FANTASY FOOTBALL DRAFT KIT

Crabtree starts training camp on the PUP thanks to injuring his foot during player-only practices. He's now questionable to play in the season opener and worse yet he is not learning the new offense or trying to improve what minimal chemistry he has with Alex Smith. This is the same foot that he had injured prior to the NFL draft. Throw in offseason comments suggesting a rift between he and Alex Smith and Crabtree remains a high- risk / moderate-reward player.

The undrafted rookie last year managed 18 receptions for 213 yards and a score but only averaged 11.8 YPC. He's still in development with no outlook for much playing time this year.

08-17-11 Update: Jones gets to take over Lee Evans vacated spot and instantly has at least some fantasy value.

Walter hits 30-year of age and he's not bound to improve. He remains a solid if unspectacular #2 to Andre Johnson who consistency produces around 50 or 60 receptions per season and a handful of scores. He remains too inconsistent even for covering a bye week.

No analysis available.

Maybe the Bears were right in easing back on Hester's wide receiver duties: not only did he end a two-year drought without a singe return TD by bringing three punts all the way back, he also caught a career-best four touchdown passes despite his lowest target total in three years. Less is more for Hester, who is most effective in best ball formats--and when you get credit for his return scores as well.

The Lions added speedy Titus Young to take the lid off of defenses and Mikel Leshoure to pound them underneath. They have Jahvid Best running outside, Brandon Pettigrew over the middle, and Calvin Johnson for everything else. That leaves table scraps for the nine-year veteran, who'll be a nice complementary NFL player but, at this stage in this offense, an infrequent fantasy contributor.

(+Upside) Ford only had 25 catches for 470 yards and two scores as a rookie but in the world of the Raiders that was top-notch veteran sort of stats. Ford has been playing #3 thanks to the Raiders continued fallacy that Darrius Heyward-Bey is a wide receiver but he may take over the #2 spot and no matter what - he'll remain no worse than the second best Raider wideout. He's a sleeper of sorts but with Campbell at the helm there is not a lot of confidence that Ford can really break out.

Decker enters his second season and should have a stranglehold on the #3 spot. Problem is that the Broncos never used the slot much and there is no evidence the new offense and Tebow will use it at all.

Nelson's 9-140-1 in the Super Bowl has some all but giving him Green Bay's WR2 spot. But those numbers mask three drops on the big stage from a set of hands that's anything but reliable. Nelson will have to battle aging Donald Driver and the re-signed James Jones for looks--plus a share of their pie will be eaten by the returning Jermichael Finley. No worries; odds are someone in your league caught his Super Bowl showing and will take him before he's on your radar.

Briscoe is showing up big in camp and preseason games. He may still take a step back with Arrelious Benn returns but he is making the case for more playing time.

Royal has fully recovered from hip surgery in February and he's ready to pick up from a good effort in 2010 when he had 627 yards. But the reality there is that three games with Tebow as the starter only netted a total of two catches for 22 yards. Hard to get excited yet about Tebow from a wide receiver point of view but Tebow will obviously have to use his receivers more and will develop his skills in that direction. Until there is proof that he can step up to throwing deep instead of just running, let someone else worry about when Royal is going to have a good game.

No analysis available.

Jenkins' most productive season in Atlanta came in 2006, when current Vikings OC Bill Musgrave and WR coach George Stewart on the Falcons' staff. Coincidence? Minnesota hopes not. At worst, Jenkins is one of the best-blocking wideouts in the league and will boost Adrian Peterson's numbers, but that helps in few if any fantasy leagues.

The mid-season trade to the Pats did wonders for Branch who responded with five touchdowns in the final 11 games with New England. He managed two efforts over 100 yards and scored in the playoff loss to the Jets as well. Branch is back to form in New England but he is 32 years of age and Ochocinco has joined the team to grab as big a share as he can. That leaves Branch as a definite #3 option in this offense and maybe less considering the love Brady developed for tight ends last year. Branch may carry some fantasy value, but he's likely to produce less than a fantasy starter.

(-Risk) Smith picked a bad time to be rehabbing a knee injury. His microfracture surgery is still not healed and he'll start the season on the PUP list if he is even signed (he will eventually). Smith carved out a nice role as the possession receiver in NY and caught 107 passes for 1220 yards in 2009 and he is only 26 years old. Smith will be back after sitting out six weeks or so on the PUP but still won't likely be back to form until next year.

08-12-11 Update: Smith was signed for one-year by the Eagles. He still may no play until midseason and that is a long time to hold a dead spot on your roster.

Edwards has signed with the 49ers for just one-year and $1 million. He is not a great fit as a long baller with a weak armed quarterback.

