What a year for the sleeper in fantasy football. I was thinking yesterday about how just about every position had a decent sleeper this year. With that thought comes the first annual TINO Fantasy All-Sleeper team. I’ll be using our TINO Fantasy League Re-Draft as a reference of how they did over the season. The scoring is pretty basic and the guys in the league have years of experience in Fantasy Football.
QB: Derek Anderson, Cleveland Browns
Height: 6-6 Weight: 230 Age: 24
Born: 6/15/1983 Portland , OR
College: Oregon State
Experience: 3rd season
Who would have thought this guy would be on par with Peyton Manning this season? He ranked #6 overall and for QB’s in the league. He was picked up in week three after his explosive breakout against the Bengals. The owner didn’t have the guts to start him and he sat on the bench until being traded away (packaged with Chad Johnson for Big Ben…owner was a Steelers homer) in week 6. He rode the bench of his new team until week 9. After week 9 he started every week putting up numbers that anyone would be happy with for a fantasy QB until the Snow Bowl last weekend against the Bills.
The Browns have a decision on their hands this offseason with Brady Quinn on the bench and Anderson being a Free Agent.
RB: Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
Height: 6-1 Weight: 217 Age: 22
Born: 3/21/1985 Palestine , TX
College: Oklahoma
Experience: Rookie
Alright, some may not say he is a sleeper but we are based on the fact that most could not have thought that he would have the season that he did. The Vikings were still trying to make themselves believe that Chester Taylor was their starter at the start of the season. This guy busted out! Take away the games that he missed because of injury and the splitting of time and this guy could have easily been the top fantasy RB this season. He is ranked #3 in TFL for RB’s and #20 overall in a QB dominated league. He was drafted in the third round.
RB: Earnest Graham, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Height: 5-9 Weight: 225 Age: 27
Born: 1/15/1980 Naples , FL
College: Florida
Experience: 4th season
This is what happens when injuries on your team can turn out to be a good thing. The Bucs found a spark in the running game that they had been lacking for some time. Graham ranked #8 for RB’s in TFL and #41 overall. He was very strong down the stretch. He was picked up in week five and started all but three of the rest of the games. It will be interesting to see where the Bucs go with their running game in 2008.
RB: Ryan Grant, Green Bay Packers
Height: 6-1 Weight: 224 Age: 24
Born: 12/9/1982 Suffern , NY
College: Notre Dame
Experience: 1st season
We were only going to go two RB’s but felt that Ryan Grant needed some props here. We do have a option to start a 3rd RB instead of WR in the league as well so we will go with that. Nobody banked on Grant ending up the guy in Green bay after Ahman Green left. If you say you did your lying. Grant did not rank the highest (#22 for RB, #90 overall) but he wasn’t playing the whole season either. He is the definition of sleeper. He was picked up in week 9 and the owner is now in the title game.
WR: Wes Welker, New England Patriots
Height: 5-9 Weight: 185 Age: 26
Born: 5/1/1981 Oklahoma City , OK
College: Texas Tech
Experience: 4th season
I’m proud to say that Welker was my GM accomplishment this season. I owned him in most leagues I was in, including TFL. There was question about the Patriots WR corps being over crowded going into the season but Welker out of the slot sounded good to me. He ranked #9 for WR’s and #37 overall. He was drafted with the 5th pick in the 16th round.
WR: Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos
Height: 6-4 Weight: 230 Age: 23
Born: 3/23/1984 Pittsburgh , PA
College: Central Florida
Experience: 2nd season
The Denver passing game was iffy going into the season. A second year QB was a t the helm. Javon Walker was supposed to be the guy. Brandon Marshall ranked #10 for WR’s in TFL and #43 overall. He was drafted int he 12th round, 3rd WR taken on the team. He broke double digits in all but four games.
TE: Donald Lee, Green Bay Packers
Height: 6-4 Weight: 248 Age: 27
Born: 8/31/1980 Maben , MS
College: Mississippi State
Experience: 5th season
It’s been a long time since the TE position has made any kind of difference in Green Bay. Donald Lee has been one of the players contributing to Brett Favre’s rise back to the top. He ranked #8 in the TE department and #133 overall. Easily the name that jumps out as the person you shouldn’t find in the top 10 of the position. Lee was picked up in week four and started all but one game after that, which was his bye week.
Kicker: Mason Crosby, Green Bay Packers
Height: 6-1 Weight: 212 Age: 23
Born: 9/3/1984 Lubbock , TX
College: Colorado
Experience: Rookie
Mason Crosby was the #1 kicker in TFL this season. He ranked #107 overall. we knew he was a stud kicker coming out of college but who knew he would be tops of the fantasy league? he was picked up in week four and started every week except his bye.
Defense/Special Teams: Indianapolis Colts/Minnesota Vikings
This was a tough one to call, we felt both deserved mentioned here. Both of these teams were taken as second DTS for their owners. The Vikings went in round 14 and the Colts round 16. The Colts finished #3 in DTS and #28 overall. The Vikings finished #6 in DTS (with only 14 pts. separating them from the Colts) and #33 in overall scoring.
CAN YOU DIGG IT!?!—>
December 19, 2007 at 10:15 am
[...] the Pro Bowl rosters were announced yesterday. Big deal. Check out TINO’s Fantasy All-Sleeper Team [...]