1. Michael Vick ESPN: 2 Yahoo: 2 CBS: 1

First of all, we have to let you know that we have Michael Vick projected to gain 63 more fantasy points this year than Aaron Rogers. We have no doubt that Vick is the better pick on draft day. With an entire season, Vick is a legitimate 1000-yard rushing threat; he already did it once for the Falcons in 2006. For comparison’s sake, we have only 14 running backs hitting the 1000-yard plateau. Only eight running backs had more rushing touchdowns than Vick last year. Vick has two exciting down-the-field receivers in Maclin and Jackson. Even LeSean McCoy led all running backs in receptions last year with 78. Last year, McCoy was only given 207 carries in Reid’s pass happy offense. Philadelphia gets the second most favorable pass schedule by facing the likes of San Francisco, Washington twice, Dallas twice, New England, and Seattle. The biggest problem with Vick is that his style of play makes him susceptible to injury. But if healthy, he is capable of so much more than Rogers. While Vick may be taken too early for our liking in comparison to other positions, please don’t take Rogers ahead of him. Oh, and we are assuming that Vick resigns with the Eagles.

2. Aaron Rogers ESPN: 1 Yahoo: 1 CBS: 2

Aaron Rogers is a great QB. We are not here to tell you otherwise since Rogers is a consensus top two quarterback. However, there are a couple reasons that Vick is ranked higher. Rogers ranked third for quarterbacks with 356 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns. Vick had 676 yards and 9 touchdowns in 12 games. Rogers has shown, like Vick, that he is susceptible to injury. His scrambling makes him an injury risk like Vick is. Green Bay has the third toughest pass schedule (Philly gets the second easiest) and needs to face New Orleans, Chicago twice, and San Diego. In addition, Green Bay faces only two below average pass defenses all year (Denver and Atlanta). While Rogers is a top tier quarterback, he is not number one.

3. Peyton Manning ESPN: 5 Yahoo: 3 CBS: 3

Peyton Manning is the most consistent quarterback in the game. If you take out his 49 TD 2004 campaign, he has between 26 and 33 touchdowns in every season. He has between 3700 and 4700 yards every year. We see Vick as significantly better than Rogers, Rogers significantly better than Manning, and Manning significantly better than Brees. After the top 3 QB’s, we see a steady decline in value. Manning gets the third most favorable passing schedule and Indianapolis gets to face the league-worst Jacksonville twice. He gets one of the deepest receiving corps with Wayne, Collie, Garcon, and Clark. We project Manning to have the most attempts (620), yards (4793), and touchdowns (36) by the season’s end. The only reason he is not ranked higher is the lack of rushing yards.

4. Drew Brees ESPN: 3 Yahoo: 3 CBS: 4

Drew Brees is the start of our second tier of #1 quarterbacks, which includes Brady, Romo, and Rivers. We have them projected to have similar levels of success, as do the other rankings. We see Brees dropping his interception total from 22 to a more reasonable 17. He did throw a touchdown pass in every game last season. We project him to bounce back to a league leading completion percentage and a share with Manning for the most touchdown passes.

5. Tom Brady ESPN: 4 Yahoo: 6 CBS: 5

Tom Brady is just as talented as those above him but his receivers are not in the same league. We have Brady projected for less of everything: fewer attempts, fewer yards, fewer TD, and fewer INT. Without a legitimate downfield threat, Brady will have fewer yards per attempt if the majority of his passes are going to Welker, tight ends, and running backs. He had a touchdown pass in every game, and he didn’t throw an interception after week 5. He is a solid pick as your starting quarterback.

6. Tony Romo ESPN: 7 Yahoo: 6 CBS: 7

All of the rankings have Tony Romo repeating his pre-injury numbers. When healthy, he is one of the last “sure things” as far as quarterbacks are concerned, though his ugly 11:7 TD/INT ratio leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t really have much to say about Romo. He has solid receivers and Witten at tight end. Why do we have Romo above Rivers? More attempts. We project 563 for 4347 yards with 30 TD’s.

7. Philip Rivers ESPN: 6 Yahoo: 5 CBS: 6

Philip Rivers is the last QB that you can write in for 4000 yards and 30 touchdowns. He’ll get Antonio Gates and Vincent Jackson this year, but he was able to produce without each of them half of last year. He has had a QB rating over 100 for the past three years. We project 504 attempts for 4155 yards and 32 touchdowns.

8. Josh Freeman ESPN: 10 Yahoo: 13 CBS: 10

Josh Freeman broke out last year with a superb 25:6 TD/INT ratio. He also ran for the second most rushing yards by a QB behind Vick last year. However, he was not able to get into the end zone on the ground all year. We will chalk this up to bad luck and expect him to score 5ish touchdowns this season. He and Mike Wallace should both have outstanding repeat seasons. I will be ending up with Josh Freeman in most of my leagues; he is star in the making.

9. Matt Ryan ESPN: 11 Yahoo: 10 CBS: 8

Considering Matt Ryan had only one legitimate threat at wide receiver, his 28:9 TD/INT ratio was even more impressive. With rookie Julio Jones in the mix, expect his yard totals to increase. He is one of the last threats to break 4000 yards passing. Since there are ample options at quarterback, Ryan is just a low-end starter, but he is worth owning if you focused on RB and WR early in the draft.

10. Ben Roethlisberger ESPN: 9 Yahoo: 9 CBS: 12

So, I googled “Roethlisberger” and here were the suggested searches:

- Roethlisberger girlfriend
- Roethlisberger sandwich
- Roethlisberger accuser
- Roethlisberger suspension
- Roethlisberger assault
- Roethlisberger tmz

Pop culture aside, Ben Roethlisberger should have another productive season. Since he is a part of a run-oriented offense, he is not an ideal fantasy starter, but he will suffice depending on whom you drafted in the rounds before him. He will struggle to reach 500 attempts, but he does get a decent amount of rushing yards to be worth owning. In his advantage, Pittsburgh gets the easiest pass schedule. Roethlisberger gets by far the easiest first half schedule, so he may be worth trading later if you end up drafting him. We project 3716 yards and 23 touchdowns. Sufficient but not remarkable.

Just Missed the Cut:

11. Joe Flacco ESPN: 13 Yahoo: 15 CBS: 13
12. Eli Manning ESPN: 12 Yahoo: 12 CBS: 11
13. Matt Schaub ESPN: 8 Yahoo: 8 CBS: 9
14. Sam Bradford ESPN: 16 Yahoo: 16 CBS: 16
15. David Gerrard ESPN: 10 Yahoo: 27 CBS: 19

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