Sleeper Watch

Heading into the 2005 season, Byron Leftwich was a very popular player in the fantasy football community. The reason? The Jaguars’ opponents during the fantasy playoffs. With Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Houston on the schedule in weeks 14-16 (and Tennessee in week 17), Leftwich looked primed to produce solid numbers when the games count most. Crafty drafters were quick to take advantage of that fact, hoping to ride the quarterback’s strong arm all the way to a title.

Unfortunately for Leftwich owners, those plans came to an abrupt end when the passer was sacked by Adrian Wilson and broke his left ankle early in Jacksonville’s tilt with Arizona this Sunday. Leftwich fortunately won’t require surgery, but it looks like he’ll be sidelined for at least four weeks, probably more.

With Leftwich out of the game, backup David Garrard took over and performed admirably, leading the Jaguars to a 24-17 victory. His passing totals weren’t earth-shaking – 115 yards on 12 completions in 26 attempts – but he added rushing numbers that bested those of several starting RBs: 61 yards on six scrambles, including a 16-yard touchdown run to open the day’s scoring.

Garrard should continue to post passable (no pun intended) passing totals as well as solid numbers on the ground. If you hitched your cart to Leftwich and need to find a replacement, or could simply use an additional quarterback with good fantasy playoff matchups, add David Garrard to your roster today.

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