The first couple of teams are heading to training camp and it’s getting close to football season again. With the NFL season comes fantasy football time. Everyones doing their research looking for a leg up on the competition. With many players moving, new opportunities arise and players have the opportunity to step up and prove themselves. Let’s take a look at some sleepers at wide receiver for this upcoming NFL season.
Martavis Bryant – Pittsburgh Steelers
Martavis Bryant is poised for a breakout year.
Bryant didn’t appear in a game until October 20th, but boy did he burst onto the scene. By November 9th, Bryant had caught 6 touchdowns already while playing in just 4 games. A rookie out of Clemson, Bryant played second fiddle to Sammy Watkins in college but looks like he can play at the NFL level. Bryant stands at 6’4 and 210 pounds making for a great end zone target. He finished with 26 receptions for 549 yards and 8 touchdowns in 10 games. He’ll play opposite Antonio Brown, one of the best receivers in the game today so defenses will be keying in on Brown as opposed to Bryant. Bryant can very well put up 1,100 yards and 8-12 touchdowns this year.
Steve Smith Sr. – Baltimore Ravens
Steve Smith Sr. has been around the league for 15 seasons and has had his better days. During his final five years with the Panthers he eclipsed 1,000 yards just 2 times. During his age 35 season with the Baltimore Ravens, Smith recorded 1,065 yards and 6 touchdowns. At times in the offense Smith found himself as Flacco’s go-to guy. He had 11 games with 5 receptions or more for the Ravens. Now with Torrey Smith in San Francisco, Smith becomes the leader of a receiving core that features unproven players in 2015 1st rounder Breshad Perriman and undrafted 3rd year players Marlon Brown and Kamar Aiken.
Stedman Bailey – St Louis Rams
Stedman Bailey is a 3rd round pick from the 2013 draft with not much to show for it. In his defense, he has suffered from Sam Bradford being so injury-prone. In the final 6 weeks of last season, Bailey put up 349 receiving yards on 22 receptions with a touchdown. That pace through the course of a 16 game season puts him close to 1,000 yards. With Bailey ending the 2015 season on a high note, he now welcomes a quarterback in Nick Foles for this coming season. Assuming Foles can stay healthy, he gives Bailey a better option at the quarterback position to get him the ball than Austin Davis or Shaun Hill did.
Will Selva 