Updated Fantasy Football Rankings: WRs 11-20

I really cannot even consider the argument against keeping Steve Smith out of the top 10. You say he should be more consistent if he stays healthy, and that he’s been consistently hurt. That makes little sense. He’s played 14 or more games the last 4 seasons. Consistency also doesn’t seem to be an issue looking at his game log. Of the 14 games he played last year, he scored 10 or more points in 9 of them. He only had one game with less than 7. Inconsistent?

I’m not trying to attack your rankings, just trying to understand your reasoning. If you just have some sort of gut feeling, that’s fine. If it’s backed up by something concrete, please elaborate for us.

…thought the insight here at Fake Teams was pretty good, but the recent front page RB rankings (Steven Jackson in the mid-20’s?) and now the WR list is making me reconsider. Steve Smith should definitely be in the top 10 and Housh should be nowhere near that ranking. Housh is Alvin Harper redux … career second fiddle to a very good WR who finally gets to be “the man” with a new team, but falls on his face.

I’m going to bookmark these posts and revisit them after the season.

Ready to be elite, or merely a product of Drew Brees?

How is this question/comment relevant? Whether or not Colston is “a product of Drew Brees” doesn’t really matter if Drew Brees is still throwing him the ball. Such a question would have made sense in regard to Houshmanzadeh, who for the first time in his career will be playing with a different ballclub and will now be “the man” in Seattle, while he was just getting a taste of that last year with Ocho’s struggles. There is alot more unknown for Housh going into 2009 than Colston.

And quickly back to Colston: A relevant tidbit would have been the offseason microfracture surgery on his knee. For a man receiving as many targets as Colston does, in an offense that throws as often as New Orleans does, I’d be concerned more about the stress on his knee from running and jumping than being ready for greatness.

All Skellar’s rankings are radically “different” than the way most experts see it. That’s fine if there are concrete reasons to back them up, but there don’t usually appear to be any. I’m genuinely interested the rationale.

But I never make my rankings based on things that are “obvious”

Fantasy football rankings always tend to have “tunnel vision”. Players are “good” because..well, because it’s obvious they are! That gets you in trouble.

Take a look at Steven Jackson. Of COURSE he’s going to be awesome, right? Marc Bulger is going to stay healthy all season. Who’s his backup by the way? How many career starts does Donnie Avery have? Who’s lining up on the other side as the Rams WR2? Who’s their starting tight end? Do you know? All of those things play a huge role in how Steven Jackson will do this year.

The answers are (in order), Kyle Boller, 12 starts, Keenan Burton and Randy McMichael.

I am NOT basing my fantasy RB1 on a healthy Marc Bulger and somebody named Keenan Burton! And that’s the BEST scenario. If Bulger gets hurt, it gets worse. You don’t want to know what happens to the passing game if Avery gets hurt.

I always try to make sure my rankings make sense on their own, not because “it’s obvious”. Sometimes I fail of course, but that’s the rationale.