 |
| NFL Columns |
|
| Search |
|
|
|
|
| Draft Sim ID |
|
| Authored by Martin Barna - 12th July, 2005 - 4:34 pm
 I?m sorry, but I just can?t wait any longer. I was trying to hold out of fantasy football discussions until the last two weeks of August; I wanted to wait until after we had a couple preseason games and a few weeks of training camps under our belt before I started to ponder, postulate, and prognosticate the keepers, sleepers and busts of 2005; I wanted to see if I could outlast T.O., but my self-restraint couldn?t even carry me halfway through July. Coming from a guy who, as a boy, would formulate his Christmas Wish List well before the first wisp of autumn, I guess you?d have to expect nothing less. So with reckless disregard for the old adage that good things come to those who wait, here is the first of many fantasy-related columns in 2005.
The following is the first edition of an ongoing ranking system known as ?The Super 60?. Throughout training camp, preseason, and the regular season, this list will be regularly updated (hopefully weekly, but in light of my suspect work ethic, we?d better stick with ?regularly? for now) to feature the league?s top sixty players based on overall fantasy performance. Since this is the first list, rankings are based on projected performance and may serve as a valuable resource for fantasy drafts. So without adhering to any real mathematical or scientific protocols beyond my own research, knowledge and intuition (and, of course, paper-clip spinning to break ties), I present the inaugural edition of ?Super 60? Fantasy Football Rankings:
1 L. Tomlinson RB San Diego
2 Shaun Alexander RB Seattle -
3 Willis McGahee RB Buffalo -
4 Domanick Davis RB Houston -
5 Peyton Manning QB Indianapolis -
6 Clinton Portis RB Washington -
7 Jamal Lewis RB Baltimore -
8 Edgerrin James RB Indianapolis -
9 Corey Dillon RB New England -
10 Randy Moss WR Oakland -
11 Priest Holmes RB Kansas City -
12 Rudi Johnson RB Cincinnati -
13 D. Culpepper QB Minnesota -
14 Marvin Harrison WR Indianapolis -
15 Curtis Martin RB New York Jets -
16 Tiki Barber RB New York Giants -
17 Terrell Owens WR Philadelphia -
18 Julius Jones RB Dallas -
19 D. McCallister RB New Orleans -
20 Donovan McNabb QB Philadelphia -
21 Michael Vick QB Atlanta -
22 Kevin Jones RB Detroit -
23 Ahman Green RB Green Bay -
24 Chad Johnson WR Cincinnati -
25 Andre Johnson WR Houston -
26 Tony Gonzalez TE Kansas City -
27 Bryan Westbrook RB Philadelphia -
28 Antonio Gates TE San Diego -
29 Steven Jackson RB St. Louis -
30 Torry Holt WR St. Louis -
31 Anquan Boldin WR Arizona -
32 Michael Bennett RB Minnesota -
33 Brett Favre QB Green Bay -
34 Jeremy Shockey TE New York Giants -
35 Trent Green QB Kansas City -
36 Hines Ward WR Pittsburgh -
37 Nate Burleson WR Minnesota -
38 Tatum Bell RB Denver -
39 Joe Horn WR New Orleans -
40 LaMont Jordan RB Oakland -
41 Marc Bulger QB St. Louis -
42 Roy Williams WR Detroit -
43 Tom Brady QB New England -
44 Chris Brown RB Tennessee -
45 Fred Taylor RB Jacksonville -
46 Reggie Wayne WR Indianapolis -
47 Alge Crumpler TE Atlanta -
48 L. Fitzgerald WR Arizona -
49 Javon Walker WR Green Bay -
50 Matt Hasselbeck QB Seattle -
51 Ashley Lelie WR Denver -
52 Michael Clayton WR Tampa Bay -
53 J. J. Arrington RB Arizona -
54 Steve Smith WR Carolina -
55 Ronnie Brown RB Miami -
56 C. Williams RB Tampa Bay -
57 Drew Bennett WR Tennessee -
58 Jason Witten TE Dallas -
59 Carson Palmer QB Cincinnati -
60 Muhsin Muhammed WR Chicago -
A couple thoughts on the initial list:
1. The position breakdown went as follows: 24 running backs, 19 wide receivers, 10 quarterbacks and 5 tight ends. Not surprisingly, the team with the most players listed is Indianapolis with 4, while only the rebuilding San Francisco 49ers are currently unrepresented.
2. Some might argue that I?ve got a couple of the younger guys ? Domanick Davis, Willis McGahee, and even Clinton Portis ? a little high on my board. While Portis had been a legitimate top three fantasy back before last season, Washington will return in 2005 with a new running scheme to better utilize his vertical speed and instinctive cutting ability. Davis and McGahee, on the other hand, are coming off breakout years in 2005, but have not yet established themselves as perennial standouts. Yet, both are the featured weapons in their respective young offenses, both have demonstrated the potential to reign among the NFL?s elite, and with Travis Henry?s impending departure and the emergence of a fierce Texan aerial attack, both are entering 2005 under ideal circumstances. I might be making fun of myself in November for saying this, but if you?ve got a chance to select any of the three in the mid-first round of your draft, you?d be well served to snag them while you can.
3. Near misses for the first list included quarterbacks Kerry Collins, Joey Harrington, and Kurt Warner, or more familiarly, the cardboard cut-outs that lob the ball up to Randy Moss, Jerry Porter, Roy Williams, Charles Rodgers, Mike Williams, Anquan Boldin, and Larry Fitzgerald, respectively. Seriously though, couldn?t these teams just grab the automatic football-shooting machines they use for the halftime fan catching contest, stick it in the backfield, put it on a three-second delay and just run five-receiver sets all day? No? Some of the other honorable mentions were running backs Fred Taylor, Kevin Barlow, and DeShaun Foster, and wide receivers Jerry Porter, Laverneus Coles, Darrell Jackson, and Santana Moss. Look for these players to get move up as the season progresses and the cream begins to rise. |
