| Mv |
Rank |
Player |
Team |
Bye |
| |
1 |
Aaron Rodgers |
GBP |
10 |
| |
2 |
Drew Brees |
NOS |
10 |
| |
3 |
Peyton Manning |
IND |
7 |
| |
4 |
Tom Brady |
NEP |
5 |
| |
5 |
Matt Ryan |
ATL |
8 |
 |
6 |
Jay Cutler |
CHI |
8 |
| |
7 |
Matt Schaub |
HOU |
7 |
| |
8 |
Tony Romo |
DAL |
4 |
| |
9 |
Philip Rivers |
SDC |
10 |
| |
10 |
Eli Manning |
NYG |
8 |
| |
11 |
Carson Palmer |
CIN |
6 |
| |
12 |
Donovan McNabb |
WAS |
9 |
|
13 |
Josh Freeman |
TBB |
4 |
 |
14 |
Joe Flacco |
BAL |
8 |
| |
15 |
David Garrard |
JAC |
9 |
| |
16 |
Kyle Orton |
DEN |
9 |
|
17 |
Michael Vick |
PHI |
8 |
| |
18 |
Brett Favre |
MIN |
4 |
| |
19 |
Vince Young |
TEN |
9 |
| |
20 |
Chad Henne |
MIA |
5 |
| |
21 |
Matt Cassel |
KCC |
4 |
|
22 |
Kevin Kolb |
PHI |
8 |
| |
23 |
Matthew Stafford |
DET |
7 |
| |
24 |
Matt Hasselbeck |
SEA |
5 |
|
25 |
Jason Campbell |
OAK |
10 |
| |
26 |
Alex Smith |
SFO |
9 |
| |
27 |
Ben Roethlisberger |
PIT |
5 |
| |
28 |
Sam Bradford |
STL |
9 |
| |
29 |
Derek Anderson |
ARI |
6 |
| |
30 |
Jake Delhomme |
CLE |
8 |
| |
31 |
Mark Sanchez |
NYJ |
7 |
| |
32 |
Shaun Hill |
DET |
7 |
|
33 |
Ryan Fitzpatrick |
BUF |
6 |
|
34 |
Jimmy Clausen |
CAR |
6 |
| |
35 |
Dennis Dixon |
PIT |
5 |
|
Jay Cutler, Bears –
Sure, it’s only been two weeks, but sometimes it is simply fun to play with numbers. If you project Cutler’s numbers out for the season, he’s on pace for 40 touchdowns, 8 interceptions and over 5,000 yards. Ok, so no one believes he’ll actually get there, especially with an offensive line that is anything but solid, but the point is that he’s on fire out of the gate. He gets Green Bay on Monday night this week in a game that could easily be a shootout, not to mention will have serious implications for the division. Cutler moves up and could move up further if he stays on this tear for a few more weeks.
Josh Freeman, Bucs –
Freeman’s movement up is tempered by one detail. His first two opponents have not been very good (Cleveland and Carolina) and he now will face a stretch of teams that are much better (New England, Green Bay, Miami, and New Orleans). At the moment however, he is being very efficient, tossing touchdowns and not tossing interceptions (only one so far), not lighting things up, but getting fantasy owners production. In a moment in time where quarterbacks like Favre, Garrard, Young and others are posting simply pathetic numbers, quarterbacks like Freeman become very attractive. Don’t expect huge outings, but consistently solid performances should be relatively steady.
Joe Flacco, Ravens –
Call it however you’d like, but the bottom line is Flacco just isn’t performing. Sure, he faced a tough Jets defense in week one, but there isn’t much of an excuse for week two. He’s got one touchdown and five interceptions in two weeks, not numbers that justify his top ten ranking heading into the season. With receivers as talented as the one’s he’s got at his disposal, including the big off season acquisition, Anquan Boldin, it is hard to make excuses for him. So, until he begins to prove otherwise, he’s on the slide.
Michael Vick & Kevin Kolb, Eagles – /
As much as we didn’t think it would happen, it appears that, for the time being at least, Vick is the starter in Philadelphia. Kolb is still the ‘future’ as they say, but due to Vick’s surprisingly good play the team has little choice but to stick with the ‘hot hand’. His forward prospects are much better than they were, at least for the foreseeable future, but expect the possibility of a roller coaster with Vick and Kolb throughout the season, something that may end up driving fantasy owners nuts. For now Kolb takes a dive, while Vick’s star rises considerably.
