TE Travis Beckum A Sleeper?

Our good friend Jesse Bartolis asks if Giants TE Travis Beckum is considered a fantasy football sleeper in 2011:

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via NFL Mocks

"If the Giants don’t sign another tight end to the team it appears that Travis Beckum will have every opportunity to be a factor in the Giants potent passing game.…In all likelihood the Giants will use Ben Patrick as the blocking tight end and Beckum has the receiving tight end. But before you draft Beckum also be aware the past week the Giants were linked to John Carlson and the Seattle Seahawks. Carlson could become apart of a package deal (john Carlson and a 2nd or 3rd rounder for Osi Umeinyora) as the Seahawks were rumored to be one of the teams that were in on Osi Umeniyora (and also reportedly Osi favored the Seahawks as his most desired destination)."

Based on what I saw last year from Beckum in terms of recepetions and the fact that Boss is moving on to Oakland, the Giants have every intention of bringing Beckum in as a mainstream fixture in their passing attack. Beckum came up huge a couple of games last year, and at times the Giants looked tremendous when fully integrating their TEs as receivers. For whatever reason, the Giants offense seemed to be at its best when Boss and Beckum were getting out into space instead of blocking. I agree with Jesse, with Ben Patrick on blocking duty, Steve Smith out for the foreseeble futre, and Boss gone — Travis Beckum needs to be utilized a lot more in the passing game and this good potentially be a big year for him in terms of fantasy numbers. But then again, the Giants have never really fully utilized their TE potential, even when Jeremy Shockey was on the roster. So, Beckum may be a great fantasy pickup in later rounds but I don’t think he’ll go early in most drafts based on the overall offensive scheme the Giants have shown the last few years.