Fantasy Football Rankings: Steelers Players You Should Draft, Avoid This Season

Editor?s note: To help you prepare for your fantasy football draft, NESN.com will profile each NFL team and analyze which players are worth picking and which players aren?t worth your time. Today, we look at the Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have one of the NFL’s best offenses, which means they have some very nice players who certainly can help you contend in your fantasy football leagues.

In advance of the upcoming fantasy season, we took a closer look at the Steelers players you should draft, avoid and peg as sleepers.

DRAFT-WORTHY
Antonio Brown, Wide Receiver: Gone are the days when running backs dominated your fantasy league. Brown arguably is the best wide receiver in football (with all due respect to Julio Jones and Odell Beckham Jr.), and even in standard leagues, he’s going first overall in most drafts. Take him in the first round with confidence with whatever pick you have, should he still be on the board.

Le’Veon Bell, Running Back: Even facing a four-game suspension, this guy is a first-round pick — especially in PPR leagues. Bell is a stud who does nothing but produce. A two-game suspension and then a knee injury hindered him last season, so if you take him, look for DeAngelo Williams as a necessary handcuff later on, but don’t let Bell pass you by. He’s going as the fourth running back — and still in the first round. We’d still probably take him as the first RB off the board.

Ben Roethlisberger, Quarterback: Big Ben always has been a good NFL quarterback, but it took the emergence of Brown and Bell to make him a terrific fantasy QB. Despite several injuries that should have ended his 2015 season, Roethlisberger still finished 25th overall in scoring last season. He’s going in the fourth or fifth rounds as the fifth QB taken, and that’s a good place for him.

DeAngelo Williams, Running Back: He finished as the third-best running back in fantasy last season despite really playing in just 10 games. That’s nuts. He’s absolutely necessary as a handcuff to Bell, but he’s a great bench option (or potential starter for a month) to steal away from Bell owners. He’s going in the 10th and 11th rounds as the 37th running back. That’s a good spot and potentially some incredible value.

Markus Wheaton, Wide Receiver: Martavis Bryant is suspended for the season because of a drug violation, so Wheaton steps into the No. 2 WR role in the Steel City. He has averaged 48.5 catches on 82.5 targets for 697 yards the past two seasons, and he caught a career-high five touchdown passes last season. Time will tell is he’s truly ready for an increased workload, but he’s a decent addition as a flex or bench option in the later rounds. He’s going as the 48th wide receiver in the 13th round.

AVOID
Fitzgerald Toussaint, Running Back: Talk to us if Bell ends up serving the suspension, but only then would Toussaint be worth picking up as a backup to Williams in deeper leagues.

Martavis Bryant, Wide Receiver: He’s suspended for the season, so drafting him would be a bad decision.

Steelers Defense/Special Teams: They aren’t great and finished eighth in scoring last season, thanks to one or two big games down the stretch.

SLEEPER
Ladarius Green, Tight End: He begins training camp on the PUP list while recovering from offseason ankle surgery to fix a nagging injury that hampered him all last season while he was with the San Diego Chargers. He’s being drafted as the ninth tight end in the 10th round, but monitor his status up until your draft. If he’s healthy, he should be the starting TE, and in Pittsburgh’s offense, that means points. But be cautious.