Robert Meachem

                           RUSHING                            RECEIVING                            FANTASY

(+) Moving to a new team may be a good thing for Robert and the mental side of his game

(+) Philip Rivers will help drive him more than Brees did

(+) With Vincent Jackson gone, Meachem is the WR1 for Rivers and the Chargers

(+) He should double his reception total this year (had 40 in 2011)

(+) Robert has played in 16 games for three straight seasons, signaling his injuries may be a thing of the past

(+) Came into camp this year in the best shape of his life and supposedly is even faster than he’s ever been (once ran a 4.28 40-yard dash)

(+) Has big play potential, and is definitely the deep threat for the Chargers

(+) Of his 21 TDs over the last three seasons (playoffs included), 16 of them were scored from 24+ yards out

(–) Meach has never had more than 45 catches in a single season during his five-yearyear career

(–) For a former first-round pick with below average stats for his career, it's surprising we have him rated so high

(–) We may find out this year that Meachem is over-rated (or we could find out he’s been under-utilized)

(–) His game logs don't look so hot over the course of his career

(–) He has a history of knee problems and has had multiple surgeries below the thighs

(–) It’s troubling that he played in all 16 games last year and had just 60 targets in a season that Brees broke all sorts of passing records

The 2007 first-round pick out of Tennessee finally showed up to play in 2009, and not a moment too soon.  With Lance Moore catching the injury bug throughout the year and Devery Henderson being a one-dimensional receiver at best, someone needed to step up and keep the Saints juggernaut offense rolling.  Meachem answered that call.  He scored the Saints second TD of the year in the first quarter of Game #1 on a 39-yard pass, then put up a streak of 5 straight games with a TD in the middle of the season and 7 TDs in 8 games from Week 9 through 16.  However, besides his TD output on the year (9), his overall numbers were pretty pedestrian as he only caught 45 balls for 722 yards over the course of the season.  With as much as Drew Brees and the Saints like to spread the ball around though, you’d have to consider the end sum pretty impressive and a much-needed kick-start to his career.

~  Ranked 21st in the league with 132.4 WR fantasy points (basic scoring system)

~  Tied for tenth in the league with 9 receiving touchdowns

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

~  Ranked 63rd in the league with 45.1 receiving yards per game

~  Tied for 81st in the league with 45 receptions

~  Ranked 103rd in the league with 64 targets

~  Tied for 30th in the league with 12 receptions of 20+ yards

~  Ranked 65th in the league with 30 catches for first downs

~  Tied for 126th in the league with 175 yards after the catch (YAC)

~  Set career highs in receptions (45), yards (790), TDs (9), receptions/game (2.8), yards/game (45.1), and yards from scrimmage (804)

The Saints actually ran the ball quite a bit last year, as they tossed up right around 100 less balls during the 2009 season than they had in each of the previous two years.  We mention this because if this trend continues, it would be hard to expect any sort of significant improvement in Meachem’s numbers come 2010.  However, this shouldn’t be the case.  The Saints leader in carries last year, Mike Bell, is no longer with the team, and neither Pierre Thomas, Reggie Bush, nor Lynell Hamilton have ever carried a heavy workload in the NFL, so the amount of team rushes is likely to go down.  After winning the Super Bowl, New Orleans will have bull’s-eyes on their backs this year as well, so they’ll need to use their prolific passing game more to score than they might have had to last season.  Since possession receiver Lance Moore will be back healthy with the team this year and go-to guy Marques Colston is still manning the WR1 slot, Meachem might not have a lot of room to improve, but his potential and skills are reason enough to take a chance on him being a good fantasy WR3 in 2010.

~ Meachem has the best combination of hands, size, and speed on the team

~ His breakout season should give him the confidence and momentum to improve

~ He plays in the most lethal offense the NFL has to offer, which gives him a leg up on most other receivers with his kind of potential

~ How will possession WR Lance Moore coming back affect his targets?

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

Follow Pyro® on Twitter @pyroman1ac

Meach is finally living up to the hype.  The last play here was a top-5 play of the year:

Meachem signed a rookie contract in July of '07 worth $11.3 million over five years that included $5.71 million guaranteed.  Here's how the rest shapes up:

2010 - $655,500

2011 - $700,000

2012 - Free Agent

Devery Henderson should be the initial handcuff to Meachem, but if Lance Moore comes back to his 2008 form, you’ll want to grab him immediately

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• 2010 NFL Draft

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