Survivor I - Brandon Stokley Commentary

NOTE: this draft was completed on 7/24

Recent Stats

YR	RSH	RSHYD	RSHTD	REC	RECYD	RECTD	FPT	RANK
2002	6	31	0	24	357	2	50.8	83
2003	0	0	0	22	211	3	39.1	93
2004	0	0	0	68	1077	10	167.7	11

Positives - In his 6th year in the league, Stokley finished last season with career highs in almost every receiving category, finishing 11th at the WR position. He’s working with a future HOF QB playing in his prime after just shattering Dan Marino’s passing touchdown record. Even if his numbers are reduced by 20%, that should be good enough to just finish in the top 25 WRs this season. His upside, should either Harrison or Wayne miss time, is off the charts.

Negatives - Stokley was sometimes invisible, scoring or exceeding 100 yards in only 7 games out of 18 played (including 2 playoff games). It was also only the second time in his career he’s played in all 16 regular season games. He’s also likely the fifth option on most passing plays behind Harrison, Wayne, Clark, and James. Stokley was only able to put up these numbers as part of a record setting passing performance by Peyton Manning. For Stokley to repeat this performance, a lot of planets would have to line up correctly.

Draft Strategy - Stokley’s upside was too much to pass up here. It’s tough to take a teams 3rd receiver in the 8th round, but I believe Stokley may out score several team’s primary receiver. Again, in a ‘best ball’ format, I don’t need Stokley to be consistent, I just need him to put together 7 or 8 good to great games this season for him to live up to this draft position.