I just finished a conversation with our friend Danny about his initial reaction to the Rams’ drafting of Avery. Like many of you, it consisted of one word: “Who?”

Danny, like the rest of us, can be excused for being more than a bit surprised that a relative uknown from an underperforming mid-major (Houston) was the first wide receiver taken in last year’s amateur draft. Avery, afterall, was taken ahead of several more well-known players.

But for real draft nuts, it probably wasn’t nearly as big of a surprise. Avery was one of the fastest players in the draft (clocking a 4.2 40 time), was a prolific pass catcher (averaging more than seven catches and well over 100 yards per game his senior year) and was an explosive force on special teams (he averaged 28.3 yards per kickoff return). His size (5-11, 186 pounds) hardly jumps off the stat sheet, but there are plenty of similarly sized WRs that have been very productive in The League.

Still, from a fantasy perspective, he was very much an after-thought — as are most rookie wideouts. And after catching all of three passes in his first three games, he was probably available in close to 100 percent of leagues as recently as a couple weeks ago.

That certainly shouldn’t be the case anymore.

Since making three catches in Week 4, Avery showed steady improvement until last week’s breakout performance — six catches for 163 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown.

Keeping in mind that this certainly isn’t the Greatest Show on Turf of yesteryear, Avery and the Rams have actually been reasonably productive since Jim Haslett took over the reins as head coach. Offensive coordinator seems to be flourishing under a defensive-minded coach, and Avery seems to be benefitting as much as anyone. Keep in mind that this was an offense that was the third in passing a year ago, still has Marc Bulger slinging the ball around and Steven Jackson and Torry Holt guaranteeing that Avery will be unlikely to draw double-coverage.

I’m not going to go all crazy over Avery the way I did Matt Schaub last week (hope you took my advice there), but he’s still available in about 40 percent of Yahoo leagues, so there’s a decent chance he’s available in yours. He’s playing Arizona this week (decent matchup) and has a pretty soft schedule moving forward. I’m willing to bet he’s the best WR option available in your league and is definitely worth a pickup.