Peyton Manning Injury: How Far Does Star QB Fall in Fantasy Football Drafts?

The state of Indiana must be in a poor mood after reports came out that Peyton Manning could not be ready to play at the start of the regular season. While Manning is staying optimistic, the signing of Kerry Collins clearly means that the Indianapolis Colts are expecting Manning to miss time.

This is huge news and not only because of Manning's current streak of 227 consecutive games started. An even bigger problem is taking place in the fantasy football world.

Now that the possibility of Manning missing time is out there, how far will he fall in fantasy football drafts?

Most "experts" have Manning ranked anywhere from third to sixth for quarterbacks which means he will probably be drafted in the third or fourth round of most fantasy drafts. However, with this news, that is no longer the case.

Here are three different possibilities on how far Manning might actually fall.

Not very far at all

Right now, it appears as if Manning might only miss one game, if any, due to his neck surgery. The smarter fantasy owners will understand that and still consider Manning a top-10 quarterback. One game isn't much and Manning should still put up huge numbers when he returns.

With news of this injury, if you believe that Manning will fall at all, only one or two quarterbacks should jump over him in the rankings.

A respectable fall

Some feel that this is only the beginning of the injury for Manning. If it has taken him this long to recover, his injury could last well into the season. If that is the case, and you feel that way, Manning could take a respectable fall on draft night.

He would fall out of the top-10 and might even go as far as out of the top-20. This would push Manning behind players like Mark Sanchez, Kyle Orton and Kevin Kolb, which is almost laughable to think about.

A smart move if you see Manning taking a fall is to draft him in a later round to have him as a secret weapon once he eventually returns.

Free fallin'

Excuse my poor reference to a Tom Petty song above and hear me out for a second. If Manning has taken this long to recover, even when he does come back, whenever that may be, will he really be 100 percent? Is Manning playing at half-strength better than Ryan Fitzpatrick completely healthy?

That is the question that will need to be answered. He certainly won't go undrafted, but people with long term concerns will probably only draft him in the last few rounds as a safety valve.

In reality, that might be a little much, but we all know how passionate people get about fantasy football and how fast rumors can spread.

Conclusion

It is hard to really tell where Manning is at in his rehabilitation from neck surgery due to the lack of information coming out from the Indianapolis Colts. He will most likely be fine, which means that he will still be worth a high draft pick, but you can never rule out the possibility of him taking a major fall on fantasy draft day.

My gut tells me that he will see him take a hit on his draft stock, but only a minor one. Manning is one of the toughest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL and should recover nicely.