Summer Sleeper: Arizona Cardinals

Brian Bulmer

cardinals

With fantasy season right around the corner, we’re continuing our annual series focusing on a few sleepers from all 32 teams in the NFL. You can find all of the Summer Sleeper articles here.

These sleepers all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but all merit a little more talking about here in the Premium Content section. Some of these players are deep dynasty sleepers who could merit a spot on your bench in a deep league, while others are players who may contribute a little faster than the deep prospects, but deserve more attention than they may be getting. By definition, a sleeper could mean something a little different to everyone, but we’re simply doing the best job we can to unearth one player from each team who fits the category in some way, shape or form.

We’ll never insult you with a comprehensive list of “sleepers” which include such such dynasty mainstay names as Toby Gerhart, Christine Michael or Cordarrelle Patterson. You’re all too good for that.

While many of these players will undoubtedly fizzle, there’s more value in looking more closely at these deeper prospects and players. We invite you to keep an open mind and either or re-assess your value on those who may be rostered in your league or consider adding a few of these deeper prospects we focus on this Summer who are free agents in your league – after all, some are destined to pan out, too.

Feel free to add your own comments about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own!

[am4show  have=’p2;p3;p4;p5;p6;’  guest_error=’sub_message’  user_error=’sub_message’ ]

Let’s do an Arizona sleeper two for one!

John Brown, WR

Bruce Arians has an affinity for players specific to his system. In the 2009 NFL Draft, Arians took Mike Wallace in the third round. Wallace finished his rookie season with 39 catches for 756 yards and six touchdowns. In 2012, Arians selected TY Hilton as a rookie in the third round. Hilton finished the season with 50 catches for 861 yards and seven touchdowns. In the 2014 draft it was John Brown selected in the third round. All three were guys running a 40-yard dash in the 4.3’s. They are specific to the Arians system and Arians knows how to use them. What can we expect from Brown? By the law of averages alone it would project to 164 points in PPR finishing as WR36 in 2013 based on last year’s numbers – that makes Brown a probable WR3 or flex option in 2013.

Are you excited yet?

You might be wondering at this point what is the cost for a player like John Brown? Brown is starting to pick up a lot of steam and may be far from a sleeper for anyone paying attention in the dynasty community. His August ADP in startups jumped nearly 20 picks from his July ADP (created by DLFs own Ryan McDowell).  He is currently the #69 wide receiver drafted. If history can repeat itself, Brown will only increase in value if he can stay healthy the entire season. Rave reviews in camp from coaches and teammates alike have made Brown a popular name in training camps around the NFL.

I will not write much about John Brown’s background as Jaron Foster spoke of Brown’s pre-NFL highlights in the Who Is? series. One knock on Brown heading into the NFL was his age. As a rookie, Brown will be 24 heading into his first NFL season.  For many dynasty owners they will shy away due to age alone, but view Brown as a penny stock now and dynasty owners could get a diamond for the price of coal in 2014. Brown has an electric game similar to that of DeSean Jackson, but the comparisons don’t stop there.

In his only preseason performance of the season, Brown played 32 of 83 snaps and caught 50% of his passes and finished with five catches for 87 yards. If that was not enough, Brown has been compared to Marvin Harrison by Cards announcer Ron Wolfley and Anquan Boldin by general manager Steve Keim. This is high praise for a rookie, but with the rave reviews from multiple sources out of training camp, Brown could be in for a great rookie season.

Logan Thomas, QB

John Brown is a monster sleeper at this point and there is a solid chance he puts up great numbers this season. If a dynasty owner is seeking a developmental player on the Cardinals roster, that player has to be Logan Thomas. The Virginia Tech product had a productive preseason game and was given high praise by many beat writers as well as ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski. Jaws listed Thomas as the best quarterback following preseason week one games.

Thomas was listed as raw and inaccurate coming into the NFL. Many teams pegged Thomas as a developmental tight end. The Cardinals used a fourth round pick on Thomas and he absolutely shined in their first preseason game, completing 11-of-12 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Thomas did do this against a putrid Houston defense, but he also silenced some of his critics while showing that he is learning from the teachings of Bruce Arians. He is also in a situation with Drew Stanton and Carson Palmer aging on the depth chart and it gives Thomas time to develop under the direction of Arians.

Thomas is a big bodied quarterback. He stands at 6’6” and weighs 250 lbs. He was once considered top draft prospect, but following an abysmal 2013 college campaign, Thomas lost a lot of his draft momentum and did not make up for it at the combine or his pro day.

With young wide receivers like Michael Floyd and John Brown, Thomas may have some viable targets if he were to win the starting job within the next couple of years. With a solid preseason game under his belt, Thomas is one to monitor and add if you have a taxi squad or have rosters deep enough to stash him for a couple of seasons.

His current August ADP is round 20 and after. He has all of the physical tools to be solid NFL quarterback. The advantage for Thomas is that he has the opportunity to work with Arians who has worked with talented quarterbacks like Ben Roethlisberger, Payton Manning and Andrew Luck. Arians is the man for the job if you are targeting Thomas in the later rounds.

[/am4show]
brian bulmer
Latest posts by Brian Bulmer (see all)