Wednesday, August 17, 2011

2011 Sleeper Alert - Vincent Brown

 By:  Zach Jacobson

The word sleeper is massively overused in the world of fantasy.  I'm sorry, but I don't consider Mario Manningham or Jimmy Graham a sleeper when they're being drafted behind Brandon Marshall and Vernon Davis, respectively.  A fantasy sleeper should simply be a player who flies near completely under the radar, a guy that you can pick up in the last couple rounds of your drafts, or a player who you can pick up off the waiver wire.
  
San Diego rookie receiver Vincent Brown falls into this category.  Legedu Naanee has left for the Panthers, and if Brown can beat out Patrick Crayton for the #3 wide receiver spot he has a shot at fantasy production.  The Chargers have a solid enough tandem at running back to take attention away from the electric passing game.  Even Naanee looked fantasy relevant off the arm of Philip Rivers last year, so Vincent Brown (a player who was widely considered NFL-ready going into the draft) should be able to.

He ran a 4.52 40-yard dash at his Pro Day, and his combine time was much worse.  Brown's definitely not fast by any means, and he's only 5'11'' weighing 187 pounds, but he's a very polished route runner and averaged almost 20 yards a catch in his final season at San Diego State University.

Brown has willingness to run the difficult routes through the middle, along with the toughness to put his body on the line.  Despite his lack of size and speed, he was still a 3rd round pick in the 2011 NFL draft.  This should tell you a lot about his other receiving traits.  Not even on the fantasy radar, you can probably pick Vincent Brown up sometime within the next few weeks, seeing that he's not being drafted in most leagues.

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