If you’ve read my annual fantasy football column over the years and followed my sensible advice, you no doubt know how it feels to be showered in champagne and win your league championship.
Back by popular demand (in my imagination at least), here is this year’s fantasy football installment from Clairvoyant Clark. These aren’t necessarily sleeper picks, but players who will go much later than they should on most draft boards and be excellent value picks.
QB Sam Bradford. Glancing at the list of QBs, Bradford is projected between the 10th and 15th QB selected. If you can snatch him there, you should be arrested for theft as his upside could make him a top 5 fantasy QB.
In his first year in Philadelphia, Bradford will be the man running Chip Kelly’s high-octane offense. A former No. 1 overall pick, Bradford was enjoying his best season as a pro in 2014 before a knee injury ended his year in game seven. If he can stay healthy, always a major concern with Bradford, he will enjoy a great statistical season.
WR Golden Tate. It’s hard to consider someone who finished with 99 catches for 1,331 yards last year as much of a sleeper, yet Tate will undoubtedly be the second WR selected from his own team behind “Megatron” Calvin Johnson. With Megatron continuing to command defensive attention, I look for the shifty Tate to have an even more explosive year in his second season in Detroit.
Don’t let Tate slip too far. He should be around the 10th receiver drafted.
WR Andre Johnson. Again, how much of a sleeper is Andre Johnson, but the savvy veteran is going to be greatly undervalued in most drafts. Johnson has amassed stunning numbers while playing 11 seasons in Houston for a team which rarely throws the ball and catching passes from QBs such as Case Keenum and Sage Rosenfels.
Now Johnson has landed in Indy, with arguably the best QB in the game in Andrew Luck. At 34, he probably doesn’t have many more sterling seasons left, but we’re not building for the future in fantasy football. All I need from Johnson is one more quality year, and that’s this one.
RB Melvin Gordon. The Chargers have sent out search parties looking for a reliable running back ever since LT retired. It appears they have one in rookie Melvin Gordon.
Last year at Wisconsin, he averaged 7.5 yards per carry in rushing for 2,587 yards and 29 TDs. He will be an NFL stud.
RB T.J. Yeldon. Can you really get excited about a player in the Jacksonville Jaguar offense? Why not. Fred Taylor printed TDs and was one of the top backs in fantasy football during his prime with the Jags.
We all saw what Yeldon can do at Alabama. I look for the Jags to be much improved this year. If nothing else, Yeldon will have two games against that woeful Titans defense.