2012 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Mohamed Sanu

Expectations are high for the Cincinnati Bengals heading into the 2012 season after making an unexpected run at the playoffs in 2011 thanks to the emergence of rookies Andy Dalton and A.J. Green. Now, the Bengals hope another rookie will help take their passing game to another level and become one of the top 2012 fantasy football sleepers for the upcoming season–Mohamed Sanu.

With Jerome Simpson and Andre Caldwell out of the picture, Sanu enters the 2012 season with the opportunity to make an immediate impact and could even earn the No. 2 spot in the starting lineup alongside Green. Cincinnati selected Sanu in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft after catching 109 passes for 1,144 yards and seven touchdowns during his final year at Rutgers and he looks to help improve a passing unit that ranked 20th in the NFL last season.

Many believe Sanu was one of the most underrated wide receivers from this year’s draft class and the argument can be made that he could have been selected in the first round–which means this could end up being a steal for the Bengals. On top of defenders focusing most of their attention on Green, Sanu could benefit from opponents worrying about the where abouts of Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham as well.

He may not start off the year as a top option, but Sanu will certainly catch the eye of many fantasy football owners in their upcoming drafts. If he’s available in the later rounds, it wouldn’t hurt owners to at least consider Sanu as one of their backup wideouts for the upcoming season.