Note: All rankings are based on following stats
10 receiving yards= 1 point
All td's= 6 points
3. DeSean Jackson
08: 912 receiving yards 2 rec. td's 96 yards rushing 1 rushing td
Opinions vary widely on Jackson. Yahoo Sports! projects Jackson as the 30th best wr this season. My fantasy magazine has him at #19. His adp 57.51, puts him as the 21st receiver taken in an average draft. With so many varying opinions, it should be quite common to see drafts in which Jackson is taken too high and too low. He was the 30th best receiver last year, and really faded down the stretch. In fact the only games in which he topped 100 yards receiving were in weeks 1 and 2. His yardage waned considerably in the second half of the season. To top it all off, Jackson displayed little skill in the endzone, catching only 2 td's. So far it seems like Jackson is more of a bust than a sleeper, but this can be beneficial. It will be beneficial because many owners may know this and intentionally shy away from Jackson. However, he now has help thanks to the Eagles draft which landed them Maclin and McCoy. These guys should help spread the field and take attention away from Jackson. In addition, it is very odd that the speedy Jackson never burned defenses for long yardage catches after the first 2 weeks. He has the speed and the moves, and McNabb's got the arm. I would expect to see more of these long catches this season, and I would expect Jackson to come down with more td's this season, as he only caught 2 of McNabb's 23 last year. My advice: if Jackson slips past pick #60 I reccomend drafting him. If he slips past #75 definitely draft him. However, there are too many proven stars to justify taking him below pick #45.
o9 projection: 1000 yards receiving 6 receiving td's 75 yards rushing 1 rushing or return td
2. Justin Gage
08: 12 games played 651 yards 6 td's
Gage had an eye-popping 19.1 YPC. While I don't think anyone in their right mind believes he will post that number again this season, it is a good sign of things to come. Were his stats projected over 16 games, he would have had 868 yards receiving and 8 td's. With the Titans run-heavy approach, it's easy for Gage to go unnoticed and end up in the endzone. The #1 receiver on the Titans depth chart, his adp is a very low 186. I actually believe there's a good chance Gage doesn't eclipse 700 yards receiving or 5 td's this year: a 19.1 YPC is so hard to produce. And he only caught 34 passes in those 12 games, or less than 3 receptions per game. Yet, if you're sitting in the last round of your draft and don't know who to choose, take a look at Gage. He's the starting receiver for the Titans, and who knows, maybe he will keep it together. In any case he offers greater potential than most others at this point, so take a chance on him, and if not, you can probably pick the guy you would have choosen out of free agency.
09 Projection: 750 yards receiving 7 td's
1. Bernard Berrian
15 games 964 yards receiving 7 rec. td's 1 return td
My name is Mike, and I am a Berrialcholoic. I had Berrian last season and I know the joy and sorrow he brings to owners. Overrall his stats look great. A guy who got 964 receiving yards in 15 games is almost guaranteed to have gone over 1000 yards if healthy for that one missed gmae. 1000 yards and 7 td's is pretty good. But it's his inconsistency that's a killer. In weeks 4-7 Berrian averaged 5.5 receptions a game, totaled 400 receiving yards (for a neat 100 yards per game average) and caught 3 td's. However, in no other week did Berrian catch more than 4 passes. Much like Gage, Berrian's production lives and dies by the long-ball. In 8 games Berrian had a reception of more than 30 yards. In the other 7 games, he did not catch a single Td, and averaged a sour 31 yards per game average. And yet i still love him. With an adp of 83, Berrian's overrall value is seriously undervalued- especially with sage taking over as qb (it kills me to think what berrian could do if he had a qb like warner, brady, or brees). The 17th best receiver last season, Berrian is treated more as a mediocre #3 fantasy wr. I say (and his stats justify) that he is a less than average #2 wr, and a great option for #3. If you can put up with his spotty performances (like his week 10 performance when he had ZERO catches - didn't even have to look it up, i remember it so vividly) then you will be greatly rewarded. With the addition of Percy Harvin, I believe he perhaps achieve some level of consistency, though week in and week out his performance will result in either 12 or more fantasy points or 4 or less points.
09 Projection: 1120 yards receiving 9 rec. td's 1 return td A whole lot of cheers/heartbreak for owners
Keywords: fantasy football, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, wide receivers
