These observations are collected from the data from Thursday’s inputting of each site’s rankings. We’ll point out the biggest trends and variations in each of the key categories. This info is useful to understand where there may be a boom or bust player which is a guy that is high risk, but might be high reward. We’ll also look at which players had the most consistent rankings, which indicates a guy where you can feel more confident about that player’s slotting.
Biggest Variations in Ratings:
Jay Cutler – The highest QB ranking differential is owned by Cutler. He’s a 4th ranked QB by Fantasysharks and as low as a 22 or 23 by CNNSI or Richard from CBS Sportsline. Apparently the ‘Sharks are buying his week 1 performance, whereas the bulk of the rest of the experts are looking at last week as the aberration.
Jahvid Best – Again FantasySharks tends to really push our boom and bust rankings. They slot Jahvid Best in as the #1 RB this week. The Talented Mr Roto and NFL.com’s Smith have him in the mid twenties…and remember, this is STANDARD scoring, so they aren’t even taking into account points for receptions. We think it’s a bold call for Best, but if you feel like you need to roll the dice on a RB having a big game this week, Best might be that guy.
Mike Williams (TBB) – A very trendy pick this year, we saw MW going as early as the 2nd and 3rd round in 12 team drafts. The whole Tampa Bay offense struggled in week 1, and MW was just as bad as anyone else on that team (ok not as bad as Legarrete Blount). The experts are clearly struggling with where to plot him right now as well…his variation was a whopping 26. Dave Richard @ CBS Sportsline has him in his top 10, whereas the bulk of experts have him in the teens, and KFFL has him all the way down at 34.
TE – As a position we see more variance this week at TE than any other position. The emergence of previously unranked players like Fred Davis, Scott Chandler, and Ed Dickson, combined with a poor showing (in general) by the “elite” TEs on week 1 leaves the experts in a very inconsistent place.
Ben Watson (CLE) – Ben’s the perfect example of the above, several sites didn’t even rank him (so outside of their top 25 including Karabell from ESPN, FFToolbox, and Dave Richard from CBS. Plot that against NFL.com’s Smith and Rank who place him at #9 and #5 respectively and you have the classic boom/bust picture.
Most Consistent Ratings:
Sam Bradford – Huge expectations on Bradford from a fantasy standpoint this year with Josh McDaniel coming over, with Bradford’s first year play, and with the array of weapons he has at his disposal. Week 1 was a big disappointment and indicator of trouble ahead with Amendola’s injury, Steven Jackson’s injury, and Bradford hurting his throwing hand. The experts are in agreement that you should lower expectations this week…all have him slotted well below startability between 18-22 ranked QB.
Kicker is another spot where the variance is amazing by expert. We’ll see who emerges as knowing their stuff when we release cumulative rankings in week 4, but for now, all we can say is play your gut! The only thing everyone agrees on is that Mason Crosby is a top 5 kicker this week!
On the defensive front…the Steelers, Ravens and Vikings are consistent top picks…but the one thing almost every site can agree on is that the Buffalo Bills are the absolutely worst start this week (2 point derivation). Then again, if you were thinking about starting Buffalo this week you either play for the team, have a son on the team, or don’t speak English.
Got questions? Take them to Twitter @ffadvisorcom.