(+Upside) The 6'3" rookie Pettis comes in as the 3.14 pick by the Rams and should work on giving Sam Bradford a reliable set of hands along with a leaping ability that was missing last year. The Boise State star is slated to work out in all three positions according to HC Steve Spagnuolo. Pettis is a definite training camp watch.

Doucet landed on IR last year thanks to a sports hernia injury and the fourth year player is still more potential than production. With Steve Breaston gone, Doucet gets to challenge Andre Roberts for the starting flanker role but early returns are that Roberts holds onto it. Doucet could have marginal value even as a slot receiver in this offense that never uses tight ends. Training camp watch since the #2 in Arizona will have fantasy value.

After trading out of the spot where Julio Jones was drafted, the Browns wound up with Little--who may very well be the most talented wideout on their roster. He'll be rusty after sitting out last season due to NCAA infractions, but don't be surprised if he quickly pushes himself to the fore of Cleveland's wafer-thin receiver rotation.

Hartline plays a needed role as a possession receiver who almost never scores and remains just outside of fantasy relevance. He remains a good backup to stick in your lineup since he almost always generates half a dozen fantasy points or more but rarely has anything near a big game. Two seasons in and he still has not topped 100 yards in a game and has only 4 career scores in two seasons.

Murphy remains the #1 wideout in Oakland thanks to the very low bar set by even worse wideouts. Murphy has been the only consistently productive wide receiver and even then only had five games that exceeded 50 receiving yards. He may have an incremental increase this year but the schedule is much tougher and the quarterback is no better.

Massaquoi's productivity tripled last season when Colt McCoy took over at quarterback, and even the addition of second-round selection Greg Little shouldn't prevent Mohamed from building on those numbers. If Pat Shurmur can do for the Cleveland passing game what he did in St. Louis, Massaquoi could very well sneak into fringe fantasy contributor territory in larger leagues. Hey, you would have laughed had the same been said about Mark Clayton last season and look what happened.

The Texans signed Jones to a three-year, $10.5 million contract but he remains too inconsistent to be consider for a fantasy start. Last year he only had two games with more than 60 yards and half his efforts brought in 30 yards or less. Not worth owning.

Simpson closed 2010 with a bang—6-124-2 and 12-123-1 in Weeks 16 and 17--and will start opposite first-round pick A.J. Green in the Bengals' new West Coast offense. That opportunity, coupled with the departures of Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, make Simpson an intriguing fantasy sleeper this season. Just keep in mind there are a ton of new parts in the Cincy offense; it may take some time for them to mesh.

Smith elected to remain a "Panther for life" and at the age of 32, that may not be all that long in NFL terms. Smith has been on the decline since 2008 though that is not all his fault with mostly a below-average offense around him. Smith only managed 554 yards and two scores last year and while he has committed to playing with Cam Newton, it may not get much better in this first season.

Bennett has parlayed his Vanderbilt ties to Jay Cutler into a reasonably productive pair of pro seasons, and he did spend much of the lockout working regularly with Cutler. However, Roy Williams is bigger and better and likely to usurp his role as the possession guy in Mike Martz's offense. While Bennett is still likely to carve out a little bit of productivity, there's little fantasy upside to his game or his role.

The slot doesn't do much on most teams but the Eagles use 3- man formations about half the time. That allowed Avant to have around 570 yards in each of the last two years but that is also his ceiling. Not much upside here.

(+Upside) The 6'4", 228 pound wideout from Pittsburgh was drafted with the 1.26 pick of the Chiefs for one main reason - stretch the field and catch deep passes. Baldwin has more than adequate speed to get downfield and is built more like a tight end who can go up and get those long passes over almost any defensive back. The addition of Steve Breaston means Baldwin will start out as the #3 option for the Chiefs and his rookie season will likely be marked by a handful of games with long scoring catches against many games of minor production.

The one-time bust has remade his career in Seattle and his 765 yards dwarfs the rest of his NFL career. Williams has been attending to his weight in the offseason and is reported to be in great shape. Now he will have to adjust to Tarvaris Jackson instead of Matt Hasselbeck and that may prove to be a downswing in his production.

Douglas will battle with Eric Weems for the scraps left over from Roddy White, Julio Jones and Tony Gonzalez. That is not enough to merit fantasy attention. Douglas should keep the slot job and the Falcons will throw more - but it won't be enough for him to matter.

(+Upside) The 3.18 pick out of San Diego State has a shot to assume the #2 role across from Vincent Jackson thanks to free agent defections. Considered one of the most NFL-ready wideouts in the draft this spring, Brown lands in a great spot to make some waves as a rookie with a top quarterback and two other receivers that concern the defenses. A definite camp watch and a sleeper receiver if there is one this year.

