Andre Johnson leads a pack of wide receivers that should be near the top of your draft board.

In 2011 fantasy football drafts, running backs are deeper than they have been in recent memory. Maurice Jones-Drew is often available in the mid-2^nd round. Jahvid Best is a fifth rounder. There is value all over the board at the running back position, but at Wide Receiver, it runs thin fairly quickly. In an unsure world, where every pick is a gamble, why not place your chips on a sure thing.  There are four elite wideouts that provide something rarely found in fantasy football, a near guarantee.

Andre Johnson’s pedigree is impeccable He put up 1216 yards last year in an off year, his worst full season since 2006. Roddy White put up a career best 1389 in 2010, his fifth straight season with at least 1150. Calvin Johnson, like Andre, has put up numbers with any quarterback he has been paired with. Matt Stafford in year 2 should be the best he’s yet worked with.  Greg Jennings, last year’s third place finisher, is immensely talented and being fed the ball by the best quarterback in the league, Aaron Rodgers. These four are so solid, that the outcome of your league may well be determined by making sure you take one of them.

It may be tempting to take back-to-back running backs with the first two picks, especially when you see who is left in the second round. But this is probably a bad idea. When it comes back to you in the third and fourth round, there will be plenty of ballcarriers left. The supply of receivers will be woefully short. If you can absolutely lock down a starting spot with one of your first two picks.

There is a sizable gap in value after the top four wide receivers. Larry Fitzgerald, the probable number five choice, is coming off a down year. His quarterback play should be better this year but I worry how many touchdowns there will be to go around in Arizona this year.  Reggie Wayne is a dependable option to put up top 10 numbers but he is on the far side of thirty and Peyton Manning has a lot of options in that offense. Hakeem Nicks and Mike Wallace are up and coming but they need a second year of elite production before they can be reliably drafted with the top four.

There are 20 picks in the first two rounds in standard leagues, and you will have two of them. One of them should be an elite receiver: Andre Johnson, Roddy White, Calvin Johnson or Greg Jennings.

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Tags: 2011 fantasy football draft, 2011 fantasy football rankings, Andre Johnson, calvin johnson, fantasy football wide receivers, Greg Jennings, roddy white

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 9th, 2011 at 2:40 pm and is filed under 2011 Fantasy Football Draft, Fantasy Football, Fantasy Football Picks, Fantasy Rankings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.