Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

You’ve all heard of that old saying “You Snooze, You Lose” right? Well, if you haven’t, let us introduce you to the Bruno Boys philosophy on finding those diamond in the rough fantasy football impact players or identifying a player coming off injury who is set to have a big season. We like to call our traditional sleeper rankings, Snooze Alarm rankings,  because we focus on players who are virtually unheard of coming into the season, or they are undervalued because they might have suffered an injury or inconsistent play in the previous season. In some occasions we will even tackle a player who had a solid season the year before but still isn’t getting the attention he should.

Often times, these are the exact same players who either outperform their average draft position in fantasy football drafts by seasons end, or they hit your league as a free agent, but finish as a top performer on a weekly basis. With that being said, please read on and enjoy the 2009 Bruno Boys Quarerback “Snooze Alarm” Rankings. Doing so, will allow you to not panic on draft day when a certain position starts flying off the board and should help add much coveted depth to your fantasy football roster.

Ranking System: The higher the “Snooze Alarm” Ranking, the more sleeper value the player has.

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Looking for sleepers in your draft come August? Bruno Boys Greg will analyze who he feels should have a strong fantasy football showing in 2009, giving you his position by position under the radar picks over the next few weeks. These are players who won’t be highly touted on draft day but should produce at a level higher than their average draft position. This week, he covers the KICKER position.

Shayne Graham (Cincinnati Bengals) - Graham only finished with 78 points last year because of a nagging injury and lack of offensive efficiency by his team.  The previous five seasons Graham has had over 100 points and been a top flight kicker in fantasy football leagues across America.  With the Bengals getting their offense back, and Graham being healthy, means you could probably get him in the last round (where kickers belong to be chosen) and consistently get 7+ points out of your kicker position.

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Looking for sleepers in your draft come August? Bruno Boys Greg will analyze who he feels should have a strong fantasy football showing in 2009, giving you his position by position under the radar picks over the next few weeks. These are players who won’t be highly touted on draft day but should produce at a level higher than their average draft position. This week, he covers the TIGHT END position.

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If everyone who plays fantasy football has the same sleepers, are they really a sleeper? Deep, huh? Okay, maybe that particular question isn’t Socrates-esque in its profoundness, but it is a valid one, because every season when the experts roll out their lists of sleepers, the same names pop up. So we’re going to go ahead and give you something a little different; the type of sleepers that are so far under, it’s like they’ve mixed a Xanax with a Tylenol PM and shot of Nyquil before they hit the sack. Just so we’re clear, these aren’t they type of players that should be drafted highly, or maybe even drafted at all. But they are someone to simply keep an eye on and monitor their progress in training camp and the preseason to see if they may become a fantasy football factor down the road.

Chauncey Washington, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars: As a rookie seventh-round pick last season, Washington amassed a total of 18 yards – nine rushing yards on four carries, nine receiving yards on one reception. At least he split the yards up evenly. With Fred Taylor having been let go, someone has to back up Maurice Jones-Drew. There are a number of candidates, and Washington has as much a chance as anyone. He’s competing with Alvin Pearlman and rookie seventh-rounder Rashad Jennings, who reportedly had a nice offseason.

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Looking for sleepers in your draft come August? Bruno Boys Greg will analyze who he feels should have a strong fantasy football showing in 2009, giving you his position by position under the radar picks over the next few weeks. These are players who won’t be highly touted on draft day but should produce at a level higher than their average draft position. This week, he covers the WIDE RECEIVER position.

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Looking for sleepers in your draft come August? Bruno Boys Greg will analyze who he feels should have a strong fantasy football showing in 2009. Throughout the course of two weeks Bruno Boys Greg will give you his position by position under the radar picks. These are players who won’t be highly touted on draft day but should produce at a level higher than their average draft position.  This week, he covers the RUNNING BACK position.

Cedric Benson, RB. Cincinnati Bengals: Benson broke out at the end of the ‘08 season, totaling 282 yards over his final two games. With the return of quarterback Carson Palmer the Bengals get an immediate boost and this should allow the running game to find more holes from the get-go. Another key is the lack of competition he has in stealing carries away from him. Benson will start the season getting the bulk of the carries and will be given every chance to keep his job. Brian Leonard and Kenny Watson are behind him on the depth chart but neither are proven NFL running backs, though Leonard has impressed during off-season workouts. Your ideal fantasy football draft day situation would be to take Benson as a RB3 and use him as a Flex play or a spot starter in two RB leagues when the match-up is right.

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Looking for sleepers in your draft come August? Bruno Boys Greg will analyze who he feels should have a strong fantasy football showing in 2009. Throughout the course of two weeks Bruno Boys Greg will give you his position by position under the radar picks. These are players who won’t be highly touted on draft day but should produce at a level higher than their average draft position.  This week, he covers the QUARTERBACK position.

Carson Palmer, QB, Cincinnati Bengals: The All-Pro quarterback who only played in 4 games last year has no reason not to bounce back in 2009. Many people will rank him lower then he belongs due to injury concerns and the changes in Cincinnati but don’t pay any attention to that. Palmer averaged nearly 4,000 yards the previous three seasons before being hurt and is just a year removed from being a top five fantasy football quarterback. He did lose T.J. Housmandzadeh to free agency but gained veteran wide receiver Lavernaus Coles and the drop off in production won’t be as significant as many think. Odds are you will be targeting Palmer in the 6th or 7th round and drafting him as a low-end QB1 but if he can regain his old form he will produce at the level of the top tier QB’s.

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Three is usually a pretty good number. Not bad in the deli line. Not too shabby in a marathon. But when it comes to being a running back in the NFL, it can be a bummer.  The good news is that being third on the depth chart can quickly become two. And thanks to the brutal style of play of the NFL, a RB1 back can become a RB1 in the snap of a…well you get the point.

Here are three running backs that I believe will be the RB3 on their NFL teams come the start of the season, but have the ability to make a bigger fantasy football impact as the season goes on. Keep your eye on them in 2009.

Michael Bush, RB, Oakland Raiders:  Last season, Bush finally recovered from the leg injury that kept him from being a potential 1st round pick in the 2007 draft. Stuck behind Justin Fargas and the explosive rookie Darren McFadden, he was used very sparingly and mostly as a fullback. It was only when the Raider’s backfield got injured did he get to truly showcase his skills. And showcase he did with 177 yards and 2 touchdowns in week 17 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Oakland has claimed it will make better use of its running game in 2009 and Bush looks to be a big part of that, especially after the Raider’s did not trade him in the off season despite rumors around the league. He’s a big bruiser type of back and will most likely get handed the ball in goal line situations, making him a great value pick. And if one of the other two backs get injured which is not out of the question, he could explode into a legitimate fantasy football force.

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