Thursday, Sept. 13, 2001

A position of strength

The NFC West appears to be loaded with reliable fantasy tight ends

By Dan Arkush, Executive editor

The tight ends aren’t too shabby.

The way I see it, the Panthers’ Wesley Walls, the Rams’ Ernie Conwell, the Saints’ Cam Cleeland, the Niners’ Greg Clark and the Falcons’ combination of Reggie Kelly and rookie Alge Crumpler — in that order — all have the potential to rack up some meaningful fantasy numbers this season.

In leagues in which at least one tight end must be included in your fantasy lineup each week, you might want to take a closer look at the aforementioned players.

To wit:

Walls: Yes, he’s as old as the hills (35, to be exact) and is coming off a nasty knee injury that sidelined him the second half of last season. But if Week One was any indication, Walls must be considered a consistent, rock-solid fantasy weapon. While he didn’t have any TD catches vs. Minnesota, he was a key weapon, catching three passes for 74 yards. Along with Muhsin Muhammad, he appears to be just the right kind of sturdy, dependable target for rookie QB Chris Weinke, with whom he seems to have established a nice, early chemistry. As is the case with a lot of players coming off injuries who performed decently in Week One (Jacksonville’s Jimmy Smith, Denver’s Terrell Davis), Walls looks like he’s regained his old form — which could translate to anywhere between eight and 12 TD receptions before the season runs its course.

Conwell: The 6-2, 265-pounder out of Washington scored one of the Rams’ two touchdowns in their opening-week win over the Eagles. Don’t be surprised if Conwell starts reaching paydirt on a fairly regular basis and becomes yet another potent weapon in the Rams’ heavy-duty attack. Conwell’s primary function is still the same: to block for Marshall Faulk. But with his knees now completely healthy following major surgery a few years back, he is a bona fide scoring threat who can’t be overlooked. Rams head coach Mike Martz is always looking for a change of pace above and beyond the usual heavy hitters. Provided he remains healthy, Conwell could become more than just an occasional option.

Cleeland: After hearing all offseason about how badly the Saints wanted to get this hulking 6-4, 272-pounder involved in the team’s West Coast offense after he missed the entire 2000 season with an Achilles injury, I wondered if they weren’t just blowing smoke after he did absolutely nothing in the preseason. As it turns out, it appears the Saints were just hiding Cleeland until the real show started, judging by his 12-yard TD reception in the Saints’ Week One win over the Bills. As is the case with Walls and Conwell, Cleeland can be an extremely talented receiver as long as he stays in one piece. PFW’s personnel guru, Joel Buchsbaum, believes he has the potential to be the best tight end in the league.

In the case of Clark with San Francisco and Atlanta’s duo of Kelly and Crumpler, their fantasy stock isn’t on a par with the trio mentioned above.

Clark, in fact, has yet to play this season because of a lingering hamstring injury and has been replaced, for the time being, by the combination of Justin Swift and rookie Eric Johnson, an intriguing Bill Walsh discovery. But last year Clark expanded his game beyond just being a dynamite run blocker with a career-high 38 catches and a pair of TDs near the end of the season. Once he gets healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised if he picked up where he left off.

The potential of Kelly and Crumpler, meanwhile, is lessened by the fact they must share whatever fantasy wealth comes their way. But in the numerous two-TE sets head coach Dan Reeves is expected to use, they both have the ability to do some damage.

All in all, you’d have to say the NFC West is in very good fantasy hands at the TE position.

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