AFC South Fantasy Football Stock Market
This series of articles focuses on how the new breed of talent from the NFL draft plans to affect overall fantasy football player value. Continuing with our stock market report, Gridiron Experts takes a look at the AFC South.
Previous Articles: NFC EAST | AFC EAST | NFC SOUTH

*AFC South: Surprisingly the AFC South went heavy on defensive players. The only real fantasy rookie to come out of all 4 of these offensive teams was running back Ben Tate for the Houston Texans, he will be the focus of this article.

Houston Texans

Ben Tate RB 5’11″ , 220 lbs.

The Texans won’t admit it, but they called an audible on draft day. Houston was dubbed by many to be going after either running back C.J. Spiller or Ryan Matthews in the first round, but both were snatched up very early.

Plan B happened to be a good one; Houston selected cornerback Kareem Jackson (an excellent D. Robinson replacement) in the first round, followed by stealing Ben Tate in the second. Tate, who was overlooked on many draft radars, has the making of a perfect starting running back for the Texans. With 4.40 speed and good meat on his bones, this former Auburn stud will fit well into the Kubiak system right away. Tate’s training will consist of adding more lower body strength, as his role for the Texans may start out as a north and south type runner. Steve Slaton is coming off a rough year and should see Tate as serious competition. As of now the job looks to be split between the two RB’s, but Slaton was a mid round steal, and with last years fumbling problems, there’s no real long-term commitment. Tate will challenge early.

Opportunity: Starting RB
Stock Value:  High. The size difference only gives Tate the edge in goal line situations.

Garrett Graham TE  6’3″ , 243 lbs

Drafting a Badger TE worked once, why not try it again? The Houston Texans are looking at three of their four tight ends coming off major surgery, and despite having a large number of players at this position on paper, there is a lack of depth. Garrett Graham will be thrown into the fire early on; if he can handle the workload then we might have ourselves a fantasy sleeper. Graham has enough size, athletic ability, receiving skills, and the resume to win over a few fantasy owners. In his three years at Wisconsin, Graham had 121 recs, 1492 receiving yards, and 16 TD’s.

Opportunity: Starting TE until Owen Daniels is healthy
Stock Value: Low to High

Tennessee Titans

The Titans only new fantasy toy is a sure-handed WR named Damian Williams from USC. This kid is not your typical USC wide receiver (big and slow), Williams has excellent hands and lighting-quick footwork. Williams has great cuts and the agility to make people miss. The Titans will make him the return specialist as early as they can.

As for his fantasy value with the offensive unit, Williams should settle in as a 3rd -4th option for Vince Young. You can be sure this speedy wide-out will get extra attention from the Titan fans this summer with the need for a WR, but at this point his fantasy value is low.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts made no effort to add any extra weapons for Peyton this spring. With most of their drafting going towards the defensive side of the ball, we are left trying to figure out who’s stepping in from a year ago. Anthony Gonzalez was everybodies sleeper until a brutal injury finished his season, opening the door for last years surprise Austin Collie. We can also say now that Donald Brown has enough game knowledge to attempt a challenge for the starting RB job. While we would love to have the answers for you this early….these battles are coming at training camp.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jags prime goal this offseason was to improve on the defense. Jacksonvilles’ defense is constantly underachieving on the field, and new personnel were brought in to shake things up. Not adding any new rookies into the mix is probably a good thing as the Jags need to gel as an offensive group. Sometimes all anyone needs is time to perfect a system. Pleasant thinking, but there are more than a few jobs on the hot seat this year, and everyone knows it.