Owen Daniels

                           RUSHING                            RECEIVING                            FANTASY

(+) 2 years removed from a torn ACL injury could help him regain his form as a top TE

(+) Schaub was out most of last season, and now he's back

(+/–) This guy scares the daylights out of me, could produce, but a real role of the dice

(–) Not much upside picking him as your TE1 

(–) Had 3 TDs in the first 4 weeks last year, then proceeded to not score again for the rest of the season

(–) Has never had more than 100 fantasy football points in a season in his 6 years in the league

Owen Daniels was having a tremendous 2009 campaign until he tore his right ACL and was lost for the remainder of the season.  To show you just how good his year was going, if you were to take away that eighth game in which Daniels got hurt, the Texans tight end would have averaged 11.4 fantasy points per game.  To put that in perspective, Vernon Davis ended up leading all tight ends on the year with 10.9 fantasy points a game.  Basically, Owen was playing out of his mind.  Even if he were a wide receiver, he would have placed in the top-10 with those numbers and beaten out both Roddy White and Sidney Rice!  Unfortunately, Daniels is inching closer and closer to acquiring the label of “injury-prone” player, as he has now suffered three ACL-related injuries in his career.  Still, you can’t ignore what he was doing on the field up until the point of his injury.

~  Ranked 17th in the league with 81.9 TE fantasy points (basic scoring system)

~  Tied for 39th in the league with 5 receiving touchdowns

~  Ranked 18th among tight ends in the league with 519 receiving yards (85^th overall)

~  Ranked third among tight ends in the league with 64.9 receiving yards per game (24^th overall)

~  Ranked 20th among tight ends in the league with 40 receptions (tied for 101^st overall)

~  Ranked 22nd among tight ends in the league with 57 targets (tied for 116^th overall)

~  Tied for 12th among tight ends in the league with 8 receptions of 20+ yards (tied for 65^th overall)

~  Ranked 13th among tight ends in the league with 28 catches for first downs (tied for 73^rd overall)

~  Ranked 13th among tight ends in the league with 227 yards after the catch (YAC) (56^th overall)

~  Set career bests in receptions per game (5.0), yards per game (64.9), and yards per reception (13.0)

Questions abound for Houston’s talented tight end heading into the 2010 season.  Will offseason rehab of his torn ACL allow him to return to the dominant form he displayed in the first half of 2009?  Of no less importance, will Daniels be able to make it through the upcoming season injury-free?  How will his contract issues with the Texans front office and his desire for a long-term deal affect his play?  There’s no doubt drafting Owen to your fantasy team in 2010 will come with quite a bit of risk, but after seeing him lead all tight ends in fantasy points through the first eight games last year, the risk looks to be worth it.  You can likely get him at a great value with possibly seven or more TEs being snatched up ahead of him, but Daniels has every possibility in the world to end up in the top-5 by season’s end.  Take a chance, but at the same time, cover your ass with a good backup soon after you do.

~ Daniels was leading the league in tight end targets when he suffered his injury, a stat that could continue into this year

~ His past injuries might start to make him shade on the tentative side

~ Despite the nice progress in his offseason rehab, it’s possible he might be slowed a bit

~ Will the Texans offense, and QB Matt Schaub in particular, forget just how valuable of a weapon he is?

Owen Daniels (@owendaniels) can be followed on Twitter at:  http://twitter.com/owendaniels

Follow Pyro® on Twitter @pyroman1ac

Talent-wise, Daniels is right at the top of the TE heap.  Used all over the field, Owen makes plays that most other tight ends can only dream of having in their arsenal:

Daniels was offered a first- and third-round tender by the Texans, which he ended up signing in June this offseason.  The tender ended up being for $3.168 million, but if Daniels proves he can stay healthy, expect a long-term deal to come his way either during the 2010 season or sometime soon after:

2010 – $3.168 million

2011 – Free Agent

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