Last week I wrote about things (and players) that suck. Since then my life has calmed down a bit. Boxes are unpacked, my nanny started work (yay!) and I’m back at work (well, we can’t have everything, right?). All in all, things are starting to get back to normal. And, normal is good. It’s predictable and safe.
Unfortunately, fantasy football isn’t predictable. If it were, we’d all win. The truth is you don’t know how your players will perform this year. You can’t predict the future. That said there are some players who are more predictable than others. You know, the players that have the right skill set, who are on the right team and have the right schedule. They are few and far between, but they exist. This year, the most predictable and safe guys are the elite wide receivers.
Fantasy experts everywhere are recommending that it is important to get an elite wide receiver. In Matthew Berry’s Draft Day Manifesto he implores his readers “to get an elite No. 1 wideout in the first three rounds.” Me? I’ll go one further and say do it in the first two rounds.
The following are the top ten receivers according to ESPN, Yahoo and CBS Sportsline. (Note: if you look closely you’ll see that I’m trying to make a point.)
|
ESPN |
Yahoo |
CBS Sportsline |
|
1 Larry Fitzgerald, ARI 2 Andre Johnson, HOU 3 Calvin Johnson, DET 4 Randy Moss, NE 5 Steve Smith, CAR 6 Greg Jennings, GB 7 Reggie Wayne, IND 8 Roddy White, ATL 9 Anquan Boldin, ARI 10. Dwayne Bowe, KC |
1. Larry Fitzgerald, ARI 2. Andre Johnson, HOU 3. Randy Moss, NE 4. Steve Smith, CAR 5. Calvin Johnson, DET 6. Reggie Wayne, IND 7. Greg Jennings, GB 8. Roddy White, ATL 9. Anquan Boldin, ARI 10. Dwayne Bowe, KC |
1. Larry Fitzgerald, ARI 2. Andre Johnson, HOU 3. Randy Moss, NE 4. Calvin Johnson, DET 5. Reggie Wayne, IND 6. Greg Jennings, GB 7. Anquan Boldin, ARI 8. Roddy White, ATL 9. Marcus Colston, NO 10. Steve Smith, CAR |
There is a consensus that eight guys (nine, if you include Steve Smith) are in a league of their own. I’m going to make sure that I have at least one of these guys on all of my teams. I hope that you do too.
My elite wideout rankings
1. Andre Johnson
2. Larry Fitzgerald
3. Randy Moss
4. Reggie Wayne
5. Roddy White
6. Calvin Johnson
7. Anquan Boldin
8. Greg Jennings
One more thing. Be sure to check out the new GameOn podcast, launching this week, with a short version — a nice introduction to what we will be bringing you in upcoming episodes. Next week we officially launch with a fantasy football special. Erica and I will be speaking with ESPN Fantasy Analyst Eric Karabell. Jordan Zucker from The Girl’s Guide to Fantasy Football will also stop by. GameOn will be available for download on gogameface.com and iTunes.
Send your fantasy football emails to mgreenhawt@gogameface.com. You can also find me on twitter as @melisgreenhawt.
I agree that you HAVE to target one of these players early. BUT...I've heard the phrase "you need to get an elite wide receiver" about the same number of times I heard "you have to get an elite SS" before the baseball season. It makes me and Jose Reyes a little twitchy. In the draft I've had so far, only Fitz went in the first round. With your rankings, Melis, does that mean you think Andre is worth a 1st round pick as well?
by sarah
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08.27.09