08-07-20 Update: The re-signing of Malcom Floyd shoves Brown back down the depth chart.

Robiskie is an overachieving possession receiver who may actually thrive as Cleveland moves to the dinking and dunking of the West Coast offense. However, he'll have to battle Mohamed Massaquoi and Greg Little for looks, so pencil him in as the third receiver on a team that hasn't had so much as a WR1 provide fantasy help since they traded away Braylon Edwards.

Driver said he hopes to squeeze a couple more seasons out of his NFL career, but his productivity has been declining since he reached his 30s and there's little reason to expect a reversal of those tides. That said, he's still in the receiver rotation for one of the league's best passing games so there's upside if he can hold off Jordy Nelson and James Jones for one more year.

Henderson comes off one of his worst seasons with only 464 yards and one touchdown. He's always a fantasy tease who looks way better as a free agent than when he is on your roster. Just a bye week filler and a risky one at that.

Shipley turned in a solid rookie season as the slot man in Cincy's passing game, and while the offense is changing there should still be opportunities for him to build on that success. Instead of battling TO and Ochocinco for looks, Shipley will now contend with an unproven cast of running mates. Shipley's sure hands working out of the slot will benefit either rookie QB Andy Dalton or placeholder Bruce Gradkowski.

Gaffney had a bit of a revival to his career in Denver but now in Washington he'll remained buried on a roster deep in mediocre receivers and without any good QB to make more of them than an average attack. Gaffney could end up challenging for the #2 or #3 role but even that is not likely to offer any fantasy relevance.

Mason has signed with the Jets to give them some insurance in case Plaxico Burress still has not bought a holster. He is just depth on a team that does not throw much.

Tate had a low key rookie season with just 21 catches and no scores but he enters his second season as a front runner for the slot role. Tate has the confidence of HC Pete Carroll who expect him to break out this year. That may be a relative term and Tate is unlikely to turn in any consistently good numbers with Tarvaris Jackson under center but he bears watching for the future.

The rookie from 2010 had a slow start with just 395 yards on 25 catches (and that was with 122 yards in one game). He also tore his ACL in December and required surgery. But he has recovered and has been medically cleared to practice again. He is the favorite to keep the #2 spot though this offense does not pass enough to make that fantasy relevant.

The Ravens got much younger at wideout, letting Derrick Mason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Donte' Stallworth walk and drafting Smith and Tandon Doss. The Maryland product was projected by some as a first-rounder before falling to Baltimore in the second; he'll have first crack and helping Anquan Boldin pick up the 130 catches, 2600 yards, and 15 touchdowns the Ravens lost.

Young has the speed to stretch the field and allow Detroit's other weapons to operate more freely, but it'll take hitting on a couple home run balls before defenses respect him in that role. Eventually he'll usurp Nate Burleson as the Lions' WR2 to Megatron, but with so many other options in Motown and Matthew Stafford always an injury risk temper your initial expectations for Young.

There's a void at one receiver position for the Vikings; all Aromashodu has to do is beat out the likes of Michael Jenkins and Bernard Berrian to get on the field, at which point his talent can take over. It's an uphill battle, to be sure, but after watching Aromashodu close 2009 with 22-282-4 in the final month... stranger things have happened.

No analysis available.

Parrish remains nothing more than an average slot receiver who has never had more than 400 yards in his six seasons in the NFL. No reason to expect any better.

Despite the departures of Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, Caldwell still finds himself on the fringe of the Bengals' receiver rotation. He's best suited for the slot but backs up Jordan Shipley there, and he'll be hard pressed to bump either A.J. Green or Jerome Simpson for looks outside. A WR4 on a team with a new offense and inexperience at quarterback is a dart toss at best.

The second-year player has the confidence of the coaching staff though he only turned in seven catches for 116 yards last season and caught passes in just six games. He will remain as #4 on the depth chart but injuries could see his role increase.

No analysis available.

The 28-year old undrafted product from West Texas A&M was a big surprise last year when he turned 44 catches into 871 yards and three scores but having McNabb under center and no other healthy wideouts proved to be a big benefit. But Armstong barely caught half of the passes thrown to him and the Skins brought in Jabar Gaffney and Donte Stallworth to compete for the job. Armstrong at least knows the offense but he's likely to lose some snaps to the veterans.

The Jets moved up to the 5.22 to grab Kerley who replaced Brad Smith in the offense. Kerley is a kick returner and a slot receiver who can also run the ball. As a rookie he won't likely produce fantasy relevant numbers but he could have some value in leagues with points for returns.