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This is about the time I like to get my preliminary rankings together for next season. Hopefully this can stir up some chatter about players who can make the jump into the top 10, and those who may fall out:

QBs:

1. Aaron Rodgers
2. Drew Brees
3. Matthew Stafford
4. Cam Newton
5. Tom Brady
6. Michael Vick
7. Matt Ryan
8. Philip Rivers
9. Matt Schaub
10. Eli Manning

RBs:

1. Arian Foster
2. Ray Rice
3. LeSean McCoy
4. Maurice Jones-Drew
5. Matt Forte
6. Darren McFadden
7. Ryan Mathews
8. Marshawn Lynch
9. Adrian Peterson
10. Ahmad Bradshaw

WRs:

1. Calvin Johnson
2. Larry Fitzgerald
3. Andre Johnson
4. Mike Wallace
5. Hakeem Nicks
6. Vincent Jackson
7. Greg Jennings
8. Wes Welker
9. Roddy White
10. Dez Bryant

TEs:

1. Jimmy Graham
2. Rob Gronkowski
3. Jermichael Finley
4. Antonio Gates
5. Jason Witten
6. Brandon Pettigrew
7. Vernon Davis
8. Aaron Hernandez
9. Jermaine Gresham
10. Jared Cook

This is without really looking, just off the top of my head.
Note: I'm not assuming Peyton returns and is back with the Colts in these rankings.

QB's
Tier 1 - Super studs.
Rodgers
Brees

Tier 2 - Super stud ceiling, high floors barring injury.
Brady
Stafford
Newton
Vick

Tier 3 - High upside, solid picks.
Romo
Rivers
Ben
Schaub

Value and/or watch list:
Eli Manning - Multitude of weapons and making improvements in his game.
Matt Ryan - Similar to Eli in his weapons are expanding and less reliance on the run game will only lift his ceiling.
Palmer - A good off-season with a ton of weapons at his disposal.

RB's
Tier 1 - The guys.
Foster
McCoy
Rice

Tier 2 - Tier 1 upside, very high floors.
McFadden
Forte
MJD

Tier 3 - The gambles or lower upside RB's.
Lynch
Sjax
Gore
CJ2K

Value and/or watch list:
Ryan Mathews - Produces on the field and healthy. Unfortunately, a rare occurrence.
Sproles - PPR, top 10 upside easily.
Reggie Bush - This is his upside. Much like Mathews, if he can stay on the field he puts up good numbers.
Bradshaw - Great upside, but much like the most of this list, constantly on the injury report.
Helu - Produced at a high level on a bad team. Ratface looming is an issue.
Best/Kevin Smith - A Detroit RB will put up great numbers. Roll the dice.
Beanie Wells - When he was healthy he was killing. "Healthy" is a term rarely used with this softy.


WR's
Tier 1 - Super studs.
Calvin
AJ
Fitz

Tier 2 - Top tier upside, high floors.
Jennings
Miles Austin
Welker
Roddy White
Steve Smith

Tier 3 - Gambles with upside.
Nelson
Cruz

Value and/or watch list:
Kenny Britt - Top 5 upside and only limited by his own personality. Hopefully he's working hard to return in good shape.
Julio Jones - Nothing but upside in an offense turning to pass-first. Will grow with Ryan and take over eventually.
AJ Green - Just missed the cut. This kids a gamer.
Nicks - All the talent, but Eli has a lot of trust in Cruz. Much like Antonio Brown hindering Wallace's value, Cruz will cap Nicks' upside.
Wallace - A monster before the emergence of Brown. If more attention goes Brown's way, his arrow will point up.. quickly.
Harvin - This is what we were expecting from day one of his career. So much talent, so much explosiveness.
Bowe - Puts up good numbers year after year no matter how awful the offense. Charles being back will take a load off.

Colston, Dez, Vjax, Antonio Brown, Maclin, Marshall, Steve Johnson.. So many good WR's next year.

TE's
Tier 1 - Super studs.
Gronk
Graham

Tier 2 - Top tier upside, explosive offenses but downside being not being the go-to target.
Hernandez
Gates
Witten
Finley

Tier 3 - Steady producers, without the upside.
Gonzo
Celek
Vernon Davis
Fred Davis

Value and/or watch list:
Pettigrew - Great offense and has Stafford's trust. Not much upside though.
Jared Cook - When he got the looks, he produced big time. The targets may be limited with Britt's return however.

Kinda early for this given coaching changes and we haven't even hit FA yet.


VJax, Bowe, and Colston are huge FAs that will affect QB situations a ton.

Right now I'd move up Brady up big time with the addition of McD and probably Brandon Lloyd this offseason.

No way Jimmy Graham should be rated higher than Gronk. The NE TE is the new golden boy at the position. Graham is very good, but the biggest strike against him is that there are too many weapons in New Orleans so Graham doesn't get the attention that Gronk does. In NE, it's either Gronk or Welker getting all the love thru the air. In New Orleans you've got Graham, Colston, Henderson, Moore, Sproles.

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This is my clever signature

I would take Graham over Gronk in every single draft next year. I would bet anything that this season will be a huge outlier in Gronk's career, and I could easily see Aaron Hernandez outperforming him next season. Graham is already Brees' favourite target. He's a WR in a TE's body with outrageous athletic ability. In terms of duplicating their numbers, I can see Graham posting 90/1100/10 stat lines for the next 5 years. I do not see that with Gronk at all.

^you obviously haven't seen gronk play game in and game out

Peyton Manning isnt anywhere on here. He is a top tier Qb, you will be able to grab in the 6th-10th qb taken. He is a lock for 3500 yards and 30 tds

I don't like A. Johnson in your stud list, Zodiak. He seems to be injured every year.

I'm not risking McFadden until he puts in a full season, or I get him for an unbelievable price.

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I'll bet that same argument was made about him at the end of last season as well. Nobody is a lock for anything in this league.

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I draft entirely on upside.

Honest question: hows that work for you? the last couple of years Ive gone more conservative with my drafting, and while Ive fielded strong teams, I havent taken home a championship in that time.

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Am I missing something or does nobody have any love for Turner?

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Never argue with a fool. Folks might not be able to tell the difference.

Two money leagues ($200 and $100), finished first and second this year. Last year was only in the $200 league, finished in first. I used to draft for "safe value" players and never finished better than third. Anecdotal evidence, really, but if it isn't broke..

Taking higher risks helps hit mid to late round guys that break out and become every week starters as opposed to WR3's and RB3's. Take Sproles, Nelson and Stafford for example from this year's teams.



He'll be 30, hasn't looked the same and the offense is definitely moving towards pass-first.

Jamaal Charles anyone? if healthy and thats always the case hes a top 10 rb

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-Nic

twitter @nicdolas

I agree that I would rather have graham then gronk at TE.....I too think Hernandez outperformes Gronk next year and I expect him to explode over the next few years...