Antonio Bryant

Does Antonio Bryant have any cause for bitching about being franchise tagged and given a one-year, $9 million contract to play football in 2009?  Probably not, but he also seems like he could be somewhat misunderstood given all of the editorial that has been written about him.  One thing that is not up for debate is his talent level.  This kid can play the game, and play it at an extremely high level.  With the Browns in '05, he caught 69 passes for 1,009 yards, which were both career highs until last year when he caught 83 passes for 1,248 yards and seven TDs while trying to once again prove himself in this league after having sat on the couch for 2007.  If he can control his attitude and temper for another season, he should land that large multi-year multi-million dollar contract he covets before he turns 30.    

Bryant is no angel.  Where there's smoke, there's usually fire, and trouble rarely finds guys who aren't acting like imbeciles.  Bryant is a hot-head, and has had run-ins with teammates and coaches on several occasions since entering the league.  The most well-known incident occurred during the '04 season when he threw his sweaty jersey at the face of Coach Bill Parcells in the locker-room.  Bryant was subsequently put on the next train out of the Lone-Star state headed straight for Cleveland.   

Parcells isn't the only guy Bryant's had trouble with.  After he arrived in San Francisco, fresh off a successful 2005 season with the Browns, he repeatedly clashed with Coach Mike Nolan and multiple times was seen getting in animated arguments with the assistant coaches and QBs on the sidelines during games.  He wore #81 that season; sound familiar? 

Besides that, Bryant has also gotten in trouble with the law. He has a DUI and failed a NFL drug test to his name, which was a primary factor as to why he sat on the couch in '07.

Antonio Bryant is also a football player (who knew?).  However, he has gotten the equivalent of the overweight waitress at Hooters for a QB way too many times in his career.  We'd be pretty upset too if we had to play with all these QBs:

Dallas: Quincy Carter, Chad Hutchinson and Vinny Testaverde.

Cleveland: Jeff Garcia, Kelly Holcomb, Luke McCown, Charlie Frye, and Trent Dilfer.

San Francisco: Alex Smith

Tampa Bay: Jeff Garcia and Brian Griese

So it comes as no surprise that with Garcia and Griese throwing him the ball (the best QBs he's ever played with), Bryant turned in a career year last year as he posted career highs in receptions (83), yards (1,248) and TDs (7).  Those seven TDs are a big number, considering Tampa Bay threw just 18 TD passes all year.

And for any fantasy owner that is concerned about making the playoffs and actually advancing, you might want to take a look at Bryant.  His fantasy playoff numbers in '08 were astounding (see below).  In his last five games of last year, he had 29 catches for 575 yards and five TDs, including a 200-yard game against the Panthers (week 14).   

Bryant can get it done in '09, but he's stuck again with questionable talent under center as his choices this season are either Byron Leftwich, Luke McCown, or rookie Josh Freeman.  Hmmm...  If Leftwich starts, he'll go down before the fantasy playoffs, but Bryant could put up some solid numbers along the way.  That one has sell high written all over it.  We have no faith whatsoever in McCown. 

Bryant was franchise tagged as stated and has plenty of motivation to make do with what he's got.  He will be an unrestricted free-agent in 2010 and is auditioning for the biggie this year, but there is larger than normal risk associated with drafting this guy.  We are going to play it conservative with him relative to his '08 success and rank him as the 49th WR on our cheat sheet.

Bryant was franchised for 2009 and will earn $9.884 million because of it.  This is good news for Bryant owners this season:

2009 - $9.884 million

2010 - Free Agent

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