The Washington Redskins drafted Devin Thomas with their second round pick (34th pick overall) this past April. Thomas decided to declare for the draft after his junior season at Michigan State. (Totally coincidental that I picked two former Big Ten players for my first two installments on this subject.) In his second season as a Spartan he set a school record by catching 79 balls for 1,260 yards and eight TDs. In 13 games last year, he went over the 100 yard receiving mark seven times, and over 130 yards receiving in four of those seven games. Those numbers were good enough reasons for the Redskins to draft him. Question is, are they good enough reasons for you to draft him in your fantasy football league this year?

Thomas will likely be the No. 2 guy in Washington with Santana Moss being the primary receiver. With him being a big guy with good speed, Thomas could have a good season. That could, however, depend on how well his QB, Jason Campbell progresses. Campbell has a strong arm which will help with any deep routes Thomas is sent on. Scouts have said that Thomas lacks route running skills, something he will need to learn if he wants to be successful in the NFL, and on your fantasy team.

The competition for the No. 2 spot on the depth chart will come from Antwan Randle El. The Redskins will most likely play Randle El at the slot position, so that frees up time for Thomas to play out wide. In addition to competing for receptions with Moss, he'll also have to compete with TE Chris Cooley. Even with all of that, Thomas should have a good season, especially if he improves on his route running. He's got the skill set to become a good fantasy football player and could be a nice sleeper pick late in the draft.

Rookie receivers don't have nearly as much success as rookie RBs do that are stepping into a team and starting right away, but they can still contribute to your team, especially late in the season once they've established a connection with their QB. Expect Thomas to have a season, one worth having him as maybe your flex player if your league offers that. As the season progresses he could even move up to a good option as a WR3, maybe even a WR2 if the Redskins offense can get on a roll. Rookie WRs are hard to predict, but if there's one to take a chance on late in your draft, it could very well be Devin Thomas.

OK, we are now five rounds in and everybody's teams are starting to take shape. We are getting to the part of the draft where people start revealing some sleeper picks.

RECAP: ROUND 1 | ROUND 2 | ROUND 3 | ROUND 4

Here's Round 5:
41. PREUTH - Anquan Boldin - WR
42. CLASGENS - Santonio Holmes - WR
43. HUMBERT - Jason Witten - TE
44. BOLTON - Jonathan Stewart - RB
45. DINSMORE - Wes Welker - WR
46. MURDICO - Michael Turner - RB
47. SIMS - Kellen Winslow - TE
48. SIMON - Roy Williams - WR
49. WETZEL - Derek Anderson - QB
50. FISCHER - Antonio Gates - TE

My Pick: Holmes' size is concerning, but he's in the perfect system to display his homerun-hitting ability. The guy had six plays of over 40 yards on just 85 targets. Limas Sweed could take away some chances, but I love his upside as he enters that magical third season. He joins Braylon Edwards to make up my starting wideouts, not too shabby.

Biggest Reach: While I agree with the top three TE's taken in this draft are the ones selected here, I am not sure that any of them should've went this early. However, I will write it off as being a 10-man league issue. That said, my biggest reach selection for Round 5 goes to WETZEL for his selection of Derek Anderson with the 49th overall pick. Anderson had a great season last year coming out of nowhere to be a fantasy force, but his numbers were a bit inflated by a couple of blow-up games. Throw in the fact that Cleveland will being playing under pressure and dealing with a much tougher scheudle and I am not convinced that Anderson is capable of putting up bigger numbers. Still, the biggest factor is job security. The team invested a ton into Brady Quinn and you have to believe that the first signs of struggle could open up the door quickly for the second-year signal caller to get a crack. Taking a QB this high, you should not have to worry about job security. There are at least three guys still on the board that make more sense.

Final Take: The round played out to be expected. The tight end came earlier than I was anticipating, but the big three studs are off the board so I expect to see that run end for another round or so before the second tier of tight ends start going. Two of the more intriguing RB picks were seen here with rookie Jonathan Stewart (CAR) and veteran Michael Turner (ATL) going off the board. Both backs could disappoint, but I am leaning more towards positive results for both players, particularly at this spot in the draft.

The Chicago Bears made it official yesterday, signing former Lions' running back Kevin Jones to a one-year deal.

Jones is coming off yet another injury-riddled season and is less than seven months removed from ACL surgery. He impressed enough in workouts for various teams though to garner significant interest.

The former first round pick has been a bit of enigma during his brief career, but has dispalyed glimpses of brilliance. The real question for fantasy owners is "can he stay healthy"? Also, it is going to be interesting to see how soon he will make an impact and get on to the filed.

