Pre-Season 2012 Fantasy Football Rankings by Position

For those of you who have followed The Fantasy Greek for the past two seasons, we like to kick off the new football season with our pre-season 2012 fantasy football rankings by position. For many of you, you are wondering how your favorite team will be affected through free agency.  With no lockout this season, we should know a bit about how rosters will start to shape-up in terms of your team’s key positional needs with free agency about to begin.

This was the most exciting fantasy football season we have seen yet.  With the movement towards a passing league in the NFL officially completed, running backs saw a drop off in the number of them that likely finished top-fifty in your fantasy league, even though Arian Foster, Ray Rice, and Maurice Jones-Drew continued to be bell-cows at their positions.  Rather, wide receivers and receiving tight-ends took some of the top slots after quarterbacks, including wide receivers Calvin Johnson, Wes Welker, Victor Cruz, and Jordy Nelson, as well as tight-ends Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham, both of whom finished with better receiving stats than many, many wide receivers.

In any case, to kick off The Fantasy Greek’s 2012 season, we provide a pre-season ranking by position for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight-end positions, with some commentary.  We have noted which key players are restricted free agents (RFA) or free agents (FA) where applicable.  Several players could get the franchise tag as early as this coming week if long term deals cannot be worked out or in lieu of working out long-term deals at a later date.

You will also note that many players have an asterisk by their names.  In most cases, this denotes a player who was injured last season.  For some players, we are simply waiting to see if they fully recover from injury.  An example would be Adrian Peterson, where we are waiting to see whether he will be available in week one of the fantasy football season.  In other cases, the player may be coming back to the team where another player looked like they could replace him in the starting line-up, or more than likely, split touches with them, as could be the case with the Bills’ Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller.   There are several players that may not be with the team they were with in 2011, including Michael Bush, Mike Wallace, Dwayne Bowe, and Mario Manningham.

Suffice it to say, these rankings will change when free agency begins and as free agency progresses.  They will also likely change after the NFL draft.  The rankings will also change once we get a better idea of how players will be used in the upcoming season, and how good they look on the field in pre-season games.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact The Fantasy Greek using the comment box below or here.  If The Fantasy Greek receives enough questions or comments, the content will be featured in a future article.

 Quarterback

On the Cusp: Peyton Manning; Matt Hasselbeck; Chad Henne; Matt Moore; Matt Cassel; Sam Bradford; Kevin Kolb; John Skelton; Christian Ponder; Tarvaris Jackson; Colt McCoy; David Garrard (FA); Rex Grossman (FA); and, Donovan McNabb (FA). 

Comments:  Aaron Rodgers is easily the number one ranked fantasy football quarterback because Rodgers has been the most consistent, top performing fantasy football quarterback for some time now.  Drew Brees, who will likely stay with the Saints, and Tom Brady, are no-brainer, next best ranked quarterbacks given their dominance at the position over the years. 

After Rodgers, Brees, and Brady, the next eight quarterbacks — Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Michael Vick, Eli Manning, Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, Matt Ryan, and Phillip Rivers — should all be solid fantasy quarterbacks in 2012.  After that, Ben Roethlisberger, Tim Tebow, Jay Cutler, and Carson Palmer carry some risk given, in part, what could be fluid situations in their offense, i.e., Cutler (offensive line questions), their development, i.e., Tebow, their offensive situations, i.e., Roethlisberger (new coordinator) or Palmer (coaching changes and salary cap issues). 

As for Eli Manning, you either love him or hate him given some inconsistency on his part in the past where he plays like an elite quarterback at times, and at other times, plays as if he cannot tell the difference between team colored jerseys.  Yet, the 2011 season, particularly the second half of it, was an incredible one for Manning where he seemingly broke through and managed the various issues that haunted him in past seasons.  Give credit where credit is due. 

