Fantasy Football: Rankings For Week 1

With the football season starting in a little less than 48 hours away, everyone will be rushing to their computers to set up their lineups. For the most part everyone has had their draft or auction, and they are just now deciding who should start in their lineup for week 1. With the Vikings and Saints starting on Thursday, I thought it would be best to get my rankings out before kickoff takes place. Here are my ranking of the Quarterbacks, Running Backs and Wide Receivers for the first week of the fantasy football season.

Quarterbacks

1.Peyton Manning at Houston

2.Aaron Rodgers at. Philadelphia

3.Drew Brees vs. Minnesota

4.Jay Cutler vs. Detroit

5.Matt Schaub vs. Indianapolis

6.Philip Rivers at Kansas City

7.Tom Brady vs. Cincinnati

8.Tony Romo at Washington

9.Brett Favre at New Orleans

10.Alex Smith at Seattle

11.Eli Manning vs. Carolina

12.Kyle Orton at Jacksonville

13.Vince Young vs. Oakland

14.Joe Flacco at New York Jets

15.Carson Palmer at New England

16.Chad Henne at Buffalo

17.Matt Cassel vs. San Diego

18.Matt Moore at New York Giants

19.Donovan McNabb vs. Dallas

20.Kevin Kolb vs. Green Bay

21.Trent Edwards vs. Miami

22.Jason Campbell at Tennessee

23.David Garrard vs. Denver

24.Matthew Stafford at Chicago

25.Sam Bradford vs. Arizona

26.Matt Ryan at Pittsburgh

27.Mark Sanchez vs. Baltimore

28.Derek Anderson at St Louis

29.Dennis Dixon vs. Atlanta

30.Jake Delhomme at Tampa Bay

31.Matt Hasselbeck vs. San Francisco

32.Josh Freeman vs. Cleveland

While I believe Aaron Rodgers will be the best fantasy quarterback over the season, it’s hard to ignore Peyton Manning’s matchup with the Texans. Last season Manning threw for 562 in two games vs. Houston and with Dunta Robinson now in Atlanta look for Manning to continue his dominance. After the top three is where it gets tricky, but you have to believe if Jay Cutler is going to shine, it’s at home vs. Detroit and their 32nd ranked pass defense from a season ago. For the most part, I believe there is only one shocker in my top 10 and that’s Alex Smith. Last year at Quest Field Smith threw for 310 yards with two touchdowns and with Seattle making no improvements to their awful defense in the offseason; Smith should have a quality game. It seem’s that everyone is on the Joe Flacco bandwagon, but for week one I would bench the third year starter. The Jets have an elite pass rush that should improve with a healthy Kris Jenkins. The Jets have arguably the best secondary in the league and with ‘’Revis Island’’ under contract, look for Flacco to have trouble getting the ball down field.

Sleeper

While I have him ranked 21st overall, I think Trent Edwards could be a solid option in really deep leagues and leagues that play two quarterbacks for this week and all throughout the season. Edwards has his best preseason of his career finishing with 370 yards and a 102.6 QB Rating. In week one Edwards goes against a Dolphins defense that gave up 234.6 yards per game through the air in 2009. New Head Coach Chan Gailey turned Kordell Stewart into the number two ranked fantasy quarterback in 1997 and Jay Fielder the number 10 in 2001. So while I doubt Edwards finishes in the top 10, a top 15 finish isn’t out of the question.

