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![]() ![]() Fantasy Football Sleepers: Quarterback Icon SMI![]() ![]() More Articles from Fantasy Football Freaks Reminder: Site Survey for the 2012 Season iPad Winner Revealed Super Bowl Rankings Conference Championship Rankings Divisional Round Rankings Wild Card Weekend Rankings Fantasy Football Freaks are the Champions of the 2011 All Pro Leagues 32 Team Expert League Week 17: Gems for the Last Weekend The Freaks Projections and Ratings 2011 Week 17 The Freaks Sleepers 2011 Week 17 Sleepers either make or break your fantasy team. Many fantasy football players believe that winning a league championship depends on how many known stars you draft, but once all the stars are gone, you will have to begin drafting wisely and getting bargain players. That is where the sleepers come in. Last year Michael Vick went, in the majority of leagues, undrafted and ended up being a Top 3 quarterback. Identifying sleepers is hard to do, but you need to know them if you want any chance of winning your league. Here you will find three quarterbacks you can draft late that will still put up solid numbers in standard leagues. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons Ryan is one of the best values you will get in your 2011 Fantasy Football Draft. You will find him around the 5th or 6th round even though he put up above average numbers last year and set a career high with 28 touchdowns. With a tremendous addition to the team in WR Julio Jones, more experience under his belt, and a wiser playoff-experienced team, Matt is sure to put up some big numbers this season. The Falcons traded their first, second, and fourth round picks this year, plus their first and fourth round pick next year for one player...Julio Jones. Jones is an incredible receiver out of Alabama. Everyone thought he was good, but apparently the Falcons think he is a future Hall of Famer. Even if he doesn't live up to his high expectations, his presence will make defenses weary. That's good for Ryan because he doesn't miss opportunities. After Week 1 Ryan threw at least one touchdown pass in every game! Even against the strong defenses like the Steelers, Saints, and Ravens! Defenses never have perfect days. They mess up at least once and when that time comes Ryan is there to throw a down the field touchdown. He excelled last season with two big receivers (Tony Gonzalez and Roddy White), now there are three threats! Since defenses will have more to worry about, they will make more mistakes, which means more touchdowns for Matt Ryan! Ryan's new downfield threat, his intelligence and maturation could lead to him becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the league, as he runs the new best show on turf! Josh Freeman, Tampa BayBuccaneers Freeman literally doubled his numbers in 2010. He improved from 1,855 yards to 3,451; 10 touchdowns to 25; 18 interceptions to 6; and his 54.5% completion percentage to 61.5%. Okay, a little trickery there, because he only played 10 games in '09 as opposed to 16 in 2010. Suddenly, the 67% reduction in interceptions looks incredible, doesn't it? Here are Freeman's second half statistics from last year: 106.8 QB rating, 15 TDs, and just one pick! Just proving every game he plays he gets better. He was waiting in the pocket longer, throwing tighter spirals, and improving in accuracy. Now that he is going into his 3rd NFL season and his team just finished drafting an improved defense, Freeman is sure to get the ball more often. He has more experienced receivers led by Mike Williams (a rookie of the year nominee) and Arrelious Benn. He also has more help with the emergence of running back LeGarrette Blount, who put up unbelievable numbers in the second half last year. All this will combine to make Freeman one of the more successful quarterbacks on an up-and-coming team. Not to mention he may last until the 7th round! Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions I'm not completely sold on Stafford just yet, but he has shown lots of potential. I believe the Lions are significantly better than they have been in past years and if Stafford can stay healthy he could be a steal. He has some quality wideouts. Calvin Johnson is great and the Lions also snatched Titus Young from Boise State in the 2nd round (44th overall) of the draft. The Lions also have a crazy defensive line, which will get the ball in Stafford's hands more often. At worst, he is a great backup quarterback for your team and you can get him in the 9th round, maybe later. This "backup" will surely come in handy when your starter's bye week comes around and you can easily fill him in when playing matchups. Who knows, maybe Matthew will end up having a break out year. |


Freak Up
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| Fernando | August 25, 2011 |
| Grid well let us hope he stays healthy and produces! | |
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| Grid | August 25, 2011 |
| I like all three of these guys. I think Stafford is the one who will really produce for the draft position, he's going in the 8th - 10th round and I read that taken as a whole the Lions QB would have been the 7th ranked fantasy QB last year. Stafford was amazing when he was healthy. Biggest problem with Stafford is that that cruddy O-Line can't protect him, so he is likely going to get hit a lot and get hurt again. Even the back ups couldn't stay healthy last year. | |
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| Fernando | August 24, 2011 |
| hacim13 you weren't speaking for me, you were right! Matt Ryan has tremendous potential for where he is being drafted and many leagues have him going way late. Reason being, some draft engines have him ranked way low! | |
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| Fernando | August 24, 2011 |
| Duh CLOSER2011 I am glad you agree with me. He is still being considered a sleeper because unlike you many people would snatch him after Big Ben and Rivers and Manning. Also, I hope you aren't snatching Ryan before those players are gone. Thats to early for someone you can get way later. | |
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| hacim13 | August 19, 2011 |
| Don't want to speak for Fernando, but I'm with you. I think there's a fine line between sleeper and undervalued sometimes. I think the point is that Matt Ryan has the potential to be way better than he's being drafted. | |
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| Duh CLOSER2011 | August 19, 2011 |
| I COMPLETELY/TOTALLY AGREE WITH THE PREDICTION ON "Matt Ryan/Matty Ice". His productivity WILL INCREASE GREATLY this year. However I do not agree/consider him to be an sleeper, cause I'd snatch Em' up before "Big Ben", "Phillip Rivers" and possibly even "Peyton Manning" this year given the uncertainty with his health/new neck!!! (Breakout QB2011 "Matt Ryan") | |
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