Faceoff - WR Kevin Walter, Houston Texans

Posted 6/29, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Upside - by Chris Smith

How did I get on the high side for Kevin Walter? Talk about taking me aback when I saw I had the responsibility of tackling the high side for him this season. First I have to point out I also have WR Andre Johnson having a monster year, having ranked him 2nd at the receiver position this season. That said, there are a few reasons why Walter will emerge as the dependable WR2 for the Texans and perhaps have some fantasy value this year.

Reasons to believe Walter can finish inside the top-50

• Texans passing attack gathering momentum: Last year, the two-headed monster at QB in Sage Rosenfels and Matt Schaub put up 3,925 passing yards and with a healthy Johnson returning, there is no reason that the Texans won't eclipse the 4,000 yard mark in 2008.
• Walter has great size with decent talent: There were rumblings about Walter's potential in the past but he never matched that potential with production until last season when he set career-highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns. At 6-3 and 221 pounds he is difficult to contain and he became a valuable part of the offense last season.
• Good chemistry between Walter and starting QB Matt Schaub: He developed good chemistry with Schaub last season and became a dependable target.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking for a fantasy starting receiver, look elsewhere! However if you are looking for a decent backup with upside, Walter isn't a bad guy to take as WR5 or WR6. He has always had potential and it appears that he has finally found a niche to showcase his talents. It is he and not Andre Davis that is the starting WR on this team and with defenses rolling coverage to contain Andre Johnson, Walter will have some nice moments in 2008.

Downside - by Sigmund Bloom

Kudos to Kevin Walter for stepping up when the Texans needed it the most last year. He seemed like an afterthought free agent pickup in 2006, with meager numbers and a failure to pass Eric Moulds on the depth chart even though he was on his last leg as an NFL wide receiver. Walter's gutsy play allowed him to put up excellent numbers when the opportunity arose, the problem is that a lot of things will have to break his way for that opportunity to come up again in 2008.

When the 2007 season started, Walter was really the WR2A with preseason rookie revelation Jacoby Jones. In fact, before Jones had eight targets to Walter's six in the first three games of the season before he got hurt. Jones was never able to regain that preseason form, but as long as he does (and he should improve with an entire NFL offseason to polish his game after coming from Division II Lane College), Walter will again be a 2A to his 2B.

There's also a 2C for Walter to contend with -- Andre Davis. Davis didn't play in the first two games of the season, but he proved to be the deep threat the team sorely needed when Andre Johnson went down (more on that later), and the team rewarded him with a long term deal in the offseason.

Leaving out the issue of Walter likely splitting #2 duties with two very talented WRs, we still haven't addressed the biggest reason he's unlikely to repeat his 2007 numbers -- Andre Johnson. Walter got almost half of his targets on the season in a four week stretch during Johnson's absence. He got 65 targets in the seven games Johnson missed, 41 in the nine he played.

Unless you think Andre Johnson is going to miss significant time, there's just no reason to consider having Walter on your roster this year.