Fantasy Football

When you call someone a sleeper, it can be a very subjective term. So for the sake of this post, we will narrow it down to this: Someone who can exceed the expectations of the masses and turn into a pro-bowler. In other words, they could break the ceiling and emerge into the top ten of this list when all is said and done. Someone like, say, Plaxico Burress doesn’t qualify, because you know what you are getting from him, and he’s not going to exceed expectations because even if he has a career season, its only going to be marginally better than what he’s done in the past.

1) Jerricho Cotchery
To summarize, in Cotchery’s tinier with the Jets, they have never had a quarterback who could throw the ball accurately down field. Now with Brett Favre lining up behind center, not only do they have a quarterback who can do so accurately, he will unabashedly do so inaccurately as well. His stats were fairly impressive last year with noodle-armed Pennington and in-over-his-head Clemens, so expect him to improve on that two touchdown total from 2007.

2) Santonio Holmes
Last year’s numbers were a mixed bag, with a great ypc average, but not very many catches. And with the acquisition of Rashard Mendenhall in the first round, the Steelers might be the same old story on offense: A surplus of short gains and a periodic big play down field. But with a defense that will probably take a couple steps back, an (arguably) top five quarterback, a balanced attack on offense and a player with Holmes’ speed, we could see him being their new Plaxico Burress this season.

3) Calvin Johnson
Does he overtake Roy Williams as the primary target? If last season was any indication, Williams is obviously disinterested with football or hoping to force a trade through incredibly uninspired play (Shaun McDonald outscored him on his own team). Johnson, however, is a workhorse. And all reports lead to him being the emerging star of this uneven offense. If Kitna can still be as mediocre as he’s always been, we might see a top five statistical year out of him.

How is he not on steroids?

4) Dwayne Bowe
If you consider how inept this offense was, Bowe’s rookie numbers were staggeringly impressive. We have a hard time seeing him crack that top ten, but with another year to develop some chemistry with seemingly doomed for failure quarterback Brodie Croyle, he could see an enormous increase in stats from his debut season. If nothing else, Kansas City has an embarrassingly low number of options.

5) Reggie Williams
Between Matt Jones turning into Jenny from Forrest Gump, Fred Taylor aging and David Gerrard being free of distraction from a five year long quarterback controversy, we wouldn’t be surprised if Williams finally turned into the NFL receiver we thought he would be while at the University of Washington. He did have ten touchdowns last year, but has to be more effective in between the twenties to make himself a top tier player.

Rest of the top ten:
6) Roddy White: Had a good season last year, and with a quarterback that has the confidence of the organization behind him, White could have a breakout season. We expect pretty much the same production, though.
7) Kevin Curtis: Will McNabb be healthy? Will the offense demonstrate a semblance of cohesion? If the answer is yes to both, Curtis could be the prime benefactor.
Joey Galloway: This guy will turn thirty-seven during this season, but what are Tampa’s other options. If he stays healthy, he could impress some people. We’re skeptical any of these things will happen.
9) Derrick Mason: We have no idea who the quarterback is going to be for the Ravens, but lets just say we like his chances much more with Troy Smith as the starter.
10) Chris Chambers: We have not one iota of insight into the Chargers mentality on the offensive side of the ball. But after a half season with Rivers and everyone else, expect Chambers to feel more at home with this incredibly talented unit. You can throw Vincent Jackson in here as well.

Again, if you are not noticing a lot of symmetry with this list, it is because it isn’t based on past performance, but rather who has a chance of cracking the top ten in overall production. These aren’t necessarily the ten guys not already in our top ten that have the best chance of ending up there, but top ten that you may not expect too. See, its not at all convoluted.