2014 Fantasy Football Week 1 Rankings

I'll be giving up football for country music this Thursday.

If you saw my last pre-draft rankings, then you know that I'll be in the great state of Texas this week.  In fact, I won't even be watching the Thursday night game because my wife and I will be at a Brad Paisley concert (I know, right?).  So I won't be giving you a recap of how the Seahawks dominated the Packers, and I won't have a Friday rankings update.  I'll try to remedy all of that for Week 2, but for the first week of the season, this is what I'm giving you.  Hey, at least I'm getting these rankings out early!

Let's get right into it, shall we?

QBs 1.Peyton Manning 2.Drew Brees 3.Matthew Stafford 4.Andrew Luck 5.Matt Ryan 6.Nick Foles 7.Colin Kaepernick 8.Aaron Rodgers 9.Tom Brady 10.Jay Cutler 11.Cam Newton  12.Russell Wilson 13.RGIII 14.Tony Romo 15.Carson Palmer  16.Philip Rivers 17.Ben Roethlisberger  18.Ryan Fitzpatrick 19.Ryan Tannehill 20.Geno Smith  I'm hoping that my best keeper, Peyton Manning, can show that he's the #1 fantasy quarterback right out of the gate.  He'll be playing against Andrew Luck, and that's exactly who I'm playing against in my fantasy matchup.  I think both of these guys should put up big numbers in this contest, and I have both as top-5 plays this week.  Outside of the top-5 are several big names, most notably is Aaron Rodgers.  He'll be playing at Seattle in the Thursday night game, and that's a tough matchup for me to rank him any higher than 8th. You may notice guys like Andy Dalton and Alex Smith not even in my top-20.  Look, it's Week 1.  If you have to dig this deep for your starting fantasy QB, then you have problems. Anyway, if you've read my weekly rankings in previous seasons, you'll know that I usually do a Friday update and give you one player at each position I'm high on and one that I'm down on (versus the ESPN experts).  Well, I'm getting my rankings out too early and will be without a computer while on vacation.  So that will have to wait until next week.  I look forward to seeing who I will be high on and down on versus the experts, but I'll get to all of that in Week 2. RBs 1.LeSean McCoy 2.Jamaal Charles 3.Adrian Peterson 4.Matt Forte 5.Marshawn Lynch 6.Arian Foster 7.Montee Ball  8.Zac Stacy 9.Eddie Lacy 10.Frank Gore 11.Andre Ellington 12.Doug Martin 13.Alfred Morris 14.Giovani Bernard 15.DeMarco Murray 16.Toby Gerhart 17.Le'Veon Bell 18.Shane Vereen 19.Rashad Jennings 20.Joique Bell  21.Chris Johnson  22.Ben Tate 23.Fred Jackson   24.Bernard Pierce 25.Steven Jackson 26.CJ Spiller 27.Ryan Mathews 28.Reggie Bush 29.Lamar Miller 30.Pierre Thomas 31.Trent Richardson  32.Stevan Ridley 33.Maruice Jones-Drew 34.DeAngelo Williams 35.Darren Sproles 36.Mark Ingram 37.Knowshon Moreno 38.Bishop Sankey 39.Danny Woodhead 40.Carlos Hyde My top-4 running backs this week look exactly the same as my pre-draft rankings.  That shouldn't be too surprising because none of them have terrible-looking matchups in Week 1.  But then you'll notice Eddie Lacy and DeMarco Murray fall a little further from their preseason rank because they face tough NFC West run defenses (Seattle and San Fran, respectively).  Speaking of the Niners, I'm going out on a limb and saying that I'll probably have Frank Gore higher than most this week.  I have him as a top-10 RB against the Cowboys, and I'll most likely be rooting for him in a bar somewhere near Houston after the game.  I also have Carlos Hyde rounded out my top-40, as I think San Fran could be pounding it on the ground with both RBs. Hopefully you have better options than Sankey for Week 1. Speaking of rookie running backs, Bishop Sankey is a dicey pick for Week 1, but I feel like he'll get enough touches to be top-40 worthy.  I guess we'll have to wait and see though.  Also, Jeremy Hill is borderline here, as he just misses making the rankings this week.  