TE Sleepers and Busts

A look at my tight end rankings vs. where the masses are now drafting them:

Sleepers

My #3 TE is Chris Cooley, who is being taken #7 in most drafts. Why do I have him so high? Anyone that can catch a ball through drywall gets put up high on my list:



Seriously, though, there are several reasons to like Cooley. He had 66 catches last year, and we are projecting him to improve that slightly to 70 (which is still below his career high of 71). We are projecting him for his career average yards per catch of 11.3, which is actually lower than what he has done the last two years. Finally, we are projecting 7 TDs for a guy who has had 6, 7, or 8 EVERY year of his career. Our numbers just don't seem too unreasonable at all.

I am having a love affair with just about everyone in the Broncos passing game, so it should surprise no one that Tony Scheffler is on this list. I have him as my #4 TE, while he is being drafted at #11. Scheffler is entering his 3rd year (breakout year for receivers and tight ends), and had 49 catches last year. With his improvement and the improvement of Jay Cutler, we are projecting him to get up to 59 catches. The 13.0 yards per catch we are projecting is higher than his 12.5 career average, but less than the 15.9 he displayed in his rookie season. Picking up a TE this good in the 9th round just feels right.

Busts

Dallas Clark had a career year last season, and we are projecting a return to earth. He is our #9 TE, while most have him at #4. Clark was helped out a lot by Marvin Harrison's injury last season. He had 58 catches in 2007, after a previous career high of 37. We are projecting him to fall down to 45 catches this year, still his second best season ever. The 12.5 yards per catch we are projecting is his career average, which he has been below for the last two years. Finally, we have him down for 6 TDs, a big drop-off from last year's 11, but still his second-best season. Let someone else jump on Clark in the 6th round, while you wait for Cooley or Scheffler.