2012 Fantasy Football: Why You Should Consider Drafting Peyton Manning

If you’re like me and had the misfortune of drafting Peyton Manning in fantasy football last year, you’re probably a bit squeamish about taking the plunge this year.

But there are many reasons why you should consider taking Manning as your QB for the 2012 season.

For starters, let's look at his stats before he was sidelined from neck surgery. In 2010, Peyton threw for over 4,000 yards. That placed him second behind Philip Rivers. Mixed in with those 4,000 yards were 33 touchdowns, which placed him second behind Tom Brady.

I’m not sure what type of league you guys play in, but for the leagues that I play in, this translates into points!

For all the talk about Peyton’s neck surgeries, he has only missed one season, and that was partly due to a lockout that kept him from rehabbing it properly.

Yes, it’s a risky proposition, but that’s what fantasy is about. High risk equals high reward!

In 2010, I rode Manning’s 4,000 yards to the championship of my league and only lost because I was not fast enough to pick up Ryan Matthews to replace a worn out Peyton Hillis in Week 17. I’m willing to bet that Manning will duplicate his 2010 stats. (Side note: don’t play in a league where your championship is on Week 17!)

Now I’m not saying waste your first pick on Manning. I’m not even saying pass up a chance to draft Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady with your first QB pick.

But what I am saying is that before you get too “spooked” about picking Peyton, just look at what the man has put up over the years and make an informed decision.

Let’s face it, Peyton has something to prove.

He won’t say it, but inside he wants to show the Colts that they made a huge mistake and maybe they did. Look at how the entire team collapsed when Peyton was out. Truth is, Peyton covers for a lot of mistakes, and he can make receivers better than what they really are.

He now has Eric Decker, a burner in Demaryius Thomas and a familiar target in tight end Jacob Tamme. Those are three key targets for him to unload on, and I’d be willing to bet you will see their stats skyrocket, as well.