FANTASY FOOTBALL ARTICLES

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.

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

(4 stars)

Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Seahawks - Another one of those "how quickly they forget" guys, Hasselbeck only played in seven games last year but is back and healthy and ready to copy his 2007 season when he had 3966 yards and 28 touchdowns. The Seahawks have added T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson is healthy again. The Seahawks are reloading and a healthy Hasselbeck should be better than his #18 ADP among quarterbacks.

(3 stars)

Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions - The first pick of the draft is always supposed to deliver and Matt Ryan set the bar high after last year. Stafford is all but certain to start early in the season if not week one and has already looked “veteran” in camp. Added bonus – Calvin Johnson who has made Dan Orlovsky and Daunte Culpepper look good. Stafford will need to throw and already has some nice weapons to use.

(2 stars)

Trent Edwards, Jake Delhomme and Shaun Hill.

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

(4 stars)

Matt Schaub, Houston Texans - Schaub has been a solid fantasy quarterback for the last few years so long as he wasn't nursing some injury on the bench. The last two seasons ended with him only playing in 11 games but a reinvigorated rushing attack should take some pressure off Schaub. With Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter and Owen Daniels, the fantasy points are there for as long as Schaub remains upright.

Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals - With an ADP of #12 among quarterbacks, Palmer rates as just barely a starter in most leagues which reflects his injury of 2008 when he only lasted four games and then injured his elbow with a tear in the ligament which finally healed itself without needing surgery. He's back in camp and says he is 100% recovered and ready to resume the pace that saw him pass for over 4000 yards in 2007 and 2006. He averaged almost 29 passing touchdowns for the three seasons previous to 2008.

(3 stars)

Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals - His age (38) has to be the only downside here since Warner comes off a career best 4583 passing yards with 30 touchdowns last year. But Matt Leinart is fighting just to remain the #2 and Warner is a lock for a good year with one of the best schedules in the NFL this year. The loss of Boldin might hurt some – if it ever happens and it hasn’t for two years – but Steve Breaston is ready to step up. The Cardinals had THREE receivers top 1000 yards on the season last year. Only Green Bay and New England had so much as two over 1000 and both barely made that mark.

Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles - Surprisingly has not gotten quite the love for last year after finally playing all 16 games for the first time since 2003. He also passed for 3916 yards and 23 scores and has an improved set of receivers with second-year wideout DeSean Jackson, a healthy Kevin Curtis and exciting rookie Jeremy Maclin who signed and got into camp.

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

(4 stars)

Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons - The Offensive Rookie of the Year from 2008 won't be surprising anyone and a tougher schedule will make it harder for him to repeat such a fine season. The Falcons brought in Tony Gonzalez as an obvious weapon but Roddy White is not showing up in camp. Ryan could have a sophomore slump even though he is being drafted as a starter in almost every league.

Matt Cassell, Kansas City Chiefs - Sure, he looked pretty good in the offensive system in New England that featured a great offensive line, Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Now Cassell is being installed in the new offense in Kansas City only without the same blocking or receivers. It's a lot of risk to assume and optimistic to believe he can be as good as he was in 2008.

(3 stars)

Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys - The Dallas gunslinger has been shooting blanks in December the last couple of years and now Terrell Owens is gone. The addition of Roy Williams had no effect last year and now the Cowboys are intended to become a run-heavy offense like they were when they would actually win playoff games. That makes Romo risky.

(2 stars)

Tom Brady, Philip Rivers and Eli Manning.

