Potential Sleepers for Your Fantasy Football Team

This season, give yourself an advantage in your fantasy football world and grab some sleeper candidates. A sleeper is any player whose value will exceed the position in which he is drafted. For example, if you pick a running back in the twelfth round who ends up posting similar numbers to a player drafted in the third round, he was a sleeper. The advantage of targeting players primed to break out like this is it gives you an opportunity to build depth for your fantasy team. With plenty of depth, you could walk away as your league champion.

With that in mind, here are some players you should consider picking on your league's draft day:

Quarterbacks

Donovan McNabb (Philadelphia Eagles) -- Brees, Brady, Manning, Romo, and Rodgers will all come off the board first, but he has a lot of solid targets in his passing game and is primed to have a huge season. You can draft him much later in your league, thereby stocking up on RB's and WR's in the early-middle rounds, but he will put up very solid numbers.

Carson Palmer (Cincinnati Bengals) -- Draft him as a backup QB. He's further removed from injury and should have a bounce-back season. Palmer could very well put up QB1 stats, so to get him as QB2 would provide nice value. Chad Ochocinco is displaying dedication to returning to elite form, Laveranues Coles was signed in the off-season, and Chris Henry is committed to staying out of trouble and on the field. Those guys form a great receiving corps for Palmer and he will put up numbers similar to his great '06 season.

Running Backs

Pierre Thomas (New Orleans Saints) -- You can get him in the third round, but he's a potential break-out candidate who might end up as a top-10 RB, which is first round value. The New Orleans offense is a juggernaut and the explosive passing game will open up a lot of opportunities for Thomas to take advantage. Additionally, he has put on some lower-body weight, without sacrificing speed, and will be able to pound the ball into the end zone.

Darren McFadden (Oakland Raiders) -- He was hurt during his rookie campaign, but A) Oakland has no passing game (besides Zach Miller -- more on him later), so they are going to run the ball... a lot, B) he was a top-5 draft pick so they are going to hand the rock to him, and C) he has a cool nickname (Run DMC). Seriously, expect big things from this guy. Depending on your league, you can probably get him in the 4th or 5th round.

Wide Receivers

Chris Henry (Cincinnati Bengals) -- You usually don't want to read too much into preseason, but he caught 7 passes for over 100 yards and a td in the first game and 4 for 55 and a td in the second. The touchdowns lead me to believe that he is the Cincy WR being targeted in the end zone, much like Housch used to do. Unless he becomes really hyped, you can grab him somewhere in rounds 12 - 14.

Lance Moore (New Orleans Saints) -- Colston is the "big name" in the NO passing offense, but when Brees throws for over 5,000 yards, there is a lot of love to be spread around. Last year he took over the main dog role when Colston was out with injury and look for him in about the 9th or 10th round.

Tight Ends

Greg Olsen (Chicago Bears) -- The buzz around him is building to the point he might not still be considered a sleeper. What is known about Olsen's situation is that he is incredibly talented, has a new QB in Cutler, and Cutler will look for his TE a lot, especially given that the Chicago WR corps is not necessarily the best around. There is a decent chance Olsen will end up as a top-3 tight end this year.

Zach Miller (Oakland Raiders) -- Tight end is actually a rather deep position, so no need to spend a significantly earlier pick grabbing a guy like Witten or Gonzo. Miller had a great season last year as a rookie and will put up solid numbers. As mentioned earlier, Oakland doesn't have much of a passing game, but he's it and he will come through for your team.

Team Defense

SD Defense - Various cheat sheets out there have the Chargers' Defense typically ranked around 15^th, give or take, but I believe they'll be top-five unit. This reminds me; don't take a defense until your second to last pick. And your last pick is a kicker. To take any of those positions earlier means missing out on a potential breakout candidate in an earlier round. For example, the SD Defense was taken in the 7th round in one of my leagues last year. The squad had a lot of injuries to key players (and I doubt is going to happen again, which is why I'm bullish on them for this year...) and ended up as the 20^th-ranked defense according to that particular league's settings. Players taken after that defense came off the board in the seventh round: Forte, Chris Johnson, DeAngelo Williams (who wound up as the #1 RB), Rodgers, Philip Rivers, Kevin Smith, Jay Cutler, Jonathan Stewart, and Vincent Jackson. With my second-to-last pick, I chose Tennessee. They were the #1 defense for most of the season and wound up top-5 for the league. Some other "sleeper" defenses include Seattle and San Francisco.

Kickers

Rob Bironas (Tennessee Titans) -- If he's there for your last pick, take him. The Tennessee offense is run-based, instead of a spread, pass-based one. Offenses centered around the ground game typically provide a lot of opportunities for kickers. Also, the Titans aren't a cold-weather team and Bironas has proved to be very reliable. Carolina's John Kasay is also a nice sleeper pick for the kicker position.