Brent Celek

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FANTASY FOOTBALL: 6 Sleepers to consider drafting…

Posted by fantasyfurnace on July 21, 2012
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 8 Comments

 If you were to look at the six sleepers we picked before last season, you would have to say it wasn’t all bad considering that four of them ended up injured. Not surprisingly, two were running backs! Here are the picks from last year; (This might determine whether or not you still want to see who our selections are for this season…)

Dustin Keller- TE-Jets- He finished the year with 65 receptions-815 yards-5 TDs. The receptions and yards were the most in Keller’s 4 pro seasons. Remember this was a season where QB Mark Sanchez regressed significantly.

Domenik Hixon-WR-Giants- One of the ones who got injured and only got to play in 2 games. That probably opened the door for some extra opportunities for stud Victor Cruz.

Julio Jones-WR-Falcons- Even with missing 3 games due to injury, the rookie had 54 receptions-959 yards-8 TDs. Not too shabby.

Brent Celek-TE-Eagles- He had a good year; not one that would qualify as sleeper material but you wouldn’t have gotten hurt by Celek’s 62 receptions-811 yards-5 TDs. Remember too that he played hurt for most of the year. We’re predicting an even better season for him this year.

Mark Ingram-RB-Saints- Another pick who lost significant time (missed 6 games) to injury. He still collected 5 TDs on just under 500 yards rushing, but what we liked was that the rookie only had one fumble on 122 carries!

Felix Jones-RB-Cowboys- This was the biggest disappointment for us. We thought with Marion Barber’s departure that the more ‘Bulked Up’ Jones would have a breakout year. He ended up with just under 800 all purpose yards and just 2 TDs. He too fell victim to injury which made him miss 4 games. Still far from a sleeper type season.

So, if you’re still reading this, then I guess you have some confidence in our choices for the 2012-2013 season. We hope these six players (which are in no particular order), will fare better for you:

Jared Cook-TE-Titans- Now entering his fourth season in the NFL, Cook has improved in every one of them. The big 25 year old; 6′ 5″ 250 lbs, had 49 receptions, 759 yards and 3 TDs. The coaching staff has voiced their desire to build their passing offense and should get some much needed help now that WR Kenny Britt has returned. (Hopefully the DUI he was hit with last week will be his last…) We think Cook can build off of the two 100-yard games he had last December, and prove to us that it was no fluke.

Donald Brown-RB-Colts-Entering his third season, this former UCONN Husky showed enough signs last season to convince us to make him a sleeper candidate. He averaged just under 5 yards per carry and 5 yards per reception while scoring 5 TDs. On 134 carries he failed to fumble even once. With Joseph Addai now a Patriot, it will be Brown’s job to keep the pressure off of Andrew Luck and so we could see him break records for carries in a season. We also were impressed with his 161 yard performance vs the Titans last December and think he’ll make an excellent RB2 and sleeper.

#31 RB Donald Brown should be a workhorse for the Colts this season. Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Brent Celek-TE-Eagles- As stated above, Celek was one of our sleeper hopefuls last season and now that he is fully healthy, (he played with a sports hernia AND a torn labrum last season), we expect a breakout kind of year from the big TE. No reason why he couldn’t, at best, return to his ’09 form when he had 76 receptions good for 971 yards and 8 TDs. Given that he was Vick’s main Red Zone target last season, he should have the same role this year. A healthy Celek could finish the season as a top 5 TE in the league!

Eric Decker-WR-Broncos- Even with the leagues most inconsistent passer, Tim Tebow, Decker, in just his second season last year, caught 44 passes for 612 yards and 8 TDs! Imagine what he will do with a hall of fame QB in Peyton Manning under center… The Broncos will make a complete transformation this season and no longer carry the moniker as the team with the fewest attempts in the league. Watch out for Decker as he will be part of that transformation and will reap the harvest of a quality QB for the first time in his short career.

Torrey Smith-WR-Ravens-Here is another WR that is sleeper qualified for the 2012-’13 season. In his rookie season last year, Smith’s numbers rival those of Eric Decker: 50 receptions-841 yards-7 TDs. If you look back to week #3 against the Rams (150 yards-3 TDs) and week #10 against the Bengals (165 yards-1 TD), you can easily see this youngster’s potential. Consider too that he had those two monster games as a 22 year old! QB Joe Flacco should, and probably will pass him the ball with a bit more frequency this season as he didn’t have more than 6 receptions in any one game last year. He too is fully healthy (he played most of the season with a sports hernia), and should become Flacco’s 1st option this year. Torrey will be the story this season!!

#82 WR Torrey Smith should be the Raven’s #1 option this season; ahead of Boldin. Photo: farmerstan.com

Jay Cutler-QB-Bears- The first thing you need to do is throw out last years numbers on Cutler. In just 10 games he passed for 2319 yards, had 13 TDs and 7 INTs. Prorating those numbers for a full season, his line would look like this: 3700 yards, 21 TDs and 11 INT’s. And that would have been without newly acquired WR Brandon Marshall and the Bears second round pick WR Alshon Jeffery. Cutler can be had in later rounds (7-8) should you not have been lucky enough to grab one of the elite six. He also makes an exceptional QB2 in leagues that start two QBs. With a new offensive system in place in Chi-town, Cutler is poised for having a sleeper season. It’ll be no mystery when the season is over that your friends ask you how you won your league…just tell them “the Cutler did it!”

