Mid-Season Fantasy Football Review

The NFL season has gone past the mid-way point, so I thought I would put together a post giving credit to the players who helped get your fantasy teams off to a good start.

Here are my rankings for each position based on the first half of the NFL season:

Top 5 Quarterbacks:

1. Aaron Rodgers - Rodgers has used the explosive Packer receivers to average the highest points per week in fantasy football this season.
2. Cam Newton - I know that I was lucky enough to add Newton in one league, even after he cleared waivers. Any owner lucky enough to grab Cam is probably at the top of the standings.
3. Drew Brees - Brees did not play well last week against the Rams, but still managed to keep his TD passing streak alive with a touchdown with :06 to play. Despite the weak effort, Brees is still the third best fantasy quarterback option available.
4. Tom Brady - Like Rodgers, Brady is able to use all of his targets to always compile a solid fantasy output.
5. Michael Vick - Even though it may have seemed like Vick was struggling in the first half of the season, he is still scoring more than anyone other than the players on this list and his teammate LeSean McCoy.

Top 5 Running Backs:

1. Adrian Peterson - Peterson may not have the highest fantasy points per game amongst running backs, but he still remains as the biggest and most consistent threat in fantasy football.
2. LeSean McCoy - McCoy had the best game rushing of his career Sunday against Dallas (185 yards, 2 TDs), which helps to land him 2nd overall on this list. McCoy has had his best games over his last two. He has 62 touches in the past two games, the most touches in back-to-back games in his career.
3. Fred Jackson - There is no question that Jackson is the star of the Buffalo offense, even if Fitzpatrick got the contract. He is leading the NFL in rushing yards per game by more than 10 (Jackson 103.0, Maurice Jones-Drew 92.5).
4. Matt Forte - Forte lead all rushers in yards during the month of October and was on pace at one point to break OJ Simpson's record for highest percentage of his teams total yards. He has 419 yards receiving, which is 30 more than any other back.
5. Arian Foster - Ray Rice may have more fantasy points than Foster, but Foster has a better points per game average having missed two of the first three games. If you are going for overall production in the first half of the season, Rice would be No. 5 on this list. Rice has 5 rushing TDs in 7 games and Foster has 4 in 5.5 games.

Top 5 Wide Receivers:

1. Calvin Johnson - Megatron might be a favorite for league MVP. Johnson has 11 TD catches in his first 8 games, the only other player to do that over the same stretch was Randy Moss.
2. Wes Welker - Welker was doing amazingly well until his last two games where he wasn't able to get over 50 yards receiving.
3. Steve Smith - Smith and Newton are flying high. Smith is leading the NFL in yards per game with 114.8.
4. Mike Wallace - Wallace has been one of my favorite fantasy players for the past few years. Who doesn't like to own a player who can score you 10 points in one catch and then not score again the rest of the game.
5. Greg Jennings - Jennings is a good reason why Rodgers is an MVP candidate. Jennings and Wallace have 5 TDs, which trails only Johnson's 11 and Welker's 6.

Top 5 Tight Ends:

1. Jimmy Graham - Graham has kinda come out of nowhere, but what did you expect from a Drew Brees TE? He has almost 200 yards more than any other Tight End.
2. Rob Gronkowski - It's probably pretty nice being Tom Brady's favorite target in the red zone. Scott Chandler has 6 TDs, but Graham and Gronkowski have 5.
3. Jason Witten - I'm surprised that Witten has been able to be as productive as he has with the likes of Dez Bryant and Miles Austin taking away targets each game.
4. Tony Gonzalez - Gonzalez is one of the most productive pass catchers in NFL history. He has 4 TD catches.
5. Aaron Hernandez - Fred Davis would have made this list over Hernandez if he could have been more productive Sunday, especially with Santana Moss out. Hernandez may have missed two games, but his productivity when he is on the field is what makes him third on this list. He also had 4 TD catches in 5 games.

Top 5 Kickers:

1. Mason Crosby - The best kicker in terms of skill plays on the best offense in terms of skill. No brainer for No. 1. Crosby is 14/14 for FGs and 26/26 on PATs on the season.
2. Jason Hanson - The Lions offense has been playing well, and playing indoors helps Hanson. His 17 FGs is the most in the NFL.
3. Sebastian Janikowski - The Raiders are rolling in part to the confidence they have in their placekicker. Janikowski has the most FG's made over 50 yards, including the record 63 yarder.
4. Billy Cundiff - Baltimore has played pretty well this year, but not too well, allowing Cundiff to boot a league leading 17 FGs.
5. Dan Bailey - Bailey and Cundiff have scored more than 20 fantasy points on Yahoo in a single game this season, but they each have also had a game with just 1 fantasy point. On average they are scoring in the top 5 every week. The Cowboys kicker also has 17 FGs.

Top 5 Defenses:

1. Baltimore - The Ravens lead the league in yards per game (263.3) and are 2nd the NFL in opponents points (allowing just 15.7 ppg) and fumble recoveries with 9. They are also tied with Detroit for the most defensive TD's.
2. Detroit - The Lions Defense might not get all the credit, but they are certainly a reason the team started the season 5-0. Chris Houston has 4 INTs, the Lions as a team have 11.
3. San Francisco - The 49ers are doing great this season and their defense is in the Top 5 in fantasy. San Fran has allowed just 15.3 ppg, which ranks as 1st in the NFL. The Niners hold opponents to a league best 73.4 yards rushing per game.
4. New York Jets - The Jets have been solid in all areas on defense during the first half of the season. Darrelle Revis has 4 INTs, the Jets as a team have 11. The Jets and Lions are also giving up less than 200 yards per game passing.
5. Cincinnati Bengals - The Bengals are another team playing well on defense and surprising people in the standings. And weirdly, the Bengals are owned in just 67% of leagues on Yahoo. Cincy is 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards allowed (85.4 ypg rushing) and 4th in the NFL in total yards per game, allowing opponents just 297.4 yards.

Most Valuable Player:

1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Cam Newton
3. Adrian Peterson
4. Calvin Johnson
5. Tom Brady

Best Draft Day Sleepers:

1. Fred Jackson
2. Matt Forte
3. Steven Jackson
4. Wes Welker
5. Steve Smith

Best Free Agent Pick-ups:

1. Cam Newton
2. Ryan Fitzpatrick
3. Darren Sproles
4. Rob Gronkowski
5. Jordy Nelson

Biggest Busts:

1. Chris Johnson
2. Mike Williams (TB)
3. Mark Ingram
4. Dallas Clark
5. Chad Ochocinco

If you were to draft another team for the rest of the season, your first two rounds might look like this:

Round 1:

1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Cam Newton
3. Adrian Peterson
4. Arian Foster
5. Calvin Johnson
6. LeSean McCoy
7. Drew Brees
8. Tom Brady
9. Ray Rice
10. Matt Forte
11. Fred Jackson
12. Steve Smith

Round 2:

1. Frank Gore
2. Wes Welker
3. Michael Vick
4. Mike Wallace
5. Greg Jennings
6. Matthew Stafford
7. Michael Turner
8. Darren McFadden
9. Ryan Matthews
10. Ahmad Bradshaw
11. Dwyane Bowe
12. A.J. Green

Fantasy football is really unpredictable, which is what makes it fun and competitive. If you can figure out who will be at the top of these lists at the end of the year, you might have a pretty good chance of winning your league and making some money this season.

Thanks for reading!