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Wake-up call: Sleeper possibilities in 2004

By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com

Warrick Dunn appears to be more well-suited to the West Coast offense, thanks to his pass-catching ability. Chris Stanford/Getty Images  PLAYER RANKINGS • Top 75 Overall Players • QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | K | Def. • 2004 Experts League Draft  FANTASY INSIDERS • Sabino: Player Value Ranking • King: 30 Things you need to know • Sabino: Top 10 Draft Day tips • Bouyelas: To start or not to start? • Quintong: Players to avoid in your draft • Quintong: Rookie watch • Quintong: Draft sleepers • Quintong: Familiar faces in new places • Quintong: Running back races to keep an eye on  FANTASY GAMES Sign Up Today! Special offer for SI Subscribers: Get 50% off the price of all fantasy football games on SI.com. • Football Commissioner$99.95 Run your league, your way! ($49.97 for SI subscribers) • Football Salary Cap Challenge $9.95 Win a trip to the SI Swimsuit Issue Launch Party ($4.97 for SI subscribers) • Fantasy Football $19.95 or $39.95 for 3 teams Draft a team and dominate your league ($9.97 for SI subscribers, $19.97 for 3 teams) • Beat the Experts FREE! Compete against your friends, SI experts and celebrities in this pro football pickoff

The regular-season opener is just two weeks away and it's time to break out with some sleeper recommendations to help you keep a step ahead of the competition on draft day.

In order to qualify as one of my 2004 sleepers, the five players included had to be drafted in the second half of this year's 16-round SI.com Experts League draft.

Each player is listed with the pick used to select them (in parentheses).

Warrick Dunn, RB, Atlanta Falcons (8.01): Although coaches intend to use both Dunn and T.J. Duckett this year, the two men don't necessarily complement each other on the field.

In their first two seasons together in Atlanta, they rarely played together. The smaller, quicker Dunn started six of the first 11 games in 2003, while the bigger, more powerful Duckett started the other five after a foot injury ended Dunn's season. Duckett finished his second season with a career-high 779 yards rushing -- averaging four yards a carry -- and scored 11 touchdowns on the ground, the third-best total in franchise history.

But that yardage came under former head coach Dan Reeves' conservative system. Under new head coach Jim Mora, the Falcons will use a version of the West Coast offense that relies heavily on short passes.

"I think it fits my style," Dunn said. "It's quick, it's slashing, you can catch the football out of the backfield. It's the style of game that I like to play. This is my first opportunity."

I agree. And I'm not alone.

According to a recent story in Pro Football Weekly, Duckett isn't fitting into the new offense very well and Dunn will get most of the work once the regular season rolls around.

Keenan McCardell, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10.03): I agree with those contending that Tampa Bay's offense, which accounted for 21 yards and no first downs in the first half of last Friday's loss to Jacksonville, misses McCardell.

After all, the veteran receiver was arguably the best player on Tampa's roster last season. He led the team with 84 receptions for 1,174 yards and a career-high eight touchdowns. He also returned a fumble for a TD.

But on national television Monday, McCardell said he was prepared to sit out the entire regular season, adding it's time for the Buccaneers to trade or release him. Tough talk. Of course, sitting out the entire regular season means he'll give up more than $2.5 million in salary and perhaps another $1 million in already paid bonus money the Bucs will want back.

That being the case, I pose this question: How often do veteran NFL players involved in extended contract holdouts -- no matter how bitter -- actually sit out an entire season?

About as often do you get a shot at a top-10 NFL receiver in the 10th round of a fantasy draft.

Tyrone Calico, WR, Tennessee Titans (12.11): As SI.com's Don Banks framed it earlier this week, "Tennessee rolled the dice and traded the popular Justin McCareins to the Jets this offseason because they believed [Tyrone] Calico ready to handle the No. 3 receiver role. So far, so good on that gamble."

Nobody believes that replacing McCareins will be easy, but Steve McNair believes Calico is ready.

"I see a more determined Calico this year," the veteran signal caller recently said. "I think he took a lot of heat last year for not being consistent."

The Titans are playing Calico at both the outside receiver spots, which means Bennett and Mason will take turns lining up inside in three-receiver sets.

Banks went on to note that Calico's previously "shaky" hands have been solid so far, catching a team-leading eight passes for 110 yards with one touchdown. Those totals lend further credence to Calico's belief that he'll be at least twice as good as he was his rookie season, when he had 18 receptions for 297 yards and four touchdowns.

Twice as good? With an offense that's as likely to run out of three-receiver sets as often as not this year, Calico may be selling himself short.

Carson Palmer, QB, Cincinnati Bengals (14.02): Palmer's inclusion on this list isn't based on a single performance, but if it was, last weekend's effort against the defending Super Bowl champs might have been the one.

In that game, the former first-round draft pick passed for three touchdowns and set up another with a 48-yard completion to Chad Johnson as the Bengals scored on their first three possessions to beat the Patriots 31-3.

The Patriots. ... The Bill Belichick Patriots.

However, there's more to my belief than that. There's the fact that Palmer is surrounded by a very competent -- and in some cases brilliant (Chad Johnson comes immediately to mind) -- supporting cast in an offense that airs it out on a regular basis. Plus, the staff has tremendous confidence in Palmer's abilities.

Hounded early in camp by reporters wondering if Palmer was comfortable with the playbook, head coach Marvin Lewis said Palmer is the playbook. Better yet, a source close to the team recently told PFW the Bengals may look to throw downfield more often this season, as Palmer has a better arm than predecessor Jon Kitna does.

In case you missed it, Kitna tossed 26 touchdown passes last year.

Desmond Clark, TE, Chicago Bears (15.01): Clark is admittedly a bit of a reach. Or is he? After all, new offensive coordinator Terry Shea knows a little something about the effective use of tight ends from his days as Kansas City's quarterbacks coach.

Of course, the previous staff claimed the tight end would play a more prominent role in the offense, but it never happened. "Most of the stuff I caught was when I was facing the ball," Clark said. "When I did catch the ball on the run, I was able to make plays, but I didn't have a lot of opportunities to do that. Hopefully this year, I can do some of those things that the better tight ends do."

But as Shea explained just this week, "You have to realize that the best offense in football the last couple years in terms of points scored was [a Kansas City] offense that had the leading pass catcher as the running back for two years in a row and the tight end for two years in a row."

While nobody will mistake him for Chiefs' All-Pro Tony Gonzalez, Clark is a former wideout who -- when healthy -- is capable of beating the average NFL linebacker in one-on-one situations.

Bob Harris is Editor and Webmaster of the TFL Report and Senior Editor for Fantasy Sports Publications.