There are some interesting off-season stories that could develop and provide genuine opportunities for certain players to become fantasy football relevant quickly.  For instance, in limited action (3 games), Jake Locker looked like he was pro-ready (530 yds., 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 0 FMBLs).  This could be a season where Locker gets his chance to start.  Similarly, Kyle Orton will likely get an opportunity to start for some team — possibly the Redskins, or even the Chiefs.  Wherever he plays, The Fantasy Greek thinks Orton will have an opportunity to succeed, and become fantasy football-relevant come draft day.  Likewise, in one game (480 yds., 6 TDs, 1 INT, 1 FMBL), Matt Flynn likely made himself a starting NFL quarterback in 2012.  In that one game, it certainly looked like Flynn could play above and beyond any system he plays in.

As you will note, Peyton Manning is presently unranked.  Last reports indicated that he was having trouble throwing the football.  Nonetheless, that can be, in part, expected during the rehabbing process.  The issue is now reportedly of nerve regeneration.  There is a chance that his affected nerve or nerves may not regenerate, just as there is a chance that they will.  So, whether Peyton plays in 2012 is a story that is still developing. Should Peyton be able to play, it is unclear for what team.  At present, there is a chance that it will not be with the Colts.  Teams like the Dolphins, the Redskins, the Seahawks, and the Jets — all teams with some sort of need at quarterback — have all been mentioned as possible landing spots for Manning.  Out of these, The Fantasy Greek likes the Dolphins as the best fit.  Wherever Manning plays in 2012 — or if he plays — he will need some protection.  Until the situation resolves itself, we are going to keep Manning out of the rankings for now.  Should he play, Manning will almost certainly be ranked in the top-twelve.

Running Backs

On the Cusp: Stevan Ridley; Ryan Torain; Chris Ivory; Kevin Smith (FA); Joseph Addai; Knowshon Moreno; Michael Thomas; Ronnie Brown; Cadillac Williams; Jason Snelling; Marion Barber; Kahlil Bell (FA); Tashard Choice; Rashad Jennings; Justin Forsett; Jalen Parmele; Jackie Battle; and,LaDanian Tomlinson (FA).

Likely Out for 2012: Rashard Mendenhall sustained a torn ACL in Week 17 and could miss the entire 2012 season.

Comments:  Arian Foster deserves to be ranked number one.  Besides avoiding season-ending injury, Foster still finished as one of the top fantasy football running backs even after missing a couple of weeks due to injury.  Likewise, Ray Rice is as solid as they come as his team’s main playmaker and remains one of the top fantasy football running backs.  The same can be said of Maurice-Jones Drew, LeSean McCoy, and Matt Forte.  After these five, however, things become more unclear as we gone down the list of remaining running backs due to questions relating to injuries (Adrian Peterson, Darren McFadden, Jamaal Charles) or questions relating to what team some of these players will play for in 2012 (Marshawn Lynch, Michael Bush, Cedric Benson, Peyton Hillis, and LaGarrette Blount). 

But for his injury, Adrian Petersonwould have been one of the top-three ranked running backs going into 2012.  Right now, expectations are that Peterson will not be ready for the start of Week 1 of the fantasy football season.  But, that could change.  As we get closer to the beginning of the season, we should have a better handle on Peterson’s status to play.  Even injured, he remains a top-twelve fantasy football running back, draft day pick. 

The Fantasy Greek is absolutely excited about the prospect of Michael Bush getting a starting opportunity with a different team in 2012.  Bush proved he could carry a team like the Raiders while Darren McFadden was out due to injury.  With it being no secret that the Raiders are well over the salary cap, Bush getting the starting nod, could happen.  If Bush gets this opportunity in 2012, he could dance with, or break into the top-twelve in 2012.  The Fantasy Greek likes the depth at the running back position in fantasy football through the top twenty-four. 

After the top-24, it will be interesting to see if a running back like Jahvid Best will remain the Lions number one running threat.  Right now, The Fantasy Greek is leaning towards Best being the number one rusher for the Lions in 2012 even though the status of his recovery from multiple concussions could change this evaluation.  Best will likely fall in most drafts and could have great value in rounds four or five of many fantasy drafts.

