Summer Sleeper: St. Louis Rams

TheFFGhost

rams

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!

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Stedman Bailey, WR

While it may not seem like it at first, nearly every offensive player on the Rams has flirted with the “sleeper” tag in the past few years. When you think back, Sam Bradford, Jared Cook, Tavon Austin and Zac Stacy all have received that label in the past two to three years. Others who have had varying degrees of short lived and short term success have been Chris Givens, Austin Pettis and Isaiah Pead. When trying to identify a sleeper who hasn’t been labeled as such at one point or another, a fantasy analyst has to deep a little deeper.

That being said, even the sleeper identified in this article, Stedman Bailey, has seen his fair share of “sleeper” labels in recent months. Bailey didn’t have all the hype that his draftmate and former West Virginia Mountaineer teammate Tavon Austin did when coming into the league last season, but he was able to really turn some heads in the closing weeks last year.

Coming in at 5′-10″ and weighing 195 pounds, Bailey isn’t exactly a towering behemoth of a receiver along the lines of a Calvin Johnson or Alshon Jeffery, but what he lacks in size he makes up for with impeccable route running skills. Once Bailey was able to crack the starting lineup in Week 13 he never looked back, leading the Rams in receptions and yards over the last five weeks of the season despite only accumulating two receptions prior to that. This performance was in stark contrast to Austin, the much higher profile rookie on the Rams who didn’t even see the field in the last three games of the season.

Everything coming out of the Rams camp this off season has cast Bailey in a very positive light. He has been labeled as one of the players who has taken the biggest step from last season to this season from numerous camp observers and even Head Coach Jeff Fisher himself. Fisher was quoted as saying, “Sted made a lot of plays today. He’s there. He knows how to get open, and knows how to make the plays.” Bradford has also appears to heavily favor him thus far through St. Louis’ training camp. Not only was Bailey the target of many of Bradford’s passes, he was also the target of praise from the Rams’ signal caller, stating, ““Stedman’s been great all camp, all spring. I think he’s gonna be a big part of what we do when he gets back.”

Gets back?

Yeah, that’s the rub at this point. You see, Bailey will miss the Rams’ first four regular season games due to his violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The suspension does hold the very real potential to harm Bailey’s season, a season in which he appeared to be a lock for a much improved role in a potentially rejuvenated Rams offensive passing attack. In the wake of his suspension news, it appears as if Brian Quick will now start in Bailey’s absence. It remains to be seen if Quick will be able to capitalize in this role, but if I were a betting man I’d say it’s a fair likelihood Bailey will be able to work himself quickly back into the starting lineup.

I’m not advocating making Bailey a prime target in any start-up draft, but he makes for an excellent flier pick with significant upside. As of the July ADP data, Bailey can be had as the 197th player off the board or the WR87 and goes roughly somewhere in the 16th round. If Bailey can recapture his performance during the tail end of the 2013 season, he will make for a solid bye week plug and play option or a low end WR3 to high end WR4. Now, keep in mind that’s if he only mirrors last season performance where he was being thrown to by a subpar backup quarterback. With Bradford at the helm, Bailey’s number could be even higher. Any dynasty player who takes a chance on Bailey could rewarded handsomely in years to come.

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