Why I’ll Stop at Nothing to Land Dez Bryant in my 2011 Fantasy Football Draft.
I have been looking forward to my next fantasy football draft since about the middle of September last year. Sure the leagues are fun—grabbing sleepers off the waivers, inserting a nobody into your lineup on a hunch, gallivanting through the playoffs like you own the damn place—but there is just something about the draft that makes it the highlight of my fantasy football season.
It’s no surprise really that the draft is the make or break of your entire season. The draft board you create and the decisions you make in that little hour and a half long window will dictate whether you are the one doling out the trash talk on Monday morning or the one trying to spend the entire day going unnoticed. So, doing your research is a must. And I think there is a blatant wide receiver talent on the boards ripe for the picking.
Dez Bryant of the Dallas Cowboys is that guy. Second year in the league and he is showing veteran NFL talent. I think that had he not gone down with a broken leg toward the end of the year, he would have been in position to take Offensive Rookie of the Year honors from Sam Bradford. He has recovered from that injury and reports are saying that Romo is looking better than ever after having time to grow after he went down in the 2010 campaign.
Last season, Bryant managed 45 receptions, 561 yards, 6 receiving TDs and 2 return TDs in just 12 weeks. Imagine what he can do with a starting quarterback instead of a backup, a year under his belt, and Miles Austin as the only receiver really competing for catches.
I harp on this a lot, but I feel that the most important part of your pre-draft strategy is watching preseason games and reading about team workouts. If you have been keeping up with anything at the Cowboys camp, you will know that Bryant has put on an outstanding performance. He is making great catches, beating any defensive back he faces and powering through defenses. He is the stand out performer of the Cowboys camp. Dez Bryant is in prime position to lead the Cowboys in all receiving categories.
Most draft boards you look at will have Bryant’s receiver rank between 12 and 20. Meaning that you can snag this receiver, with great potential to end the season as a top eight talent, in the fourth round. Most mock drafts have him going in the mid to late fourth round so it will hardly be considered a gamble to grab him with your late third or early fourth round selection.
In his second year in the NFL, you will witness Dez Bryant break out as an elite receiver. The only question is: will he be on your roster or will you be the nervous owner that has to face him?
Could not agree more! I live here in Dallas, but I'm a Packer fan. I LOVE Dez this year. I think him and Hakeen Nicks will be badass receivers for years to come. If I have to I'll get him as my #1 but I'm hoping my friends don't read your site or are just oblivious to Dez's abilities and I'll be able to snag him asmy #2. I WILL have him on all my fantasy rosters this year though. Listening to talk radio here in Dallas makes me feel even more confident in Dez becasue everybody is talking about how he is man amongst boys down in San Antonio. I wrote to ya'll last week about how I was new to the site and now I can't get enough it. God Hates Losers is the first website I check out when I get off work, just to see what else ya'll have up. Keep the good shit coming!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the compliments. I'm a huge Dallas fan, so I keep up with Dallas News whenever I get the chance. From what I've seen he is completely owning the camp out there. I agree with you on Nicks as well. However he is not exactly a well kept secret, I have him as my third WR overall behind Johnson and White.
ReplyDeleteGlad to have you as a reader. And please, make sure you tell all your friends who arent in your league about us! Thanks!
Good stuff! Any other WR's you'd consider to be sleepers? I've done a few mock drafts, and I draft well everywhere else, but out looks like when I start going for receivers, all of the major
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Receiver is a little stacked this year in my opinion, so you should be alright as long as you draft 2 in the top 6 rounds. Depending on the size of your league, of course. I just posted the WR rankings, so take a look at that for a few ideas of who you should aim for in rounds three four and five. You should be able to snag Mike Williams, Brandon Marshall or Brandon Lloyd pretty cheap. For deeper sleepers, I like Roy Williams in Chicago, Crabtree in SF, and Jordy Nelson in Green Bay.
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