My 2011 Fantasy Football Receiver Rankings

A few quick notes before I get to the list:

The scoring system for this is PPR with .5 points for each reception. So players with a lot of receptions will sometimes be above players who have a lot less receptions but who get more yards and touchdowns. If you want to use this for a non-PPR league, just remember to adjust players up and down depending on whether or not they will have a high total of receptions.

Don’t worry too much about the order the players are within their tiers. The tiers are setup to have players of basically equal skill in the same group. The order I put the players is how I would draft them. There can be other factors in what order you would take players in the same tier such as bye weeks or wanting to match a receiver with your QB.

Alright here is the list:

Tier One

Roddy White
Larry Fitzgerald
Andre Johnson
Calvin Johnson
Hakeem Nicks
Greg Jennings

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the first tier. The first four are consensus top 5 receivers; Nicks and Jennings are the top receivers in very solid passing offenses. Any of these guys is a solid pick in the late first to early/mid second round.

Tier Two

Reggie Wayne
Mike Wallace
Miles Austin
Wes Welker
Vincent Jackson
Dwayne Bowe

I put Wayne in tier two because of the uncertainty of Manning’s injury and because there is always the chance that the Colt’s starters will sit the last few games of the season.

Wallace and Austin are both solid receivers, but not quite good enough to be in the top tier. Pittsburg isn’t as much of a passing offense and Austin plays with Bryant and Witten which decreases his targets.

Welker is a PPR machine; he catches way too many passes to not draft him this high. The addition of Ochocinco isn’t going to change much. Welker played well alongside Moss, and will be well worth picking up for your team.

Vincent Jackson is hard to place. He wasn’t that spectacular in all but one of the 4 games he played last season. His talent and connection with Rivers seems too good to pass up, but he shouldn’t be drafted before the guys above him. They are much less of a risk.

Bowe is another one of the guys that is difficult to place. I’ve seen him anywhere from the 6^th ranked receiver to somewhere in the 30’s in the draft rankings I’ve looked at. I like him at the bottom of tier 2. He is Cassel’s top target which counts for something. While he may not repeat his numbers from last year, he should be reliable enough to be worth drafting this high.

Tier Three

Jeremy Maclin
Desean Jackson
Percy Harvin
Stevie Johnson
Mike Williams TB

Yes that’s right; I’ve got Maclin above Desaen. In my PPR league last year, Maclin had more points than Desaen who caught less than 50 passes last season. Picking Maclin before Jackson isn’t something you will see very often, but in ppr I’d recommend it.

Harvin, Johnson, and Williams are number one receivers with average quarterbacks. They will get the most targets from their QBs. Both Harvin and Johnson will likely be in situations where their teams will have to pass a lot to catch up in the second half which is a boost to their value.

Tier Four

Chad Ochocinco
Santonio Holmes
Brandon Marshall
Brandon Loyd
Michael Boldin
Dez Bryant
Marquis Colston
Syndey Rice
Plaxico Burress
Bernard Berrian

This is a large group of guys who I like, but wouldn’t want to pick that high. The guy with the most upside is Ochocinco, but I’m not convinced yet that he is going to have a Mosslike transformation with Brady.

Burress and Berrian are players that might not be getting drafted most of the time. Buress looks like his time in jail has not affected him at all. Berrian somehow got on the wrong side of Favre the last two years, but is really clicking with McNabb. If you were to grab one of these guys as your first backup receiver it would be very much worth it.

At this point you should have your three starting receivers and depending on your league size your first backup receiver.

Tier Five

Austin Collie
Mario Manningham
Santana Moss
Pier Garceon
Braylon Edwards
Jonny Knox

Not too much to say about these guys. I hope to get my first 4 receivers out of the previous tiers. I’d probably grab the guy in this group that best fits with my by weeks. The players in this group are mostly  either number two receivers with decent quarterbacks or number ones with bad QBs.