1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Drew Brees is a machine right now. Going against the Falcons makes him a no-brainer number one.

2. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
The Bears on the road isn’t the greatest of matchups but Aaron Rodgers has proven to be elite.

3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
The Broncos could make it difficult for Peyton Manning but he seems to play better when the situation is hard.

4. Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
His recent concussion makes him a little bit risky but Kurt Warner has otherwise been rolling.

5. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Carolina is one of the best pass defenses and Tom Brady is hurt. That said, he’s still very startable.

6. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers
Philip Rivers has been very consistent. He has ten touchdowns in his last five games and has nearly 700 yards in his last two contests.

7. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans
An injury risk with a dislocated non-throwing shoulder, Matt Schaub is a boom or bust this week.

8. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
If you start Tony Romo, you better hope he doesn’t remember that the calendar switched over to December.

9. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings
Brett Favre struggled last week and has a tough Bengals opponent this week.

10. Joe Flacco, Baltimore Ravens
Joe Flacco has been bad over the last month. But Detroit in Week 14? That should be gold.

Drew Brees is a fantasy football god this season (Image: Zuma Press)

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1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
He missed all but one quarter of one game last season with a severe knee injury. But when he’s healthy, he’s the best.

2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
When it comes to a safe quarterback in fantasy football for the 2009 season, Brees might be number one.

3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Although his stats suffered at times last season, expect a bounce back years for Manning this year.

4. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
There is a reason why the Packers let Brett Favre go — and his name is Aaron Rodgers.

5. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons
Last year as a rookie, Matt Ryan showed unbelievable promise. Can he keep it up in his second year?

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The contract Collins signed is for two years and has approximately $8.5 million in guaranteed money. Although he doesn’t have a high ceiling as a fantasy football quarterback, this move definitely has some fantasy impact.

First of all, Young’s stock drops even further. If Collins would have signed elsewhere, Young would have had a chance to possibly start for the Titans. Now with Collins back in the fold, Young will likely be the backup once again.

As for Collins’ fantasy value, at its highest he may be a decent backup fantasy quarterback. The Titans love to run the ball so much that Collins doesn’t get many opportunities through the air. On top of that, Collins is aging and his wide receiving corps is rather weak.

Chris Johnson and LenDale White both see their fantasy stock rise a little bit with this move. With Collins at quarterback, those two running backs should be able to produce like they did last season. Even though Collins isn’t a prolific passer, he’s good at keeping defenses honest.

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1. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
2. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
4. Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
5. Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers
6. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
7. Jay Cutler, Denver Broncos
8. Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
9. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans
10. Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons

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Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
While he may be no Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers is on fire. In his last five games, he has ten touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. He also has at least 227 passing yards in each of those games. He’s definitely a fantasy football quarterback you can trust on a weekly basis.

Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
Now that he’s getting healthier and healthier after he suffered a broken pinkie, Tony Romo is re-emerging as a fantasy football stud. In his last four games, Romo has nine touchdown passes. In two of those games, he surpassed 330 yards passing. Going forward, Romo remains a top five fantasy quarterback.

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Although he’s had a bit of trouble with interceptions, Drew Brees remains a very good fantasy football start each and every week. In his last four weeks, Brees has ten touchdowns. He had a touchdown in every week this season outside of one week. On the season, he already has 4332 passing yards and 28 touchdowns.

For the latest in football news, turn to Squib Kick and Every Morning Quarterback.

Photo credit: Newscom

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Kurt Warner beat out Matt Leinart to be named the starting quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals. While Leinart has shown flashes of competence in his NFL career, his uneven play during preseason combined with Warner’s solid play made the decision easy for the Cardinals coaches.

This news is devestating for anyone who expected Leinart to produce this season. Especially if you own Leinart in a dynasty league, you may want to start planning on life without him. Part of Leinart’s problem so far in his NFL career is immaturity. Leinart and his partying ways this offseason probably didn’t help his standing with the coaches.

Warner, on the other hand, instantly becomes a fantasy football sleeper. At times last year, Warner was a very good fantasy quarterback. If he can remain healthy and the Cardinals can give him time in the pocket, he should have some big weeks in 2008 fantasy football.

Consider Warner a solid backup at fantasy quarterback, while Leinart becomes undraftable.

Photo: Newscom

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1. Tom Brady – Despite Brady’s injury, he remains on the top.
2. Tony Romo – With T.O. on his side, expect greatness.
3. Drew Brees – His value continues to rise in recent weeks.
4. Peyton Manning – With several question marks, Manning falls.
5. Carson Palmer – Palmer has a high ceiling but there is risk.
6. Ben Roethlisberger – Big Ben could surprise in 2008.
7. Derek Anderson – Another high risk, high reward selection.
8. Matt Hasselbeck – Expect another above average season.
9. David Garrard – Will try to build on his 2007 season.
10. Donovan McNabb – If healthy, McNabb is still capable.

Will Peyton Manning prove doubters wrong in 2008?

Photo: Newscom

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What are the average draft position for fantasy football players in 2008 drafts? Check below to see the average draft positions seperated by position.