Running Backs

1.Chris Johnson vs. Oakland

2.Adrian Peterson at New Orleans

3.Steven Jackson vs. Arizona

4.Maurice Jones Drew vs. Denver

5.Frank Gore at Seattle

6.DeAngelo Williams at New York Giants

7.Pierre Thomas vs. Minnesota

8.Jamaal Charles vs. San Diego

9.Ronnie Brown at Buffalo

10.Ryan Grant at Green Bay

11.Cedric Benson at New England

12.Rashard Mendenhall vs. Atlanta

13.Ray Rice at New York Jets

14.C.J. Spiller vs. Miami

15.Knowshon Moreno at Jacksonville

16.Jahvid Best at Chicago

17.Arian Foster vs. Indianapolis

18.Jonathan Stewart at New York Giants

19.Ryan Mathews at Kansas City

20.Beanie Wells at St Louis

21.Michael Turner at Pittsburgh

22.Joseph Addai at Houston

23.Ricky Williams at Buffalo

24.Matt Forte vs. Detroit

25.LeSean McCoy vs. Green Bay

26.Shonn Greene vs. Baltimore

27.Ahmad Bradshaw vs. Carolina

28.Clinton Portis vs. Dallas

29.Thomas Jones vs. San Diego

30.Justin Forsett vs. San Francisco

31.Felix Jones at Washington

32.Jerome Harrison at Tampa Bay

Choosing between Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson is basically a coin toss, but I will give the edge to Johnson going against an Oakland team who ranked 29th against the run last season. What’s clearly noticeable in my rankings is how far down Ray Rice and Michael Turner is. There is no chance you bench either of them, but going against the Jets and the Pittsburgh Steelers you’re expectations should be tampered. While he plays second fiddle to DeAngelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart makes for a great number two running back vs. the Giants on Sunday. Last season against Big Blue on 28 carries Stewart ran for 206 yards. Expect the carries to be cut in half, but for him to have a great game and to be used as the red zone option for the Panthers. Like Carolinas ferocious duo, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams should both have monster games on the ground against the Bills. Brown will get the majority of carries, but Williams will see his fair share as well. In two games vs. Buffalo in 2009 the Dolphins ran the ball 82 times for 407 yards, so the game plan shouldn’t change for Sunday.

Sleeper

I have to admit I am intrigued to see how the Lions use Jahvid Best in the run game against the Bears. While I don’t believe he is a 25-30 carry a game back, he’s looked explosive in the pre season and has been the talk of Lions camp. Best is averaging has ran the ball 15 times for 129 yards which is a ridiculous 8.6 YDS/ATT. It’s obvious those numbers cannot be maintained, but since he will be used a receiver as well, we can expect 25 touches between the run and the pass in his NFL debut.

Wide Receivers

1.Andre Johnson vs. Indianapolis

2.Randy Moss vs. Cincinnati

3.Brandon Marshall at Buffalo

4.Greg Jennings at Philadelphia

5.Reggie Wayne at Houston

6.Miles Austin at Washington

7.Calvin Johnson at Chicago

8.Steve Smith (Car) at New York Giants

9.Marques Colston vs. Minnesota

10.Larry Fitzgerald at St. Louis

11.Percy Harvin at New Orleans

12.Michael Crabtree at Seattle

13.DeSean Jackson vs. Green Bay

14.Wes Welker vs. Cincinnati

15.Steve Smith (NYG) vs. Carolina

16.Chad Ochocinco at New England

17.Hines Ward vs. Atlanta

18.Roddy White at Pittsburgh

19.Dwayne Bowe vs. San Diego

20.Anquan Boldin at New York Jets

21.Pierre Garcon at Houston

22.Jabar Gaffney at Jacksonville

23.Malcom Floyd at Kansas City

24.Johnny Knox vs. Detroit

25.Donald Driver at Philadelphia

26.Devery Henderson vs. Minnesota

27.Jeremy Maclin vs. Green Bay

28.Devin Aromashodu vs. Detroit

29.Laurent Robinson vs. Arizona

30.Braylon Edwards vs. Baltimore

31.Mike Sims –Walker vs. Denver

32.Lee Evans vs. Miami

After watching Miles Austin burn the Eagles secondary last season in the playoffs, I can only imagine what Greg Jennings is going to do to Philly’s secondary. The Eagles lack a pass rush, which means Rodgers should look deep to Jennings as well as Donald Driver in what should be a high scoring game. With the injury to Sidney Rice, I believe Percy Harvin should take a giant leap in 2010 with the possibilities of scoring 10 touchdowns. In 2009, Harvin was targeted 10 % of the time in the red zone, which was second amongst receivers for Minnesota. Rice led the team with 12% of the targets, so Harvin’s looks should increase in more than a marginal way. In general, I am very wary of Mike Sims –Walker for 2010, and it doesn’t help my confidence in him going against Champ Bailey in week one. Sims-Walker was an all or nothing receiver in 2009, so for every big game he puts up a dud. Going against the Broncos third ranked pass defense, this game won’t be so pretty.

Sleeper

In almost every league whether a draft or an auction, I snagged Jabar Gaffney during one of the least three rounds or for a dollar or two in auctions. Last season with Brandon Marshall out of the lineup, Gaffney had 21 catches for 282 yards and two touchdowns. In the pre season Gaffney’s been Kyle Orton’s featured target grabbing 10 balls for 143 yards. Going against last season’s 27th ranked pass defense, look for Gaffney to get into the end zone in week 1.