Hakeem Nicks

                           RUSHING                            RECEIVING                            FANTASY

(+) Nicks could blow up this year—with his talent, he's due for that really big breakout season

(+) With Manningham gone, more targets will go Hakeem's way

(+) Trend Alert: Nicks played exceptional down the stretch last year—in his final five games, Super Bowl included, he had 33 receptions, 520 yards, three 100-yard games and five TDs

(+) Nicks has the biggest hands in the league and uses them to make remarkable catches

(+) Only Larry Fitzgerald and Brandon Lloyd have better body control than Nicks

(+) A solid 133 targets last year will go up this season

(+) Victor Cruz is bound to take on some double-teams now so Nicks should be freed up a bit more this season

(+) Put up 6+ catches in six games

(+) Hakeem is a level-headed dude that cares enough about the sport to want to be great

(–) Growing into the nickname of "Nicked up Nicks"

(–) Currently has a broken foot with pins in it, though it should heal okay

(–) Still lots of question marks for the Giants and Nicks after their Super Bowl win

(–) Eli Manning tends to spread the ball around, so Nicks does have the chance of being a bit inconsistent 

(–) Because of a few big games, the game logs don't look as good as the final stats

It didn’t take long for the big wide receiver out of North Carolina to show the fantasy world why he was the Giants choice to fill the Plaxico Burress void when they took him in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft.  After missing Weeks 2 and 3 at the beginning of the season due to a foot sprain, in just his second game in a Giants uniform, Hakeem Nicks took an Eli Manning screen pass 54 yards to paydirt and off he ran to a four-game scoring streak.  Not too shabby for a rookie to catch 4 TDs in his first five games along with a 100-yard effort to boot.  The rest of the season wasn’t spectacular, as he ended up with just 47 catches for 790 yards and 6 TDs, but he was clearly a matchup nightmare for defenders.  His size was obvious at a hulky 215 pounds, but he also showed to have enough speed to do damage with the ball when caught in the open field.  Being within a crowded WR situation in New York didn’t seem to bother the youngster too much as there was no doubt by the end of the year Hakeem belonged at the top of the depth chart.

~  Ranked 27th in the league with 115.8 WR fantasy points (basic scoring system)

~  Tied for 28th in the league with 6 receiving touchdowns

~  Tied for 39th in the league with 790 receiving yards

~  Ranked 37th in the league with 56.4 receiving yards per game

~  Tied for 74th in the league with 47 receptions

~  Ranked 80th in the league with 75 targets

~  Ranked 24th in the league with 13 receptions of 20+ yards

~  Tied for 58th in the league with 32 catches for first downs

~  Ranked 22nd in the league with 411 yards after the catch (YAC)

~  Set career highs in every major statistical receiving category

Hakeem battled a myriad of injuries during different parts of his rookie season, but none of them should slow him down in 2010.  His talent won’t be what holds him back either, because even though the Giants seem to be swarming with good young receivers, Nicks is the obvious stand-out of the crew.  Steve Smith will still pull in the most receptions on the team because of his slot position, but we fully expect to see a major increase in Nicks’ targets, and thus his receptions.  74 targets in 2009 weren’t even close to what he should see in 2010.  By the end of the year, it should look more like 110-120, which will up his receptions into the 70 range.  With his nose for the endzone, that amount of touches could very well mean 8-10 TDs in addition to putting him up over 1,000 yards.  Mario Manningham and possibly Ramses Barden will be fighting for Nicks’ playing time, and they’ll get a bit of it, but with the Giants backfield being questionable at best lately, there will be enough passes over the year to satisfy Hakeem’s fantasy owners.

~ His combination of size and speed makes him the most talented WR on the team and biggest matchup problem for defenses

~ The Giants running game has gone to crap, which means another big year for Manning and whoever he chooses to throw the pill to

~ Nicks went through a bit of offseason surgery, but he’ll be 100% in training camp

Hakeem does not have a Twitter account.  The official Team Twitter account comes through here:  Giants Player Tweets

Follow Pyro® on Twitter @pyroman1ac

Holy F#(&!?!?  Whatever gaming system he learned this from, we want it:

Nicks never lost a game in High School and went on to set 14 North Carolina Tar Heel records in college.  Now you know why.

Back in August of ‘09, Hakeem signed a five-year, $12.54 million rookie contract that included a $6.5 million signing bonus.  The terms of the deal are listed below:

2010 - $400,000

2011 - $575,000

2012 - $750,000

2013 - $925,000

2014 - Free Agent

Mario Manningham is a nice upside handcuff to Nicks

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• 2010 NFL Draft

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