Fantasy Rankings, fantasy football, NFL, rankings

Most NFL teams hand out internal progress reports at each of the quarter points of the regular season: After four games, eight games, 12 games and 16 games.

Fantasy owners should utilize a similar approach to gain a better understanding of the ever-changing fantasy landscape.

Every fantasy league is different in terms of fantasy scoring, so the rankings below may not be reflective of your league. But they do offer some insight nonetheless.

For instance, there have been plenty of surprises in fake football so far this season. Some of the league’s bigger names this offseason (Michael Turner, LaDainian Tomlinson, Donovan McNabb, Randy Moss) find themselves out of the first quarter top-10s for one reason or another.

Meanwhile, newcomers like Giants’ wide receiver Steve Smith and Eagles’ tight end Brent Celek have become the hottest of commodities through the first four weeks of the season.

Taking a look periodically throughout the season is a good way to spot, follow and predict trends in the fantasy game. Use these first quarter rankings to your advantage.

The rankings below are for a standard-scoring, non-PPR league. Standard scoring in this case means the following for the offensive positions: 6 points for all touchdowns, 1 point per 25 yards passing, 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving, -2 points per turnover.

Top 10 Quarterbacks

Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers overtake Drew Brees as the top fantasy QB despite Brees’ hot start … Welcome to the elite category, Joe Flacco and Matt Schaub. Time to see if they can stay here … Old man Brett Favre enters the top 10 on the back of his three-touchdown performance against the Packers on Monday Night Football.

Top 10 Running Backs

Chris Johnson’s monster second week paced him out in front of fellow first rounders Adrian Peterson and Maurice Jones-Drew … Ronnie Brown appears fully recovered from the ACL injury he suffered two seasons ago and it is starting to show again … How much longer can Willis McGahee continue to score touchdowns? … Doubtful that Fred Jackson and Julius Jones stay in the top-10 by the end of the next quarter.

Top 10 Wide Receivers

Not the Steve Smith anyone expected to see at the top of the fantasy rankings after the first four weeks, and two Giants in the top-10 to boot … Mike Sims-Walker crashes the party and the name change appears to have done him well so far … Donald Driver is not the Packers’ receiver fantasy owners expected to see in the top-10 after four weeks.

Top 10 Tight Ends

The Colts passing game is on fire, simple as that (Manning, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark all at or near the top of their respective rankings) … A few of the usual suspects but one new party crashers in Brent Celek … Ben Watson always starts strong, expect a fizzle … Vernon Davis looks like the real thing, finally.

Top 10 Kickers

Just to demonstrate how random fantasy kickers are: Lawrence Tynes is the leading fantasy kicker and his team has been auditioning replacements … John Carney enjoyed the Saints high-powered offense for four weeks, but will he be replaced now that Garrett Hartley is off suspension?

Top 10 Defenses/Special Teams

Raise your hand if you thought San Francisco, New Orleans and Denver would have the topthree  fantasy defenses after four weeks (*crickets*) … Vikings, Giants, Jets, Eagles and Bears all justify preseason rankings so far.

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