Fantasy Football 2009: Where Are We Now?
We’ve completed six weeks of fantasy football and using Yahoo! standard scoring, who is our top fantasy producer? Not many would have guessed that it is Houston Texans’ quarterback Matt Schaub, fresh off of 392 yard, four touchdown performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, bringing Schaub’s yearly totals to 1,810 yards and 14 touchdowns, the latter of which lead the NFL (he trails Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in yards by 77).
Granted, there were plenty of fantasy writers who predicted that Schaub would have a solid season, but there weren’t many who thought he would be better than Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers and Aaron Rodgers. Obviously the season is far from over, but after six weeks, it’s interesting to see who the top producers are at each position. While some players who have had bye weeks are probably not at the top of the list, it’s interesting to see who has been able to produce despite the byes.
Quarterbacks:
1. Matt Schaub
2. Ben Roethlisberger
3. Tom Brady
4. Joe Flacco
5. Peyton Manning
6. Drew Brees
7. Aaron Rodgers
8. Brett Favre
9. Kyle Orton
10. Jay Cutler
Flacco has also been a tremendous surprise so far in 2009, especially given that many fantasy analysts heavily stressed Ray Rice, La’Ron McClain and Willis McGahee going into this season because of the Baltimore Ravens’ run-happy offense. But there is Flacco in the top five.
Brett Favre and Kyle Orton are also surprise attendees in the top-10, especially in front of 2008-fantasy star Jay Cutler.
Running Backs:
1. Adrien Peterson
2. Maurice Jones-Drew
3. Ray Rice
4. Chris Johnson
5. Ronnie Brown
6. Thomas Jones
7. Cedric Benson
8. DeAngelo Williams
9. Michael Turner
10. Ahmad Bradshaw
Bradshaw is the biggest surprise on the list given that Brandon Jacobs came into the season with expectations of double-digit touchdowns. But so far this season, the Giants have relied more on Bradshaw, who is paying dividends for those who grabbed him late in their drafts.
Wide Receivers:
1. Andre Johnson
2. Steve Smith
3. Randy Mos
4. Hines Ward
5. Reggie Wayne
6. Larry Fitzgerald
7. Marques Colston
8. Mario Manningham
9. Roddy White
10. Chad Ochocino
The biggest surprise on this list is Steve Smith, mostly because it’s the Giants’ second-year wideout and not previous top-fantasy performance Steve Smith from the Carolina Panthers. Mario Manningham, also with the Giants, is another surprise, especially considering that the Giants have two receivers in the top-10 and yet Eli Manning is only the 12th best fantasy quarterback to date (and is less than four points ahead of David Gerrard).
Tight Ends:
1. Owen Daniels
2. Dallas Clark
3. Heath Miller
4. Antonio Gates
5. Kellen Winslow
6. Brent Celek
7. Visanthe Shiancoe
8. Tony Gonzalez
9. Vernon Davis
10. Chris Cooley
Not too many surprises here, except maybe that Jason Whitten is not on the list, with only 259 yards and a single touchdown so far in the season. The Cowboys passing game continues to struggle in 2009 and Whitten has taken the biggest hit to his fantasy production.
I am ignoring kickers and defenses because we all should; they are all basically the same, don’t try to say otherwise.
So there you have it. Matt Schaub is the top fantasy producer through week six.
Or is he? KingMorland.com will conduct a comprehensive study on week-to-week fantasy production to be sure that Schaub is actually the real-deal. It’s easy to have 14 touchdowns when 11 of them come in three games; did those three weeks beat out the other top competitors? Come back another time and find out for sure.
