2014 Position Rankings!!!

2014 Fantasy Football Position Rankings (Updated August 7, 2014)
The 2014 NFL season is upon us! Now that Summer has officially begun, it is time for me get back into writing for you fine people! So much has happened since my last post. We saw a lot of players gain value due to scenery changes (Toby Gerhart, Ben Tate, etc.) and we saw some players possibly lose some value as well (Chris Johnson, DeSean Jackson, etc.). This is my first official rankings for the 2014 fantasy football season. As training camps open up later in July these rankings may change. There are still many stories to be unravelled as the season gets closer. A wise man once said "Sit down.... stay a while.... and let the good times roll!" Enjoy :)

QB

1. Peyton Manning- Peyton's gonna be Peyton.
2. Aaron Rodgers- Now that there is a ground game, look for Rodgers to post amazing numbers.
3. Drew Brees- Regularly puts up 5,000+ passing yards. No worries here.
4. Matthew Stafford- Having Calvin and now Golden Tate will help his cause.
5. Matt Ryan- Throwing to Julio Jones and Roddy White is as good as it comes.
6. Colin Kaepernick- SF added Stevie Johnson and gets Crabtree back to full health. Kaep should have a solid season with all those weapons he has now.
7. Robert Griffin III- Another year removed from the torn ACL and he now gets a field stretcher in DJax. Expect great things from RGIII.
8. Andrew Luck- Gets Wayne back and adds Nicks as well.... Solid.
9. Tony Romo- Never gets any love. New OC Scott Linehan will do wonders with this offense.
10. Tom Brady- If Gronk is healthy at the beginning of the season and can stay healthy, the sky is the limit.
11. Nick Foles- Losing DeSean Jackson hurts his value some. He will regress from his ridiculous 27 TD/ 2 Int from last season.
12. Philip Rivers- Has a stud at WR in Keenan Allen and a great HC in Mike McCoy.
13. Cam Newton- I think I could start at WR for the Panthers.... Seriously.... it's that bad...
14. Russell Wilson- Run first offense scares me but he is a quality QB. Gets Harvin back 100% as well.
15. Jay Cutler- Throws to arguably the best WR duo in football.... if only he could stay healthy for a full 16 games....
16. Ben Roethlisberger
17. Ryan Tannehill
18. Andy Dalton
19. Alex Smith
20. Eli Manning

RB

1. Adrian Peterson- Getting Norv Turner will do wonders for AP. Still has a couple great years in the tank.
2. LeSean McCoy- Stud fo sho.
3. Jamaal Charles- The only reason he isn't #1 is because of the offseason moves on his O-Line. He will still be a stud. No worries.
4. Matt Forte- Perfect skill set for this offense.
5. Eddie Lacy- As safe as they come this year at the scarce RB position.
6. Montee Ball- With Moreno gone, Ball gets the backfield to himself in Denver. Great things shall follow.
7. Le'Veon Bell- Had a great rookie year and HC Mike Tomlin loves him. Expect a lot of volume this year.
8. DeMarco Murray- Even if he misses 2 games again this year, I like him to post amazing numbers. Expect his receptions to go up with OC Scott Linehan calling the plays.
9. Giovani Bernard- Bernard will begin to emerge as a star this year.
10. Alfred Morris- Lacks in the receptions but gets a healthy workload and that adds to his value.
11. Arian Foster- Getting the year off (basically) will have him rested and ready for 2014. 
12. Marshawn Lynch- My gut tells me the workload over the past 3 years will catch up to Lynch this year. Expect regression. The holdout doesn't help either...
13. Zac Stacy- An improved O-Line and a lot of volume makes Stacy a solid RB.
14. Doug Martin- The new coaching staff in TB scares me off Martin some...
15. Ryan Mathews- As long as he stays healthy he will produce in this offense.
16. CJ Spiller- Healthy is the only thing keeping him from being a top 5 RB.
17. Andre Ellington- All signs this offseason point to Ellington having a much larger workload this season. Has a ton of talent.
18. Toby Gerhart- Finally out of Peterson's shadow, look for Gerhart to come close to 300 total touches.
19. Bishop Sankey- The talented Rookie gets his chance to shine with this star studded O-Line.
20. Frank Gore- Has one more good year in the tank.
21. Rashad Jennings- Posted over 1,000 total yards last season in only 8 games.... could be a steal if he stays healthy.
22. Reggie Bush- Word has it that his workload will decrease as he and Bell split carries.
23. Joique Bell- He's talented, but as long as Bush is in his way, he will never hit his potential. 
24. Shane Vereen- Sneaky value as the pass catching RB in NE.
25. Stevan Ridley- As long as he doesn't fumble the job away.....
26. Ben Tate- If he stays healthy he could finish much higher than this. 
27. Trent Richardson- Indy still believes he can be a 3 down back. Now let's see him do more than just run into his own offensive linemen. 
28. Chris Johnson- The move to the NYJ could be beneficial but I still think Chris Ivory cuts into his touches.
29. Ray Rice- It sounds like a suspension is looming from offseason troubles....
30. Pierre Thomas- Sneaky play in this high profile passing attack. PPR stud.