"They're going to be cautious with me," Jones told the Chicago Sun-Times. "The doctors recommended I don't get hit in the first week of training camp. I don't know what the plan is for the preseason."

Jones' addition is "not expected to diminish the role of (Matt) Forte, according to the paper.

It's way too early to determine Jones' value for me, but until he gets on the field and establishes himself in the offense, I can't see making him anymore than a RB4 or RB5 as a flyer with upside, especially with all the durability questions. Still, he's more valuable now than he was as an unsigned free-agent. Keep your eyes on this as camp unfolds. 

Major League Baseball nearly had another debacle on its hands Tuesday night as the All-Star game as the game went 15 innings.  Both teams were running out of pitchers and with home field advantage on the line everyone was just waiting for Bud Selig to call the game again.

I would hate to be a team that was a contender am have my guys out their jeopardizing themselves. Doesn't it seem to make sense to expand the All-Star rosters?

Brad Lidge, who NL manager Clint Hurdle tabbed as the team's closer, threw over 100 warm-up pitches in various bullpen sessions, before coming into the game in the 15th inning.

Lidge, 20-for-20 in save opportunities for the Phillies and the only full-time closer in the NL who has not blown a save this season, warmed up in the bullpen in the top of the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings only to sit down after the NL failed to take the lead.

Each time the NL didn't score, Hurdle called in another pitcher and told his closer to sit down.

"All of my pals kept getting into the game," Lidge told the Courier Post. "We had the Rockies bullpen catcher and coach and me. That was it."

Luckily the game ended on Michael Young’s sacrifice fly to give the American League a 4-3 victory in a 4-hour, 50-minute marathon, the longest All-Star Game in history.

The game has lost its luster for sure, but it still is professional sport's best All-Star event.

OTHER TAKES
--I was disappointed that Edinson Volquez gave up the bomb to J.D. Drew, it makes it hard to argue the guy should've started when he blows the save. I just hope it doesn't have a hangover effect.

--Has anybody every had a worse three minutes in All-Star game history. Dan Uggla hit into an inning-ending double play in the top half of the 10th inning with a runner on third. Then he followed it up with two errors to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Lucky for him Aaron Cook pitched out of the jam.

--Will the NL ever win again? It is completely opposite of when I was kid when the senior circuit use to dominate. The AL is now up to 12 straight victories.

--Man George Steinbrenner is not looking good. I was raised to hate that man, but I don't want to see him like that. The end is near for Mr. Steinbrenner. 

--Apparently the NL was prepared to call in Clay Counsil, Josh Hamilton's 71-year old Home Run Derby pitcher, if the game were to go to a 16th inning. Counsil was a bit tired though after giving up 32 bombs the night before to 'The Natural'.

Is Josh Hamilton really Barack Obama? You might think so after the way the media has swooned all over him over the All-Star break. Hamilton, like Obama, has had lots of positive things said about him and his "feel good" story has been splattered all over the place. Yes, his 28 HRs in the derby were impressive. That is unquestionable. But, he did NOT win the homerun derby. Argue that he hit the most HRs and should have, but Justin Morneau won it, not Hamilton.

I have a real problem with the "feel good" story of Hamilton. Yes, it's nice that he's overcome personal demons, etc. and gotten his life clean. But, untold is that Hamilton is either so messed up or so weak mentally that he has a coach, paid by the Rangers (and previously by the Reds) to essentially be his chaperone so that he doesn't get himself into trouble – Johnny Narron. This doesn't sound like somebody who has their act completely together. Also, while I know drug addiction is a disease, it was still a personal choice that he made to ruin his life and almost waste his God-given talent. He got a second chance is making the most of it. That's great. But Hamilton made his own choices in life. I would like his story more if he had been diagnosed with cancer or something like that and then came back in the same way. Then I'd be on the Josh Hamilton bandwagon. For now, he's just a former druggie, who luckily got a second chance and is making the most of it.

And lastly, can Reds fans get over losing him already? We got Volquez and Herrera for Hamilton. It was a great trade for both teams. Where would Hamilton play on Dusty Baker's team? If he were up, we likely would be seeing Jay Bruce in a Reds uniform yet. Remember, we got Hamilton for a a $50,000 investment from the Rays. If anyone should be salty about losing Hamilton, it should be Rays. Imagine what their team would be like if he were still in their uniform? Wow.

Feel free to call me a heartless jerk or something that I'm not shedding tears or getting goosebumps at the Hamilton story, or those absurd The Natural references. In fact, I'm kind of tired about hearing it. Mark my words, he'll either be injured or slumping after that homerun derby performance.