Under Valued or Sleeper	Over Valued	ADP Rankings as of 8/3		DMD	2V	DT	KR	PS	TVP	SG	SB
		1	Brees,Drew
		2	Brady,Tom				O			O
		3	Manning,Peyton
		4	Rodgers,Aaron
		5	Rivers,Philip			O		O
		6	Romo,Tony		O				O		O
		7	Warner,Kurt	U	U			U
		8	McNabb,Donovan				U			U	U
		9	Ryan,Matt	O		U			O	O	O
		10	Cutler,Jay						U	O
		11	Schaub,Matt		U	U	U	U			O
		12	Palmer,Carson	U			O		U	U	U
		13	Roethlisberger,Ben		O		S
		14	Cassel,Matt	O			O	O	O
		15	Manning,Eli		O			O
		16	Garrard,David				O
		17	Edwards,Trent			S					S
		18	Hasselbeck,Matt	S	S		S			S
		19	Orton,Kyle			O		S
		20	Flacco,Joe
		21	Campbell,Jason		S
		22	Quinn,Brady			O			S
		23	Delhomme,Jake			S				S
		24	Stafford,Matthew	S				S	S
		25	Pennington,Chad						S
		26	Favre,Brett
		27	Russell,JaMarcus
		28	Sanchez,Mark
		29	Hill,Shaun			S		S
		30	Bulger,Marc
		31	Leinart,Matt
		32	Rosenfels,Sage
		33	Collins,Kerry
		34	Henne,Chad

COMMENTS (page 1 of 2)

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Popobawa

Posted Aug 22, 2009 5:49am EDT

Hey chilover - Josh who?

MoneyD

Posted Aug 13, 2009 12:18pm EDT

I think you're putting too much value on Stafford. He's not gonna start the season. At the earliest, he might come in after their bye week. Detroit's schedule is very tough the first 6 weeks. Their record will reflect. Bringing Stafford in after their bye will make perfect sense. Than their schedule lightens up, and he'll get some wins. Not fair to Culpepper, but that's how I see it playing out.

Jeff

Posted Aug 12, 2009 2:03pm EDT

Hawk Man, you are probably right about Hasselbeck. He could be one of the better steals this year. Carson Palmer also, if he stays healthy. I'm going to say Kyle Orton is an interesting sleeper pick. Put a player in the right system and you never know.

Wed Rover

Posted Aug 8, 2009 6:25pm EDT

Zman - they had him as overvalued. Do you think before you write? I am more surprised they did not have an opinion more on Orton. There's a trainwreck coming down the tracks.

Zman

Posted Aug 8, 2009 6:14pm EDT

Let see... Cassell is SACKED 40+ times in that football wonderland run by that footballl wunderkind and he now has the younger version of Randy Moss in Dwayne Bowe.... Do you guys think about this stuff before you write it?

chilover

Posted Aug 7, 2009 10:16am EDT

any thoghts on josh freeman?

CJ

Posted Aug 7, 2009 9:43am EDT

is this list in addition to the regular cheat sheets? I guess my question is... do the cheat sheets reflect the undervalued and overvalued players?

MT

Posted Aug 7, 2009 1:51am EDT

Surprised you guys don't think Kyle Orton as #19 isn't a nice value / sleeper pick. A lot of QBs do well moving to a new team that is pass oriented (Schaub to HOU? Warner to ARI? Brees to N.O.?). Of course, I assume McDaniels' offense will be pass-oriented in Denver. Plus, the Denver D will probably [beep] enough to force Orton to throw in the second half of games anyway.

Hawk Man

Posted Aug 7, 2009 12:39am EDT

Hasselbeck is going to have a huge year.

Phat Guys on Fantasy

Posted Aug 6, 2009 10:16pm EDT

Even as an Atlanta fan, the schedule scares me when thinking about Ryan for a fantasy team.

SMW

Posted Aug 6, 2009 3:50pm EDT

I agree with all you have up there, but I wouldnt touch Stafford at all. But that's me I don't put rookie QBs on my teams ever. I really think Sage is underrated badly. I'd rather have him that Campbell, Quinn, Garrard, Eli, Hill. Maybe even Bulger, Flacco, Delhomme too.

Greg in DE

Posted Aug 6, 2009 1:54pm EDT

Good stuff. Palmer is way too low. He could be huge with Chris Henry actually allowed to play. Ocho & Laverneus aren't slouches either. Even though my Steelers will shut them down.

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