NFL Fantasy Football Week 1 Rankings: Top 25 Quarterbacks

The start of the NFL season is just a few days away, meaning the time has come to start figuring your Week 1 lineup.  Let’s kick things off looking at our quarterback rankings for Week 1:

1. Philip Rivers – San Diego Chargers – vs. Minnesota
2. Michael Vick – Philadelphia Eagles – at St. Louis
3. Tom Brady – New England Patriots – at Miami
4. Aaron Rodgers – Green Bay Packers – vs. New Orleans
5. Drew Brees – New Orleans Saints – at Green Bay
6. Matt Schaub – Houston Texans – vs. Indianapolis
7. Matt Ryan – Atlanta Falcons – at Chicago
8. Matthew Stafford – Detroit Lions – at Tampa Bay
9. Josh Freeman – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – vs. Detroit
10. Kevin Kolb – Arizona Cardinals – vs. Carolina
11. Ben Roethlisberger – Pittsburgh Steelers – at Baltimore
12. Kyle Orton – Denver Broncos – vs. Oakland
13. Eli Manning – New York Giants – at Washington
14. Tony Romo – Dallas Cowboys – at New York Jets
15. Joe Flacco – Baltimore Ravens – vs. Pittsburgh
16. Sam Bradford – St. Louis Rams – vs. Philadelphia
17. Jay Cutler – Chicago Bears – vs. Atlanta
18. Matt Cassel – Kansas City Chiefs – vs. Buffalo
19. David Garrard – Jacksonville Jaguars – vs. Tennessee
20. Kerry Collins – Indianapolis Colts – at Houston
21. Mark Sanchez – New York Jets – vs. Dallas
22. Alex Smith – San Francisco 49ers – vs. Seattle
23. Ryan Fitzpatrick – Buffalo Bills – at Kansas City
24. Colt McCoy – Cleveland Browns – vs. Cincinnati
25. Matt Hasselbeck – Tennessee Titans – at Jacksonville

Thoughts:

• There is no arguing that Aaron Rodgers is one of—if not the—elite quarterbacks in the league in 2011.  However, he’s going against a New Orleans defense that was among the best in the league in 2010 (fourth in yards, allowing 306.2 yards/game, and seventh in points, at 19.2 points/game) and is once again highly touted.  It’s tough to put him into the Top 3 for this week, but that doesn’t mean you should entertain any idea of benching him.
• It’s looking more and more like Peyton Manning will be on the sidelines for Week 1.  If that changes, obviously these rankings will need to be reshuffled. For now, however, you won’t find his name on the list.
• The Falcons are moving to a very pass-oriented offense—at least that’s what the talk is and what they showed us during the preseason.  That should give Matt Ryan plenty of opportunities to excel.
• Both Matthew Stafford and Josh Freeman are among the best up-and-coming quarterbacks in the league.  They will each get a chance to make a statement from the outset, taking on what are considered by many to be among the poorer defenses in the league.  They both could be must start options most weeks, and consider them as good plays this week.
• With the pressure of Tim Tebow seemingly a thing of the past, it is hard to not like Kyle Orton for the coming week.  We’ll find out quickly how porous the Raiders passing defense will be, now that Nnamdi Asamghou is in Philadelphia.
• Most weeks would see Tony Romo and Joe Flacco as good plays in one-quarterback formats.  Unfortunately both drew a tough matchup in Week 1, hurting their potential value.  If you have another option you may want to consider it for the opening week, but don’t expect this to become commonplace.

Make sure to check out all of Rotoprofessor’s Week 1 Rankings:

• Top 40 Running Backs
• Top 40 Wide Receivers