Week 2 Fantasy Football Position Rankings

Zoneblitz.com’s weekly position-by-position breakdown to help YOU set your fantasy lineup!

Quarterbacks

Drew Brees at Tampa Bay
Peyton Manning at NY Giants
Aaron Rodgers vs. Washington
Cam Newton at Buffalo
Matt Ryan vs. St. Louis
Michael Vick vs. San Diego
Andrew Luck vs. Miami
Tony Romo at Kansas City
Carson Palmer vs. Detroit
Jay Cutler vs. Minnesota
Matthew Stafford at Arizona
Andy Dalton vs. Pittsburgh
Eli Manning vs. Denver
Robert Griffin at Green Bay
Colin Kaepernick at Seattle
Russell Wilson vs. San Francisco
Josh Freeman vs New Orleans
Matt Schaub vs. Tennessee
Philip Rivers at Philadelphia
Joe Flacco vs. Cleveland
Alex Smith vs. Dallas
Terrelle Pryor vs. Jacksonville
EJ Manuel vs Carolina
Sam Bradford at Atlanta
Jake Locker at Tennessee

Seems weird to put Peyton Manning at No. 2, but Drew Brees threw for 784 yards and eight touchdowns against Tampa Bay last year. Let’s go ahead and just say both are nice plays. Really there are 15 quarterbacks I’m fine with this week, and No. 16 and 17 are interesting considering they are Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson. Obviously when you took an NFC West quarterback you knew you were in for a handful of tough matchups. I can buy the argument that you don’t want to bench either of those guys, just know that there’s a higher potential than usual for some ugly numbers.

Running Backs

Adrian Peterson at Chicago
LeSean McCoy vs. San Diego
Doug Martin vs. New Orleans
Arian Foster vs. Tennessee
Jamaal Charles vs. Dallas
Steven Jackson vs. St. Louis
Reggie Bush at Arizona
DeMarco Murray at Kansas City
Matt Forte vs. Minnesota
CJ Spiller vs. Carolina
Alfred Morris at Green Bay
Ray Rice vs. Cleveland
Marshawn Lynch vs. San Francisco
DeAngelo Williams at Buffalo
Trent Richardson at Baltimore
Darren Sproles at Tampa Bay
Darren McFadden vs. Jacksonville
Maurice Jones Drew at Oakland
Eddie Lacy vs. Washington
Daryl Richardson at Atlanta
David Wilson vs. Denver
Frank Gore at Seattle
Chris Johnson at Houston
Lamar Miller at Indianapolis
Rashard Mendenhall vs. Detroit
Joique Bell at Arizona
Fred Jackson vs. Carolina
Pierre Thomas at Tampa Bay
BenJarvus Green-Ellis vs. Pittsburgh
Ryan Mathews at Philadelphia
Ahmad Bradshaw vs. Miami
Mark Ingram at Tampa Bay
Ben Tate vs. Tennessee
Giovani Bernard vs. Pittsburgh
Bryce Brown vs. San Diego
Daniel Thomas at Indianapolis
Bernard Pierce vs. Cleveland
Knowshon Moreno at NY Giants
Montee Ball at NY Giants
Donald Brown vs Miami
Mike Tolbert at Buffalo
Isaac Redman at Cincinnati
Jonathan Dwyer at Cincinnati
Ronnie Hillman at NY Giants
Isaiah Pead at Atlanta
Jacquizz Rodgers vs. St. Louis
Danny Woodhead at Philadelphia
Roy Helu at Green Bay
Lance Dunbar at Tennessee
Knile Davis vs. Dallas
Ronnie Brown at Philadelphia
Jackie Battle at Houston
Kendall Hunter at Seattle
Michael Bush vs. Minnesota
Da’Rell Scott vs. Denver
Alphonso Smith vs. Detroit
Robert Turbin vs. San Francisco
Cierre Wood vs. Tennessee
Brandon Jacobs vs. Denver
Felix Jones at Cincinnati

I’d like to punish David Wilson and Lamar Miller for their Week 1 disasters, but unfortunately we’re not left with a lot of good options. Running back is already turning rough, but for those of you who waited in your draft for DeAngelo Williams and Daryl Richardson, I think you’ll be plenty happy this week based on their matchups. I think there will be fantasy value in the Indianapolis, Denver and New Orleans backfields, but until we start playing Team RBs, that’s not a roulette game I want to play if I can avoid it.