• Quarterbacks – Average Draft Position
• Running Backs – Average Draft Position
• Wide Receivers – Average Draft Position
• Tight Ends – Average Draft Position
• Kickers – Average Draft Position
• Defenses – Average Draft Position

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1) Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Ignore his sub par line against the Eagles. Brady is still far and away the best fantasy quarterback in the league.

2) Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys
If you don’t have Brady, the next best quarterback to have on your side is Romo. He has great weapons and coaches who aren’t afraid to let him throw it.

3) Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers
Favre is scorching. He has three touchdowns in each of his last three games. He has at least two touchdowns in each of his last five games. Can’t get much hotter.

4) Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
After recording a one touchdown game against the Texans, Brees bounced back with three touchdowns against the Panthers. Start Brees if you have him.

5) Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals
Warner is coming off a game where he had 484 yards and two touchdowns against the 49ers. He has three straight games with at least two touchdowns.

6) Derek Anderson, Cleveland Browns
Anderson has been streaky as of late but when he’s on, he’s one of the best fantasy quarterbacks around. He has 11 touchdowns in his last six games.

7) Matt Hasselbeck, Seattle Supersonics
He’s coming off a poor outing against the Rams, but before that Hasselbeck had two touchdowns in five straight games.

8) Carson Palmer, Cincinnati Bengals
Palmer had three touchdowns last week, all three going to Chad Johnson. If Johnson heats up, that’ll help Palmer’s play to close the season.

9) Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
Manning is far down the list but he’s still a very solid fantasy quarterback. While he hasn’t been great as of late, he’s still a very safe start each week.

10) Matt Schaub, Houston Texans
With Andre Johnson back for the Texans, Schaub’s numbers have been good the last two weeks. Expect him to be a solid play from here on out.

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Fantasy football has long been dominated by running backs.

At least nine of the first ten picks are going to be running backs, and in the second round you will usually see another six or seven go before you see another position come off the board. This season it was LaDainian Tomlinson, Larry Johnson and Stephen Jackson as the unanimous top three, with Frank Gore running close behind.

All seemed like great choices at the time, all four had huge 2006 seasons after all, but if you could go back in time with what the knowledge of what has happened over the first seven weeks of this season and do the fantasy draft over again I bet it would look quite different. In fact it wouldn’t even be a running back that would go first overall in the draft.

It would be Tom Brady.

A quarterback No.1 overall, that is blasphemy! I know that is what you’re saying, but in times when reason eludes that is when you go with the absolute, math.

Through seven weeks of the 2007 season Brady has 27 touchdown passes, which means he is on pace for 61 touchdowns and 4,857 yards. Even if he, just say, averages only three TDs a game the rest of the season (his low for the year) he would have 54 touchdowns.

LaDainian Tomlinson’s fantasy dream season last year came on the strength of 33 combined touchdowns – running, receiving and passing – and 2,323 combined yards. Shaun Alexander the season previous was the fantasy stud with his 27 rushing touchdowns and 1,880 rushing yards. It’s not even close.

What is even more amazing is that Brady in the average fantasy draft didn’t go before the third round, and why would he? He has always been a winner and a solid QB but he had never even thrown for 30 TDs in a season before this one. Carson Palmer and Drew Brees both went before him in most drafts, and of course Peyton Manning who has long been the only QB that ever goes in the first round of a fantasy draft among the running backs.

Manning’s best year was in 2004 with 4,557 passing yards and a record 49 touchdown passes. Those numbers seem familiar don’t they? They are right around where Brady is going to end up this season, which is amazing considering how ungodly Brady seems this season that two off games will bring him right down to Manning’s 2004 campaign.

I don’t bring this up to make all those people out there who drafted Stephen Jackson, Frank Gore, Lawrence Maroney or Larry Johnson feel bad (I will give the LT owners a reprieve since he is turning it around) but to just reinforce what I have been preaching for years. Running backs should not be the be all. end all of fantasy football.

I get the reasoning, they get the ball in their hands 15-18 times a game at least every game guaranteed, but there is a reason why Manning is always taken in the top 10. When a QB is a guarantee like Peyton he is just worth more. He is a player who never misses a game and consistently produces at an elite level.

In 2003, Manning finished 2nd overall with 350 fantasy points. In 2004, he finished 1st with 497 points and in 2005, Manning finished 3rd overall with 331 points (despite not playing two games). The only other player to be in the Top 10 each of those three seasons is Tomlinson (2003: 4th, 2004: 9th, 2005: 5th). We already discussed what happened last season.

Brady has always been just as durable as Peyton, and on just as dominate of a team. Now he has the weapons to bring him up to the elite numbers producing level with receivers like Randy Moss (who is on pace for 1,673 yards and 23 TDs) and Wes Welker (1,200 yards and 11 TDs).

For comparison Marvin Harrison had 1,113 yards and 15 scores in 2004 and Reggie Wayne had 1,210 yards and 12 touchdowns.

So before you start lining up running backs next season really think about what a QB can do for you. Oh, and if you can go back in time can you put $1000 on the Patriots to win the Super Bowl? Thanks.

Ron Bishow has been reporting on the sports world for the past seven years for AOL, Tribune interactive and CO-ED Magazine among others. He is such a fantasy sports fanatic he plays fantasy NASCAR. He is currently a contributing writer and video producer at www.newyork.metromix.com.

Photo credit: NFL.com

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