{"id":85,"date":"2012-07-27T02:38:27","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2012-08-06T16:19:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T16:19:30","slug":"2012-top-10-fantasy-wrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=85","title":{"rendered":"2012 Top 10 Fantasy WRs"},"content":{"rendered":"

None of the positional group rankings have as clear-cut, unanimous number one as the wide receivers; enter Calvin Johnson.\u00a0 MegaTron brought his talents to Mo\u2019Town to the tune of 1600+ yards and 16 TDs (MVP type numbers for a WR) and many, many fantasy championships last year.\u00a0 After MegaTron however it gets really interesting.\u00a0 In both the real world and fantasyland, wide receivers are the most volatile skill position in the league.\u00a0 Their success, as much as any position, is tied to a number of factors: offensive scheme, game-plan, quarterback, offensive line protection, etc.\u00a0 Not only that, with the increasing number of 4 and 5 WR sets, more and more WRs are contributing (and becoming fantasy relevant).\u00a0 Fortunately for you, The Machine is here to make sense of it all and tell you who will be the Top 10 WRs for 2012.\u00a0 Getcha popcorn ready! (Rec\/Yards\/Rec TDs\/Targets)<\/p>\n

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  1. Calvin Johnson <\/strong>(96\/1681\/16\/157) \u2013 The easiest positional player to rank in 2012; Megatron has established himself as the most dominate wide-receiver in football.\u00a0 You can\u2019t play up on him because he\u2019s so physically strong he\u2019ll run through you.\u00a0 You can\u2019t play off of him because he\u2019ll run right by you. \u00a0\u00a0He is a deep-threat and an absolute BEAST in the redzone. Your only chance is to roll coverage to his side of the field or assign two DBs to him.\u00a0 And even then he can out-run, out-muscle, out-jump and outreach (82\u201d wingspan) your coverage.\u00a0 A signature Calvin Johnson play was Week 4 vs. Dallas. Early in the 4th<\/sup> quarter, with the Lions down by 14, on a 1st<\/sup>-and-10 from the Cowboys 24 yard line, Stafford throws a \u201cjump ball\u201d to the back of the end zone and with a safety draped all over him, \u2018Tron out jumps a corner and an underneath linebacker for a TD.\u00a0 Simply incredible.\u00a0 Not only that, Megatron saved some of his best work for the playoff push, averaging 26+ fantasy points (non-ppr) from weeks 14-17.\u00a0 Unless a team shows up with Optimus Prime as the defensive coordinator, there is no stopping Megatron. (Sorry, that will be The Machines only corny Transformers joke when it comes to Calvin, promise).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. Andre Johnson<\/strong> (33\/492\/2\/51) \u2013 God willing, \u2018Dre will be on every single one of The Machines fantasy rosters this year.\u00a0 He is an absolute match-up nightmare and is coming at somewhat of a discount due to the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude that plaques so many fantasy owners.\u00a0 AJs injury was a complete fluke last year.\u00a0 Not only that, he rehabbed to the point where he dropped (13\/201\/2) in two playoff games last year\u2026and that was with TJ Yates at the helm!\u00a0 We\u2019re not doctors (even though we proudly own a t-shirt that reads \u2018Free Breast Exams\u2019) or physiatrists for that matter, but The Machine has pretty strong intel suggesting AJ is completely healthy and motivated to prove he is still elite.\u00a0 He\u2019s got the talent, a steady offensive system, an adequate enough QB to translate into a 1300yrd\/9TD season.\u00a0 Get him!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. Larry Fitzgerald<\/strong> (80\/1411\/8\/152) \u2013 Meet Mr. Reliable.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how shitty of a QB Whizz marches out there \u2013 Kevin Kolb, John Skelton, Richard Bartel \u2013 Fitz continues to put up numbers.\u00a0 The Machine doesn\u2019t buy into the \u201che\u2019s the hardest working man in football\u201d routine; listen if somebody paid us $10M a year to catch footballs we\u2019d work our asses off too!\u00a0 But we can appreciate that Fitz\u2019s conditioning is legendary and he has stayed relatively injury free.\u00a0 Larry\u2019s fantasy floor is incredibility high; however his QB (or lack there of) prevents his ceiling from reaching the top rank.\u00a0 Draft Fitz with confidence, just try not to watch the boxscore, or let alone a Cardinals game if you don\u2019t have to.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        1. Greg Jennings<\/strong> (67\/949\/9\/101) \u2013 Yes, we will take a piece of that Aaron Rodger pie thank you.\u00a0 Okay, so that sounded really gay, but the point is that Jennings is tied to the best offense, the best quarterback and the best play-caller in football these days and that more than makes up for his lack of elite talent.\u00a0Jennings is a smooth route runner and has the full trust of Rodgers.\u00a0 Plus, the Packers can\u2019t run the ball for a lick.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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          1. Hakeem Nicks<\/strong> (75\/1183\/7\/129) \u2013 Most people will tell you that ranking Hakeem Nicks at #5 is too high.