Fantasy Football Sleepers: Five Late-Rounders To Help Your Team

If you’re American, you like fantasy football.

No, it’s not about sifting through a bunch of fantasy magazines and acting like a dork by seriously asking a friend, “How often is John Carlson targeted in the red zone?”

You don’t have to be a John Carlson fan or even know what the red zone is, but fantasy football offers something for everybody.

At the very least, we can enjoy taking each other’s money every week (if you bet), sitting around on draft day and guessing which idiot will pick a kicker too early, and making seedy jokes about Ben Roethlisberger and Georgia bathroom stalls. Good times for all.

Even women.

So without further ado, here are a few fantasy sleepers that could help you this season:

Jahvid Best, RB, Detroit Lions

The Lions selected Best out of Cal with their second first-round pick in this year’s draft, and the explosive running back is expected to get plenty of carries even though he is listed behind Kevin Smith on the depth chart.

Best has the home run ability that can make a fantasy sleeper an instant star.

The Lions will move Best around the field in order to try to get the ball to him in space, so the rookie could become a prominent target for quarterback Matthew Stafford.

One of the concerns with Best is that he’s not a prototypical running back that you can put in your starting lineup every week and know that you are going to get 80-plus yards and a touchdown.

There will be weeks where Best goes off, and there will be weeks where he’s, well, not his best.

Best’s game is built on speed, not power, so Smith will probably be seeing the bulk of the goal line carries.

That means in order for Best to get in the end zone he will probably have to break longer runs.

Think of Best as a Reggie Bush type guy. You may not get instant success, but the ability is too much to ignore.

It’s a gamble, but one with a potentially elite reward.

David Garrard, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Not everybody can grab a Drew Brees or a Peyton Manning, so you may have to find value a few rounds later.

Garrard could help your team if you use your early picks to grab a top receiver or two and a good running back.

Garrard led all quarterbacks in rushing yards last season, and ran it into the end zone three times in 2009.

He averaged almost 225 yards per game through the air, but needs to cut down on his interceptions. Garrard threw 10 picks to only 15 touchdowns last year.

With Maurice Jones-Drew in the backfield, Garrard will never put up elite quarterback numbers because the Jaguars feed Jones-Drew when they get inside the red zone. You won’t see a ton of goal line pass plays in Jacksonville.

Given that the offense runs through Jones-Drew, it bodes well for Garrard that some of Jones-Drew’s best work comes after catching the ball out of the backfield.

Garrard will look early and often to Jones-Drew and receiver Mike Sims-Walker, two very good targets.

Fantasy experts think Garrard can exceed 4,000 yards passing in 2010, so he if he can throw a few less picks then you have something pretty good.

Garrard won’t carry your team, but he can be more than serviceable for the right roster.

Felix Jones, RB, Dallas Cowboys

You’re probably thinking, “How can you call a guy a sleeper when he’s probably going to go in the top few rounds of a lot of drafts?”

That’s a very good point.

Jones is on this list only because he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations since being drafted in the first round in 2008 out of Arkansas, and he’s going to see an increased workload this year, his third season in the NFL.

In other words, 2010 could be a great year for Felix Jones owners.

The early impression out of Cowboys camp is that, despite being listed behind Marion Barber on the depth chart, Jones is going to touch the ball more than 200 times this season in a combination of passes and runs.

With big-time speed and ability, much like Jahvid Best, Jones is always one touch away from scoring.

Jones played in 14 games last year and was banged up at other times, but he still managed to average 5.9 yards per carry.

If the Cowboys feed Jones more carries this fall, you could be feeding your wallet after taking home your league championship.

Devin Aromashodu, WR, Chicago Bears

Aromashodu is certainly the most improbable name on this list.

A seventh-round pick of the Miami Dolphins in 2006, Aromashodu began to find a home with the Bears late last season.

As fantasy expert Matthew Berry of ESPN.com notes, only four players in the NFL had more targets in the final four games of 2009 than Aromashodu.

At 6-2, 200 pounds, Aromashodu is a physical receiver that can overpower smaller defensive backs, and it helps every receiver when Mike Martz takes over the offense.

Martz has Jay Cutler at quarterback and will try to reenact his explosive offense that brought the St. Louis Rams great success with Kurt Warner, Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, among others.

Aromashodu is behind Devin Hester as the Bears No. 2 receiver, but there is little doubt he will force Chicago to get him in the lineup.

Based on the final month of last season, it’s already obvious that Cutler has taken a liking to Aromashodu.

Justin Forsett, RB, Seattle Seahawks

The Seattle Seahawks might not exactly jump of the page of your fantasy football magazine when you’re thinking about time-share backfields, but Forsett could be very valuable as a third running back option in a later round.

Forsett averaged 5.4 yards per carry last year for a Seattle team that lost its quarterback and had zero identity.

Seattle returns with a new head coach in Pete Carroll, a new energy and a healthy Matt Hasselbeck under center.

In limited time last season, Forsett rushed for four TDs and caught another one out of the backfield.

He’s listed behind Julius Jones on the depth chart, but Carroll prides himself, and his teams, on competition at every position.

The best man will win the job, and the guess here is that man will be Forsett.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at [e-mail].