Fantasy Football : Mid-to-Late Round Players To Target : The This and That of Fantasy Football

Of course it's important to make good picks in the first couple rounds, but over the course of a football season depth is also extremely important. I'm not one of those owners that wastes picks. Any pick could be a player that can help you win a championship. So when those other owners are drunk or not being serious, take advantage. Here are a couple players to keep an eye on.

Jay Cutler, QB, Broncos – If you don’t get one of the top quarterbacks (Brady, P. Manning, Romo, Brees or Palmer), consider waiting and selecting Cutler who has been sliding a lot further in drafts than I think he should. Typically, Ben Roethlisberger and Derek Anderson will be drafted before him. But, after that I would take Cutler. Matt Hasselbeck would be a candidate after Big Ben and Anderson, but I am a little scared of him considering he is battling a sore back and has a decimated receiving corps with Bobby Engram (cracked bone in shoulder) and Deion Branch (torn ACL) hurting badly. Cutler will miss his top target in the suspended Brandon Marshall who could miss anywhere from 1-3 games. Many think it’s going to be a two-game suspension. I guarantee you Marshall will score a TD in his first game back. Last season in his first full season as a starter, Cutler passed for almost 3,500 yards with 20 TDs, and I expect him to surpass those numbers throwing to a rapidly improving tight end in Tony Scheffler, Marshall, Brandon Stokely, promising rookie Eddie Royal and Darrell Jackson. Don’t forget Cutler rushed for 205 yards and a TD last year as well.

Chester Taylor, RB, Vikings – I have tried to end all of my drafts by having this man on my roster. This is the kind of pick that at some point in the season could propel someone to the playoffs. I don’t wish any injuries on any player. But, as talented as Adrian Peterson is, he has been injury prone in college and missed two games last year with a sprained knee. In one of the games Peterson missed, Taylor rushed for 164 yards and three TDs while adding 38 receiving yards. In the other one, he had 77 yards and a score. Taylor averaged 5.4 yards a carry and rushed for 844 yards after rushing for 1,216 yards the year before. In a larger league, he is a solid bye week replacement, because he should get 8-10 carries a week.

Lee Evans, WR, Bills – There are at least 25-30 receivers, depending on your preferences that owners will select before Evans is selected. After 1,292 receiving yards in 2006, Evans slumped to 849 yards last season. But, it wasn’t all his fault. The Bills quarterback situation was unstable as the Bills tried to figure out who should be playing – Trent Edwards or J.P. Losman. Edwards demonstrated a steely calm for a rookie and is now the starter. I think stability at the position will help Evans record another 1,000-yard season; especially considering Edwards has gained more experience. Evans is a deep-ball threat who has averaged 16 yards per reception in his career. There are weeks where Evans just explodes – last season 138 yards and a TD in week eight and 165 and a TD in week nine. Remember his 11 catches for 265 yards and two scores in week 11 of 2007? His value is higher than you think.

Tony Scheffler and Alge Crumpler – If you don’t get an elite tight end or don’t want to select one early, no problem. The position is pretty deep, and these two guys are perfect examples. From week 12 through week 17 of last year, Scheffler had an 82-yard game and a 100-yard game and scored three TDs. Look for this third-year player to improve upon his 49 catches for 549 yards and five scores from last season. Crumpler endured a slew of injuries last season from his ankle to his knee, but he scored three TDs in his last two games. Now healthier and in Tennessee, Crumpler will see a lot of passes from Vince Young who settles often for the dump-off. In 2006, a healthy Crumpler had 780 receiving yards and eight TDs.

Bobby Engram, WR, Seahawks – There comes that point in the draft where you hope to hit pay dirt on a player that is definitely going to be on your bench. Why not select someone in the late rounds who can actually help you at some point in the season? As mentioned earlier, Engram has a cracked bone in his right shoulder suffered in the first preseason game. It looks like he may be able to come back October 5 for the Seahawks’ fourth game. For where you will draft Engram, it’s well worth the wait considering he had 94 catches for 1,147 yards and six scores and will be Seattle’s number-one receiver when he returns. Matt Hasselbeck has often talked about how comfortable he is throwing to Engram.