2010 Fantasy Football Sleeper Spotlight: Alex Smith

A typical fantasy football league consists of 12 teams, nine starters (quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, tight end, kicker, defense/special teams) per team, and anywhere from five to seven bench players. If you go with the latter bench allotment, you’re looking at 16 roster spots and 192 draft picks. By that definition, any sleeper should have an average draft position of about 180 or lower.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith sports an ADP of 185, which means, on average, he’s the fifth pick of the 16th round. He has the 24th highest ADP of any quarterback, behind the likes of Josh Freeman, Matt Cassel, and Kyle Orton.

I know he has been a disappointment, especially being the first overall selection in the 2005 NFL Draft, but I think we’re being kind of harsh on the young man. Personally, I have him as the 15th ranked fantasy QB. He showed enough last year to justify that ranking in my mind.

Smith completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 2,350 yards, 18 touchdowns versus 12 interceptions, and a 81.5 passer rating. Those numbers don’t exactly bring Niner fans back to the days of Joe Montana or Steve Young, but they should lead fantasy owners to draft him before Josh Freeman, especially when you consider the weapons Smith has to work with.

Michael Crabtree was able to learn on the job last year, and he is primed to have an even bigger impact in 2010. Josh Morgan is an adequate second receiver. Vernon Davis had nearly 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. Frank Gore is very capable of catching the ball out of the backfield. Few teams can offer that assortment of weapons, and yet Smith is being drafted about 60 picks after Matthew Stafford.

Smith had at least 28 pass attempts in the Niners’ final seven games, which shows they aren’t afraid to open the offense up. Over that span, he averaged 220.3 yards, 1.7 touchdowns, and 0.86 interceptions. He didn’t do much with his feet last year, but he did average 10.6 rushing yards per game during his first three seasons.

Is he a guy that I would target as a top fantasy quarterback? Of course not. I’d gladly take him as a second quarterback, though.

Prediction: 3,600 yards, 22 passing touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 120 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns

Where do you have Alex Smith ranked?

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Originally published at LestersLegends.com.