THE FURNACE’S WEEK 11 PICKUPS

Posted by fantasyfurnace on November 16, 2011
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

FIVE PICKUPS-WEEK #11

1. LANCE BALL-RB-Broncos- RB Knowshon Moreno (knee) is out for the season. Willis McGahee is day-to-day with a hamstring issue and so it appears that Lance will have the ‘Ball’ and a heavy workload this Thursday when the Broncos face the Jets at Mile High. Ball carried the rock 30 times last week when McGahee went down and just missed reaching the century mark. With a strong Jet’s pass defense headed by Revis Island, look for the Broncos to run & run often. He’s owned in just 11% of Yahoo! leagues.

Broncos RB Lance Ball should see 25-30 carries vs the Jets on Thursday. Photo:Getty Images, LLC

2) DENARIUS MOORE-WR-Raiders- Clearly Moore has been QB Carson Palmer’s favorite receiver through his two weeks under center. Palmer has targeted Moore 19 times in those games. The nearest to him has been WR Jacoby Ford with 9. Moore also has 9 receptions good for 184 yards and two touchdowns. He is also 9th among receivers with 20 or more receptions. Amazingly, Moore is still available in 40% of Yahoo! leagues. Hard to figure for a guy who’s been a WR1 with Palmer at QB.

Raider WR Denarius Moore has been lighting it up with QB Carson Palmer at the helm. Photo: Getty Images, LLC

3) KENDALL HUNTER-RB-49ERS- RB Frank Gore left last week’s game vs the Giants with ankle and knee pain and coach Jim Harbough has already stated that he might see “limited action” this week vs the Cardinals. Gore, no stranger to injuries, would be best served to try and heal his ailments so that he would be at full capacity when the 49ers take on the Ravens in Baltimore a week from this Thursday. Hunter is available in 77% of Yahoo! leagues so grab him if you need a back this week.

Backup RB Kendall Hunter will get the lion’s share of carries this week. Photo: Getty Images, LLC

4) BRENT CELEK-TE-Eagles- For those of you in need of a TE this week (TE Owen Daniels is one TE on a bye week), then Celek should be more than serviceable for you. Targeted 25 times in the last three games, more than in his first six, Celek has 18 receptions in that span. Eagle QB Michael Vick (two cracked ribs) has said that he is unsure if he will start against the Giants on Sunday night and if backup QB Vince Young takes over, Celek’s value goes up even further as he will need to rely more on dump-offs in his first game this season. Celek is only owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues.

Eagle TE Brent Celek makes for a good pickup if needed in week 11. Photo: Getty Images, LLC

5) JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS-DEFENSE- This is an opportunity to pick up some nice fantasy points in your league especially for those who do not have Houston (bye week). The Jags are a top five rated defense. They are going up against an anemic and Peyton Hillis-less team that hasn’t scored more than 12 points in any game over the past four weeks. Throw in the fact that they have allowed 14 sacks and have only scored two touchdowns over that same period, and you have the makings of a 12-16 fantasy point week.

The top five rated defense of the Jacksonville Jaguars will score big fantasy points for your league this week. Photo: Getty Images, LLC

6 SLEEPER CANDIDATES TO CONSIDER

Posted by fantasyfurnace on August 21, 2011
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

SLEEPER CANDIDATES:

1) Dustin Keller-TE-Jets- Keller has become Mark Sanchez’s ‘go-to-guy’ this pre-season. He has emerged as the early star in the absence of Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery, and Brad Smith. He’s bulked up to 255 lbs. from 247 lbs., and let’s not forget the 8 catches he had in the AFC Championship game last year…

2) Domenik Hixon-WR-Giants- In the Giants’ pre-season game vs the Panthers, Eli Manning, while forcing the ball in to Hakeem Nicks, managed to find Hixon five times for 86 yards. Adept at catching passes in the slot, he will be needed now that Steve Smith and Kevin Boss are gone. Although he’ll be battling Victor Cruz for the 3rd WR spot, Hixon has the edge as Cruz managed just one catch for 10 yds. in the same game.

3) Julio Jones-WR-Falcons- As soon as camp started, Michael Jenkins was released, moving Jones into the WR2 slot behind Roddy White. Matt Ryan has developed good early chemistry with the 6th overall pick in last year’s draft and he should be an outstanding sleeper candidate.

4) Brent Celek-TE-Eagles- Celek is just one season removed from 971 yds. and 8 TD’s. Michael Vick has said that the TE will be ‘more involved’ with him in what should turn out to be an explosive year for the 26 yr. old out of Cincinnati. With Jeremy Maclin just returning from his ‘mysterious’ illness and ex-Giant Steve Smith not joining the team until late October, Celek is primed for a true sleeper season.

5) Mark Ingram-RB-Saints- The 2009 Heisman Trophy winner is already off and “running”, scoring in his debut vs the Forty Niners on a 14 yard run. Although Sean Payton has always elected to implement a ‘committee-style’ backfield system, Ingram is locked in as the goal-line back and should garner upwards of 10 TD’s this season.

6) Felix Jones-RB-Cowboys- Now that Marion Barber is on the Bear’s roster, Jones is poised to have an amazing year as witnessed by his performance in the pre-season game vs the Broncos; 18 yard run and a 16 yard reception. All he needs now is for the offensive line to do a much better job than last year. A newly bulked up Jones is surely ‘sleeper worthy’!

THE ‘FURNACE’S’ FYI…

Darren McFadden-RB-Raiders- McFadden will prove to be a good back-end 1st round pick coming off of his 1157 rushing yards and 507 receiving yards on 47 passes last year. Best to take him, Matt Forte, or Maurice Jones-Drew and pass on Frank Gore who is too injury-prone to count on this high.