5 Random Players you should not Sleep on this NFL Season

 1. Christian Ponder – Everyone likes to pick on the Vikings and my god have I heard a lot of criticism regarding their young QB Christian Ponder. The problem with all the people being critical towards him is that none of them actually watched him play. Yeah, he struggled a bit on a terrible team without having a training camp in his first NFL snaps. When you consider those things, I think Ponder’s 13 TD - 13 INT - 70 QB rating is actually pretty impressive.

What I saw from Ponder is arm strength, accuracy, and pocket presence. He’s not afraid to take a hit and can really get away from a rush. I think if you surround this guy with a few dynamic receivers who don’t have chronic headaches, he has some serious potential. Give him a full offseason to work with some young receivers out in Minnesota and he might just surprise some people. The Vikings did bring in Jerome Simpson who had a pretty productive season with the Bengals last year, so there may be some for him to throw to.

While I don’t predict that he will be fantastic this year his, the combination of arm strength and mobility will make him a lot of fun to watch. The Vikings also have Adrian Peterson so that’s at least worth watching.

2. Reggie Bush – While Bush has already been written off as a draft bust, he had a sneaky good year last year. He averaged 5 yards a carry and caught 43 passes for a Miami offense that often looked atrocious. Bush still has world-class speed and really the only knock on his game is his slender often-injured build. A lot of people might not of noticed how effective he was last year, but I did.

While the Dolphins might not be the most exhilarating offense to watch led by Matt Moore, Reggie Bush is still worth the price of admission. He’s flying under the radar in South Beach but man, he’s still a freaking blast to watch play. We’ll never see that USC type runner again but he is still one of the most versatile and explosive players in the NFL.

3. Ryan Fitzpatrick – I am a huge fan of any quarterback who rocks a beard as well as Ryan Fitzmagic. I’m high on the Bills right now and my belief in Fitzmagic is a big part of that. If you watched the first half of the Bills season you’d have seen Fitzpatrick play at an absolutely elite level but he absolutely fell on his face in the second half of the season.

With a healthy Fred Jackson, Stevie Johnson and a nice nucleus of offensive talent outside of those guys I expect Fitzpatrick to have a big season. He throws slants and crossing routes as good as anyone and while he’ll make a few plays where his mechanics are all screwed up and you wonder what the hell he’s doing, he’ll entertain you more often than not. Buffalo fans are some of the best fans in football and I think they’ll have a lot to cheer about with Fitzpatrick this year. I could put every player on Buffalo on this list because I don’t think anyone outside of upstate New York follows this young and entertaining team.

*Note this is only on the condition that Fitzpatrick doesn’t shave his beard. No beard equals no Fitzmagic!

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Now that's one majestic looking beard.  

4. Steve Smith – Not the Carolina Panthers Steve Smith but the former New York Giant and Philadelphia Eagle Steve Smith. Smith made a Pro Bowl and it seemed like he was ascending to be an elite receiver in the NFL before he tore his knee. He is now on a young St. Louis Rams team with a young talented quarterback in Sam Bradford.

Smith has the potential to be an absolute monster out of the slot as he was in 2009 with the New York Giants. In 2009 Smith put up unbelievable numbers on his way to a Pro Bowl. He had 107 catches – 1,220 yards – 7 TD season. He also led the NFL in 3^rd down conversions and just always had a knack to find soft spots in zones.

He’s not the most athletic guy in the world but he has shown he’s an unbelievable route runner and if him and Bradford can establish a little bit of chemistry, he could be a Comeback Player of the Year candidate.  He might have been essentially out of football for two years but let’s not sell short his tremendous talent. I absolutely loved this signing on the cheap for the St. Louis Rams. He’s a veteran and smart wide receiver who's going to a team that desperately needs help at the wide receiver position.

5. Brooks Reed – I have to put some defense on this list and man did I love what I saw out of Brooks Reed last year for the Houston Texans. Replacing Mario Williams in limited time he had 6 sacks and 45 tackles. There were times he was just simply a menace. He’s very fast and surrounding by an absolutely stacked defense in Houston. The sky is the limit for this kid next season.

Reed had a tremendous run throughout the playoffs accumulating 3.5 sacks and I can’t imagine him not getting better with a full training camp and being entrenched as the starter. I love his potential and I have a feeling he’ll be a household name by the end of the 2012 season.