As NFL Training Camps start to open one by one this week, our attentions will quickly turn to the 2015 Fantasy Football season.
By Griffin Gallagher
This means football is back in the air. More importantly though, it means that the 2015 Fantasy Football season is also coming. With many fantasy drafts close to starting, we’re going to rank the top players from each position.
Today we discuss the quarterback decision.
1. Aaron Rodgers, Packers
With the resigning of Randall Cobb, Aaron Rodgers will have all of his favorite weapons in place again this season. Behind one of the NFL’s best offensive lines, A-Rod should put up MVP numbers yet again.
2. Andrew Luck, Colts
The additions of Super Bowl hungry veterans Andre Johnson and Frank Gore will give Andrew Luck even more weapons heading into his fourth season. The young quarterback has put up arguably the best first three years in NFL history, and with an improved offensive line and more targets, Luck will be the AFC’s best quarterback for another year running.
3. Russell Wilson, Seahawks
Russell Wilson is the definition of defying the odds. The 5-11 quarterback has lead the Seahawks to two Super Bowls in his first three seasons throwing to mediocre receivers. With the offseason arrival of Jimmy Graham, Wilson will have a red zone target and Seattle will be able to rely less on the run game, as well as more on the passing game, giving Wilson more passing attempts and more touchdowns.
4. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers
Ben Roethlisberger has the weapons around him to be one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks this year. He will be throwing to the league’s best receiver Antonio Brown, and Martavis Bryant who showed a lot of potential last year turning in a rookie season of 549 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Running back Le’Veon Bell, who caught 83 receptions for 854 yards and 3 touchdowns last year will provide another receiving option for Big Ben, and his suspension for the first two games of the season will make the Steelers extremely reliant on the passing game.
5. Eli Manning, Giants
Yes, I put Eli Manning over his big brother. He put up one of the best statistical seasons of his career last year in his first season under new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo.
Victor Cruz should be healthy by Week 1 and will join a receiving corps including long ball threat Rueben Randle, red zone target tight end Larry Donnell, and breakout wide receiver star Odell Beckham Jr.
The Giants drafted Ereck Flowers in the first round of this year’s draft. He will protect Manning’s blindside in the absence of Will Beatty in the Giant’s new and improved offensive line. Expect another big year out of Manning.
6. Peyton Manning, Broncos
With the hiring of Gary Kubiak, the Denver Broncos are switching to a more run heavy offense which means less passing attempts for the veteran quarterback. With the emergence of CJ Anderson at the end of last season, Peyton Manning’s fantasy numbers took a hit, not scoring over 13 fantasy points after week 12.
Although he still has All-Pro receiver Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, you can still expect a decreased number touchdowns and attempts from Manning this year.
7. Cam Newton, Panthers
Cam Newton found his go-to receiver last year in Carolina’s 2014 first round pick Kelvin Benjamin. Benjamin’s 1,008 receiving yards tied elite tight end Greg Olsen for the team high.
Second round draft pick Devin Funchess out of Michigan is 6-4 and weighs in at 232 pounds, some sort of mix between tight end and wideout, will serve as the Newton’s no. 2 receiver. The Panthers also brought in offensive linemen Michael Oher to protect Newton in the pocket.
8. Matt Ryan, Falcons
Matt Ryan has arguably the best wide receiving duos in the league in Julio Jones and Roddy White. Both receivers have struggled with injuries in the past few seasons, but both are entering this season healthy and should help Ryan put up yet another productive year.
9. Drew Brees, Saints
No, I didn’t forget about Drew Brees. The New Orleans Saints run game will have one of the better 1-2 punches in the NFL this year in CJ Spiller and Mark Ingram. That, along with the departure of All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham are clear signs that the Saints are planning to switch their offense to one that revolves around the run game.
10. Tony Romo, Cowboys
Following the best season of his career in 2014, Tony Romo returns to an offense that lost star running back DeMarco Murray, wide receiver Dwayne Harris, and offensive tackle Jeremey Parnell. Ouch. On the plus side, the Cowboys were able to resign Dez Bryant and bring in veteran running back Darren McFadden.
Romo will have a good year, but I wouldn’t expect a MVP candidate season again this year.
11. Philip Rivers, Chargers
The San Diego Chargers grabbed RB Melvin Gordon after trading up to the no. 15 pick in the draft, and assuming they had the ball off to him a lot, that means less passing attempts for Rivers.
Last season Rivers had one of the best seasons of his career, partially due to the fact that the Chargers running game featured Branden Oliver and Danny Woodhead as the No. 1 and No. 2 backs. Rivers also has to deal with not having Gates following his suspension.
If backup tight end Ladarius Green can’t step up and Gordon impacts the number of passing attempts Rivers takes, you could see a decline in the fantasy points he puts up his year.
