Darrius Heyward-Bey: What is Oakland Raiders WR's Fantasy Value?

To call wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey a bust to this point in his short NFL career would have been kind until recently, as the former seventh overall pick had been completely invisible in his first two years in the NFL.

Heyward-Bey was a quintessential Al Davis draft pick, a blazingly fast wide receiver that ran poor routes and couldn't catch. However, Heyward-Bey has shown some signs of life recently, and it may be that the former Maryland standout is finally ready to start living up to his lofty draft spot.

Over the past two weeks Heyward-Bey has 11 receptions for 214 yards and a touchdown, leading the Raiders in receiving each of those weeks and emerging as the go-to guy for quarterback Jason Campbell in the Raiders aerial attack.

The Raiders ranked 23rd in the National Football League in passing offense entering this week, so week-to-week consistency may be an issue with Heyward-Bey, but that can be said about any number of wide receivers for fantasy football purposes. If Heyward-Bey can keep this sort of production up (or even come close) there's a significant amount of fantasy upside to be had.

Oakland's opponent in Week 6, the Cleveland Browns, have allowed the sixth fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers so far this season, so the odds are fairly good that Darrius Heyward-Bey may regress statistically next Sunday, but the fact remains that after his second straight solid game, DHB is firmly on fantasy football radars as a matchup WR3.