2008 Fantasy Football IDP rankings: Early Season Top 10 List By: Bob Kirlin aka the IDP_GURU

As I prepare myself for the upcoming 2008 Fantasy Football season, I compile a list of who I deem would be my choice. At this point I am working on my top 100 fantasy football IDP’s per position, that would be D-Line, Linebacker and D-Back, but I thought it might be a good idea to throw out an early season Top 10 list… Plus it was Jeffs’ idea…

Anyway, I have worked for the past several weeks on this to be as accurate as I can. These early season picks are subject to change, but not to a great degree. I base much of my choices on a variety of mathematical equations, also taking into account, age, injury and changes in coaches of philosophies as contributing factors as to why I rate players where. In some cases, I will rate a player higher than someone who has a better mathematical score for those reasons. In the end, I have been in my view, very successful in my IDP drafts and I hope this will help you out as well.

First and foremost, I do not advocate taking defensive IDP players over RB, QB, or WR, but there are a few out there who warrant a closer look early, for example, last year Frank Gore was rated as the #4 back overall in most leagues, yet by points, if hindsight was 20/20, Linebacker Patrick Willis would have scored more than most of the top 10 backs in the league, and probably could have gone in the top 10 in most drafts. That being said, I do not think he will have the same kind of points year that he did last year, but without a doubt, he will be the first defensive player taken in just about any IDP fantasy football draft.

On with the show, I’ll start off with the D-Line, which for the most part fairly even numbers wise with no real standouts that are that critical to your Fantasy Football draft, where the top 6 or 7 players under my rankings are within 16 points of the #1 player, if you do the math, that’s only a point per game, the message being, don’t be in a hurry to draft a D-Lineman.
1. Jared Allen Minnesota: Moving to a new team, Allen may be even better with a Vikings team that has a dominant defense.
2. Aaron Kampman Green Bay: Kampman had an off year for him, still he produced and will produce some great numbers this year. 3. Trent Cole Philadelphia: Cole is fast becoming a solid scorer and has jumped ahead of many of the star players one is used to seeing here.
4. Osi Umenyiora NY Giants: With or without Strahan, he will get his attention, although Strahan may retire before the season starts, there is plenty of depth on the D-Line.
5. Kyle Vandenbosch Tennessee: One of the more solid and safe picks, his numbers were down from the previous seasons, still a top 5 pick.
6. Justin Smith San Francisco: Stud D-lineman moved over from the Bengals
7. Patrick Kerney Seattle
8. Mario Williams Houston
9. Aaron Schobel Buffalo
10. Jason Taylor Miami?
Linebacker: The Moneymakers in IDP!!!
1. Patrick Willis San Francisco: Without a doubt the best defensive player in this years draft.
2. John Beason Carolina: The Panthers are losing at D-Line but are fast compiling one of the leagues top linebacking corps.
3. Brian Urlacher Chicago: The best veteran out there and the most consistent.
4. Keith Brooking Atlanta: Probably the most overlooked LB in every draft mainly because the Falcons just don’t get the media attention without Michael Vick.
5. Demeco Ryans Houston: 2 years ago lead the league in tackles, and with better players around him will have another great year.
6. London Fletcher-Baker Washington: This pick scares me because of the age and mileage, still the numbers have not dropped off.
7. Keith Bulluck Tennessee
8. Nick Barnett Green Bay
9. Kirk Morrison Oakland
10. Lance Briggs Chicago
D-Backs: Everyone is really close especially after so many stars had injuries or sub par years:
1. Sean Jones Cleveland: The most consistent tackler and scorer, he’s a can’t miss player.
2. Marcus Trufant Seattle: Had perhaps his best season last year. 3. Jermaine Phillips Tampa Bay: I got him as a #4 DB last year, I won’t have the same luck this year.
4. Gibril Wilson Oakland: The former Giant may have to get used to the Al Davis way, but he’s a solid player and would have been #1 were it not for the move to Oakland.
5. Chris Hope Tennessee: Coming off an injury he’s one to watch, if he plays back to form, an easy top 5.
6. Nate Clements San Francisco: You know, I’m not sucking up to Jeff, but the 9er’s really do have some good talent on defense, Clements may be the most dependable.
7. Kerry Rhodes NY Jets
8. Adrian Wilson Arizona
9. Donte Whitner Buffalo
10. Bob Sanders Indianapolis
So, there’s the early version, I will have a top 50 out later at each position on Defense. I’m sure many of you are surprised not to see certain names on the list and wonder where guys like Strahan or Zach Thomas or Polamalu rate… Not to worry, I do have them on my top fanasy football IDP 100 list right now, but maybe not as high as you would like, but again, this is not a popularity contest, you cheer your home team on, I’m rating the players to help you get a view as to where to pick them in your IDP draft so you can win your league…

Unless that is you play in my league then I would say to you in a quote from the movie “The Wizard of Oz… “PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN”. (Or in this case, the man behind the keyboard)