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NFL Sleepers and Busts

Here are a couple of mine from our magazine article:

Sleeper:

Daunte Culpepper, QB, Detroit Lions - Matthew Stafford might take over at any point, but Culpepper's likely to begin the season as the starter, and he's got a lot of weapons at his disposal. Besides the best athlete on the planet in Calvin Johnson, who somehow managed to tie for the league lead in touchdowns on an 0-16 team that targeted him just 14 times in the red zone, Bryant Johnson, Ronald Curry, first-round pick Brandon Pettigrew and running back Kevin Smith are solid complementary targets. Moreover, new offensive coordinator Scott Linehan was Culpepper's play caller in 2004 - the year Culpepper threw for 39 touchdowns, 4717 yards with just 11 picks. And if you're sure the 32-year old Culpepper is hopelessly washed up, consider that Kurt Warner was left for dead, too just a couple seasons ago.

Busts:

Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego Chargers - Don't get me wrong, Rivers is a fantastic real life player, but last year the Chargers had an easy schedule in terms of pass defenses faced, gave up a lot of passing yards themselves and had an ineffective running game for most of the season. In other words, the team had to score a lot, the passing game was by far its best way of doing so (Rivers' 8.4 YPA led the NFL) and it faced weak pass defenses. Even so, Norv Turner called Rivers' number just 486 times, 12th among the 18-QBs who played all 16 games. Now, LaDainian Tomlinson might bounce back, and he might not, but he's unlikely to be significantly worse than the 3.8 yards per carry he averaged last year. If he's better, count on Turner calling his number more and Rivers' even less. The return of Shawne Merriman should also improve the defense, something that's not good for fantasy quarterback production.

Andre Johnson, WR, Houston Texans ? Like Rivers, Johnson's a great player, and he'll probably put up very good fantasy numbers. But the Texans don't target Johnson all that often down the field (just four catches of 40-plus, tied 14th) or from in close (just nine targets from inside the 10, 9th). That's fine for your run-of-the mill top-15 receiver, but not for one who's going off the board in the top three. Essentially, Johnson (13.7 YPC) is the team's possession look while Kevin Walter (15.7 YPC), who often sees single coverage, is the more frequent downfield option. Combine that with Johnson's injury history (10 games missed in four years), and I'm not willing to pay retail.