As you’ve no doubt been reading over the past few months, the NFL has turned into a mega-passing league, which spills over into the 2013 Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings. But unlike the quarterbacks position, this vertical explosion has given the wide receiver position depth in the Fantasy third and fourth strings.
While the top quarterbacks are throwing for a bazillion yards every game, it’s not just one receiver on the team that’s reaping the rewards.
Quarterbacks are throwing a lot to multiple wide receivers, and now it’s starting to be multiple tight ends, too! And let’s not forget about all the pass-catching running backs getting in on the action.
So before we dig in to the 2013 Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings, I want to take a look back and see which trends are starting to develop at the wide receivers position.
Let’s take a look back over the past few seasons to see how the position is topped off in Fantasy points. I like to use 200 Fantasy points as a marker, because it seems to distinguish the elite from the really, really good.
In 2012, five wide receivers scored 200 or more Fantasy points, led by Lions WR Calvin Johnson, who set the single-season receiving yardage record with 1,964. Brandon Marshall, Dez Bryant, A.J. Green and DeMaryius Thomas joined Megatron in the 200 Club. (All five were under 29 years old in 2012.)
Last season, we saw five receivers score over 200 Fantasy points, 18 scored over 150, and 43 scored over 100.
By comparison, in 2011, there were four receivers over 200, 17 over 150 and 44 over 100. Not much of a difference!
For the previous 10 seasons, there was an average of 3.1 that scored 200 each season, 15.9 scored 150, and 40 over 100.
From 1991 to 2000, there were only 3.3 that scored 200 each season on average, 13.2 that scored 150, and 37 that scored 100 points.
You can see how the increase in passing led to more Fantasy points for more receivers as the decades progressed, and it’s also obvious in the decline of carries for featured running backs. Teams are leaning on the passing game, and wide receivers are obvious beneficiaries.
In 2012, we saw Calvin Johnson get drafted among the top six picks in most Fantasy leagues. He then went out and broke Jerry Rice’s single-season yardage record, and nearly caught 2,000-yards worth of passes. Unfortunately, he scored just five touchdowns, which is the second-lowest total among the top 14 wide receivers. So even though he was the top Fantasy wide receiver, it wasn’t by a landslide, as Brandon Marshall’s 11 touchdowns and 1,500 yards were right on Megatron’s tail.
Calvin Johnson actually had a better Fantasy season in 2011, since he scored nearly 50 points more than the second-best that season, Jordy Nelson.
Some other hindsight observations on the 2012 season:
Quick thoughts on my 2013 Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings:
These 2013 Fantasy Football rankings are for standard non-PPR leagues, scoring four points for a touchdown pass, starting 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 K and 1 DST. These rankings are powered by the fine folks at FantasyPros.com. “ECR” stands for “Experts Consensus Rankings,” and it basically means that it’s an average ranking of over three dozen Fantasy Football writers/sites.
These 2013 Fantasy Wide Receiver Rankings will be updated throughout training camps and preseason, so come back each week to see which changes have been made as news happens!
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