There will be much talk about who the number one running back should be in fantasy drafts next season and you’ll read debates, but really who are we kidding, it’s Chris Johnson without a iota of a doubt. Did you hear, apparently Johnson is faster than
Aaron Rodgers had the top fantasy season for a quarterback. Expect him to remain number one next season. By the way, we’ll be posting a complete review of 16 fantasy football guides soon and Sports Illustrated is the only one who predicted such a season for Rodgers, ranking him second behind Drew Brees at QB and 12th overall. However, they had Chris Johnson ranked 16th amongst runnings backs.
I think Tom Brady will give Rodgers a run for his money next year. People were disappointed with his season, but he was coming back from a major injury.
My top 10 quarterback rankings for next season; Rodgers, Brady, Brees, Peyton, Rivers, Romo, Schaub, Roethlisberger, Eli and Favre (or Ryan if Favre retires).
Philip Rivers isn’t missing much to become elite, I love watching him play and I think he’ll still get better.
Did you notice that Matt Schaub led the league in passing yards with 4770?
Don’t expect much from Ricky Williams next season, what he accomplished was great at age 32, but chances of a repeat are slim to none at 33.
Jamaal Charles will be next year’s big breakthrough running back. He was the second highest scoring back from weeks 10 to 17 behind Johnson. No, I don’t think it will be Jerome Harrison although he could be very solid also.
Fred Jackson would be a stud if he didn’t have to deal with Marshawn Lynch.
Only once all season was Terrell Owens targeted at least 10 times in a game. It should have happened every single game. I think Owens still has one more big season in him if he lands with the right team (read right QB).
I don’t see Matt Forte bouncing back at all next season. Jay Cutler’s arrival isn’t the only reason, it looked like there was no fire under Forte every time I saw him play this season.
For fantasy players’ sake, Carolina should trade one of its running backs.
Look for nice things from Shonn Greene next season. He won’t a number one fantasy running back because of the presence of Thomas Jones, but he could certainly be a good number three. Of course, the Jets also have Leon Washington in the mix, but he’ll be coming back from a broken leg so he might not be a factor early on.
Knowshown Moreno will be a top 12 running back next season.
Nobody should be surprised that Michael Turner suffered ankle problems after carrying 377 times the previous season. He’s a great bounce back candidate.
Wes Welker had another awesome season yet he’ll still be undervalued next season when he should be the fifth wide receiver off the board after Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne and Randy Moss.
Expect Percy Harvin’s and Sydney Rice’s numbers to flip flop next year meaning Harvin will be the top wideout.
I actually drafted Austin Miles this season, only to drop him following week 1. I would really have regretted my decision had I not also drafted Welker and the Giants’ Steve Smith.
Speaking of Smith, it will be hard for him to repeat those numbers next year with Hakeem Nicks showing wonderful things in his rookie season. Smith will still be excellent, but Nicks will cut into his numbers.
How does Aaron Rodgers become the top fantasy quarterback without a top fifteen wide receiver? By having two top guys who had such similar numbers, 70-1061-6 (112 targets) for Donald Driver and 69-1120-4 (119 targets) for Greg Jennings.
Did you notice that almost retired Derrick Mason posted yet another 1000 season?
Calvin Johnson will bounce back to 1300 yards next season and I actually have him topping 1400 with Stafford improving.
If Kurt Warner plays another season and Arizona ships Anquan Boldin elsewhere, Steve Breaston will be a beast in 2010.
I wouldn’t touch Braylon Edwards with a 10-foot pole right now. I don’t see him as a top-50 wide receiver.
Dwayne Bowe will be undervalued next season because of all the games he missed this season.
Devin Aromashodu of the Bears caught 22 balls for 282 yards and four touchdowns in the last four games of the season. There’s no reason he won’t be a starter next season since Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox didn’t wow anybody.
Santonio Holmes had a breakout 1248-yard season, but he’ll be even better next year and could double the five touchdowns he scored this season.
The order of things completely changed at tight end in 2009 as tight ends scored fantasy points unlike never before and are becoming more and more valuable fantasy assets. If that trend continues, we’ll need two starting sports for the position in fantasy leagues.
Vernon Davis finally played up to his potential in his fourth season and should be taken into consideration as the top tight end to take in 2010, although I’d still go with Dallas Clark because of Manning.
Brent Celek came out of nowhere to become a top-five TE and Tony Gonzalez failed to catch for 900 yards for the first time since 2002.
Don’t forget about Owen Daniels next year, he could have been a top-3 tight end had it not been for injury.
For the upcoming fantasy football magazine review, we ran a mock-draft for the 16 magazines using their rankings. The top players who weren’t drafted because they were ranked too low by all mags are in order; Miles Austin, Giants’ Steve Smith, Sydner Rice, Vernon Davis, Ricky Williams, Brent Celek, Mike Sims-Walker, Heath Miller, Robert Meachem, Jerome Harrison, Mario Manningham, Austin Collie and Carnell Williams. Some magazines did rank guys like Celek in their top-12, but others ranked him much farther.