By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

In years past, even pondering the thought of a rookie quarterback having fantasy value was preposterous. If you wanted to receive under ten points per fantasy game and watch your live fantasy score updates get dinged -2 three to four times a game; then grabbing a rookie quarterback was your own detriment.

The biggest upside would come in the fantasy playoffs. Rookie quarterbacks are finally starting to show confidence in themselves and so is their team. Carefree play with their teams season hopeless for a playoff run benefits them and fantasy owners.

Cam Newton, Andy Dalton, and even Christian Ponder made you reverse that type of fantasy draft mind state. Not only did they perform better than anyone could of imagined, many weeks they were in the top twelve or higher for fantasy quarterbacks.

Rumblings for second year woes are in doubters minds. The NFL is a fantasy quarterback friendly haven now. Cam Newton is in a new class himself with the stats that he can put up on the ground and rushing touchdowns.

Andy Dalton though is still in a bubble of question. They had one of the easiest schedules last season. Those were the games that Dalton performed better than average. Against higher competition he tailed off and struggled to make the big throws. Surrounding a young quarterback with a security blanket is what the Bengals did with AJ Green.

Green flourished as a rookie as well last year. The pair is going to have a connection for several years to delight fantasy fans. Behind Green though the team is lacking an offensive punch.

With their present roster, the team screams leaders of three and out possessions in the NFL. BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Bernard Scott are names you would expect behind a strong tailback, not weapons of choice for a tandem backfield.

Nonetheless it looks like that will be the backfield the Bengals rely on. For the record, the Bengals did not necessarily have a home run projected threat with Cedric Benson when they signed him as a free agent. He became a pleasant surprise for low value, and that’s the same avenue the Bengals are taking with their new backfield.

Points will likely come through the arm of Andy Dalton. Which will downgrade him a bit as a fantasy quarterback this year. Teams will zero in on his reads and be able to keep much of their attention on AJ Green, as the Bengals have poor depth behind Green. Jordan Shipley, Mohamed Sanu and Armon Binns are going to be the headaches of AJ Green’s nightmares if his season declines in year two.

One player that should benefit will be Jermaine Gresham. The tall athletic target has been a borderline fantasy tight end starter. Deeper leagues he likely was inserted on a weekly basis. 2012 should be the marking of him being inserted into standard leagues. The only other target that Dalton has solid chemistry with is Gresham. As teams pay more attention to Green, Gresham should see many more tosses his way.

In all but one game that Gresham started in last season he had three catches or more. Calculate the expected red zone targets and Gresham should be on your sleeper radar if you decide to wait on snaring a tight end.