Chris Cooley

Cooley relies on tight route running, good hands and tackle-breaking ability to help move the Redskins offense. Cooley was targeted a career-high 125 times last season (second among tight ends), which led to 849 receiving yards, tying his career high. His 77 receptions made PPR owners happy, though they came with only a 7.45 YPC mark. Despite the high number of targets, Cooley didn't get a lot of red-zone work, resulting in just three touchdowns. Four of his 11 red-zone targets, and four of five targets inside the 10, came in the last three weeks of the season when Donovan McNabb was sidelined, something that bodes well as McNabb is not back this season. Cooley underwent offseason knee surgery but is expected to be healthy for the start of training camp.

Cooley was on his way to another 100-target season last year until he suffered a broken ankle in Week 7. In Cooley’s absence, Fred Davis emerged as a skilled receiving tight end. As a result, Cooley likely will have to compete with Davis this season for targets. The arrival of coach Mike Shanahan and quarterback Donovan McNabb could make the Washington tight end a valuable commodity, but not in the fantasy world if Cooley and Davis have to share.

When not updating his blog last year, Cooley recorded career highs with 83 catches (2nd for tight ends) and 849 receiving yards (4th). However, because the Redskins offense struggled in the red zone, and opposing defenses focused on stopping Cooley, he had only 10 red-zone targets and one touchdown the entire year. On the positive side, Cooley led all tight ends who had at least 20 catches with a staggering 75.0 reception percentage. This was the result of his running short pass routes and dump-offs, acting as Jason Campbell’s safety valve. One of the slower but more difficult players to bring down, Cooley led tight ends with 475 receiving yards after the catch. Expect him to improve on the one touchdown in 2009 – he’ll almost certainly see more than 10 red-zone looks as he had 28 from 2006-07.

Cooley is another tight end who led his team in receptions in 2007, and that's not likely to change in 2008. The addition of two big receivers in the draft could potentially cut into Cooley's red-zone looks, but rookie receivers rarely make a big impact, so that’s but a minor concern. Cooley actually led all tight ends with 23 targets from inside the 10, which is a big part of why he was able to score eight touchdowns. Cooley's only 6- 3, and he lacks blazing speed, but he knows how to get open, and he's a favorite target of quarterback Jason Campbell.

Cooley’s steady improvement continued in 2006 when he was sixth among tight ends with 12.9 yards per catch and eighth with 45.9 yards per game. He was used a lot by Jason Campbell when the young quarterback took over for Mark Brunell in the second half of the season, averaging nearly two more targets a game during Campbell‘s seven-game stint than in the first nine with Brunell. Cooley has 19 touchdowns the last three years – third among tight ends in that time – and was eighth overall among tight ends with 95 targets.

With Cooley, the Redskins went from a team that rarely used its TEs to one of four NFL teams completing more than 100 passes to the position. He caught 34 more passes for 460 more yards in 2005 than in ’04, and was third among TEs with 15 targets in the red zone. The additions of wide receivers Brandon Lloyd and Antwaan Randle El could cut down on Cooley’s overall targets, but given their lack of size, Cooley’s red-zone targets should remain intact.

Cooley is listed as a tight end, though coach Joe Gibbs employs him more as an H-back. He caught 37 passes for 314 yards (19.6 yards per game), including six touchdowns and nine receptions inside the red zone. Gibbs brought in Santana Moss (18.6 yards per catch) to stretch defenses and help improve the league’s 31st-ranked scoring offense and 29th-ranked passing offense. As Gibbs looks to improve the passing game, Cooley should get more opportunities.

Cooley is one of the most difficult Redskins to project early in the summer. In a worst-case scenario, he could get buried on the H-back depth chart behind Mike Sellers and Brian Kozlowski, and on the tight end depth chart behind Walter Rasby and Fred Baxter. In a best-case scenario, Cooley -- who was a proficient pass-catcher in college -- would log most of the playing time at H-back, and would get split out in coach Joe Gibbs's schemes and see quite a few balls thrown his way. In deep leagues, he's definitely worth consideration as a late-round flier, but don't waste a high pick on him until his role on the team is determined later in training camp.