2009 Fantasy Football Sleepers

Sleepers are guys who have been in the league for a bit but are flying under the radar compared to what I think their true fantasy value is this season. They are usually young players that can be rostered on the cheap late in your drafts. Pierre Thomas, Leon Washington, and Aaron Rodgers are good examples from last season. Sleepers are low risk/high reward since they are taken late in the drafts. Go for the upside late in your drafts! My suggestions for 2009 fantasy football sleeper picks will be posted here.

Donovan McNabb should give the Eagles a standing ovation for their off season activity on the offensive side of the ball.  He said he wanted more protection and more weapons, and he got it in a big way.  The Eagles signed both Jason Peters and Stacey Andrews.  They will immediately step in to be the starting tackles.  Peters is as good as, if not better than, the departed Tra Thomas, and is seven years younger.  The Eagles also landed an elite full back in Leonard Weaver.   McNabb will be working behind some of the best protection of his career in 2009.

The Eagles are still a pass first team, though, as their first two draft picks suggest.  Jeremy Maclin surprisingly fell to them at 21.  Pretty much every mock draft had him being taken by Oakland, Jacksonville, or San Fran, all in the top 10.  He’s polished enough to line up opposite DeSean Jackson on opening day.  Their RB choice in Round 2, LeSean McCoy, was the best pass-catching back in the draft.  Westbrook owners will no longer have to worry about who to handcuff.  McCoy is a beast and Westy’s eventual replacement.  Reid admittedly “forgets” to spell Westbrook during the games, so McCoy will only be a factor when Westbrook is injured.  That said, McCoy is a must-handcuff for his older, over-worked, and often injured backfield companion.

McNabb and the Eagles have not really had a consistent receiver corps since the days of TO.  Aside from Maclin, McNabb has now had plenty of time to grow chemistry with all his weapons.  DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis, Hank Baskett, Reggie Brown, Jason Avant, and Brent Celek are all contributors.  This may be the deepest receiving corps in the league.  The shared targets hurt each of their individual fantasy value, but it’s all gravy for the guy throwing them the ball.

Now for a little bit on McNabb himself.  McNabb played a full season for the first time since 2004 and he put up some of the best numbers of his career.  He had career highs in yardage and attempts.  His 60.4% completion percentage and 23 TDs were both the third best of his ten year career.  His rushing attempts have trailed off a bit, but I am not concerned about that.  He’s got a ton of talented receivers and plenty of protection – he need to be throwing.

McNabb clearly still has the talent to be a top QB in the league.  The offseason additions will improve his overall performance both in real and fantasy football.  I’m projecting nearly 600 passing attempts for 4200+ yards and 29 total TDs.  Turnovers will decrease with his new offensive line.

I’ve got him as the 8th overall QB in my rankings at the time of this writing.  That’s just behind Romo and Rodgers and just ahead of Ryan, Roethlisberger, and Cutler.  I believe he will be undervalued on draft day, which is one of the main reasons I wrote this article.  Let your leaguemates take the bigger names in the first five rounds while you’re stocking up on RBs and WRs.  McNabb can keep pace with all the earlier picks and may be had a few rounds later.  Championship!

Earl Bennett has never caught a pass in his NFL career yet I’ll go out on a limb and say he’s the WR you want in PPR leagues in 09.  Bennett has already played with Jay Cutler at Vanderbilt in 2005, where he put up impressive numbers for a rookie.  He played two more seasons at Vandy before leaving early for the NFL Draft.  In his time at Vandy he set and SEC record for career receptions – very impressive considering he only played three years.

At early camps Bennett appears to be slotted at WR2 alongside Devin Hester.  He says that he now has full command of the playbook after struggling with it all last season.  Hester has slowly improved as a WR and his deep route capabilities were always limited by Orton’s strawberry shortcake arm.  I could easily be wrong by taking Bennett over Hester, but I just don’t see Hester becoming the chains-moving type of receiver that racks up points, especially in PPR leagues.  Hester will have games where he absolutely explodes, connecting with Cutler on multiple 30+ yard routes.  He’ll also have plenty of quiet games that kill his fantasy value.

Bennett has the tools to develop into an 85-95 catch kind of guy with Cutler.  It won’t happen this year, but we will see it in the making.  I think the whole Bears passing game will take a year to adjust and obviously Olsen and Forte will be major factors.  Hence I don’t have any Bears WR in the top 30.  However, Bennett’s ADP could be 3-4 rounds lower than Hester’s.  Let someone else nab Hester early and then reach for Bennett one round early as your WR 5.  With his breakout potential he is a strong bargain at that point in the draft.