Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

We’ve covered THE GOOD and have trudged through THE BAD. The question, now, is do we dare move forward and relive THE UGLY. You bet we do. The Bruno Boys understand that much like in the NFL game, when it comes to fantasy football it’s no pain, no gain. With that said, our next installment of the Bruno Boys annual “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” series takes a look at THE UGLY tight ends from 2009. Luckily, unlike 2008 when the tight end position vastly underperformed, 2009 saw few major disappointments.That doesn’t mean, though, that our list is bare.

THE UGLY

1. Chris Cooley (Washington Redskins) — Yes, it may be adding insult to injury here by placing Cooley on this list, but the crux of the matter is that Cooley’s fantasy owners did not get anywhere close to the production they were hoping for when they took the Redskins’ tight end on draft day. Drafting Cooley was thought to be a sure fire solution to the tight end slot. a plug and play every week of the season. After all, in his five years in the league prior to 2009, Cooley had only less than 700 receiving yards once (2004) and less than 6 TDs once (2008). Instead his owners got mediocrity for seven games before an injury took Cooley down for the season. In those seven games he played in in 2009, Cooley mustered just 29 catches for 332 yards and 2 TDs.

The good news moving forward is that Jason Campbell seemed to grow up quite a bit towards the end of this season. The bad news for Cooley is that much of Campbell’s growth had to do with his connection with back-up tight end, Fred Davis, who amassed 386 receiving yards and 5 TDs after becoming the team’s starting tight end in week 9. Cooley’s value for 2010 will depend largely on how new head coach Mike Shanahan plans on splitting the tight end duties among Cooley and Davis, but if we had to wager right now, we’d bet that Cooley will be Shanahan’s man, making him a strong value pick next season.

2. Dustin Keller (New York Jets) — Brett Favre loves throwing to his tight end. We know that, and while we knew that his departure from New York would hurt Keller’s value for 2009, we also felt the majority of that loss would be counterbalanced by the fact that rookie QBs like Mark Sanchez tend to rely heavily on their tight ends as a crutch. Add in the fact that Keller now had a year of NFL service under his belt, and you can see why he was our No. 11 tight end going into the year. Unfortunately for his owners, Keller did not surpass his rookie numbers as expected. In fact, he pretty much matched them across the board, tallying 45 receptions for 522 yards and 2 TDs during his sophomore campaign. Those numbers resulted in just one double digit fantasy performance on the year and just three outings of 5+ fantasy points for the season, which is indeed UGLY production even for a tight end.

Keller, though, is someone to keep your eye on for 2010. During the Jets’ playoff run, the tight end caught a TD in all three games while posting a very healthy 181 receiving yards in that three game span. Draft him as your back-up and hope he and Sanchez can continue to build on that rapport, giving you valuable trade bait or a solid back-up plan if your starting tight end goes down with an injury ala Owen Daniels.

3. Tony Scheffler (Denver Broncos) — Take away his Week 6 outing in which he went for 101 yards and a score against the San Diego Chargers, and you’re talking about a tight end that played in 14 games and amassed just 315 yards and 1 score in that span. Can you say UGLY? With yet another poor season on his resume, it is time that the Scheffler-hype officially dies down.

Over four years of NFL service, Scheffler has yet to reach the 50 reception plateau, has not yet exceeded 650 receiving yards in any one year, and has a career best of five TDs in a season. Is he serviceable as a fill in play? Yes, but let’s stop believing that his break out year is just around the corner, especially with so many other talented tight ends to choose from.

4. Anthony Fasano (Miami Dolphins) — While the majority of tight ends fell flat in 2008, Fasano was a pleasant surprise. Sure, his yardage total was nothing to write home about as he mustered just 454 yards on the year, but he did reach pay dirt an impressive seven times. As a result, many fantasy owners were willing to use a draft pick on the Dolphins’ tight end, keeping him as their TE2. In the end, though, that was a wasted pick as Fasano’s 2009 season was like the anti-version of his 2008 campaign.

Case and point, in Week 1’s action in 2008, Fasano hauled in 8 passes for 84 yards and a TD. This past season, things didn’t start off quite as smoothly as the Dolphins’ tight end caught just 2 passes for 10 yards while fumbling the ball twice. The end result? A horrifically UGLY -3 point day. From there, things didn’t get much better. Avoid Fasano at all costs in 2010.

5. Bo Scaife (Tennessee Titans) — Coming in as the No. 18 tight end for 2009, Scaife was supposed to be the guy you could rely on when your stud was on a bye. Sadly, his one productive day in 2009, a 56 yard game with a score, came in Week 13, well after the byes were over and done with.

Scaife does possess talent, but the Titans’ tight end just can’t seem to bring it all together. Over his career, he’s continually hovered in the 300-500 yard range with 1-2 TDs per year. With the number of talented tight ends in the league on the rise, that no longer is enough to warrant him fantasy relevant.

2009 The Good:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  |  DEF

2009 The Bad:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K  |  DEF

2009 The Ugly:  QB  |  RB  |  WR  |  TE  |  K |  DEF

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