WR

1. Calvin Johnson- Megatron is in a league of his own.
2. Demaryius Thomas- As long as Manning is throwing him the ball he will be a stud (and maybe even when Peyton is gone).
3. Dez Bryant- Has the skill to hang with Megatron and with new OC Scott Linehan, Bryant could post a career year.
4. AJ Green- As consistent as they come.
5. Brandon Marshall- Jay Cutler loves this guy. Nothing to worry about here.
6. Julio Jones- His chronic foot problems is all that stands in the way of him being a top 3 WR.
7. Jordy Nelson- With Rodgers at QB, Jordy will produce.
8. Antonio Brown- Showed last year that he can carry the workload.
9. Randall Cobb- This is the year Cobb puts it all together.
10. Alshon Jeffery- I'm worried that most of his production came while McCown was QB...
11. Pierre Garcon- I think the signing of Jackson will give him more quality looks now.
12. Keenan Allen- He's working on his speed this offseason. He has a lot of upside.
13. Michael Crabtree- Numbers don't lie. Kaepernick loves to throw to him.
14. Vincent Jackson- Now that Mike Evans is in town, VJax should have more quality looks as well. He's a little too inconsistent though.
15. Andre Johnson- the yardage will always be there. It's the TD numbers that worry me.
16. Victor Cruz- A bounce back year will be in order with Cruz.
17. Roddy White- Another bounce back candidate that will benefit from having Julio Jones back healthy.
18. Larry Fitzgerald- The passing of the torch is coming....
19. Michael Floyd- I'm expecting big things from Floyd as he builds from his first 1,000 yard season.
20. Cordarelle Patterson- With Norv Turner as his new OC, look for big things to come. Turner has already stated that he created plays just for Patterson this offseason.
21. Wes Welker- With Decker gone, look for Welker to help pick up the slack.
22. Julian Edelman- Tom Brady's #1 target will only get better. 
23. Percy Harvin- Health will always be an issue but he is just so talented....
24. DeSean Jackson- Not much to his game...
25. Jeremy Maclin- Takes over the #1 Wr roll in a Chip Kelly offense, solid gold.
26. Torrey Smith- Adding Steve Smith will help with the double teams for Torrey.
27. Kendall Wright- He gets the receptions. Now lets work on the TDs.
28. Emmanuel Sanders- With Decker gone, look for Sanders to contribute a lot in this offense.
29. Golden Tate- Goes from one of the most run heavy offenses to one of the most pass happy offenses... oh and did I mention he has Calvin Johnson on the other side of the field?
30. Marques Colston- He still has something left in the tank.

TE

1. Jimmy Graham- The best in the business. Period.
2. Julius Thomas- Expect his yards and TD's to go up this year with Decker gone.
3. Rob Gronkowski- If he's healthy by week 1, he could a steal. Health is the only concern.
4. Jordan Cameron- With Gordon likely to be suspended, look for the Browns to lean heavily on Cameron.
5. Greg Olsen- With how bad the WR corps are in Carolina, I expect Olsen to have a career year as the go-to receiving option for Cam Newton.
6. Vernon Davis- with all the additions at receiver this offseason and the potential contract situation, I see a few reasons to tread with caution on Davis.
7. Jason Witten- Hopefully new OC Scott Linehan can get Witten a couple more TD's.
8. Kyle Rudolph- The TE Guru, Norv Turner, is Rudolph's new OC. A career year is in order.
9. Dennis Pitta- Flacco loves Pitta. New OC Gary Kubiak also loves throwing to the TE.
10. Jordan Reed- If he can stay healthy he could finish higher than this, easily.
11. Zach Ertz- With DeSean Jackson gone, Ertz will receive more targets in this high speed offense.
12. Martellus Bennett- This offense keeps getting better and better.
13. Charles Clay- Seized the opportunity when Dustin Keller went down last year. 
14. Delanie Walker
15. Heath Miller- The forgotten TE. A year removed from a major injury. Bounce back year.
16. Eric Ebron
17. Antonio Gates
18. Ladarius Green
19. Garrett Graham
20. Tyler Eifert

** Please feel free to follow me on Twitter @CTonyRow. Send in your questions. I'm always up for helping in any way possible :) Look for the best questions to be answered in the fantasy mailbag section coming soon!