\u00a0 Well, most people don\u2019t win fantasy championships either.\u00a0 Nicks is an absolute monster.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already confessed our man-crush on Brother Eli; and Nicks is on the receiving end of most of those Manning fire balls.\u00a0 The Machine isn\u2019t going to second guess Jerry Reese\u2019s eye for talent.\u00a0 He knew he had a stud in the making when he drafted him, and this will be Nicks \u201cbreakout\u201d year.\u00a0 Barring a setback from his rehab (on track for preseason), The Machine fully expects an 85\/1300\/10 type of season.\u00a0 You\u2019re welcome.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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            1. Julio Jones<\/strong> (54\/959\/8\/94) \u2013 If you\u2019re starting a keeper league this year there are three must-have players: Cam Newton, Trent Richardson and Julio Jones.\u00a0 Jones is as physically gifted as they come.\u00a0 Consider this: had Julio returned for his senior season (and had the type of season he is capable of) the Rams probably stay put and take him #2 overall in the 2012 draft.\u00a0 He is that<\/em> good. \u00a0\u00a0Admittedly, he is a bit rough as a route runner, but he bursting with raw potential.\u00a0 The Machine strongly feels he could have a TO-type impact (minus all the baggage) on the football field.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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              1. AJ Green<\/strong> (65\/1057\/7\/112) \u2013 Speaking of the 2011 draft class, Green was selected two picks before Jones, but he ranks just behind Julio on our list.\u00a0 We absolutely love the talent, skill set, route-running, catch-radius and potential to put up big time numbers.\u00a0 Green will be a dominate force for years to come.\u00a0 At this point in time, however, the Bungals offense isn\u2019t as far along as Atlanta\u2019s, and defenses will be keying on taking away Green.\u00a0 They won\u2019t have much success.\u00a0 Plus, he has the ultra-reliable, dependable, cannon-armed, gun-slingin, good-looking Big Red Icon, Andy Dalton slinging him the rock, what\u2019s not to love about that?! (We take care of our own!).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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                1. Wes Welker<\/strong> (122\/1569\/9\/173) \u2013 This little shit never stops.\u00a0 It seems like he\u2019s targeted 29 times a game and catches everything (except during Super Bowl defining final drives that is).\u00a0 He is an integral part of the New England Offensive Machine, and there is no reason to think he won\u2019t catch 100 balls.\u00a0 The touchdowns may be down a tick with Lloyd in town and their two-headed TE monster doing their thing, but you can always seem to pencil him in for 7 catches a game and solid yardage totals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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                  1. Roddy White<\/strong> (100\/1296\/8\/178) \u2013 Roddy Roddy Roddy!\u00a0 It speaks volumes to the depth of the receiver position this year when you have a guy that is coming off back-to-back 100+ catch (and 178 target) seasons as your #9 receiver.\u00a0 As it sits now, The Machine just can\u2019t get over the potential (and youth\/stud factor) of the guys ranked above Roddy.\u00a0 We would certainly have no qualms with Roddy as a WR1 on our squads this year, as Matty Ice and he have as strong a connection as any QB-WR combo in the league.\u00a0 But there could be a slight regression in his numbers as the offense (and Julio Jones) evolves.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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                    1. Percy Harvin<\/strong> (87\/967\/6\/119) \u2013 Percy, bro, you\u2019re not going anywhere.\u00a0 With AP nicked up you are the only juice that offense has left!\u00a0 The Machine loves versatile players that play angry and have imaginary headaches to get out of practices; and guess who fits that description?\u00a0 Ding, ding, ding.\u00a0 Percy is a jack-of-all trades, master of most! To go along with the listed stats, Percy also had 520 return yards, 1 return TD, 345 rushing yards (on 52 attempts) and 2 rushing TDs.\u00a0 It certainly took offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave long enough to figure out how to utilize Harvin; he only had 43 targets in the first half of the season compared to 76 in the second half.\u00a0 With AP on the mend, the \u201cmigraines\u201d under control and the O-coordinator on board, it could be a monster season for Harvin.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      None of the positional group rankings have as clear-cut, unanimous number one as the wide receivers; enter Calvin Johnson.\u00a0 MegaTron brought his talents to Mo\u2019Town to the tune of 1600+ yards and 16 TDs (MVP type numbers for a WR) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy-football"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-1n","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}