Every Year Fantasy Football brings us countless amounts of excitement as we are drafting “The Perfect Team”, or in my case, 6 of them. We review our stat sheets, buy any fantasy football magazine our pocket books will allow after we’ve spent hundreds on league entry fees, and we concoct the perfect strategy to topple the competition once again. Sure, it’s easy to know that Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson are sure things at the top of the draft, but the key to winning many leagues is finding the hidden gems in the later rounds or on the early season waiver wire. Here is a list of the top players who came virtually out of nowhere to win your fantasy football league.

1. Miles Austin

The virtual unkown at the start of the season had a coming out party in Week 5 exploding for 250 yards and 2 scores. Austin ran for miles and miles on his was to being the #4 fantasy receiver in all of football. It was plays like this that skyrocketed him up the yahoo rankings. Austin started the year #140  overall and finished a staggering #24, moving up the charts 116 spots ahead of expectation, and few more spots in my heart as he helped me overcome a draft of Chris Cooley, Carson Palmer/Matt Ryan, and Steve Smith (Panthers) to finish first.

2. Brett Favre

The ageless wonder does it again. I’ve come to realize that until Favre is wearing Wranglers in Mississippi on the first Sunday of an NFL football season he is never actually retired. Consequently, I will continue to include him on any cheat sheet that I make for a fantasy football draft. That being said, not even God himself could have convinced me that Brett would have been a legit MVP candidate this year. Favre to me this year would have been a questionable QB2 at best, not a Top 10 overall player. He outperformed the likes of Brady, Rivers, and Romo, while turning Sidney Rice into a Pro Bowler. Plays like this helped you win your championship, and Brett Favre at age 40, made them all year long.

3. Vernon Davis

My what a difference a year makes for Vernon Davis. Formerly known as an instigator in the famous mooning seen round the world, Davis went from dog house to penthouse in the eyes of Head Coach Singletary, and from fantasy forgotten to fantasy savior in the eyes of his fantasy GM’s.  After 2 years of high expectations and low results Davis was dropped into the depths of TE waiver fodder. Four months later, Davis is a team captain and Fantasy TE MVP. Davis tied a record for TD’s in a season (13) by a TE and finished just shy of 1000 yards receiving on a run first Niners team. Check out the link which perfectly chronicles Vernon’s 137 spot jump up the player rankings and making him a must draft player for years to come.

4. Ray Rice

Last year Ray Rice was a highly touted rookie who ended up the third cog in a three headed monster Ravens rushing attack that finished 4^th in the NFL. Expectations were greatly tempered for the second year player who was still behind McGahee and McClain on the depth chart and neither of them were showing any signs of slowing down soon.  Rice was dropped into the ranks of flex player at best. If you drafted Rice as your flex I’m guessing your wallet got a little fatter after Week 17. Ray gained over 2000 total yards from scrimmage and as an added bonus in PPR leagues threw in an amazing 78 catches, vaulting him permanently ahead of McGahee and making McClain a forgetable fanatasy fullback. Sitback and watch Ray Ray do his dirty work here…nuff said!

5. Jamaal Charles

Bye bye Larry Johnson, Hello Jamaal Charles. That was all it took for J.C. to realize his role as a Fantasy Beast. That and a Kolby Smith injury. Pre-ranked in most fantasy circles outside of the Top 50 fantasy RB’s, Charles went undrafted an unowned for nearly half the season…what happened from Week 10 on was a truly Herculian effort. Here a small sample of how Jamaal Charles became the #1 Fantasy player not named Chris Johnson over the last 8 weeks of the season, and why he will be a keeper in FF football for years to come. Message from Kansas City to Todd Haley found here, but here’s looking at next year.

Honorable Mention – Sidney Rice, Jermichael Finley, Jerome Harrison, Steve Smith (Giants), Cadillac Williams, Cedric Benson and Bengals D.