1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Peyton Manning
4. Tom Brady
5. Matt Schaub
6. Philip Rivers
7. Tony Romo
8. Kevin Kolb
9. Joe Flacco
10. Jay Cutler
11. Brett Favre
12. Eli Manning
13. Matt Ryan
14. Chad Henne
15. Donovan McNabb
16. Ben Roethlisberger
17. Alex Smith
18. Jason Campbell
19. Vince Young
20. Carson Palmer
21. David Garrard
22. Kyle Orton
23. Matthew Stafford
24. Matt Cassel
25. Mark Sanchez
26. Matt Moore
27. Josh Freeman
28. Jake Delhomme
29. Matt Leinart
30. Matt Hasselbeck
31. Sam Bradford
32. Trent Edwards

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Every few days I will be breaking down each position in fantasy football to help you get ready for draft day.  Since they get all the glory let’s get it started with the Quarterbacks.  I am also updating the rankings for each position the day that the I do the breakdown.  You can catch the QB ranks here.

The Top Two

When ranking QB’s for fantasy drafts there are really only two options for the number one spot, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.  Both of these guys are precision passers with a big arm and touch when it is needed.  Not much room for criticism when talking about either guy.  Personally, I think there will be almost no difference in production from these guys in the passing game.  I rank Aaron Rodgers at number one solely because of his rushing ability.  It is never much, but around the goal line Rodgers is very good about getting the TD one way or the other.  In standard scoring the rushing TD is worth more than the passing one.  I expect around 300 yards rushing on the year and 3-5 TD’s.

The Rest of the Elite

Ranks 3 – 7 on my rankings are as follows: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Matt Schaub, Philip Rivers, Tony Romo.  My best recommendation is that you wait for one of these guys on draft day.  Last year Aaron Rodgers had a huge lead in total fantasy points among QB’s, but that won’t be likely to happen twice.  Typically, the difference between the number 1 QB and number 10 QB is not quite as big of a difference as you would think. For example, I just talked about the huge lead Rodgers had on the number 2 guy last year (who was Drew Brees).  That lead was 47 points.  The difference between Brees (2nd highest scorer) and McNabb (10th highest scorer) was only 23 points!  After these five guys you should not be confident with starting anyone regardless of their match up.  If you do land one of these guys then I believe there will be no need to draft a backup QB, just pick someone up off of waivers for their bye week.  Using this strategy will allow you to pick an additional high-upside guy at RB or WR in the late rounds.

The Best of the Rest

Rounding out the rest of the “starting” fantasy QB’s are Kevin Kolb, Joe Flacco and Jay Cutler.  This is where I would most like to make my QB selection for a standard scoring league.  My favorite QB to target in my drafts is Joe Flacco.  This guy is coming into his third year in the league.  It is time to put up or shut up for Joe, because he has the best set of offensive weapons any Baltimore Ravens QB has had at his disposal in a long time.  Flacco is a big sleeper for me this year because he has tools for every aspect of the passing game with Anquan Boldin and Dante Stallworth able to go over the middle and stretch the feild, Todd Heap and Derrick Mason for possession routes and short gains and we can’t forget about the element that Ray Rice brings to the passing attack out of the backfield.  Kevin Kolb has looked great in the first 2 preseason games and has even been able to involve DeSean Jackson in the intermediate routes which has me upgrading my expectations for both of them.  Jay Cutler is finally going to be playing in an offense that will use his strengths.  Mike Martz loves to stretch the field and pass it deep, I expect to see 30 – 40 passes per game.  I still foresee a lot of him getting hit and a throwing a similar number of interceptions… But he should have more yards and TD’s to make him a better QB in fantasy than he was last year.

The Rest

If you missed out on the top 10 QB’s that is unfortunate, but not the end of the world.  You will just now be left with the task of hunting the waiver wire for the guy playing against a terrible defense.  Among the best options in this group for you to scoop up on draft day are Brett Favre, Eli Manning, Matt Ryan, Chad Henne, Donovan McNabb and Ben Roethlisberger.  There are serious reasons to be concerned with all of these guys.  Most people wouldn’t even put Chad Henne in this group, but with Brandon Marshall able to help him stretch the field everyone on offense will improve this year.  McNabb will be able to keep the Redskins offense on the field for longer drives.  He has an uncanny ability to buy time in the pocket to pick up crucial 3rd down conversions.  This means more plays, more fantasy points from any Redskins you may own.  I don’t think Eli will get his second 4,000 yard season this year, but he should go over 30 TD’s and have a similar total number of fantasy points.  I am afraid of Favre this year now that Sidney Rice is down for an extended block of time.

Sleepers

Joe Flacco, Chad Henne, Alex Smith and Jason Campbell.

Busts

Brett Favre, Matt Ryan, Mark Sanchez and Carson Palmer.

Recap

The QB pool is very deep this year, but there is a steep drop off outside the top 10.  If you are in a 12 or 14 team league do not be one of the teams left out of the elite QB’s.  There are about 8 of them so wait as long as you can without missing the boat.  There is no need to reach for Rodgers or Brees but if you pick really late in the first round snatch one up, the next pick is coming soon.

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1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Peyton Manning
4. Matt Schaub
5. Tom Brady
6. Philip Rivers
7. Tony Romo
8. Jay Cutler
9. Kevin Kolb
10. Joe Flacco
11. Brett Favre
12. Eli Manning
13. Matt Ryan
14. Donovan McNabb
15. Ben Roethlisberger
16. Chad Henne
17. Alex Smith
18. Matthew Stafford
19. Vince Young
20. Jason Campbell
21. Carson Palmer
22. Mark Sanchez
23. David Garrard
24. Matt Leinart
25. Matt Cassel
26. Kyle Orton
27. Matt Moore
28. Matt Hasselbeck
29. Josh Freeman
30. Sam Bradford
31. Trent Edwards
32. Jake Delhomme

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The Texans are one of my favorite franchises, they have a great team but they can’t get to the post season with the quality of their divisional opponents every single year.  Last season they were killed by their lack of a running game and the only person to blame for that (in my opinion) is Coach Kubiak.  Obviously we do not know how Slaton took the benching in Buffalo when he was in the locker room, but instead of giving him a chance to rebound he decided to rotate among a large pool of mediocre talent.  For this year it looks as though everyone in the Houston organization is falling in love with Ben Tate.  Physically he is more of a between the tackles style of runner, which should make him the starter.

Top Fantasy Players

Andre Johnson – I don’t know what to say about Johnson other than he is the most consistent fantasy receiver in the league.  Because of this and his connection to Matt Schaub he is pretty much the unanimous number 1.

Matt Schaub – Watching this guy develop into the QB he is today has been entertaining.  When this team breaks through that barrier and into the post season it will be because of him.  He is a great option as your starting QB this season.

Ben Tate – The Texans used their 58th overall pick in this years draft get get Tate from Auburn. Tate had a breakout year in his Senior year at Auburn; He rushed for 3321 yards and got 24 touchdowns.

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