2012 Fantasy Football Rankings

My drafts are done so I can share my rankings before yours. No fluff just rankings down and dirty. If you know how to use Vlookup, you can insert them into onto the excel I provided in my last post. Please feel free to comment or ask questions and good luck.

1. Arian Foster
2. LeSean McCoy
3. Ray Rice
4. Aaron Rodgers
5. Calvin Johnson
6. Drew Brees
7. Chris Johnson
8. Darren McFadden
9. Tom Brady
10. Cam Newton
11. Larry Fitzgerald
12. Matt Forte
13. Adrian Peterson
14. Matthew Stafford
15. Maurice Jones-Drew
16. Rob Gronkowski
17. Jimmy Graham
18. Marshawn Lynch
19. Ryan Mathews
20. DeMarco Murray
21. Andre Johnson
22. Brandon Marshall
23. A.J. Green
24. Greg Jennings
25. Victor Cruz
26. Steven Jackson
27. Jamaal Charles
28. Fred Jackson
29. Julio Jones
30. Roddy White
31. Wes Welker
32. Steve Smith
33. Hakeem Nicks
34. Darren Sproles
35. Trent Richardson
36. Jordy Nelson
37. Ahmad Bradshaw
38. Michael Turner
39. Antonio Gates
40. Marques Colston
41. Michael Vick
42. Demaryius Thomas
43. Jeremy Maclin
44. Mike Wallace
45. Dez Bryant
46. Miles Austin
47. Percy Harvin
48. Brandon Lloyd
49. Doug Martin
50. Philip Rivers
51. Tony Romo
52. Frank Gore
53. Vincent Jackson
54. Vernon Davis
55. Jermichael Finley
56. Eli Manning
57. Aaron Hernandez
58. Peyton Manning
59. Willis McGahee
60. Antonio Brown
61. Stevie Johnson
62. Eric Decker
63. Dwayne Bowe
64. Reggie Bush
65. Shonn Greene
66. BenJarvus Green-Ellis
67. Ben Roethlisberger
68. Robert Griffin III
69. Kenny Britt
70. Torrey Smith
71. Pierre Garcon
72. Robert Meachem
73. Fred Davis
74. Kevin Smith
75. Donald Brown
76. Stevan Ridley
77. Cedric Benson
78. Jonathan Stewart
79. Beanie Wells
80. DeSean Jackson
81. Matt Ryan
82. Jay Cutler
83. Michael Bush
84. C.J. Spiller
85. Peyton Hillis
86. Isaac Redman
87. DeAngelo Williams
88. Evan Royster
89. Ben Tate
90. San Francisco
91. Reggie Wayne
92. Santonio Holmes
93. Denarius Moore
94. Anquan Boldin
95. Malcom Floyd
96. David Wilson
97. Sidney Rice
98. Darrius Heyward-Bey
99. Justin Blackmon
100. Greg Little
101. Tony Gonzalez
102. Jermaine Gresham
103. Brent Celek
104. Jacob Tamme
105. Coby Fleener
106. Brandon Pettigrew
107. Jared Cook
108. Davone Bess
109. Titus Young
110. Lance Moore
111. Laurent Robinson
112. Jason Witten
113. Rashad Jennings
114. Montario Hardesty
115. LeGarrette Blount
116. Toby Gerhart
117. Jacquizz Rodgers
118. Mark Ingram
119. Pierre Thomas
120. Rashard Mendenhall
121. Shane Vereen
122. Roy Helu
123. Michael Crabtree
124. Mike Williams
125. Matt Schaub
126. Andy Dalton
127. Andrew Luck
128. Pittsburgh
129. Baltimore
130. Chicago
131. Detroit
132. Green Bay
133. Isaiah Pead
134. James Starks
135. Brian Quick
136. Santana Moss
137. Philadelphia
138. Seattle
139. Houston
140. Tim Tebow
141. Ryan Williams
142. Vincent Brown
143. Jahvid Best
144. Tim Hightower
145. Ronnie Brown
146. Dallas Clark
147. Mikel LeShoure
148. Carson Palmer
149. Josh Freeman
150. Owen Daniels

Roto Hero's 2012 Fantasy Football Excel Prep

Click For Roto Hero's 2012 Fantasy Football Excel Prep in Google Docs, free of course.

I’ll start off this fantasy football season with “You’re Welcome.”

For the first time ever I am allowing you all the chance to prep like I do, and of course it is free of charge. This is the excel spreadsheet that I make every year before fantasy football, baseball, and basketball drafts. It allows you the opportunity to see the value of experts from all the big leagues, Yahoo!, ESPN, CBS, NFL.com, FOX, etc. in one convenient location. Having other rankings can help identify Heroes and Villains on the draft board.

The sheet default is from the perspective of Yahoo, since that’s what I play, but if you download it you will be able to filter by your own league settings. The sheet is fairly straight forward, but there are a few thing to mention. Columns A-F are the rankings of other fantasy experts. G is the project Y! rankings. H is average of all the player rankings. I is the Y! Rank - Average, which is intended to identify consensus value picks (Positive are valuable, at least on paper). Next is the Player info and then the 2012 Projected Stats.

The second page is used for your teams projected value when doing a mock. Simply put in the players names you draft and the projected values will link in. See how you can improve your team’s total. Take with a grain of salt that it is only Y! projected points. Add and remove positions as needed.

If anything is unclear feel free to send me message or comment. Trust this will help you all incredibly with perspective on players.

