It's lunchtime on a cloudy June Thursday in Northern Virginia, and Chris Cooley is famished. Sporting a black Guns N' Roses T-shirt, flip-flops and a springy maze of blond-and-brown locks that resembles a giant bird's nest, the 24-year-old bounds out of Redskins Park. "Aw, f-!" he screams, patting the pockets of his army-green cargo shorts. "I left my car keys in my locker."
As he heads back inside, the woman at the front desk barely acknowledges him. That's because the Skins' boisterous tight end-who looks and sounds like he just walked out of a frat house-forgets something every day. Today it's his keys. Tomorrow it'll be his cell phone. Next day, maybe his sunglasses. Some days it seems there's only one thing Cooley doesn't forget. "Football plays," he says. "Those I can remember."
Fantasy owners should have no trouble recalling Cooley's highlights. Like the three touchdowns he scored in late December against Dallas last season. Or the end zone strike he caught the following Sunday against the Giants. In football's real world, those 4 TDs carried the Skins to two wins and a wild-card spot. In the fantasy world, where the 15th and 16th weeks of the season are typically playoff games, the scores were even more crucial. Just ask Cooley, who's been playing fantasy with high school friends from Utah for the past eight years. "Dude," he says, as he inhales a grilled chicken with rice and veggies at a Pizzeria Uno, "I beat myself last year." Seriously. Cooley got whupped in the Week 16 semis by a friend's team that featured an underthe-radar tight end named … Chris Cooley.
Heading into his third NFL season, the third-round pick from Utah State is becoming more visible by the second. Cooley has what Skins Pro Bowl tackle Chris Samuels describes as "hands of glue," plus an uncanny knack for breaking tackles: His 487 yards after the catch in 2005 were sixth-most in the league and tops among tight ends. "If you're a defensive coach," says Al Saunders, Washington's new offensive coordinator, "you have to account for Chris Cooley." And if you're a fantasy GM preparing for draft day, you have to target him-or a guy like him: sneaky lowround producers such as Jake Delhomme, Rod Smith and the Jacksonville D.
Snagging Antonio Gates or Tony Gonzalez in the third round is nice, but those guys come at a cost. Better to use that third pick on a stud WR like Anquan Boldin and know that you can get-for now-a guy like Cooley later. Last season, Cooley's 71 catches were just seven fewer than Gonzo's, and his 7 TDs tied three others for second among tight ends, three behind the league-leading Gates.
This year, with Washington's dink-and-dunk offense being replaced by Saunders' KC system-which turned Gonzalez into a star-Cooley should be even more productive. In the old scheme, an in route was 10 yards. In the new one, it's 15. Last year, Cooley was rarely if ever asked to run a seam downfield. This year, during minicamps and organized team activities (OTAs), he has regularly lined up in multiple-receiver sets where the play call is simply, everybody go long. "I guarantee my yards per catch will be up," says the former art major, as he doodles on an Uno's napkin. Question is, how many catches will fantasy owners get from him?
Last season, with receivers James Thrash and David Patten injured, Cooley became Mark Brunell's first option if Santana Moss was covered. Now, with vets Antwaan Randle El and Brandon Lloyd joining the Skins, and Thrash and Patten healthy again, Cooley is hoping to beat the numbers game with a bit of science. "Chemistry is huge," says Saunders. "Quarterbacks gravitate toward players they know will catch the ball, and Chris is one of those guys."
Watching tape of all of his catches from last season, Cooley counted 18 times when he was supposed to be blocking but instead released, turned around and bailed his QB out. "Once you build trust with your QB," says Cooley, "there's no substitute for that."
And being versatile doesn't hurt. Joe Gibbs has used Cooley at H-back, a position that doesn't exist in Saunders' system. Still, Cooley figures to be just as busy as last year, when he played 94% of the Redskins' snaps. If he hears "Logan" (where Utah State is located) in the huddle, he splits out wide as the X or Z receiver. If he hears "Aggie" (Utah State's nickname), he lines up behind Brunell as the fullback. And that's on top of his duties as the Y, or tight end.
Luckily for Cooley and his fantasy owners, he can remember football plays. Now, about those keys …