FANTASY FOOTBALL ARTICLES

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Eight staff writers have all been polled who their sleepers, undervalued and overvalued players are. To make this within context of your draft, we have shown the selections against the average draft rankings and are highlighting when at least three writers have a consensus on a player. Like last season, there was little consistency among staff members. This is shaping up to another year of the big running back coin flip.

Sleepers (Players drafted as a backup that have the potential to perform like a starter)

(3 stars)

Justin Forsett, Seattle Seahawks - The Seahawks have the softest schedule for running backs in the NFL and Forsett is positioned to take the best advantage. Julius Jones has never been a factor, Lendale White was sent packing and Leon Washington still has to prove healthy. That leaves Forsett as the most likely to benefit.

Montario Hardesty, Cleveland Browns - He comes cheap enough at around the 35th back taken in most leagues and could develop into the every down starter for the Browns. Granted - the Browns are on a perpetual rebuild but Hardesty looks like the one to own there.

(2 stars)

Ben Tate, Michael Bush, Fred Jackson, Clinton Portis, Chester Taylor, Leon Washington, Mike Bell

Undervalued (Players drafted as a starter but a great value where available)

(4 stars)

Ryan Grant, Green Bay Packers - This is not hard to justify since Grant goes as the 13th running back taken on average and yet he has turned in back to back 1200 rushing yard seasons and even scored 11 times in 2009. What's not to like?

(3 stars)

Jahvid Best, Detroit Lions - He's the closest thing to Barry Sanders that the Lions have seen and Kevin Smith comes off a knee injury without the benefit of the team looking forward to him being back. Best comes cheap enough and will ply his craft on the fast carpet in Detroit.

Knowshon Moreno, Denver Broncos - Moreno has one of the softest rushing schedules and in his second season should see an increase from his 1160 total yards and nine scores of 2009.

(2 stars)

Joseph Addai

Overvalued (Players that are poor values where being drafted, if not outright busts)

(4 stars)

Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams - Apparently most of the staffers do not like a player with only one season in six years where he played all 16 games and now gets a rookie quarterback and the same crappy offensive line. No question the upside is big and the risk is even bigger.

Rashard Mendenhall, Pittsburgh Steelers - Both a brutal schedule and having Ben Roethlisberger missing time has most staffers more than willing to let someone else take the risk on Mendenhall.

(3 stars)

Matt Forte, Chicago Bears - Despite a huge drop in ranking from 2009, Forte still carries too much downside for some owners. The addition of Chester Taylor could cut into Forte's role as a receiver and that's been his only saving grace.

Ryan Mathews, San Diego Chargers - No one debates that Mathews isn't a talented rookie or that he lands in a nice opportunity in San Diego but its optimistic to consider him as the RB1 that he has been getting drafted. Lot's of risk with any rookie and taking one as your first running back rarely works out.

(2 stars)

Frank Gore, Jamaal Charles, LeSean McCoy

Under Valued or Sleeper	Over Valued	ADP Rankings as of 8/3		DMD	2V	DT	KR	PS	TVP	JUM
		1	Johnson, Chris
		2	Peterson, Adrian
		3	Rice, Ray
		4	Jones-Drew, Maurice
		5	Gore, Frank				O			O
		6	Jackson, Steven	O	O		O		O
		7	Turner, Michael				O
		8	Mendenhall, Rashard	O	O		U	O		O
		9	Williams, DeAngelo			O				U
		10	Charles, Jamaal				U	O	O
		11	Mathews, Ryan	O		O		O
		12	Greene, Shonn				O		U
		13	Grant, Ryan	U	U			U	U
		14	Moreno, Knowshon	U	U	U
		15	Wells, Chris							U
		16	McCoy, LeSean					O	U	O
		17	Thomas, Pierre			U			O
		18	Benson, Cedric				U	U
		19	Stewart, Jonathan		U	O
		20	Forte, Matt	O					O	O
		21	Addai, Joseph			U		U
		22	Best, Jahvid	U					U	U
		23	Jones, Felix
		24	Brown, Ronnie			U		O
		25	Bush, Reggie
		26	Spiller, C.J.	O
		27	Jacobs, Brandon			S
		28	Barber, Marion			S
		29	Forsett, Justin	S	S					S
		30	Tate, Ben					S	O	S
		31	Williams, Ricky		O		S
		32	Bradshaw, Ahmad			O
		33	Brown, Donald							O
		34	Bush, Michael	S	S
		35	Hardesty, Montario	S	S		O	S
		36	McFadden, Darren							S
		37	Williams, Carnell			S
		38	Jackson, Fred	S					S
		39	Harrison, Jerome				S
		40	Sproles, Darren				S
		41	Portis, Clinton	S	S
		42	Slaton, Steve			S
		43	Hightower, Tim				S
		44	Tomlinson, LaDainian
		45	Taylor, Chester		O			S		S
		46	Jones, Thomas			O
		47	Maroney, Laurence		S				S
		48	Foster, Arian
		49	McGahee, Willis
		50	Choice, Tashard			O		S
		51	Lynch, Marshawn			S
		52	Washington, Leon				S		S
		53	Gerhart, Toby
		54	Dwyer, Jonathan
		55	Scott, Bernard
		56	Smith, Kevin
		57	Johnson, Larry
		58	Ward, Derrick
		59	Ringer, Javon
		60	Buckhalter, Correll
		61	White, LenDale
		62	Bell, Mike					S	S
		63	Westbrook, Brian
		64	Dixon, Anthony							S
		65	Starks, James
		66	Snelling, Jason
		67	McKnight, Joe		O

COMMENTS (page 1 of 1)

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DMD

Posted Aug 25, 2010 5:54pm EDT

An update is going to be done for Friday actually, along with my own personal sleepers expanded published yesterday.

markinsand

Posted Aug 25, 2010 5:51pm EDT

why is this never updated? Things change often.

paul

Posted Aug 23, 2010 11:00am EDT

ryeball "No one debates that Mathews isn't a talented rookie ..."
I'd debate that.

Well..........lets hear it.

Don

Posted Aug 18, 2010 4:05pm EDT

Great info. Where, on The Huddle website, can I find an updated top 200 offensive players list.

DMD

Posted Aug 16, 2010 2:28pm EDT

We are going to be updating this as always in a week. He just had his hand injury as has been widely reported on the site and reflected in the rankings immediately.

III

Posted Aug 16, 2010 2:20pm EDT

You can go ahead and remove Ben Tate from your sleeper list? He's going to sleep alright...going to be in a coma all year. Update based on preseason and injuries please if the article is this far out!

Matt

Posted Aug 12, 2010 7:37pm EDT

Agree with the first comment from Nick ... GB has one of the toughest "rush" schedules out there but according to the over-value chart members may think Grant is ready for a huge year.... I've lived by the SOS report and have always faired well TOP 2 or better .... So I'd be a little cautious of Grant even with his 4 star under value ranking.

AJH2

Posted Aug 10, 2010 2:13am EDT

DMD, There is only one star on the chart for Addai but two up top. Please correct.

Rovers

Posted Aug 7, 2010 6:14pm EDT

My sleeper for this year is T Jones. Of course we are talking about an RB4 in most leagues, but let's see who gets the GL carries and if Charles can hold up.

ryeball

Posted Aug 6, 2010 10:38am EDT

"No one debates that Mathews isn't a talented rookie ..."
I'd debate that.

nick

Posted Aug 5, 2010 3:27pm EDT

i agree grant is being undervalued, but couldn't that be because the packers have the toughest rush schedule (according to your EOS report)?

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