Fantasy Football Playoff Rankings 2015: Projections for Postseason's Top Stars

Fantasy football season is officially over. Or is it?

While your leagues may have ended in correspondence with the regular season's conclusion, there are still more fantasy games to be played. One-day leagues and playoff pick 'em challenges run rampant at this time of year, bringing joy to fantasy enthusiasts everywhere.

Since the games will continue, so will the rankings.

Since only eight teams will be competing during Wild Card Weekend, options at every position are extremely limited. The best way to gain the upper hand on your opponents is to be sure you're going with the player who has the best possible matchup.

That said, here's a glance at the top-five players and their respective projections at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end for the kickoff of the postseason edition of fantasy football.

Quarterback

Rank	Player	Team	Opp.	Projection
1	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	BAL	24 points
2	Tony Romo	DAL	DET	21 points
3	Andrew Luck	IND	CIN	18 points
4	Joe Flacco	BAL	PIT	17 points
5	Cam Newton	CAR	ARI	16 points

Ben Roethlisberger will be your best bet for Wild Card Weekend. He's playing a Baltimore Ravens pass defense that finished the season allowing an average of 15.3 fantasy points per game to opposing quarterbacks. However, that number is rather skewed.

Baltimore has been terrible this season against signal-callers. The Ravens' average fantasy points allowed to the position was severely decreased over the last three weeks of the season because they faced Blake Bortles, Case Keenum and Connor Shaw in consecutive games.

The last time Pittsburgh and Baltimore met, Roethlisberger accumulated 340 yards and tossed six touchdown passes en route to a whopping 35 fantasy points. He may not duplicate that number this time around, but he should get close thanks to an expected increase in pass attempts without running back Le'Veon Bell in the fold. The ball-carrier is unlikely to play, according to Around the NFL:

If Bell can't go, expect plenty of passing attempts from Roethlisberger and a huge fantasy day for his owners.

Running Back

Rank	Player	Team	Opp.	Projection
1	Jeremy Hill	CIN	IND	22 points
2	Justin Forsett	BAL	PIT	17 points
3	Jonathan Stewart	CAR	ARI	14 points
4	DeMarco Murray	DAL	DET	12 points
5	Daniel Herron	IND	CIN	10 points

With Bell appearing to be shelved for his team's wild-card contest, Cincinnati Bengals running back Jeremy Hill gets the top ranking at the position.

The Bengals have shifted to a run-first offense, featuring the rookie over the final three weeks of the regular season. During that span, Hill received no less than 22 carries and eclipsed 100 rushing yards in each game, scoring three touchdowns along the way.

Just how good has Hill been since receiving a larger workload? Here's a telling stat, via NFL on ESPN:

Following his Week 16 outburst against the Cleveland Browns, he managed to come away with his final two stellar performances against the stout run defenses of the Denver Broncos and Steelers. He should be in line for a big day against an Indianapolis Colts run defense that is allowing an average of 18.1 fantasy points to opposing ball-carriers this season.

Wide Receiver

Rank	Player	Team	Opp.	Projection
1	Antonio Brown	PIT	BAL	18 points
2	Dez Bryant	DAL	DET	16 points
3	Torrey Smith	BAL	PIT	14 points
4	A.J. Green	CIN	IND	12 points
5	T.Y. Hilton	IND	CIN	12 points

For much of the same reasons Roethlisberger was named the top quarterback, Antonio Brown will be the top wide receiver of Wild Card Weekend.

The Ravens have been terrible against opposing quarterbacks, but they have been even worse against wide receivers. The team's secondary has been decimated by injuries this season, leading to a bevy of monster performances by opposing wideouts. In fact, the last time Brown faced the Ravens, he caught 11 passes for 144 yards and one touchdown, scoring 20 fantasy points.

This tweet from SportsCenter sums Brown's season up perfectly:

Some fantasy enthusiasts may argue that the Ravens will try to take Brown out of the equation, especially with Bell potentially missing the game. However, keep in mind that better secondaries have been attempting the same thing all season long.

Tight End

Rank	Player	Team	Opp.	Projection
1	Greg Olsen	CAR	ARI	14 points
2	Jason Witten	DAL	DET	11 points
3	Coby Fleener	IND	CIN	8 points
4	Heath Miller	PIT	BAL	6 points
5	Owen Daniels	BAL	PIT	5 points

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen will be the best bet during Wild Card Weekend, despite his unspectacular finish to the regular season.

Olsen has been one of Carolina's top targets this season, and that was apparent when the team featured the passing game in Weeks 14 and 15, as the tight end caught 10 receptions in each game, accumulating 13 and 11 fantasy points, respectively.

Expect that trend to reemerge against an Arizona Cardinals defense that has allowed an average of 8.9 fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends, the fifth most in the league this season.