2012 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Cincinnati Bengals Tight End Jermaine Gresham

The Cincinnati Bengals emerged as one of the biggest surprises of the 2011 season after finishing with a 9-7 record during the regular season and even clinched a first-round playoff matchup with the Houston Texans. Nobody expected any members of the Bengals to make much of an impact from a fantasy perspective in 2011, but now they may contain one of the top 2012 fantasy football sleepers for the upcoming season–Jermaine Gresham.

Over his first two seasons with the Bengals, Gresham has displayed decent numbers as he’s coming off a 2011 campaign in which he recorded 56 catches for 596 yards and six touchdowns. Gresham was arguably the best pass-catching tight end from the 2010 draft class and Cincinnati knew they had someone special when they selected him with the 21st overall pick that year–which is why expectations are high heading into 2012.

There’s a popular trend in the NFL about wide receivers breaking out during their third season in the league and the Bengals hope that happens to be the case for Gresham heading into this season. This is a player that recorded 25 touchdown catches over his final two college seasons at Oklahoma–so the potential is certainly there.

Cincinnati hopes to see Andy Dalton–who shined as a rookie in 2011–can figure out a way to help Gresham develop into one of the league’s top pass-catching tight ends. Fantasy owners may be looking for a reliable tight end late in drafts considering players like Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham will be selected in the earlier rounds and an effective tight end like Gresham could end up being one of the biggest sleepers for the 2012 season.