Aug. 12 (Quarterbacks)

It’s August 12, 2007… 9 days until my fantasy football draft…

Having picks 1.8, 2.1, and 2.5 in my 12-man draft affords me to draft Peyton Manning. I’ve never drafted Peyton before so I’m extremely tempted right now… but… is Peyton worth it?

Behind the numbers:

According to 5 popular Fantasy Football Magazines, here is an average ranking of the top 10 quarterbacks as of June:

*ESPN Fantasy Football 2007
*Fanball.com magazine
*FFIndex
*CBS Sportsline
*Sporting News Fantasy magazine

1. Peyton Manning Consensus #1
2. Carson Palmer FFIndex had him at #4
3. Tom Brady FFIndex had him at #2
4. Drew Brees CBS Sportsline had him at #5
5. Marc Bulger
6. Donovan McNabb FFIndex had him at #10
7. Matt Hasselbeck
8. Phillip Rivers
9. Vince Young
10. John Kitna

According to Antsports.com, “live” money drafts running since Aug. 1 had this current ranking:

1. Peyton Manning ADP: 1.09 (9th pick in the 1st round)
2. Carson Palmer ADP: 2.10 (10th pick in the 2nd round)
3. Tom Brady ADP: 3.06 (6th pick in the 3rd round)
4. Drew Brees ADP: 3.10 (10th pick in the 3rd round)
5. Marc Bulger ADP: 3.11 (11th pick in the 3rd round)
6. Donovan McNabb ADP: 4.12 (12th pick in the 4th round)
7. Jon Kitna ADP: 6.01 (1st pick in the 6th round)
8. Tony Romo ADP: 6.05 (5th pick in the 6th round)
9. Vince Young ADP: 6.12 (12th pick in the 6th round)
10. Phillip Rivers ADP: 7.12 (12th pick in the 7th round)

Behind more numbers:

1. Guess who had the highest points/per game average last year (2006)?
*1st Donovan McNabb 24.4 points/game
*2nd Peyton Manning 23.2 points/game
*3rd Drew Brees 20.5 points/game




(Are McNabb’s injury tendencies THAT concerning that it's justifiable he’s being picked as the 6th ranked quarterback DESPITE producing the highest pts/game average? You make that choice... if he's available in the 5th round, he's mine...)

2. Byron Leftwich is being picked as the 28th ranked QB… behind Culpepper, Jason Campbell, McNair, Trend Green, and countless others. There ARE weapons that he can pass to on that Jacksonville team. It's easy to pick him up after the 10th round as your 2nd QB... no real risk here, only upside.

Talk to you tomorrow