Derek Anderson, fantasy stud?

Do you believe in Derek Anderson?

That was the question posed to me, in so many words, by my buddy Sean-Dogg the other day when he called to ask me for some trade advice. He was looking to unload Tony Gonzalez (he also has Jason Witten) for a QB and had been separate offers of Eli Manning and Derek Anderson.

Now, we all know about Eli, the royal heir of the First Family of Football and so on. He screwed a lot of us last year (myself included) with some disappointing games, but he's made strides this year and isn't a bad fantasy contributor.

But what about Anderson? The dude was completely off the radar this year, and now he's only a top-3 QB and the biggest surprise of the season. His 17 TD passes are second only to one Mr. Tom Brady, and he has the Browns (yes, the Browns) in the playoff picture. He's also beaten out the now-departed Charlie Frye and held off All-American Boy Brady Quinn for half a season now. The question is, will it last?

My advice to the Dogg was simple: Pull the trigger. Gonzalez for Anderson makes a lot of sense. I think the kid's for real ... sure he can be a little scary at times, what with the eight INTs and all. He hasn't thrown a pick in the last two games, however (even though they were against the Rams and Dolphins, the dregs of the NFL), and he's also putting the ball in the air a lot, throwing it right about 30 times a game. And that's what I like about him, too: It's a pretty pass-heavy offense with two great targets (Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow), plus the defense isn't so hot, so there's lots of shootout potential every week.

The upcoming schedule is a bit daunting right now (Seattle-Pittsburgh-Baltimore), but as I've mentioned before, I see some appealing matchups in Weeks 14-16 (N.Y. Jets-Buffalo-Cincinnati), and that's what you've got to start looking for if you're already thinking fantasy playoffs. The Brownies may still be in the real playoff hunt then, too - all the more reason for Cleveland to keep Anderson at the helm and Quinn on the bench.

The guy's getting the job done, and for as much as people have knocked him when he first came onto the scene late last year, I don't see any reason he can't keep this up and be a viable NFL and fantasy starter. He's young enough (24), and he's got the size and the tools to succeed. Rather than putting all my eggs in the basket of someone like Kurt Warner, who's basically one sack away from retiring to run a youth ministry camp or something, I'd feel much better with Anderson in my lineup.