Bennett - Rams

Anyone who pays attention to football probably already knows about these two, but they'll still be good "sleeper" picks for you if you're in a draft where not all the owners are up to snuff. Gonzalez for the reasons stated above, plus an apparently excellent training camp. Bennett because I'm sure a lot of people won't have realized that he's gone to the Rams and with one injury to either Holt or Bruce he'd be starting, and should see a fair amount of action in the slot.

I think Williams will win the starting job.
If Green can get his shit together, Booker could be a decent WR3 option.

Coming into this thread I was going to bring this up, and I'll counter with Nate Burleson. Hackett has been given every opportunity to be the #2 guy in Seattle this year with Engram pretty much locked in as the #3. That said, Burleson has consistently been out performing Hackett and is giving himself a great chance to be the #2 guy and while it shouldn't matter, he's also earning more than what a return specialist/#4 wideout should, so that might play into it a bit as well. That said, Hackett has been one of those sleepers that is so talked about that he isn't really a sleeper anymore, and at the very least, should replace Stevens as the tall threat in the redzone.

Thanks for the sleepers so far... keep them coming.

FOR QB - would you guys be okay with Kitna as your #1 QB? I think he may have a big year and I could probably wait until the 6-7th round to get him.

Kitna, Delhomme, Farve, LineArt, Rivers, Rothleshamburger....throw them all in a hat. Virtually the same. Unless you somehow think Kitna is going to throw 25+ TDs. Doubt it.

20-23 is reasonable for that group.

Seconding Jacoby Jones...

I would favor him more in leagues that don't kill QBs for throwing INTs.

Not sure how deep you guys go in RBs, but I like Leon Washington as a guy who could wind up as a starter by the end of the year.

Of course, it depends how your league scores. If you get killed for INTs, I wouldn't touch Favre with a 10-foot pole, for instance.

Kitna will have a good year. He threw for 4000 yards last year, and now he's got Calvin Johnson to start opposite Roy Williams, with Furrey in the slot (maybe?). I'd take him over one of the other 5 mentioned.

In fact, given that I focus on RBs first and WRs second in my drafts, I'm finding that Kitna's usually still available after that, and I think he's completely acceptable taken as a mid-round pick for your QB.

I took Kitna in my draft. He should put up decent numbers, but interceptions will kill him.

Another problem will be his offesne line's inability to give him protection (sacks) and his complete lack of a running game. He will be forced to put the ball up a lot, but defenses will know it and game plan for it. They will pin their ears back and go after him.

You also have to worry about injuries. Mike Furrey's been dinged up a bit in the pre-season. Roy Williams is always going to get hurt.

Finally, Calvin Johnson, while a great talent, is a rookie WR and WR's rarely burst onto the scene in their rookie years.

The Lions will likely go 5-11 this year, but it'd make sense to take the "over" in most of the games.

Why in the hell did I draft Kitna?

At least I have Leinart on the bench...

I don't see Gonzalez as a sleeper because most savvy fans are high on him. It obviously depends upon how deep your league is, but for a very deep league, I like Yamon Figurs on Baltimore as a late sleeper. He's got excellent speed and I think he intrigues the coaching staff and they will find some ways to get him the ball even though he is raw.

Now that's a sleeper. You say that name and you get the "who the fuck is that" from multiple people.

Of course he would go undrafted but still. It's fun to say that name as a draft pick.

We have 17 players on a roster... We have 2 at each position & we do use the TE position.

How many teams in this league?

Just 10

lol, that reminds me in my first season in a league (in the year that I won actually), I drafted Lawrence Tynes in his first year. Half the people had no idea who he was, and the other half thought it was a poor pick. I ended up using him for a few weeks and then dropped him for Jeff Reed or something, while one of the disbelievers picked him up right away heh.

It's always a RB heavy draft...

Here is my guess how the 1st round is going to go:

1: LT
2: S.Jackson
3: LJ
4: J. Addai
5: F.Gore (ME)
6: S.Alexander
7: B.Westbrook (most people drafting are from Philly)
8: P.Manning
9: W.Parker (Guy picking 9 loves the Steelers)
10: Rudi

I wish I had balls to pick Palmer in the second round going back up. I never have a solid QB 'cause I tend to wait to long for one. We do get 6 points for a passing TD - is it worth risking not having a solid #2 RB? Also, I wouldn't be picking a WR until the 4th round...

6pts per td makes qb a priority I would think. I would take Palmer under that system.

their aren't many wideouts you can project to score 10 TDs so you can get value drafting them later.

google Value Based Drafting. I subscribe to that method and it makes the process clearer. Footballguys.com has a rudimenatry tool to create a cheatsheet based on your scoring.