Go After the Young Guns

Speed is of the essence.

I’m sure you are already familiar with the names I’m going to tell you to leave this article to pick up now, but they are all newer on the scene. Some are probably gone, but I bet at least one is there.

Middlebrooks - Best chance he is already owned but with the Youk trade yesterday he has a clear path and has been smashing like the Hulk.

Rizzo - He has now officially been called up and is raking AAA. OBP over .400, 23 dongs, and 62 RBIs in only 69 games. More than worth the gamble.

Bauer - Pitcher for ARI, who has the feeling of Lincecum before he was called up. Started the year in AA and jumped to AAA now will make his first start on Thursday. If you have anyone to drop do it.

Who's Coming Back?

It feels as if there have been too many injuries this season, but some will be coming back within the next month or so. Many injury plagued owners (like I am in one league) have had to cut bait on a star waiting in the DL wings. If you are lucky have an open DL spot, here’s who I think you should pick up (note some on the short term DL, like Kemp, I don’t think would be available so I won’t list him):

1. Carl Crawford: Need for Speed? He can potentially be the only one. Although Ellsbury is on the DL chances are no one dropped him. I was hoping that he would be back already, but you all know his setbacks. I would stash him, hope for All-Star break, and also 30 SBs. He can make up a huge gap in tight category.

2. Ryan Howard: In one of my leagues I just swooped him up 2 days ago. He is at extended spring and already mashing homers. Check to see if the 1st rounder is still available, I’m hoping he is also up at the All-Star.

3. Brett Gardner: He should not be available, but if he is he’s number 1. He should be back in a week or so, and has Crawford’s SBs. Just in case I want to add him.

4. Roy Halladay: Also in the category of should not be available, but some people were scared away by the slower start. Even in an off year he should be producing at a 3rd SP level.

5. Chase Utley: I think he’ll come back after Howard, in the range of Late July, although he is also in extended spring training. The feeling we have been here before pushes him back.

6. Emilio Bonifacio: His position eligibility and speed make him worth the wait.

In case you haven't heard, we're running out of closers...

In case you haven’t heard, the end of the old school closer might me over. Mariano Rivera tore his ACL and done for the year maybe his career. It’s your chance to vulture the ashes.

Yanks Closer - Nothing announced yet but it should be Robertson, the guy is pranking and might be already owned. If he is, gamble on Soriano.

Cubbies Closer - Marmol is also out as closer, but because he’s been a joke. It’s between Dolis and Russell, “based on matchup.” If I could only have one I would take Dolis, but who knows here.

Happy trails to the elite.

Believe It Or Not

Welcome to post draft fantasy baseball.  Above is the first thing that comes to mind when I thought of believe it or not.  In this article I wanted to take a look at if the surprise hot starts are legit, and the opening failures will last.  Remember if you will that Roto Hero is all about OBP instead of AVG.   

Surprise Fast Starts (Believe they are Superheroes?):

Josh Willingham: BELIEVE.  Willingham has been smashing like the Hulk so far.  5 HRs in 50 ABs, it’s not too surprising so I think he will keep it up.  The AVG and OBP are surely to drop, but he’s for real and a was a target of mine in every draft.   He’ll move down from his top 15 value, but should stay a top power choice.

Carlos Beltran: BELIEVE.  Believe it or not, Beltran is number four right now in OBP leagues.  Like Willingham AVG/OBP is high, but as long as he is healthy he’s a great option.

Kyle Lohse: NOT. Lohse currently ranks just behind Halladay for top SP.  While he will be a serviceable option, I think the he will return to Bruce Banner status sooner than later.

Jason Heyward:  BELIEVE.  Although I do not believe he will maintain his current pace, I was predicting a return to form for him.  He recently was moved up in the lineup, and with his talent he should last.

Yoenis Cespedes:  NOT.  I was actually hyping him before the season and the power is legitimate.  My fear is that soon teams are going to learn how to pitch to him and the power he relies on for value will slow down.  I would try and sell high.

Surprise Slow Starts (Are these bad starts Flukes or are they Fails): 

Adam Wainwright:  FLUKE.  I’ll admit it doesn’t look good right now.  He’s coming off Tommy John and is 0-3, but he swears he is fine health wise.  I think he is a good buy low candidate.

Kevin Youkilis:  FLUKE.  Bobby V thinks it’s motivation, well Bobby V is a joke.  The biggest mystery to me is the lack of walks.  They will return and so will his value.

Adam Dunn: FAIL.  Knowing his OBP past, I wanted him.  Didn’t get him everywhere, but I wanted him.  Him going yard early is a good sign, but I’m about ready to give up on him.

Ichiro Suzuki: FAIL.  He will obviously be better than he is now so wait to ship, but SEA lineup is bad no matter how much they tried to pretend.  His role as the lone bright star is dimishing.

Troy Tulowitzki:  FLUKE.  I didn’t believe he was a first rounder, but he’ll be back to a top SS option soon enough.

Jose Valverde:  FLUKE.  So it won’t be another perfect season for saves.  He’s still a top option for a team that is going to win lots of games.

Eric Hosmer:  FAIL.  I told you so sounds so childish, but I have been saying he was overhyped on draft boards all year.  In the future he is going to be a stud, I just don’t think it will happen for 2012 season.  Don’t drop, especially not in keeper, but don’t hold your breath for dominance.

Opening Day

Every baseball season I watch Major League and this.  Who are the pitchers today?