12. Joe Flacco, Ravens
Every year fantasy owners tend to count Joe Flacco out and and every year he finds a way to prove them wrong. This year looks to be no exception.
Although he lost tight end Owen Daniels and veteran wide receiver Torrey Smith, the Ravens took to the draft and selected rookie receiver Breshad Perriman out of Central Florida to pair with All Pro veteran receiver Steve Smith and tight end Maxx Williams to replace Owen Daniels. Flacco has the weapons around him to have another solid year. He is a decent starter in fantasy, and a great guy to have come off the bench.
13. Tom Brady, Patriots
If Tom Brady wasn’t facing a four game suspension at the start of the season you’d have definitely have read his name already. However he deflated any chance of that happening.
Ba dum tsss.
All jokes aside, fantasy owners need to take into account how much four games mean. In most standard fantasy leagues that’s a third of the season. Can you really afford to not have your starting quarterback for a third of your season?
I’m not saying don’t draft Brady at all, but you would need to pair him with somebody above or slightly below his name on this list in order for this pick to have any value whatsoever.
14. Ryan Tannehill, Dolphins
This guy just gets better and better every year. This offseason, the Miami Dolphins pretty much threw away most of their offense and started from scratch. And it worked.
The departures of wide receivers Brian Hartline and Mike Wallace, tight end Charles Clay, and running backs Daniel Thomas and Knowshon Moreno lead to the arrivals of tight end Jordan Cameron, wide receivers Greg Jennings and Kenny Stills, and talented young running back Lamar Miller taking over the starting running back position.
Jarvis Landry will also work to pick up where he left off on his breakout rookie season last year. The Dolphins are a force to be reckoned with this year and with Ryan Tannehill at the helm, he could be the best backup fantasy quarterback you can grab. He could be a solid starter on a fantasy team with the right backup behind him.
15. Jameis Winston, Bucs
Wow, don’t everyone agree with me at once! I personally don’t understand why Winston is ranked so low in most rankings.
This is the number one pick in the draft! Jameis Winston was easily the most NFL ready quarterback in the draft and he seems to have matured from his off the field issues. He enters an offense with two thousand yard receivers in Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, and massive tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins who shows signs of breakout potential.
It’s not like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have much of a run game either to cut into Winston’s attempts.
16. Teddy Bridgewater, Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings acquired the speedy Mike Wallace over the offseason to give quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who spent most of last year throwing to Greg Jennings who was cut by the team over the offseason and Charles Johnson.
The return of Adrian Peterson has its pros and cons for the young quarterback’s fantasy value. On the bright side, AP is a great receiving running back and should be a reliable weapon coming out of the back field, however Norv Turner likes to run the ball, and in his second year with the Vikings, that’s probably how he’ll want to run the offense with the return of Peterson.
17. Matthew Stafford, Lions
As a huge personal fan of Detroit Lions new rookie running back Ameer Abdullah I can’t see the Lions passing it as frequently with Abdullah in the backfield. Matt Stafford has great receiving weapons in Calvin Johnson, Golden Tate and Eric Ebron. He should serve as a solid backup on a fantasy team.
18. Colin Kaepernick, 49ers
It’s hard to believe that just three years ago this young quarterback lead the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. With the loss of veteran running back Frank Gore, and wide receivers Stevie Johnson and Michael Crabtree, it’s hard to imagine Colin Kaepernick putting up as many fantasy points this year.
19. Sam Bradford, Eagles
His strong and accurate arm and quick decision making in the NFL has been very impressive. However, Sam Bradford has missed 25 games in the past two seasons due to ACL tears.
So what does this mean? You have to use Bradford differently.
I personally think Bradford could be a solid starting fantasy quarterback this year. But you have to have one of the guys on this list ahead of him to start once he gets hurt. It’s very likely Bradford will get hurt this year. He will not play 17 games. So you should either take one of the guys ahead of him on this list, or hand cuff him to Mark Sanchez.
20. Carson Palmer, Cardinals
I just don’t think Carson Palmer is a good football player. At least not anymore.
However, he’s a solid player from a fantasy standpoint. He has the receivers to be a solid fantasy player. He has the line to make passes from the pocket. He has the lack of run game to not worry about his attempts decreasing. This is what fantasy is all about. Palmer is a solid backup QB.
The Best of the Rest:
21. Andy Dalton, Bengals
22. Marcus Mariota, Titans
23. Jay Cutler, Bears
24. Derek Carr, Raiders
25. Blake Bortles, Jaguars
26. Robert Griffin III, Redskins
27. Geno Smith, Jets
28. Jimmy Garoppolo, Patriots
29. Nick Foles, Rams
30. Josh McCown, Browns
31. Matt Cassel, Bills
32. Mark Sanchez, Eagles
33. Johnny Manziel, Browns
34. Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jets
35. Brian Hoyer, Texans