Updated Rankings: Fantasy Football Playoffs & Rest of Season (ROS)

RotoBaller rankings Ryan Rufe (@RyanRufe) brings you his updated rankings for the fantasy playoffs. These rest of season rankings are broken down by position, and the ranks are largely based on weekly NFL matchups going forward and how each player is projected to perform against their opponents. It's especially important to update our fantasy rankings as we head into the fantasy playoffs, and give you our projected fantasy values going forward. Set your fantasy football lineups, and let’s win some leagues. Good luck RotoBallers!  

Fantasy Football Rest of Season (ROS) Rankings

Rest of Season Rankings Highlights:

Tom Brady’s early season swoons are behind him and he sits comfortably among the elite QBs of all-time.  In his last three he’s thrown for more than 1,050 yards with 8 TDs and 1 INT, including leading the Pats to an unbelievable win against the Broncos.  Take that Peyton.  Tony Romo kept his team playoff hopes alive and seems to have a nice comfort level with enigmatic and talented WR Dez Bryant.  Lots of owners are down on Andrew Luck’s last several games but he still has elite potential to throw for 300 yards and scramble for 20-30 in any given game.  A matchup against Houston in week 15 is a nice gift for your playoff run, if you're still around then. Josh McCown has been a pleasant surprise filling in for often injured Jay Cutler, but Cutler is targeting a Week 14 return.  Plan accordingly. The Bears have two great receivers to throw towards, and one of the best RBs to work with, so either Cutler or McCown are quality starts.

As for running backs, we like Knowshon Moreno a lot down the stretch.  Bad weather may stifle the passing game some over the next few weeks, which means the Broncos will increasingly rely on their RBs.  Moreno has been great all year, and rewarded your patience with a 224 yard game and a season high 37 carries in week 12.  He is a legit RB1, and Monte Ball has worked himself into weekly FLEX value. Rashad Jennings was the guy to own in Oakland, with McFadden's injuries, but suffered a concussion of his own last week.  Jennings has been the guy the last four games but there are no guarantees for the remainder of the season.  But this is just another reminder how RBs can come out of nowhere. Jennings was a 7^th round pick from little Liberty University in 2009, and this season averaged 5.1 yards per carry up through the concussion.  Be wary of any RB in New England except Shane Vereen, since they all seem to have fumbling problems.  Semi-disappointment Chris Johnson is still contributing enough to be a solid RB2, but he can’t seem to play consistent enough to warrant more elite consideration.  The last couple of weeks he’s been a non-factor in the receiving game which undercuts his value too, especially in PPR leagues.

At WR, Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown is going to be a key factor in the Steelers playoff push. He and Big Ben have an amazing thing going this year and have connected for three of his six TDs in the last three games.  Welker came back from a concussion with dud games against New England and Kansas City.  We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was due to injury, nerves and game planning.  He will need to show that he’s fully recovered with his play this week to be trusted again as an WR2 this year.  Cecil Shorts remains a WR3 but has potential to exceed that weekly.  In the beginning of the season he was targeted more than 10 times per game, and after a couple of slower games he had 10 targets in Week 13 and 11 targets last week. Andre Johnson will drive you crazy with his erractic play.  He destroyed New England this past week, after putting up a dud against Jacksonville the week before.  He's still is a top WR1 but there is so much happening with the Texans now that you don’t know what you’ll get from him and the team weekly.

Let’s focus on Rob Gronkowski and what he means to the New England offense.  He is Brady's favorite receiving option and always sees action near the end zone.  Gronk is a great player and it's a tossup with Jimmy Graham as to who the number one TE is for fantasy.  Houston’s Garrett Graham is one beneficiary of the team’s dysfunction.  He’s seen close to 10 targets the last three games and is a good safety valve in a poor offense.  Jason Witten sits near the top of TEs but has had a down year by his standards.  He’s still a top target of Romo but no longer the #1 option in that offense.

Don't forget you can always banter about our fantasy rankings, ask for lineups advice, or get some waiver wire advice this week in our live fantasy football chatroom.

Ryan Rufe booked his first fantasy sports win at eleven years old.  He’s a RotoBaller through and through and also contributes as an MLB Beat Writer for RotoWire.com.  For more from him, follow him on Twitter @RyanRufe.