Can Dennis Pitta be an elite TE?

Dennis Pitta re-signs with Baltimore. What does it mean?

Dennis Pitta recently re-signed with the Baltimore Ravens to the tune of a 5 year/ $32 million deal. This is obviously good news for the Ravens, as the only solid weapon they had last year receiving wise was Torrey Smith. So now the question stands, what does it mean for fantasy purposes?
First off, I love what it does for Torrey Smith and his fantasy value. As stated above, Smith was the only decent WR for Baltimore and therefor saw a lot of double teams. He still performed as a WR2 (finishing the season as the WR19 in standard leagues). With Pitta now healthy and signed, Smith will see less double teams. Pitta has a lot of athleticism and is a great route runner. He will keep defenses honest in that regard.
Next, Pitta looked pretty good down the stretch when he was able to return from a hip injury that sidelined him for most of last season. He has the ability to perform immediately. In 2012 Pitta posted 669 yards receiving and 7 TDs. These are easily starting TE numbers. Also, these were before Torrey Smith really broke out and before they signed Gary Kubiak to the coaching staff. Which leads me to my final, and maybe most important, point...
Gary Kubiak is the new Offensive Coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens after being fired as head coach of the Houston Texans. As HC of the Texans, Kubiak installed a system that relied heavily on the TE position. A majority of the passes by Matt Schaub in Houston were to the TE. This bodes very well for Pitta. So Kubiak will look towards Pitta often in Baltimore, which can only help his value.
Pitta is one of those TEs that has a lot of upside. He will fall somewhere from 5-7 in most TE rankings. Feel free to draft Pitta with confidence.

2014 Projection: 65 receptions, 743 yards receiving, 8 TDs

**Please feel free to follow me on Twitter @CTonyRow. Send me your fantasy questions and they might be chosen for the Fantasy Mailbag section.

Player Profile: Michael Crabtree

Player Profile

Michael Crabtree

In 2012, Michael Crabtree was a sneaky fantasy play. He began the season with Alex Smith as his starting QB but around halfway through the season Smith suffered a concussion and Colin Kaepernick was thrown into the lineup. Since then, Smith has moved on to Kansas City and Kaepernick has continued to start for San Francisco. When Kaep took over as QB, it was quite clear that he wanted to throw Crabtree’s way and that th two had chemistry. He finished the season with 1,105 yards receiving and 9 TDs, finishing as a top 20 fantasy WR.

Moving into 2013, there was so much promise for Crabtree to be a borderline WR1 and fulfill the promise that so many people saw when Crabtree was a stud WR in college at Texas Tech. Then came the torn Achilles tendon that sidelined him until week 13. When he finally made it back into the lineup he showed flashes of brilliance, especially in weeks 15 and 16, where he posted double-digit fantasy points. He didn’t look the same but that was to be expected with some possible rust from the long layoff.

Looking forward to 2014, Crabtree has the opportunity to bounce back to his 2012 form. One thing to remember is that Crabtree is in a contract year. Usually players that are in contract years tend to give that little extra effort with hopes of impressing possible employers. Next, let’s remember that Kaepernick loves Crabtree and will benefit from having his #1 WR back. I have also heard that the 49’ers are in the market for a downfield threat to help Crabtree and Vernon Davis.

Also, let’s look at the supporting cast for San Francisco. To go along with Crabtree, San Francisco has one of the best tight ends in the game in Vernon Davis. Davis plays all over the field and helps in keeping defenses from just centering on Crabtree. Anquan Boldin was a fantastic addition last offseason to the tune of 1,179 yards receiving and 7 TDs. Unfortunately, as of now, Boldin is set to be a free agent. If San Fran re-signs him, it will only help Crabtree’s value by keeping defenses from double teaming him. If they let him walk, it may hurt Crabtree’s value a bit. Now we move on to the most important position in the NFL, Quarterback. In 2012, Colin Kaepernick showed a lot of promise and chemistry with Crabtree in the lineup. In 2013, Kaepernick struggled most of the season without his top target. It was interesting to see how the dynamic of the entire offense changed with Crabtree out of the lineup. Kaepernick has shown that he can get Crabtree the ball and that he wants to get Crabtree the ball. There should be no concern that passes will not be thrown in Crabtree’s direction.

One thing that we have to remember with Crabtree is that we have a small sample size to analyze. We can pretty much throw 2013 out of the equation due to the fact that he was injured a majority of the season and rust was sure to set in from the long layoff. There is just no way of telling if he was the same player. So all we have to go by is the half of the 2012 season that Crabtree played with Kaepernick as his starting QB. Those numbers that he put up tell me that we have more to expect from Crabtree in the future.

