October 19, 2007, 4:45 PM

Hail Mary: Rookies Henry, Hunt have potential

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By Nando Di Fino
Special to ESPN.com
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This week, Hail Mary managed to sneak its way into the underground event known as the "Johnnie Walker Experience." Not being a huge fan of Scotch whiskey (we prefer Coors Light pitchers and well tequila, although not at the same time), we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Johnnie Walker isn't as snobby as one would think. It's more … Scottish. And fun. I mean, at the end of the day, it's still whiskey, no matter what connotation you choose to apply.

More important than learning about what the difference between single and double malt is, though, I also learned that Johnnie Walker comes in five different forms, all distinguished by color, and each a step above the next, in this order: black, red, gold, green and blue. In a "eureka!" moment, I text-messaged myself this semi-coherent message:

"Must use colors of JW to categorize players in Hail Mary"

… and then I immediately checked my phone when it vibrated in my pocket, forgetting I had just sent myself a message 45 seconds earlier. It was that kind of evening.

But that is dedication, friends. Drinking Scotch whiskey at a table with three girls and Peng from IT, then excusing myself for a moment to send a text message to my own phone about a fantasy football column that doesn't go up for four days. And you commenters question our commitment.

With that text message in mind, I now give you this week's Hail Mary picks, starting with black (shallow sleepers) and working our way up to blue (the deeeeep sleepers):

Black

Eric Johnson, TE, Saints: We all remember Johnson's Monday night game against Indianapolis in Week 1: He was the only offensive player to do anything for the Saints (eight catches for 57 yards), and the cobwebs slowly cleared from our brains around the time of his fourth catch, with the realization that this was the former 49ers tight end who fell off the face of the Earth after a breakout 2004 season (82 receptions for 825 yards). Just a few weeks after his Monday night reintroduction, he was back on the waiver wire collecting dust, owned in only 20 percent of leagues as of Thursday. But he has a couple of things working in his favor: The Saints are slowly getting their offense back on track, and there has not been one star wide receiver for the Saints this season. Johnson could easily contribute in any given game.

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Sinorice Moss, WR, Giants: With all the talk about Plaxico Burress, and the ensuing, "Jeremy Shockey has done nothing, so go get Amani Toomer" advice, it would be wise to take a look at New York's third wide receiver, former second-round draft pick Sinorice Moss. Yes, he may be a "tiny blip," on the radar, according to our friends Hector and Victor, but he's still a blip. And with Burress commanding the attention of secondaries, and Shockey stuck in blocking patterns for chunks of the game, it comes down to Toomer and Moss. While all your friends, lovers and neighbors go after the veteran, it might be a good idea to chase the youngster. Eli Manning has not locked into him, per se, but Moss did get four receptions last week and is building on a 0-yard, 10-yard, 19-yard progression over the past three games. If rudimentary math means anything here, Moss could be due for 30-40 yards and possibly a touchdown against the 49ers.

Red

Chris Henry, RB, Titans: With Chris Brown out, expect the rookie running back out of Arizona to be activated for the first time in his career. This may be a decent pick for later on down the road as well, but for the immediate future (Week 7), he could see a decent amount of yardage in a two-headed, run-heavy attack against a Texans' defense that has failed to score over three fantasy points in any of the past four weeks.

The anti-Hail Mary:

Chris Henry, DWI arrest-prone WR, Bengals: Do not blindly click "add" when you go looking for "Chris Henry."

Gold

Tatum Bell, RB, Lions: Here's the thing … Kevin Jones is an injury just waiting to happen. I know he's already had his injury for the season, but it's a foot injury, and we all know how tricky those can be. If you run on it too early, it just hurts again. Bell, you may remember, demanded a trade last week after being bumped to the No. 2 spot. Or so we all thought. Said the demoted running back after the story broke: "The media blew it up. Well, ESPN blew it up." So now, I feel, it is time to come clean: I helped plant that story on the Web site so all the Bell owners in my leagues would drop him and make it easier for me to pick him up, in anticipation of yet another Jones injury. Or just more Jones ineffectiveness. Please, take your pick.

Kerry Collins, QB, Titans and Justin Gage, WR, Titans: These two players -- and their fantasy success -- will be linked this week. With Vince Young limited last week because of a quadriceps injury, Gage's production leapt from 51 total yards on the season to 82 in one game. The difference? I like to think it's Collins, a totally different type of quarterback than Young, one whose eyes will pick up on different receivers, and whose legs will not be able to get him out of trouble. This Hail Mary pick depends wholly on Young's quadriceps, though, so monitor it closely before scooping up either Gage or Collins.

Green

B.J. Askew, RB/FB, Buccaneers: This is my penance for the Kenneth Darby choice a couple of weeks ago. Askew is in here for pretty much the same reason I used when I suggested Darby: Earnest Graham. Michael Bennett is the darling of the waiver wire vultures this week. In the GMC Professional Grade League, he was scooped up by Eric Karabell, who had made only two moves over the course of the season up to that point. But Bennett joined the Bucs on Wednesday, also known as "two days ago." He may be in uniform, and he may see a carry or two, but if Graham is ineffective, the Buccaneers will have no choice but to fall on Askew, who has been working out at fullback so far this season. And even if Graham doesn't falter, remember all those fancy commercials about Mike Alstott, touchdown vulture, before the season? Askew could see some action on the goal-line front. He's a deep sleeper, but if you're hurting at running back and are fishing for players on the same page as Tyrone Wheatley and Dorsey Levens, Askew is at least a threat -- probably this week only -- to get both vulture touchdowns and yardage for your fantasy team.

And this brings us to …

Blue

Tony Hunt, RB, Eagles: Consider this your deeeeep sleeper of the week. For those of you gambling on just the touchdown aspect to get you the six points that could make the difference between a win and a loss, Hunt may be your man. With Brian Westbrook still a little banged up, and Correll Buckhalter thus having to carry the ball a little more often than usual, Hunt could be pushed into goal-line and third-down situations. This isn't a B.J. Askew/Najeh Davenport situation, where he could be the only backup who knows the system (thus gaining yardage points) while also potentially seeing goal-line carries. This is a uniquely Tony Hunt situation, where he's just going to get a touchdown, if that. But for those of you on rosters rocked by injury and an untimely bye week, with nowhere else to turn, Hunt has three things going for him: The starting running back is a little gimpy, the second-stringer isn't the big, burly goal-line prototype, and the quarterback hasn't really been able to trust any of his receivers so far this season.

Fun Kicker Fact of the Week

As a junior at Arizona in 2005, Dallas Cowboys kicker Nick Folk was forced into punting duties in the seventh game of the season, and finished the year with a 44.7 average, best in the Pac-10.