Playoff Fantasy Rankings

If you missed the blog detailing the rules for the kind of fantasy playoff league I prefer, you can find it here.

The playoff fantasy rankings have arrived. With apologies to Brad Childress, here is the stream of conciousness that went into these rankings.  The first consideration is how many games you are going to get from a player.  Therefore, I used my mythical playoff bracket (I'll get to that in a minute) to predict how many games each team will play.  The second consideration is the likelihood of those predictions coming true.  For example, I give the Chargers about a 90 percent chance of playing at least two games, and a 50 percent chance of playing three. While I think the Bengals beat the Jets, that is more of a 55 percent call, so I can't be that confident Palmer gets more than one game, even though I still have them winning.  In short, I want all my players to get at least two games, anything above that is gravy and, if you've been watching the playoffs the last few years, very difficult to predict.  So these rankings take the likelihood of two games heavily into consideration.  The third influence on these rankings is pure fantasy worthiness.  Ray Rice is obviously going to be ranked higher than Sammy Morris, even though I have the Pats winning that game.

So, here is my playoff bracket, followed by my rankings.  Obviously, if you believe the playoff matchups will turn out differently, you should reflect those changes in your own rankings.

Round One
Bengals over Jets
Cowboys over Eagles
Patriots over Ravens
Packers over Cardinals

Round Two
Colts over Bengals
Chargers over Patriots
Vikings over Cowboys
Saints over Packers

Round Three
Chargers over Colts
Saints over Vikings

Super Bowl
Chargers over Saints

Quarterback
Phil Rivers
Drew Brees
Peyton Manning
Aaron Rodgers
Brett Favre
Tony Romo
Tom Brady
Kurt Warner
Donovan McNabb
Carson Palmer
Joe Flacco
Mark Sanchez

Running Back
Adrian Peterson
LaDainian Tomlinson
Ryan Grant
Joseph Addai
Mike Bell (only gets the nod over Pierre due to health)
Marion Barber
Cedric Benson
Pierre Thomas
Reggie Bush
Darren Sproles
Ray Rice
Thomas Jones
Felix Jones
Willis McGahee
Donald Brown
Brian Westbrook
Chester Taylor
Beanie Wells
Tim Hightower
Kevin Faulk
Leonard Weaver
Sammy Morris (The Pats backfield is a crapshoot, Maroney was inactive Week 17).
Fred Taylor
Laurence Maroney

Wide Receiver
Vincent Jackson
Reggie Wayne
Marques Colston
Sidney Rice
Miles Austin
Malcom Floyd
Greg Jennings
Randy Moss
Percy Harvin
Donald Driver
Larry Fitzgerald
DeSean Jackson
Robert Meachem
Pierre Garcon
Julian Edelman
Chad Ochocinco (injury and Revis concerns)
Derrick Mason
Devery Henderson
Bernard Berrian
Roy Williams
Austin Collie
Patrick Crayton
James Jones
Anquan Boldin (injury concerns)
Laveranues Coles
Jerricho Cotchery
Braylon Edwards
Legedu Naanee
Jeremy Maclin
Steve Breaston
Jason Avant
Brad Smith

Tight End
Antonio Gates
Dallas Clark
Visanthe Shiancoe
Jason Witten
Jermichael Finley
Brent Celek
Jeremy Shockey
Todd Heap
Ben Watson
David Thomas
Donald Lee
Dustin Keller

Kicker
Nate Kaeding
Garrett Hartley
Ryan Longwell
Mason Crosby
Shayne Graham
Sean Suisham
Stephen Gostkowski
David Akers
Neil Rackers
Billy Cundiff
Jay Feely
Vinatieri/Stover (Stover played Week 17, Vinatieri Week 16, I can't find anything right now about two weeks down the road.  If you use team kicker, bump up the colts right ahead of Crosby.  If not, I can't justify picking a guy who may give me a goose egg).

Defense/ST
Chargers
Saints
Colts
Vikings
Cowboys
Packers
Bengals
Eagles
Patriots
Jets
Ravens
Cardinals

Cheers,
TFAM