Jason Wood's Thoughts

• Isaac Bruce has lost a step.



• Isaac Bruce is no longer on equal footing with Torry Holt.



• Isaac Bruce failed to break 1,000 yards receiving for the first time since Mike Martz has been in town (five years).

These facts are all well and good, but Isaac Bruce still warrants strong consideration on draft day. Just because Bruce is no longer option 1A to Torry Holt's 1; being option 2 in the Rams prolific attack is still an advantageous place to rack up fantasy points.

Last year, despite catching just 69 passes for 981 yards and 5 touchdowns, Bruce finished 18th among fantasy receivers. He averaged 14.2 yards per catch, not far off from his career averaged of 15.2 YPC (and an improvement from his 2002 mark of 13.6). Bruce may be on the wrong side of 30, but he still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

The Rams will be a pass heavy team as long as Mike Martz is in charge. Take a look at the team's rankings in key passing categories under Martz' 4-year tenure:

• Passing Yards (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd)


• Passing Attempts (3rd, 12th, 1st, 2nd)


• Completions (1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd)


• Passing TDs (1st, 1st, 12th, 11th)

What that means is that Ike Bruce, as long as he's on the field, is going to see a ton of targets. Last year was no exception; he was the 20th most targeted receiver in the league despite missing a game. This season should be no different.

Sometimes fantasy owners tend to ignore veteran consistency in favor of "what might be." While I'm not opposed to rostering a few sleepers; most league champions have a few, I don't think you should ignore value when it presents itself. According to current average draft results, Bruce is the 26th WR off the board; which implies people view him as no better than a fantasy WR3/WR4. Yet, for three straight seasons he's been a solid WR2. If you can pick him up as your 3rd WR, you're probably building an impressive team.

Positives

• Bruce has finished no worse than 18th in each of the last five seasons



• The Rams remain one of the most prolific passing teams in the league



• Bruce won't see many double teams by virtue of the Rams spread formations and Torry Holt's presence on the other side of the field

Negatives

• Bruce has slowed down a bit the last few seasons, and probably doesn't have the upside to put up top 10 numbers anymore



• Bruce's worst year under Martz (2003) came with Marc Bulger at QB; and Bulger is now entrenched as the team's franchise signal caller



• The Rams offensive line is suffering from myriad injuries (and a holdout from Pace); that could derail the effectiveness of the entire St. Louis attack

Final Thoughts

Isaac Bruce may no longer be option 1A in the receiving game; but being option 2 is far from a bad thing when you play for Mike Martz' Rams. The team has averaged over 4,500 yards passing under Martz and with the new rules enforcement against defensive backs, there's no reason for that to change in '04. Bruce has finished 17th, 16th and 18th in the past three seasons; yet this year's average draft position is 26th. As long as Bruce is healthy, he'll exceed his ADP; and that's what you should be looking for on draft day, players who offer VALUE.

Chase Stuart's Thoughts

Isaac Bruce's 10,000+ receiving yards rank fifteenth all-time in the NFL. Pretty impressive when you consider that puts him ahead of older players such as Jimmy Smith, Marvin Harrison and Keenan McCardell, the next three highest receivers on the list. (As you probably know, the top two leaders are active as well, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown) How many of you knew that Isaac Bruce is only thirty-one years old, a few weeks younger than Marvin Harrison? While he has an "older than dirt" reputation and the declining stats behind it, Bruce is still far from washed up.

Bruce scored 202 FPs in 2000, 149 FPs in '01, 151 FPs in '02, and 133 FPs last season. He's seen his yards per catch ratio fall below 14.5 each of the past two seasons, and last year was the first time since 1998 that Bruce failed to catch 1,000 yards. However, all is not lost-and Bruce did manage to get seven receptions for 116 yards in their playoff loss to the Panthers.

Four times in his career (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000) Isaac Bruce was a top ten receiver, but he'll probably never be that valuable again. He's clearly the second best receiver on his own team, as Torry Holt caught over 700 more yards, seven more touchdowns and nearly fifty more receptions! Bruce still has value because he's still an excellent route runner with good hands, and maintains good speed. He may not be a home run pick anymore, but he's certainly a value pick. He's finished in the 16-18 range the past three years; his current ADP is twenty-fourth at his position.

Positives

• Still a Ram: The St. Louis offense remains one of the best in the league. With Pro Bowlers at every position, they will score a lot of points again in 2004



• Bruce runs excellent routes, and makes some of the best cuts in the league. Is as fundamentally sound as they come, and will get open more often than not



• With Holt and Faulk around, Bruce won't be the focus of many defenses this year. He might even have a rebound season, if teams put too much attention on Torry Holt

Negatives

• You never like to see a player decline for a few years, as Bruce clearly has



• The Rams have had a bad offseason, and their offense isn't as good as it once was. Can it still support two fantasy star receivers?



• Was last year a fluke for Torry Holt? If Holt continues to catch double digit TDs, Bruce is going to have a hard time scoring more than five in 2004

Final Thoughts

Bruce really isn't too old to have a bounce back year, and I certainly wouldn't rule that out. Bulger only threw 23 TDs last year, and most went to Holt. Bruce could easily see closer to ten TDs this year as he had in years past. However, Bruce isn't much of an upside pick. I like him because I think he's a consistent player, who you can count on to give you around 1,000 yards and six scores. The new rule emphasis on illegal contact could certainly help a quick player like Bruce, who knows every trick in the book. Players like Peerless Price, Rod Smith and Donte' Stallworth bring a lot of question marks to the table-when you draft Isaac Bruce, you can be confident that you're getting the full bang for your buck. As long as the rest of your team is solid, I'd be content with having Bruce as my WR2, and thrilled as my WR3.

Quotations from the Message Board Thread

To view the entire Player Spotlight thread (there's a ton of fantastic commentary in there), click here.

Iwannabeacowboybaby!:
"The forgotten man in the St. Louis Ram offense has to be Isaac Bruce. Last year he dipped below 1000 yards of receiving by only 19 yards, but he only played in 15 games last season, surely with the additional game he would have cracked 1000 again."

Footballhead:
"He's lost a step or two but he still runs good routes and makes good catches. The no contact rule beyond 5 should help him more than Holt."

KKrew:
"Bruce is now the grizzled old veteran that compliments Torry Holt's youthful presence. Bruce is still worth a roster spot. However, the days of WR#1 are gone."

Isaac Bruce Projections