14 Fantasy Football Sleepers To Target

Fantasy football seems easy. Buy a book, look at some cheat sheets, and draft according to the lists. Simple, right?

Following the cheat sheets like that forgets one key about fantasy football: upside rules all in the late rounds. When the choice is between a run-of-the-mill veteran receiver and a young receiver getting good reviews in training camp, always go for the upside.

After all, Fred Taylor isn’t winning your fantasy football league. Chris Perry might.

But once those first few rounds are over, whom should you target? Who are the high-upside sleeper picks that will make your team able to withstand your early-round busts? Who can help you withstand injuries or provide trade bait to get the player to put your team over the top?

Here are 14 players with the potential to provide huge returns on when they are chosen.

Mid-late round sleepers (picks 75-125)

WR Nate Burleson - Seattle Seahawks

Burleson put up almost 700 yards and nine touchdowns last year. With Bobby Engram and Deion Branch both probably out for at least the first two weeks of the season, Burleson is Matt Hasselbeck's No. 1 receiver, and he will have the first chance to take the role that Darrell Jackson had for so many years and that Engram had last year.

He's clearly the No. 1, and in an offense that is sure to pass the ball a lot, he could put up big numbers early against Buffalo, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

RB Chester Taylor - Minnesota Vikings

Taylor is a great player to have and not just if you're an Adrian Peterson owner. Even with "AD" in town, Taylor put up 844 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 5.4 yards per carry. If Peterson gets hurt again, Taylor is immediately a top 10-15 running back behind that offensive line. Plus, he's great trade bait.

One last fact about Peterson: He wasn't much of a goal-line back last season. Taylor could potentially siphon goal-line carries from him. But let's get one thing straight; if you're drafting Taylor, you're drafting him hoping that Peterson misses some games.

RB Ricky Williams - Miami Dolphins

I know No. 34 is considered a joke by many football fans, but he very well might be the starting running back for the Fish. He's healthier than Ronnie Brown, and he's in much better football shape than he was last season.

Prepare to hear some snickers when you draft him, but getting a possible starting running back who has had 1,300 and 1,800-yard seasons in his career is a steal at around the 100th pick in the draft.

Don't expect the world, but he has more upside and a clearer path to start than other backs you can take at this point in the draft.

QB Jay Cutler - Denver Broncos

Cutler enters his third year as Denver's starter. Along with David Garrard, Matt Hasselbeck, Derek Anderson, and a few others, he's in the next tier of quarterbacks that you wait until the middle of the draft to grab.

He was a high first-round pick for a reason: He has all the talent of the elite quarterbacks. Throw in Brandon Marshall, Darrell Jackson, Brandon Stokley, and Tony Scheffler, and you have a decent situation here.

Cutler may go a few rounds behind guys like Ben Roethlisberger, but at the end of the season, Cutler should be the smarter pick. He threw for 3,497 yards and 20 touchdowns last year in just his second season.

RB Maurice Morris - Seattle Seahawks

Julius Jones may be a bigger name on draft night, but Morris may have the inside track to replace Shaun Alexander in Seattle. He ran for 628 yards and caught another 213 en route to scoring five touchdowns in 2008.

Jones lost his job in Dallas, and he never lived up to the hype after his electric first few games in 2004. People forget Morris was once a second-round draft pick, too. He has just as good a chance to claim the Seahawks' starting job, and he's likely available a little later because he isn't from Notre Dame.

WR Anthony Gonzalez - Indianapolis Colts

Gonzalez may not fit the third-year breakout rule for receivers, but he inhabits the coveted third-receiver role in the Colts' offense, and as their first round pick last year, the Colts clearly have faith in him. Third receivers have had value in fantasy football in recent years (see Brandon Stokley and Shaun McDonald) and with Marvin Harrison's questionable status, the Ohio State product could be a pleasant surprise.

Harrison seems healthy now, but you never know. Gonzalez had 576 yards and three touchdowns last season, including two 100-yard games late in the season.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?