The next point to look at would have to be the division Crabtree plays in. The NFC West is one of the toughest divisions in the NFL with three teams that posted 10+ wins last season (Seattle, SF, Arizona). The cornerbacks in this division are also top of the line. Seattle sports one of the best corners in the league in Richard Sherman. Arizona also has one of the best in the business in Patrick Peterson. That is four games that Crabtree will be playing against top-notch competition. From this aspect, this has to be looked upon in a negative regard.

With a healthy offseason and some minor additions made by the 49’ers in the draft and Free Agency, there is no reason not to expect Crabtree to post numbers close to that of 2012, which put Crabtree as a top 20 WR. I would not be surprised to see Crabtree increase slightly upon those totals and post a career year all across the stat sheet.

2014 Projection: 88 receptions, 1,220 yards receiving, 8 Touchdowns

**Please feel free to follow me on Twitter @CTonyRow. Send me your fantasy questions and they might be chosen for the Fantasy Mailbag section.

Player Profile: Josh Gordon

Player Profile: Josh Gordon

Josh Gordon
   
     At the beginning of the season we saw Josh Gordon serve a 2 game suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy. Because of this, we saw Gordon's value drop a lot as drafts approached in 2013. Now, we all knew Gordon was talented, but we didn't see anything like this coming. Gordon led the NFL in receiving yards, posting 1,646 yards off of 87 receptions. Those are incredible numbers when you take into account that Gordon played 14 games instead of a normal 16 games. This is an average of 117 yards per game! Needless to say, Gordon surprised many of us and now we have to wonder about what he can do as the 2014 season approaches.

     Let's take a look at the positives. Probably the most impressive thing about Josh Gordon is the fact that he posted these insane numbers with 3 terrible QB's. Starting the season, we saw Brandon Weeden take the helm. After suffering an injury we got to see the promise of Brian Hoyer. After Hoyer suffered and ACL tear, we saw Jason Campbell take over the QB play. That is not a list of promising QB's to say the least. Yet each week Gordon continued to produce. From weeks 11-14 we saw Gordon produce one of Fantasy Football's most impressive WR numbers ever. In that span Gordon produced 774 yards receiving along with 5 TD's. The next point that we have to make is the possibility that Cleveland makes an upgrade at QB either through free agency of through the NFL draft. Thanks to the Trent Richardson trade back during the season, Cleveland now has 2 first round picks. They may be able to maneuver some and draft one of those top tier QB's that will be available in the draft this year (Bridgewater, Manziel, Carr, Bortles). Any of these QB's would be better than what they have now and as long as Cleveland keeps Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator there will be no problems.

     Now we take a look at the negatives. The one negative point that pops out to me the most when thinking about Josh Gordon is the off chance that he gets into trouble again with the NFL. If Gordon were to violate the NFL's substance abuse policy again then he would be in jeopardy of missing an entire season or more possibly. With fantasy experts projecting Gordon as a late 1st-early 2nd round draft pick, this is a big gamble to take on a player you are drafting with such a high draft pick. You would think that the Cleveland Browns organization would hire somebody to follow Gordon around in the offseason just to make sure he stays out of trouble. The next problem I have with Gordon is if Cleveland drafts a QB, that QB is going to need some time to possibly learn the system and get acclimated to the fast pace of the NFL. Lastly, Cleveland just recently fired Rob Chudzinski, after only 1 year as Head Coach. We do not know who they will be hiring or what kind of system they will be implementing in Cleveland yet. A lot depends on who is hired. Beyond that I have no other problems with Flash Gordon.

     In conclusion, while the upside of Gordon is through the roof, the risks do need to be monitored as draft day approaches. The NFL draft in May will be very big for Cleveland and any person that is entertaining the idea of Drafting Gordon for Fantasy purposes will need to keep tabs on their draft picks. Some experts will throw the thought into the air that you should draft Gordon with your 1st round draft pick. Do not be the sucker to buy into this! With how deep the WR position will be in 2014 you will be able to wait and still nab a fantastic WR for your teams. Gordon is a 2nd round draft pick and if you can nab him in the 3rd round then you are doing fantastic. For Fantasy auction leagues, I wouldn't feel comfortable spending more than $40 on Gordon with a $200 budget. Gordon is a rare talent and will be ranked by many experts as a top 5 WR. It will be hard for Gordon to duplicate his 'out of this world' 2013 season but will still post WR1 numbers for sure. Please please please don't draft him with your 1st round pick though!

2014 Projections: 1,375 yards receiving, 10 TD's


**Please feel free to follow me on Twitter @CTonyRow. Send me your fantasy questions and they might be chosen for the Fantasy Mailbag section.