Week 1 Rankings: Friday Update

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

Last night was a pretty nice way to start off the fantasy season.  Well, not for me personally, but in general there was a lot going on.  (Torrey Smith didn't exactly light up the scoreboard, but I think he'll be good in the long run...oh, and my wife isn't too thrilled with the actual outcome of the game).

If you waited way too long to draft a QB and ended up starting a guy like Flacco last night, you have to be pretty satisfied.  But if you have Peyton Manning on your team, you have to be downright giddy after that performance.  If you had any of his targets (other than Decker), you're also jumping for joy right about now.  If you took Ray Rice with your top-3 pick?  Again, things look pretty good (especially for a PPR league).  Draft a Bronco running back?  Hopefully you didn't roll the dice and start one of them last night.  We'll see how that all shakes out in Denver, but I might not be ranking any of them in Week 2.  John Fox RBBC style strikes again!  So, lots to talk about...and that's just after ONE GAME!  Man, I can't wait until Sunday!!!

With that one game now in the books, I thought I'd take the time today to update my rankings.  I'm not doing much more than removing Ravens and Broncos, but I will be adding a few people to my list (and shuffling around one or two).  I'll let you know in the notes below if there's anything exciting going on in this update.

QBs

1.Drew Brees

2.Tom Brady

3.Andrew Luck

4.Matt Ryan

5.Aaron Rodgers

6.Colin Kaepernick

7.Matthew Stafford

8.Russell Wilson 9.Tony Romo 10.RGIII 11.Cam Newton 12.Eli Manning 13.Michael Vick

14.Ben Roethlisberger 15.Matt Schaub  16.Sam Bradford 17.Andy Dalton 18.EJ Manuel    19.Alex Smith 20.Carson Palmer              So now that Peyton Manning has left the Week 1 list (in 7-TD style I might add), I am now ranking Matt Ryan inside my top-5.  I'm still not going to move him ahead of Andrew Luck, more on principle at this point than anything.  I can't talk about liking one guy over another on Wednesday, only to go back on my word on Friday.  I mean, I could.  But that's not my style.  That being said, I now have Luck way higher than any of the experts...and I like it.  Let's see if he can do his best impression of Peyton. Get off me!  I'm not in the rankings yet... With two QBs coming off the list last night, it made room for a couple others.  I've added Alex Smith and Carson Palmer to the mix.  Sorry, but still no Jay Cutler.  Still no Josh Freeman for me either.  I just think that Jets defense will keep him honest this week.  Those two and Terrelle Pryor just barely didn't make my top-20.  Yes, Terrelle Pryor.  Say what you will, but I think the Colts are going to put a beatdown on the Raiders.  There will be a lot of throws playing from behind, and a guy like Pryor has the potential to get some serious points with his legs too.  Maybe he'll make an appearance on the Week 2 rankings...

RBs

1.Jamaal Charles

2.Adrian Peterson 3.Stevan Ridley 4.CJ Spiller

5.Doug Martin 6.LeSean McCoy 7.Alfred Morris 8.Steven Jackson 9.Trent Richardson  10.Marshawn Lynch 11.Maurice Jones-Drew 12.Arian Foster 13.David Wilson 14.Matt Forte 15.Reggie Bush 16.Chris Johnson 17.Frank Gore 18.DeMarco Murray 19.Darren McFadden 20.Darren Sproles 21.Lamar Miller 22.Ryan Mathews 23.Shane Vereen 24.Daryl Richardson 25.Rashard Mendenhall 26.Ahmad Bradshaw 27.Eddie Lacy 28.Isaac Redman 29.Ben Tate 30.DeAngelo Williams 31.Bilal Powell 32.Giovanni Bernard 33.Mark Ingram 34.Vick Ballard 35.Benjarvis Green-Ellis 36.Danny Woodhead 37.Chris Ivory 38.Fred Jackson 39.Michael Bush 40.Jacquizz Rodgers Here's a tip:  Just don't start ANY Jets!!! You may have noticed that I moved Ahmad Bradshaw down a little.  As I mentioned in the QB discussion above, I just have a feeling that the Colts will be pouring it on.  With Bradshaw coming off injury, I think we could see more Vick Ballard in the second half (or just more Luck doing his Peyton Manning impression, making me look like a genius!).  I'm moving Ben Tate up for basically the same reason.  Eddie Lacy is dropping a little bit too, since he's playing the 49ers tough run defense.  I think I got a little too high on him, and seeing what happened to Montee Ball last night scared me a little.  Yes, Lacy will get more touches than Ball did.  But I'm still a little concerned with what he might be able to do with those touches this particular week. Chris Ivory also falls down the list, and Bilal Powell more or less takes his place.  Apparently Powell earned the starting tailback position, but we'll see what that means for this Sunday.  Either way, Tampa Bay was the best defense against the run last season, so neither RB may do much this week.  Shane Vereen has moved up my rankings, dangerously close to Ryan Mathews.  This is going to be my game time decision at my Flex position in my money league.  Might just have to flip a coin... WRs

1.Calvin Johnson 2.Dez Bryant 3.AJ Green 4.Brandon Marshall 5.Julio Jones 6.Danny Amendola 7.Andre Johnson 8.Pierre Garcon 9.Roddy White  10.Larry Fitzgerald 11.Marques Colston 12.Victor Cruz 13.Randall Cobb 14.Reggie Wayne 15.Dwayne Bowe 16.Cecil Shorts 17.Antonio Brown 18.Vincent Jackson 19.DeSean Jackson 20.Hakeem Nicks 21.Steve Smith 22.Jordy Nelson 23.Miles Austin 24.T.Y. Hilton 25.Mike Wallace 26.Anquan Boldin 27.James Jones 28.Kenbrell Thompkins 29.Sidney Rice 30.Greg Jennings 31.Steve Johnson 32.Lance Moore 33.Mike Williams 34.Chris Givens 35.Vincent Brown 36.Golden Tate  37.Emmanuel Sanders 38.Tavon Austin 39.Kenny Britt 40.Denarius Moore Cheer up, Eric.  You still have something going for you... Well, I had all 3 Bronco receivers in my top-25.  Two of them should be there once all of the Week 1 games are finished.  It looks like Eric Decker could be the odd man out, especially with Peyton tossing 2 TDs to that beast tight end that no one was talking about in the preseason.  But it's only one game.  Next week, we'll probably all have Welker higher than Decker, and it'll be the latter who gets the scores.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.  As for my updates to this list, I've just added a few more names to the bottom.  DeAndre Hopkins hasn't cracked my list, but I think that's only a matter of time... TEs

1.Jimmy Graham

2.Jason Witten 3.Tony Gonzalez  4.Zach Sudfeld 5.Vernon Davis 6.Greg Olsen 7.Jermichael Finley 8.Owen Daniels 9.Kyle Rudolph 10.Brandon Pettigrew 11.Jared Cook 12.Jordan Cameron (No update. Didn't have Julius Thomas in my top-12, but might have to reconsider moving forward.)

DEF 1.Texans

2.Patriots 3.Seahawks 4.Rams 5.Buccaneers 6.Bears 7.Bengals 8.Colts 9.Steelers 10.49ers 11.Browns

12.Chiefs Well, the Broncos were a borderline top-12 defense in my rankings, but they had a good showing last night.  It would've been even better if Danny Trevathan held on to the football for one more yard.  I guess that was the DeSean Jackson touchdown celebration...? My all of your fantasy football dreams come true in Week 1... Cheers, Bart