NFL: Complete Fantasy Breakdown of New Orleans Saints vs. Green Bay Packers

The 2009 Super Bowl Champs against the 2010 Super Bowl Champs: can’t ask for a much better kickoff to the 2011 NFL season.

There are plenty of fantasy goodies involved in this one, so let’s start with the easy part. 

If you drafted either Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, you’re starting them unless they’re on bye or inactive for a game. 

In the past three years, Brees has had at least 33 touchdowns to Rodgers 28, so hard to find guys much more reliable in football’s imaginary game.  

From here on out, a thorough breakdown of each team's wide receivers, running backs, tight ends and defenses will be available.  

Saints Wide Receivers

The Saints receiving corps is about as predictable as Peyton Manning’s injury status, so it is difficult to say who should be active on fantasy rosters from week to week.

Marques Colston is the most reliable of the bunch, notching at least a 1,000 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in four of his five NFL seasons. 

Somehow though, Colston is just not that consistent.  He didn't score a touchdown or going over a 100 receiving yards until Week seven in 2010. 

Therefore, he does not belong any higher than a flex play in competitive 12-team leagues, but could be a decent third in deeper leagues.

As for anyone else…well it’s a crap shoot.

Robert Meachem has given owners some monster 20 point fantasy days the past couple of seasons, but he has also delivered more than his fair share of two-point efforts as well.

Meachem should only be started in 16 team leagues and even then, only as a flex starter. 

Devery Henderson is somehow even more frustrating, as he will produce six catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns in any game where he sits on your bench.

Whenever he’s active in fantasy though, expect him to contribute nothing in reality.

Unless you’re a big time gambler with an otherwise star studded line up, no sense in starting Henderson in any format.  Equally reliable options can be found on the waiver wire.

Lance Moore has shown to be a favorite target of Drew Brees in the red zone, but he has also been extremely injury prone in the past and has already been ruled out of Week one with a groin injury.

Adrian Aarington is still on the team believe it or not, but he is listed as questionable against the Pack due to a knee injury.  Not like you were vaguely considering starting him anyway.   

Packers Wide Receivers

Greg Jennings is a top five guy at his position, so clearly he is getting the start every single week.  However, many forget that he was not as productive when tight end Jermichael Finley was on the field. 

When both guys were healthy in 2010, Jennings scored three times but only went over 36 yards once.  To once again clarify, Jennings is getting the start week in and week out. 

Moving onto to the other Green Bay receivers, James Jones and Jordy Nelson are intriguing options in fantasy land.  Honestly: don’t start either guy. 

Jones has a lot of potential and Nelson showed in last year’s playoffs how effective he can be.  But both are risky plays against a stout New Orleans defense.

If you’re really scrambling in a 16-team, maybe a 14-team league, roll the dice.  But both guys are very risky plays. 

Donald Driver is still around, but he’s as irrelevant as it gets at this point for fantasy owners.  

Rookie Randall Colb joins this receiving core and although he has been banged up this preseason, keep an eye on him to see if he has any deep sleeper appeal later on.  

Tight Ends

Jermichael Finley proved that he can be truly elite at his position this season. 

In four full games last year, Finley had 300 yards and a touchdown.  While it would have been nice to see him cross the paint a couple more times, that's still an average of 75 yards per game.

Therefore, if Finley is active on game day, he needs to be active on every owner's roster.  Finley has been limited in practice with a tender ankle but he is still listed as probable so there is little cause for concern. 

Jimmy Graham is another tight end fantasy aficionados will be starting with confidence tomorrow night.  Graham only started five games in 2010 and still managed five touchdowns.  Coincidence?  Not really. 

As the season wore on, Graham became a favorite target in the red zone for Drew Brees.  With Jeremy Shockey out of town, Graham all of a sudden sees his value sky rocket. 

Depending on how tight end friendly the opposition is, bear in mind Graham’s fantasy value may hinge on whether or not the sophomore player scores or not.

While not an elite entity yet, he should be a safe start in most weeks.  Both teams have other tight ends on the roster but no one else should be significant contributor to either team.  

Saints Running Backs

This section is fairly easy to sum up.  Both teams provide a fairly cloudy situation for fantasy footballers. 

Mark Ingram scored in both preseason games he played in, but only averaged 2.4 yards-per-carry. 

He could be a stud as the season progresses but there's no reason to trust him against this Dom Kapers-run defense.

The Saints have about 17 running backs last time I checked but I also wouldn’t count on Chris Ivory even though he led the team in rushing last year. 

This one has the look of a shootout written all over it.  While that doesn’t mean rushing touchdowns are impossible, this area is just too hard to predict for New Orleans. 

Additionally, don't forget that Reggie Bush was shipped off to Miami, so there is no one to get excited about from a PPR or return yards format.   

Packers Running Backs

Green Bay’s situation, for the most part, includes only two tailbacks. 

Aaron Rodgers is always capable of rushing one in from short distances, as is fullback John Kuhn.  But the players we’re interested in here are James Starks and Ryan Grant. 

In 2010, Ryan Grant suffered a season ending ankle injury just eight carries and 45 yards into the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Meanwhile, James Starks never really embraced the role of a full-time running back when given the opportunity last season. 

In seven games started, Starks only eclipsed 100 yards and five yards per carry once. 

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers plan on going with a 50/50 split in Thursday’s season opener. 

The Saints were fairly soft against the run last year, ranking just 16th overall, so it would be nice if there was a clear cut option here.

Unfortunately, there’s not, so if you’re in a pinch, either Starks or Grant is a high risk, high reward flex play. 

Personally, I’d probably go with Grant.  But this is probably the toughest call out of all the players on the field, from a fantasy perspective at least. 

Defenses

The Saints and Packers ranked fourth and fifth respectively in terms of total defense, so both should be safe plays this week, right?  Wrong.  

The Saints had the third ranked passing game in 2010, while the Packers had the fifth ranked. Perhaps it could be argued that Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers had something to do with that.  

Seriously, this looks like one where points will be easy to come by so it doesn't make much sense to start either team on D.