Donnie Avery’s senior year at Houston: ninety-one receptions, 1456 yards, and seven touchdowns. He runs a 4.2-4.3 forty-yard dash (depending on whether his hamstring’s torn), and his hands are soft. But he’s another 5-11, 190-pound receiver with a history of muscle injuries, and many fantasy owners are at least subconsciously averse to taking a slot-receiver-cum-wideout who’s looking more and more like a target for double coverage.

He’s like a Devin Hester who can catch.

With the Rams now playing men’s league-quality football, Avery seems like a very solid WR 3 in even the shallowest of leagues. The second-round pick (thirty-third overall) in the 2008 draft is having a nice three-game stretch of first-round looks and touches. The Rams are keeping him healthy, putting him out of the way of the return game. And with four receptions of forty yards or more, Avery is showing the kind of talent that made Lee Evans a 1,292 yard threat in 2006.

But there are a few things about Avery that you ought to question. His yards-after-catch/contact number is 2.9. He ranks just ahead of the Giants’ Steve Smith, who is almost exclusively a slot/third down receiver. And he ranks just behind Ike Hilliard, who’s an older Steve Smith. These are guys who run to the sticks, get hit, and go down. Avery’s YAC total puts him in the midst of guys like Greg Lewis, Derrick Mason, and Anthony Gonzalez. He’s one of two players with a YAC below 3.3 and more than fifteen catches to average more than sixteen yards/reception. (The other is Chris Chambers.)

With 4.2 speed, Avery isn’t being contacted much on his way to the endzone. That’s good. It just concerns me that of the sixteen receivers with four or more scores, none has a sub-three YAC. It kind of suggests an all-or-nothing role that–believe me–defenses will figure out.

Here’s the alternative: Avery is very much in the mould of a Laveranues Coles or Desean Jackson. He’s scoring the long touchdowns, which is why you want him, but his impending return to the slot once Drew Bennett comes back means that he’ll doing a lot of grunt work up the middle. His YAC, which earlier in the season was over five, will go back up, and his receptions’ll get a nice boost as he’ll be doing most of his work against linebackers. He should be running WR screens and reverses. Even Marvin ’slo-pitch’ Harrison has more receptions than Avery.

Avery’s benefited from opposing defenses’ eagerness to double cover Torry Holt. Now there’s a suggestion from Jim Haslett that Avery could move to the outside with Holt working the slot. In that case, guess who gets doubled. Either way, Avery’s not a secret anymore, and with the Rams suddenly competing he’s going to see his deep routes attended by new and interesting safeties. Or he’s a young Marvin Harrison, and Bulger’s so good that the Rams’ll be back to The Greatest Show on Turf days. But I have to wonder how a smallish rookie who started the season with a sprained knee is going to hold up after eight weeks of stop-start grinding.