Fantasy Football Sleepers: Lance Moore Worthy of Late-Round Investment

Let's say you draw a late first-round pick in your fantasy draft. The elite running backs are all taken. What do you do?

You could reach for a platoon back, but that's never something you want to do.

No, I would suggest you build a strong group of receivers. I would also suggest that in the later rounds, you make Lance Moore a part of that group.

Moore missed more than half of the Saints' championship season in 2009 and because of that, it would have been understandable to not want to make an investment on him in 2010.

But in 2010, he came back with 66 catches for 763 yards and eight touchdowns. In 2008, he caught 79 passes for 928 yards and 10 touchdowns.

That's a fine average to have over two seasons.

With Drew Brees running the offense, those numbers don't look to drop. In 2010, four Saints had more than 400 yards receiving and four Saints had five or more touchdown receptions.

Moore is at the top of that list, so he promises to have another season similar to 2008 and 2010.

ESPN ranks Moore as its No. 36-ranked wide receiver. There are either a lot of good receivers in the league, or he is criminally underrated.

It's easy to say Moore will get lost in the shuffle in New Orleans, and there's an element of truth to that—except Brees has consistently gone to him as a target these past few seasons. Why would that all of a sudden change?

The Saints pass a lot and have one of the best passers in the game passing the ball. When quarterbacks like that get familiar with a receiver, they don’t just stop throwing him the ball.

That’s the level that Brees and Moore are at. Playing predominately in domes and warm weather this season, the Saints passing attack will be as strong as usual. Moore will be a big part of that.