2013 Fantasy Football Dark Horse Sleeper: Andre Brown

November 6, 2013 1:49 pm EST by Dustin Manko

By now we all know that the New York Giants have underachieved this season. With the exception of a solid game here or there, every player not named Victor Cruz has not performed as well as fantasy football owners would have thought going into the season. However, they are starting to turn things around and will get a big help in improving their offense with the return of Andre Brown in week 10.Over the last few games, the Giants offensive line has been much better than they were early in the season. They are giving Eli Manning better protection and are opening up holes on the ground for the running game. In week six a well past his prime Brandon Jacobs had enough room to run for 106 yards and two touchdowns. In week seven a fresh off the couch Peyton Hillis had 81 total yards and a touchdown and then he chipped in for 70 yards in week eight. Brown may not have played since the preseason, but even being out of football shape is a much better player than Jacobs or Hillis.

Keep in mind that Brown was set to be the lead back for the Giants until the broken leg in the preseason delayed his 2013 campaign. In 2012 Brown had eight touchdowns in 10 games, along with a 5.3 rush yards per attempt. He finished the season with 471 all purpose yards, despite playing in a timeshare with David Wilson. He has explosive speed, can handle all three down responsibilities and has the moves and presence to make defenders miss.

With wide receiver Hakeem Nicks having a case of the drops this season and Victor Cruz battling a sore neck, Brown could easily be in line for 15-20 touches on Sunday against the Oakland Raiders, who just got torched by the Philadelphia Eagles last week. The rest of the schedule (with the exception of the Seattle Seahawks) features teams that should produce some high scoring games, including two against the Washington Redskins (30^th in total defense) along with tilts against offensive juggernauts Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys. The Giants will need to score points in the latter games to keep up and Brown is likely to be a primary point of the offense.

Owned in only 11 percent of Yahoo! leagues, Brown has first round talent and is clearly available in the majority of leagues, yet is available due to his long layoff and injury prone label. Despite that, he is certainly worth adding to your fantasy roster.

As always, I welcome your comments. If you think I’m wrong, I’m willing to listen. Just back it up with some facts and solid evidence. Thanks for reading and good luck this season.

Dustin Manko is an author at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter @DustinManko, ”Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google