Fantasy Football 2012: Quarterback Tiers and Preseason Magazine Madness

Tiers Of A Clown

Quarterbacks are the make-or-break assets of fantasy football, but they're not all created equal. To wit, the early tier system for fantasy drafts:

Tier 1 (4,650 total yards and/or 34 TDs)

Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Cam Newton, Eli Manning, Tony Romo

Tier 2 (4,175 total yards and/or 29 TDs)

Michael Vick, Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Schaub

Tier 3 (3,850 total yards and/or 26 TDs)

Carson Palmer, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jay Cutler, Josh Freeman, Mark Sanchez, Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, Robert Griffin III

Tier 4 (3,400 total yards and/or 22 TDs)

Alex Smith, Andrew Luck, Kevin Kolb, Matt Flynn, Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Locker, Matt Cassel

Tier 5 (2,825 total yards and 16 TDs)

Brandon Weeden, Christian Ponder, Blaine Gabbert, Sam Bradford, Ryan Tannehill, Matt Moore

Tier 6 (Preferred-Backup Status)

Tarvaris Jackson, Colt McCoy, T.J. Yates, Vince Young, Dan Orlovsky, Jason Campbell, Rex Grossman, Chad Henne, John Skelton, Kyle Orton, David Garrard, Tim Tebow, Joe Webb, Brian Hoyer, Brady Quinn, Drew Stanton, David Carr, Chase Daniel, Charlie Whitehurst, Ryan Mallett

The Paper Chase

Last week, I purchased my first fantasy football magazine of the season (Sporting News) and found it to be a great read. (Bleacher Report doesn't have a preseason magazine...so there's no conflict of competition here.)

A few things stood out for the 12-team mock draft (standard-scoring rules...2 RB/3 WR as starters):

1. The first three players taken were all running backs—Arian Foster, Ray Rice, LeSean McCoy. I have no disagreement with the order, even though I'd probably go McCoy, Foster and Rice in standard-scoring drafts. Bottom line: As superstars go, it really doesn't matter which asset you end up with high in Round 1; just ride that gut feeling into the crucial swing picks for Rounds 2 and 3.

2. TSN's Bill Bender took the boldest leaps—by far—in the first two rounds, grabbing Cowboys tailback DeMarco Murray (10th overall) and Vikings RB Adrian Peterson (15th overall). While it's true you can never have enough elite running backs, Tier II assets like Murray and Peterson might have been available at the 34th and 39th spots as well. A possible miscalculation.

On the flip side, Bender knocked it out of the park with his next five picks—Percy Harvin, Jordy Nelson, Peyton Manning, Aaron Hernandez and BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

3. There was only one sustained run of wide receivers, but it was a whopper: From picks 18-25, Wes Welker, Mike Wallace, Roddy White, Larry Fitzgerald, Hakeem Nicks, Greg Jennings, Victor Cruz and A.J. Green had the full attention of the owners...and it might have been a run of nine receivers if Cam Newton hadn't landed between Welker and Houston's Andre Johnson (No. 16 overall).

Before anyone sneers at Johnson's lofty slot in Round 2, in his five healthiest games of 2011 (Weeks 1-3/Houston's two playoff games), Johnson tallied 34 catches, 56 targets, 517 yards receiving and three touchdowns...with per-game averages of 6.9 receptions, 11.1 targets, 103.4 yards and 0.6 touchdowns.

4. Of the 12 owners, Matt Lutovsky held out the longest for a quarterback, rolling with Philip Rivers in Round 6 (68th overall). If memory serves, Lutovsky also waited out the quarterback position longer than any other drafter in last year's TSN annual.

5. The earliest RB-RB handcuff came from George Winkler—Arian Foster (No. 1 overall) and Ben Tate (96th overall). The quickest QB-WR handcuff occurred with Eli Manning (51st overall) and Hakeem Nicks (No. 22). The only QB-TE handcuff (via Dan Barker) involved Cam Newton (17th overall) and Greg Olsen (No. 104).

6. My choices for the five savviest draft picks after Round 12: WR Jerome Simpson (164th), RB Mikel Leshoure (160th), WR Nate Washington (168th), RB Ronnie Hillman (178th) and QB Sam Bradford (191st).

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.