Any experienced fantasy owner knows the players they draft are often battling against more than the opposition when it comes to putting up fantasy production. Sure enough, NFL players have to compete with their own teammates just to get onto the field. The depth at each position, in turn, plays a key role in determining a player’s opportunity to rack up fantasy points. It’s for this reason that a good RB on a crowded depth chart can often be less valuable than a solid RB on a team lacking alternatives.
With this in mind, we’ve taken our Consensus Rankings (80+ experts) and converted them into 2012 fantasy depth charts for every NFL team. Each player’s consensus ranking (ECR) is listed alongside their name so you can see precisely what type of intra-team competition they face.
Here’s what this looks like for the Buffalo Bills (Note: Rankings use STD scoring):
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Depth Chart Notes
- The Panthers and Saints are battling it out for the title of “2012’s Most Crowded Depth Chart at RB”. In addition to the usual split between Jonathan Stewart (RB #28) and DeAngelo Williams (RB #30), the 2012 cupboard is stocked even deeper in Carolina with the acquisition of Mike Tolbert (RB #50). The Saints, meanwhile, are the only team with 3 top 42 RBs: Darren Sproles (RB #19), Mark Ingram (RB #34) and Pierre Thomas (RB #42). Needless to say, there are plenty of question marks as to how the carries will be split for each team given the number of options.
On the flip side, there aren’t too many questions about where the Chargers and Raiders will be looking for production. With Tolbert out of the mix, Ryan Mathews is squarely the Chargers’ top back and his ranking (RB #4) fully reflects the touches he’ll get. The next highest rated guy on the Chargers’ roster is Ronnie Brown (RB #82) – Yes, the same Ronnie Brown whose most noteworthy accomplishment last season was this. As for the Raiders, Darren McFadden (RB #7) is in line for a huge workload with Michael Bush out of town. That could lead to a tremendous fantasy payoff if McFadden stays healthy (yes, big if).
- No two teams experience more of a drop-off from their #1 to #2 WRs than Houston (Andre Johnson to Kevin Walter) and Cincinnati (A.J. Green to Mohamed Sanu). The rank spread for the Houston players is 84 spots (WR #3 vs. WR #87) whereas it’s 71 spots for the Cincinnati receivers (WR #6 vs. WR #77). If anything, this could make Johnson & Green’s jobs tougher if their teammates don’t help in taking some of the coverage pressure off of them.
- Many experts like Robert Meachem (WR #31) this year and it’s easy to see why. He’ll go from the 3rd option in New Orleans to potentially the top target in San Diego. He also seems to be a good match for QB Philip Rivers, who is excellent at working with deep threats.
- St. Louis currently features a 7-headed monster at WR. The only problem is none of the players are ranked among the top 50 fantasy WRs. As it stands right now, the experts are banking on rookie Brian Quick (2nd round pick) to outpace Danny Amendola and Steve Smith. This is one of those situations where being an “unknown” makes Quick the most attractive option of the St. Louis bunch.
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That wraps up our depth chart overview. Head over to our fantasy depth charts page to see a breakdown for each team.
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