In my league with friends/coworkers we expanded to 14 to squeeze in 2 new guys this year. I was picking 9th in a snake draft and ened up with:

1.) Gore (couldn't believe he slipped to 9th. He's also destined to get hurt now.)
2.) McGahee
3.) Bulger
4.) Lee Evans

Most people are going to go heavy running back so you need to get yours when you can, the bonus to that is it usually leaves solid QBs available in the 3rd round. When my choice came up in the 3rd I had my choice between Bulger and McNabb.

not a sleeper, but i thought mcnabb looked good on SNF last night. moved very fluidly.

At #2, Larry Johnson or Steven Jackson?

I'd take Jackson.

So Johnson it is then!

:p

He looked good the week before as well.

gotta be jackson @ #2. too many questions about LJ

I took Mike Williams (OAK) with one of my last picks. With the crap they have in Oak, I can see Daunte heaving plenty his way when the raiders trail by 20 each game. Most sites seemed to say he was having a nice camp and should compete for a starting job.

Dammit. I was all set to take Jackson too.

That settles it. Torgo and Vic have aligned the planets so LJ is going for 2,100 yards this season. 500 carries. 35 touchdowns.

mike williams looking good in preseason

I have him in two leagues, so I'm scared too. :(

I'm taking Jackson in spite of you.

Too many Jackson picks!! Someone has to off-set it with LJ picks.

Not me. LJ impresses me as a guy that once he gets paid you get the cautious LJ.

Take a RB in the second round. You can wait on a QB in a ten-team league. You should be able to get a very solid starter in the middle rounds. Even if you get the 10th QB off the board you should be fine. Just be on the lookout for when people start taking their backups and make sure you wind up with somebody decent.

Load up on RB depth, and by week four somebody will be offering your Carson Palmer for the backup RB you picked in the fourth round.

1 point for 10 yards rushing/receiving
6 points for rush/receiving TD

Steven Jackson scores 400 this year.

Sleepers:

Vincent Jackson - I think he'll have a monster year with the Chargers
Lendale White - I think a lot of people have written him off, but that he'll have a solid season
Jay Cutler - Young QB, but he doesn't get the same press as Leinart or Young. He'll put better passing numbers than Young and throw for about as many TD's as Leinart.

Great call on Cutler. I have him rated over LineArt, Rivers, E.Manning and Favre. 12 overall.

WR Vincent Jackson
WR Ronald Curry

RB Brandon Jackson

Qb Brady Quinn

Thats spot on.

I pretty much wait until everyone has a qb and then 3-4 owners grab a second one. Both my QBs are in that list of the 'leftovers'

We start 2 RB / 3 WR in a 4pt passing TD (6 all others) league. One owner took a backup QB in the seventh round before taking a 3rd wideout. Unreal.

HAHA, I totally did just that! I'm a firm believer in having a quality backup QB, and I took Hasslebeck in round 7 ( who will be backing up Brady) while still short a WR. In the end it cost me a chance to draft Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes, so I had to draft Santana Moss in the 8th....who I had rated higher than Holmes and Edwards anyway, and likely would've drafted with my seventh pick. In the 6 picks between my 7th and 8th round pick 2 more QBs (Lineart & Cutler) also went off the board, so I like to think I made out pretty well with that strategy.......of course, had I known Phillip Rivers would last until the 10th round in that draft I may have approached things differently.

Although he's prett highly rated, I've seen Rivers slide in all 3 of my drafts, and I think a lot of people may be under-rating him due to the lack of big-name receivers in SD. Unfortunately, I've never been in position to pick him, since I always seem to go QB early.

When does the regular season start again? I didn't have time today to get in a league and I obviously won't over the next 2-3 days.

9/6, next Thursday

Well, I don't think my draft went as well as it could but whatever. I took freaken 3 RB's my first three picks. I couldn't pass up Ronnie Brown in the 3rd round - especially with the top tier WR's off the board. I have 6 WR's and really all of them have question marks. I think I'm weak there but we'll see how my team pans out...

Bulger, Marc QB
Culpepper, Daunte QB (yuck)
Addai, Joseph RB
Henry, Travis RB
Brown, Ronnie RB
Jones, Julius RB
Coles, Laveranues WR
Driver, Donald WR GB
Gonzalez, Anthony WR
Jackson, Vincent WR
Marshall, Brandon WR
Bruce, Isaac WR
Heap, Todd TE
Crumpler, Alge TE
Akers, David K PHI
Nugent, Mike K
Patriots, DST DST
Giants, DST DST