The Bengals are expected to run the ball more this year, and it seems like Hill will be a big part of that.  It's very possible he'll crack my list next week when Cincy hosts Atlanta for their home-opener.  I'm also holding off on guys like Andre Williams and LeGarrette Blount.  I drafted both in my league, but I think both will be very touchdown-dependent for fantasy points.  I'm going to wait and see how they're used in Week 1 before considering them for my top-40 RBs. WRs 1.Calvin Johnson 2.DeMaryius Thomas 3.Dez Bryant  4.Brandon Marshall 5.Julio Jones 6.AJ Green 7.Alshon Jeffery 8.Roddy White 9.Andre Johnson 10.Victor Cruz   11.Larry Fitzgerald 12.Antonio Brown 13.Keenan Allen 14.Jordy Nelson 15.Vincent Jackson 16.Randall Cobb 17.Wes Welker 18.Pierre Garcon 19.Michael Crabtree 20.Michael Floyd 21.Percy Harvin 22.Cordarrelle Patterson 23.Torrey Smith 24.TY Hilton    25.Eric Decker  26.Emmanuel Sanders   27.Mike Wallace 28.DeSean Jackson 29.Marques Colston  30.Julian Edelman  31.Golden Tate 32.Jeremy Maclin 33.Kendall Wright 34.Brandin Cooks 35.Cecil Shorts 36.Riley Cooper 37.Terrance Williams 38.Reggie Wayne 39.DeAndre Hopkins 40.Kelvin Benjamin Cooks could make for a decent Flex play in Week 1... In case you were wondering, my #41 guy is Markus Wheaton, but I couldn't quite rank him this week.  I lowered Antonio Brown a bit based on the fact that he'll be facing the Iron Haden most of the day though, and I have a feeling Wheaton could have a big first game this season.  You'll notice I have Wes Welker well into my top-20, but it's still no certainty he even plays on Sunday night.  If he doesn't, then Emmanuel Sanders needs to be bumped up at least 10 spots or so... Another guy I like but couldn't quite fit into the rankings is Rueben Randle.  I think he'll have a big year, and it could start right away in Detroit this week.  You'll notice I haven't ranked Mike Evans or Sammy Watkins just yet either.  If you drafted either of those guys, you're braver than I am if you plan to start them in Week 1.  I'd at least wait a week or two and see how they handle the NFL game.  On the other hand, I did rank rookie wideouts Kelvin Benjamin and Brandin Cooks.  I think both could be a big part of their offenses right away. TEs 1.Jimmy Graham 2.Julius Thomas  3.Vernon Davis 4.Jordan Cameron  5.Greg Olsen 6.Rob Gronkowski 7.Kyle Rudolph 8.Jason Witten 9.Jordan Reed 10.Dennis Pitta 11.Zach Ertz 12.Martellus Bennett  It's tough to only rank 12 tight ends for Week 1, but there it is.  Guys just barely not making the list include: Charles Clay, Heath Miller, Antonio Gates, and Ladarius Green.  Both of the Charger TEs you ask?  Yeah, Arizona's defense last year was THAT bad against that position.  I think both of them could have solid games.   The toughest guy to rank this week had to be Gronk.  He's questionable to even suit up, but if he does then I'm still unsure as to how effective he'll even be.  I think he fits somewhere in the middle of the top-12 for Week 1, but if he produces then he could easily be right at the top for Week 2. DEF 1.Chiefs 2.Seahawks  3.Patriots 4.Bengals 5.Rams  6.Panthers 7.49ers 8.Lions 9.Broncos 10.Jets  11.Eagles 12.Steelers I wanted to put the Saints in my top-12, but I just couldn't do it.  They're away from home and playing the team from Hard Knocks.  I watch the Falcons on a weekly basis, and there's just too much bias built in for me to think the Saints can stop that offense in Week 1.  I guess we'll see what happens. Surprisingly, I only ranked two of the four AFC North defenses this week.  All of these teams play each other to kickoff their seasons, so I could see some low-scoring affairs.  But I don't know.  I'll have to check out those and others when I catch the highlights. Good luck to everyone in Week 1!   (Except you, David...) Cheers, Bart