Jason Campbell, Raiders –
While Campbell got pulled in favor of Bruce Gradkowski last week, don’t bet on him losing his job – yet at least. The fact is, while Gradkowski had a decent relief effort, the powers that be in Oakland (namely Al Davis) isn’t going to let Campbell get benched for long unless he stinks up the joint for a very long time. Few things are almost as certain as death and taxes, but this is one of those things. So, while Campbell won’t be losing his job permanently just now, he will slide a good bit in our projections as he is on shaky ground at best – possibly not getting the start even this week. Bottom line, he’ll get some decent garbage numbers now and then, but don’t bank on him for any kind of consistency.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Bills –
Trent Edwards is out as the Bills quarterback, and barring an injury to Fitzpatrick won’t be back. The team finally has had enough and did what needed to be done. While Fitzpatrick isn’t going to be a huge upgrade over Edwards, he should at least put some offensive numbers on the board, more than could be said for Edwards most weeks. Look for this to possibly have a residual effect on the value of Lee Evans as well as the weeks move on.
Jimmy Clausen, Panthers –
It would appear that the Matt Moore era in Carolina lasted all of two weeks. The team has said that Clausen is the starter and considering the fact that the team is going to be ‘rebuilding’ around a new, raw quarterback, they may as well see what their future is. Clausen will struggle, of course, and he doesn’t move up much, but as has been proven by the likes of Flacco, Ryan, Stafford and Bradford, just because you’re a rookie doesn’t mean you can’t put up some fantasy numbers worthy of consideration for bye week help or spot starting in desperate situations. |
Facebook 
Twitter 
Mobile
Now first let me clarify, out of my 15 or so leagues, I don't have Ryan in any of them, so scratch that one off the list below. Next, MTF. Would you please explain why it is you like Orton so much more than Ryan? If you're looking at stats, the only real difference is about 125 yards...both have 3 TDs and 1 INT. In fact, Ryan has two more completions. So not sure how you go with that argument. Also, if you read this column every week Orton moved from 26 to 21 last week (and was commented on btw) and from 21 to 16 this week. Facts are facts.
As for where Ryan is ranked. He was ranked 8 when the season started on this site. He has not moved up - three people who were ranked above him have been moved down. The general rule is (and it's a GENERAL rule - so not rigid) that if a player doesn't do anything negative enough to cause a move down, or if no circumstances occur that would warrant it looking ahead, he doesn't move down. This has been the case with Ryan. He hasn't lit it up, but he hasn't done anything to warrant a move down. He has a VERY favorable schedule, for the most part, for the rest of the season, and all of this adds up to him not moving deliberately down.
As for the argument that others could or should be above him, perhaps, and if so they eventually will - thus the movement each week. Romo was mentioned below as someone the person making the comment would rather have than Ryan. Really? Sure, Romo has 600+ yards, but he's only got 2 TDs, to go with 2 INTs. His team looks completely lost going into a likely 0-3 start. Not sure what your scoring system is, but I'd want Ryan over Romo all things considered, in almost EVERY scoring system. I love Schaub, Rivers and am ok with Cutler because of the system he's in now primarily, but there have been enough questions with them initially that they either haven't moved at all (Rivers), are within one of where we initially had them ranked (Schaub started at 6 and is now 7) or have moved up (Cutler started at 10, went to 8 last week and 6 this week).
Vick. Yeah, everyone's hot on him now, and finally it seems the team has figured out what they're going to do for the rest of the year. However, if you remembe three weeks ago and going back a few months, they new exactly what they were going to do then too...go with Kolb for the future. Kolb gets hurt, Vick plays well agains - primarily - DETROIT!!! - and now he's supposed to all of a sudden be way at the top? Sorry. There's seriously no guarantee he makes it through the season either as the starter or playing as well as he is right now. If he continues, he'll continue to move up.
Freeman and Garrard. First, Freeman vs Vick. Vince, the schedule over the next five weeks favors Freeman heavily vs Vick. the second half of the season - if all things remain equal - will likely see them swap, as the schedule 'flips' as it were. Head to head Vick has only about 100 more yards than Freeman (understand he missed half a game) but Freeman has one more TD (4) than Vick (3) and only one INT to Vicks none. Vick actually has a running game, Freeman really doesn't, at least not on the same par, so think they both are about even if anything, and with Freeman cemented as the starter and Vick likely to get replaced if he really starts to struggle - with Kolb, the certainty going forward is with Freeman.
Garrard, well, you can argue him a ton of ways, and as bad as he looked this week is about how good he'll look this week. Even so, here is how the three have progressed in the rankings the first three weeks:
David Garrard 23 16 15
Kyle Orton 26 21 16
Michael Vick 35 27 17
With this trajectory, they'll both be above Garrard by next week...all things remaining equal.
Big Ben doesn't come back for another 3 weeks or so, when he does, he'll begin to move up.
So, hope I've addressed everything. Remember, there are a ton of scoring systems and a ton of opinions, but here's the logic behind the guy doing the rankings. Enjoy munching on that debate!
You've got Freeman & Garrard ahead of Orton? Have you seen any Denver games? Please...Garrard doesn't belong in top 25, and that's at home. Maybe top 50 on the road.