Welcome to the 2011 fantasy football preview. Over the next 6 days I will be giving my own personal rankings position by position. Let’s start with QB. It’s obviously the most important position on your fantasy team. It helps to have a good one, but there is plenty of depth this year.

1. Michael Vick (PHI)
2. Aaron Rodgers (GB)
3. Tom Brady (NE)
4. Drew Brees (NO)
5. Phillip Rivers (SD)
6. Peyton Manning (IND)
7. Matt Schaub (HOU)
8. Matt Ryan (ATL)
9. Tony Romo (DAL)
10. Ben Roethlisberger (PIT)
11. Matthew Stafford (DET)
12. Kevin Kolb (ARI)
13. Josh Freeman (TB)
14. Sam Bradford (STL)
15. Eli Manning (NYG)
16. Matt Cassel (KC)
17. Mark Sanchez (NYJ)
18. Kyle Orton (DEN)
19. Jay Cutler (CHI)
20. Donovan McNabb (MIN)
21. Joe Flacco (BAL)
22. Ryan Fitzpatrick (BUF)
23. David Garrard (JAC)
24. Colt McCoy (CLE)
25. Chad Henne (MIA)
26. Rex Grossman (WAS)
27. Cam Newton (CAR)
28. Jason Campbell (OAK)
29. Andy Dalton (CIN)
30. Tarvaris Jackson (SEA)
31. Matt Hasselbeck (TEN)
32. Jake Locker (TEN)
33. Alex Smith (SF)

First of all, I don’t buy the Vick is fragile or Vick is a bust talks. I also don’t care that he is only proven over one non-full season. Vick is the top guy to have because of the way he contributes to every category. Even on days that he may get shut down in the passing game he can still bust out over 100 yards rushing. Plus he has a great WR corp. I would feel comfortable taking him in the lower 1st round to high 2nd round. Aaron Rodgers is the only other QB you can consider taking in round 1. And that is because he is ridiculously accurate. He is also more consistent than most QB’s and has a great WR corp himself.

The next tier of QB’s drafted is Brady, Brees, Rivers, Manning. For some reason Brady always outperforms the other QB’s and then is ranked under them the following season. I don’t get it. Every draft board you see will have Brees and Rivers over Brady, but I would much rather have Brady. I almost ranked Brady over Rodgers and I could see him being the #1 QB yet again. Brees is still solid with plenty of weapons. The team should start to decline a little, which means he may decline some. Not much though. Rivers is solid and put up great numbers last year despite not having VJax for most of the season. Now that he gets him back for a full season and still has plenty of other threats like Antonio Gates, Rivers is still a solid pick.

That brings me to Peyton Manning. If Manning has to miss any weeks and falls in your draft he becomes the best value guy in 2011 fantasy football. Every year in every sport there are superstars to be had at a cheaper cost because of injury. Last year Roethlisberger fell because he was suspended a few games. Those who took Big Ben late were rewarded with a higher round QB at a bargain price. In baseball terms I translate Manning to Chase Utley and Zack Greinke. They both started the season on the DL, fell very late in drafts, and are putting up typical numbers for their lucky managers. So if the best bargain guy is Peyton Manning of all people (with his laser rocket arm) then you shouldn’t hesitate. But don’t jump on him early because then your defeating the purpose. Hope that he falls because of the injury and then draft him late. Just pick up a good backup for a few weeks…if you need to.

Matt Schaub and Matt Ryan are great picks. Both are capable of being top 5 QB’s. They are that good. Next year at this time they could be up there with Tom Brady. Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger have always had the upside to move to the next level, but never have. They will be good as usual, but not elite.

The next group of guys are interesting. Stafford/Kolb/Freeman/Bradford. All of them are young and have tremendous upside. If Stafford is healthy he is a steal. Kolb + Larry Fitzgerald + big arm = upside achieved. If your targeting any of these guys you should draft more than one of them. Platooning multiple guys with upside like this should give you a good start each week.

The rest of the guys are backups. Eli Manning is ranked higher than where I have him and is typically drafted as a starter, but you shouldn’t do that unless you want to lose. He’s just not a #1. I really like Mark Sanchez as a backup. McNabb should be a solid one too. He still has a little left in the tank and should be decent. Flacco is the last guy on the board that should actually be drafted. I wouldn’t even touch those other guys in a keeper league.

Wide Receivers….tomorrow