Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:01am
By Cory J. Bonini
Each year fantasy football owners gain a leg up on their competition by finding sleepers in their drafts. KFFL.com has identified these candidates for the 2012 season and analyzed why you want them on your team. Other players fall into the undervalued category: Their fantasy stock isn't as high as it should be, and you often can land them on the cheap to help bolster your lineup. Generally, undervalued players are veterans that are coming off a down year or returning from injury and have slipped below the radar of most fantasy owners. KFFL will help you take advantage of their oversights on your quest to building a championship roster! Note: All Average Draft Position (ADP) figures are based on standard-scoring, 12-team leagues. The caveat with place kickers is that regardless of the ADP statistic, no kicker should be drafted before the final round of your draft. Sleepers Matt Prater | Denver Broncos | ADP: 14th round Denver's offense should be quite competent if Peyton Manning (neck) is able to come close to playing like his former self on the field. They have a potentially strong running game, a capable offensive line and enough targets for Manning to make the passing game competitive. Prater's accuracy slipped last year to 76.0 percent (19-for-25) after an 87.0 percent conversion rate the prior two seasons. He struggled (42.9 percent) from 40 to 49 yards in 2011, which is down from an 80.0 percent rate each of the two seasons before. It is no secret that Denver's thin air assists kickers' ability to get a few more yards out of their legs; Prater has successfully knocked through two kicks of 59 yards since 2009. Draft Prater as a midrange No. 1 kicker in the final round of your draft. Randy Bullock | Houston Texans | ADP: 13th round Houston's rookie kicker enters a quality situation. The powerful Texans offense afforded Neil Rackers 68 three-point tries and at least 40 extra point attempts over the past two seasons. A healthy Matt Schaub (foot) should make the offense run more efficiently and give Bullock consistent opportunities.  Manning improves everyone | The rookie has above-average leg strength, capable of nailing kicks just beyond 50 yards out. Bullock made 87.9 percent (29-for-33) of his field goal attempts in 2012 for Texas A&M. Most fantasy owners probably are not familiar with Bullock, which gives you the upper hand to take advantage of the situation. He should be drafted as a No. 1 shortly after the surefire choices at the position come off the board. Connor Barth | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | ADP: 15th round Barth's accuracy has improved each of the last two years, topping out at an impressive 92.9 percent in 2011. He made 26 of the 28 field goal attempts he faced, including a career-long 55-yarder. The Bucs scored 16 fewer touchdowns in '11 from the year before, which severely hampered Barth's fantasy football value. He will see more extra point tries and, perhaps, a few additional three-point kicks in the upcoming season with Tampa's retooled offense. New faces Vincent Jackson, Dallas Clark, Doug Martin and Carl Nicks all should immediately upgrade the O, while head coach Greg Schiano's no-nonsense style will keep everyone in line. Barth has the confidence of the organization, as they deemed him their franchise player before he signed a four-year extension this offseason. You can show the same faith in him by drafting Barth as your fantasy kicker for the 2012 season. Undervalued Nate Kaeding | San Diego Chargers | ADP: 14th round A Week 1 torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee cost Kaeding the 2011 season and paved the way for Nick Novak to have a quality campaign. The Chargers have both players on roster, but Kaeding is fully expected to beat out Novak this offseason. Assuming that he does, Kaeding is a top-10, if not a top-five, fantasy kicker. Keep an eye on the situation, and hope that your leaguemates have forgotten Kaeding's name on draft day. As long as he is healthy, confidently draft him as your fantasy footer. Josh Brown | New York Jets | ADP: 15th round The veteran made the move to the Jets this offseason to handle the kicking duties. He is coming off his worst season since 2005, but a lot of that can be blamed on the Rams' anemic offense of a year ago. From 2006 to 2010, Brown has knocked at least 80.6 percent of his field goals through the uprights in four of five seasons. He has one of the strongest legs in the NFL and should be granted plenty of chances in New York. Their offense, regardless of which quarterback is under center, is built to provide ample field goal tries. Just two years ago, Nick Folk was permitted 39 trey attempts from this offense, and Miami's system while Tony Sparano was the head coach was kind to Dan Carpenter's statistical fortunes. Brown is only 33 years old and still has plenty left in the tank. Consider him once the primary names are off the board. | 
