Upside by Will Grant
Rumor has it that Ashley Lelie is going to buy a new car for CBS Sports President Sean McManus for hiring Shannon Sharpe to replace Deion Sanders on the NFL TODAY show. With Sharpe in the broadcast booth, Ed McCaffrey retiring, and Clinton Portis traded to Washington, Lelie becomes the main beneficiary of the 119 catches, 1279 yards and 8 receiving TDs that those three had for Denver last year. If Ashley can add just 40% of those catches to his 37 receptions, he'll have 85 receptions this year.

Lelie has averaged 16.0 yards per catch over the last two years. 85 receptions with 16.0 YPC would give Lelie 1360 yards receiving. If Lelie can find the endzone more than two times in 2004, he could easily finish in the top 15 for wide receivers.

Lelie's main competition for catches will be Rod Smith. Smith is entering his tenth NFL season, and has clearly lost a step. Since 2001, Smith's receptions have gone from 113 (career high) to just 74 last year. His receiving yards dipped below 1000 for the first time since 1996. While Rod is not ready to retire just yet, but he is probably not going to grab 100 receptions either. His stats should not see a significant increase with the departure of McCaffrey and Sharpe.

The hardest part about ranking Lelie is that he has had his chance to break out and has not. Despite all the talent and promise that he has, Lelie has a meager 72 catches for his entire NFL career. Lelie has shown some connection with new QB Jake Plummer, and posted his four best games with Jake under center last year. However, Lelie disappears from games as well. He had eight games with two or less receptions last season, including two where he didn't haul in any.

However, with McCaffrey and Sharpe gone, Smith in the home stretch of his career, and Plummer under center for 16 games, Lelie should receive plenty of balls thrown his way, and have a nice break out season in 2004.

Downside by Cathy Fazio
Ashley Lelie has been a wide receiver who has received quite a bit of praise in fantasy circles the last two years. But will this be the year he finally becomes deserving of that praise? I'm not quite sure it will be.

Ed McCaffrey has retired leaving his spot open to heir incumbent Ashley Lelie. But will Lelie be able to fill his shoes and become a top notch wide receiver? This has yet to be determined. Last season Lelie started in 10 games and made 37 receptions for 628 yards and 2 touchdowns. The thing that is alarming to me is his lack of consistency. There were only 4 games that he went over 50 yards receiving. And they were spread throughout the season.

Lelie's teammate Rod Smith is a receiver who flies under the radar but is a consistent solid player unlike Lelie who seems to be either hot or cold. Wide Receiver Darius Watts has impressed the Broncos at training camp and could garner attention away from Lelie.

There are a lot of question marks surrounding the Broncos offense this upcoming season. With the departure of Ed McCaffrey, Shannon Sharpe, and Clinton Portis it is really hard to know how Jake Plummer and the rest of the squad will respond.

With the questions surrounding the Broncos offense and Lelie's lack of consistency, I would be a little leery of Lelie in my draft. While he does have some upside, he is just not a receiver that I am going to want to have to rely on for consistent production throughout the season.