Wide Receiver

Calvin Johnson at Arizona
AJ Green vs. Pittsburgh
Brandon Marshall vs. Minnesota
Dez Bryant at Kansas City
Vincent Jackson vs. New Orleans
Larry Fitzgerald vs. Detroit
Demaryius Thomas at NY Giants
Andre Johnson vs. Tennessee
Victor Cruz vs. Denver
Wes Welker at NY Giants
Julio Jones vs. St. Louis
Randall Cobb vs. Washington
Reggie Wayne vs. Miami
Jordy Nelson vs. Washington
Marques Colston vs. Tampa Bay
Anquan Boldin at Seattle
Steve Smith at Buffalo
Pierre Garcon at Green Bay
James Jones vs. Washington
Mike Williams vs. New Orleans
Miles Austin at Kansas City
Dwayne Bowe vs. Dallas
DeSean Jackson vs. San Diego
Hakeem Nicks vs. Denver
Cecil Shorts at Oakland
Eric Decker at NY Giants
Torrey Smith vs. Cleveland
Lance Moore at Tampa Bay
Andre Roberts vs. Detroit
Harry Douglas vs. St. Louis
Michael Floyd vs. Detroit
Mike Wallace at Indianapolis
TY Hilton vs. Miami
Stevie Johnson vs. Carolina
Brian Hartline at Indianapolis
Marlon Brown vs. Cleveland
Denarius Moore vs. Jacksonville
Roddy White vs. St. Louis
Malcom Floyd at Philadelphia
Antonio Brown at Cincinnati
Alshon Jeffery vs. Minnesota
Tavon Austin at Atlanta
Golden Tate vs. San Francisco
Nate Burleson at Arizona
Robert Woods vs. Carolina
Eddie Royal at Philadelphia
Chris Givens at St. Louis
DeAndre Hopkins vs. Tennessee
Sidney Rice vs. San Francisco
Darrius Heyward-Bey vs. Miami
Greg Jennings at Chicago
Vincent Brown at Philadelphia
Emmanuel Sanders at Cincinnati
Kenny Britt at Houston
Kenny Stills at Tampa Bay
Leonard Hankerson at Green Bay
Davone Bess at Baltimore
Reuben Randle vs. Denver
Mohamed Sanu vs. Pittsburgh
Donnie Avery vs. Dallas

It’s incredible how much deeper wide receiver is this year than running backs. By the 60^th running back on my list I wanted to puke. When I got to 60 at receiver I wanted to keep going. Not that there are a ton of great starts out there, but I feel like Jerome Simpson and Brandon Gibson should at least get an honorable mention or something.

Tight Ends

Jimmy Graham at Tampa Bay
Jermichael Finley vs. Washington
Tony Gonzalez vs. St. Louis
Jason Witten at Kansas City
Jared Cook at Atlanta
Martellus Bennett vs. Minnesota
Vernon Davis at Seattle
Owen Daniels vs. Tennessee
Julius Thomas at NY Giants
Jordan Cameron at Baltimore
Greg Olsen at Buffalo
Brandon Myers vs. Denver
Antonio Gates at Philadelphia
Kyle Rudolph at Chicago
Dallas Clark vs. Cleveland
Scott Chandler vs. Carolina
Coby Fleener vs. Miami
Zach Miller vs. San Francisco
Brent Celek vs. San Diego
Tyler Eifert vs. Pittsburgh
Fred Davis at Green Bay
Jermaine Gresham vs. Pittsburgh
Brandon Pettigrew at Arizona
Delanie Walker at Houston
Anthony Fasano vs. Dallas

Jermichael Finley at No. 2 may seem aggressive, but the Redskins allowed the most fantasy points to tight ends last year and had a touchdown scored on them already this season. I’d rank Dallas Clark higher, but then Ed Dickson would catch 10 passes after I gambled on him over Clark last week and lost. I’m interested to see what Jared Cook and Martellus Bennett do in Week 2 after their respective coming out parties with their new teams.

Kicker

Matt Bryant vs. St. Louis
Randy Bullock vs. Tennessee
Dan Bailey at Kansas City
Sebastian Janikowski vs. Jacksonville
Matt Prater at NY Giants
Mike Nugent vs. Pittsburgh
Phil Dawson at Seattle
Dan Carpenter vs. Carolina
David Akers at Arizona
Josh Brown vs. Denver
Blair Walsh at Chicago
Mason Crosby vs. Washington
Greg Zuerlein at Atlanta
Justin Tucker vs. Cleveland
Adam Vinatieri vs. Miami
Garrett Hartley at Tampa Bay
Billy Cundiff at Baltimore
Robbie Gould vs. Minnesota
Josh Scobee at Oakland
Rob Bironas at Houston
Rian Lindell vs. New Orleans
Ryan Succop vs. Dallas
Jay Feely vs. Detroit
Caleb Sturgis at Indianapolis
Nick Novak at Philadelphia

Not gonna lie—I’m pretty happy to put Caleb Sturgis in my rankings this week. I might be a little high on Randy Bullock and low on Robbie Gould, but since I’m facing Bullock in one league and am a Bears fan, perhaps I’m subconsciously working on a couple of reverse jinxes.

Defense

Bengals vs. Pittsburgh
Texans vs. Tennessee
Bears vs. Minnesota
Ravens vs. Cleveland
Panthers at Buffalo
Broncos at NY Giants
Seahawks vs. San Francisco
49ers at Seattle
Eagles vs. San Diego
Cowboys at Kansas City
Titans at Houston
Browns at Baltimore
Falcons vs. St. Louis
Bills vs. Carolina
Dolphins at Indianapolis
Steelers vs. Tennessee
Jaguars at Oakland
Vikings at Chicago
Cardinals vs. Detroit
Lions at Arizona
Colts vs. Miami
Saints at Tampa Bay
Chiefs vs. Dallas
Packers vs. Washington
Giants vs. Denver

Not a ton of matchups I like from a defensive standpoint. Your best plug-n-play of the week is probably the Eagles, who gave up some points to the Redskins but were aggressive to the football in the opener at Washington. The Bengals defense should be fun to watch, assuming you’re not a Steelers fan. I legitimately feel sorry for Pittsburgh, and I only know one person who lives there and I don’t think she watches football.