Categories: Fantasy Football

2013 Fantasy Football Rankings – Early Bird Version!

While RG3 got all the accolades, Alfred Morris plowed through defenses for 1,613 rushing yards. Photo Credit: Maskirovka77

Looking at 2013 Fantasy Football rankings when the 2012 Fantasy season is barely cold is kind of like asking out a hot chick just days after you got dumped by some other hot chick. (Then again, if you won your league, then looking at the Fantasy Football 2013 rankings is more like doubling down and asking out the twin sister of the hot chick you just dated.) I’m so confused right now.

(UPDATE: Our most recent 2013 Fantasy Football Rankings are posted here! We will keep these updated throughout the summer, in training camps and preseason!)

(Starting in early May, we also began posting our rookie rankings, starting with our 2013 Rookie QB Rankings and 2013 Rookie RB Rankings.)

Either way, Fantasy Baseball is underway and many people have turned all of their draft prep engines right at their upcoming Fantasy Football 2013 drafts!

Even though Fred Jackson will be back and healthy, Spiller is a playmaker the Bills will lean on from now on, making him an early round pick. Photo Credit: Kevin M Coleman

Looking ahead to the Fantasy Football 2013 season isn’t that insane, really. There’s no harm in getting an idea of what the first couple rounds of a draft should look like anyway. You might be rethinking last year’s strategy of taking a quarterback with one of your first two picks. (If you listen to LateRoundQB.com, waiting on quarterbacks is a very smart idea! And he turned out right in 2012, with mid-to-late-round QBs like Peyton Manning, Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson having success.)

Many of the people checking out the 2013 Fantasy Football rankings are interested because they have some keeper decisions they’ll need to make in the coming months. Sometimes, a keeper will cost you a pick two or three rounds ahead of the round you drafted him, which is one idea of how to run keeper leagues. (Here are several other great ideas to mix up your Fantasy Football league if you need to shake up things.)

There aren’t many rookies expected to help Fantasy owners out in 2013. Take a look at this article by Paymon Shokoohi, from DynastyLeagueFootball.com, where he ranks the top 12 rookies in Fantasy Football for 2013.
With the injury to South Carolina RB Marcus Lattimore, there’s not much depth to the incoming running backs. And while the 2012 Rookie Quarterbacks were the best rookie group ever, there doesn’t appear to be a Fantasy savior entering the 2013 NFL Draft.
The knee injury to RG3 in the playoff loss to Seattle makes him a huge question mark for next season – at least for part of the season. And really, even if he comes back healthy, the Redskins can’t allow him to run as much, or he’ll just get hit more, and hurt again. Even so, RG3’s rookie season ranks as the second-best Fantasy season for a rookie QB ever.
Finally, these rankings aren’t really guessing much on where a rookie and some unsigned free agents will go. However, they are guessing that some free agents will leave their current teams.
The rankings do take into account the free agents that have already signed, and all of the trades that have already happened. Larry Fitzgerald once again becomes an option in the first three rounds of your draft, now that he has the first strong-armed, veteran QB under center (Carson Palmer), since Kurt Warner.

For a little more analysis on the early picks, check out my first round of a 2013 Fantasy Football Mock Draft. The second round is here, but that’s a little trickier now that RG3 is hurt.

I plan to update these rankings regularly, especially through the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl, so check back often!

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