Also, we still do not necessarily know who the starting running backs will be for teams like the Redskins or Patriots, whose starters should have at least bye week, fantasy football play value.

Wide Receivers

On the Cusp: Early Doucet (FA); James Jones; Nate Washington; Eric Decker; Doug Baldwin; Steve Smith (Eagles-FA); Johnny Knox; David Nelson; Devery Henderson; Damian Williams; Emmanuel Sanders; Jacoby Ford; Braylon Edwards (FA); Roy Williams (FA); Mark Clayton; Mike Thomas; Chad Ochocinco; Hines Ward; Randy Moss; Terrell Owens; Austin Collie; Nate Burleson; Anthony Armstrong; Jacoby Ford; Steve Breaston; Mike Sims-Walker*; Jonathan Baldwin; Andre Caldwell; Davone Bess; Danario Alexander; Brandon Gibson; Danny Amendola; Mohamed Massaquoi; Dexter McCluster; Lee Evans; Greg Little; Brandon LaFell; Donald Driver; Louis Murphy; Titus Young; Patrick Crayton; Ben Obomanu; Jacoby Jones; Kevin Walter; Eddie Royal (FA); and, Blair White.

Comments:  The wide receiver position in fantasy football should remain in flux from 2011 to 2012 as it was from 2010 to 2011.  There are just so many talents at the position and so many players that broke through in 2011 such as Victor Cruz, Jordy Nelson, A.J. Green, Julio Jones, and Antonio Brown, not to mention Laurent Robinson, Demaryius Thomas, and Torrey Smith.  It is difficult at times to decide who is the better wide receiver given their team’s situation.  Yet, the top-twelve appear to be players who have cemented themselves as the players we can more likely than not see finishing top-twelve.   Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson still seem to be the number one and number two wide-outs for fantasy football draft purposes given their immense talent, their roles on the Lions and Texans, respectively, and their quarterback situation.

Also, every free agent wide receiver noted could have their rank effected should they not re-sign with their present teams, especially, Steve Johnson, Brandon Lloyd, Pierre Garcon, Reggie Wayne, Mario Manningham, Desean Jackson, and Steve Smith (Eagles).  Certainly, there are teams that could use any of their services including the Bears, Vikings, Browns, and Jaguars.

Tight-Ends

On the Cusp: Jacob Tamme (FA); Kyle Rudolph; Anthony Fasano; Lance Kendricks; Todd Heap; Tony Moeaki*; Marcedes Lewis; Viasnthe Shiancoe; Scott Chandler; Delanie Walker; Joel Dreessen; Jeremy Shockey; John Carlson; Michael Hoomanawanui; Daniel Fells; and, Rob Housler.

Comments:  No question Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham are number one and number two at the tight-end position for fantasy football purposes.  Even though there is always a risk of being washed out of the Cowboys’ offense, given all of the offensive weapons the Cowboys have, it would be tough not to look at Jason Witten as a top-five fantasy football talent.  Even though Antonio Gates missed a significant part of last season (and the season before that), the fact remains is that when Gates has played, he has generally produced.  If you can live with the inconsistency due to the presence of Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez deserves a top-four ranking.  Vernon Davis and Jermichael Finely certainly round out the best of the rest.

After the top-seven, Tony Gonzalez (age-less), then Fred Davis, Brandon Pettigrew, Brent Celek, and Own Daniels, make the next best tight-end talents given their involvement in their respective offenses.  This means they could disappear from the box score from time-to-time, but otherwise do enough that they deserve the TE1 designation in fantasy football, even though after Davis, the rest may be better suited as match-up based plays. 

As for the remaining tight-ends from thirteen to twenty-four, anyone of them could break through and become regular weekly fantasy starters.  Right now, however, they seem better suited to be drafted as back-up fantasy tight-ends with upside, until firmly proving their fantasy football worth.