8/14 Sleeper of the Day: Mike Wallace

WR MIKE WALLACE, Steelers



You can insert your own 60 Minutes joke here, but this kid is no laughing matter. Bet you didn’t know his 19.4 yards per catch was tops among all WRs last year with 35 catches or more – and that was with Santonio Holmes still on the team. Wallace is assured of being a starter this year opposite Hines Ward and will serve as the offense’s primary deep threat after he made Holmes expendable during the offseason. He totaled 756 yards and scored 6 TDs as a rookie and has a chance to bump those numbers up to 1,000 yards and double-digit scores in 2010 as he takes up Holmes’ slack.

There is some risk with drafting Wallace - the absence of QB Ben Roethlisberger for as many as six games at the start of the season, Ward’s continued presence and the Steelers’ desire to return to their rushing roots. However, I still believe he has the skills and the opportunity to finish the year in the top 20 among fantasy receivers and is a future WR1 even though he’s currently being drafted as a WR3. There’s big potential here, and it's only a matter of time before he realizes it. Tick, tick, tick, tick ...