In case you missed it, we put up our initial projections on Friday. It’s really early in the game and there’s a ton of uncertainty, but I thought it would make for an interesting post to submit some of the rankings that I’m most intrigued by and offer some reasoning behind them.

I’m sure anyone looking at these projections has some questions or comments, and if you do on any of these players listed below feel free to chime in and I’ll do my best to address them.

Aaron Rodgers at #1 – I think it’s the right thing to do because of his running ability. That’s an element for fantasy he really has over the other elite players at the position. 115 rushes and 9 rushing TDs over the last two years is nothing to sneeze at. And I feel a heck of a lot better about the OL, which was the only concern for Rodgers in 2009. He did get in a funk last year, but after seeing him work himself out of it, he’s now officially elite in my eyes.

Kevin Kolb at #10 – It was a very tough call between and Jay Cutler for that 9th spot. [...]

Note: Ages are accurate as of midseason 2010.

I’m a little behind breaking these out, but I did want to wait until the bulk of the free agent action took place. I’ll be busting my ass to offer similar overviews for RB, WR, and TE in the next 4-5 days. My goal’s to have them all up by next Wednesday, so we can move on to the NFL Draft and our pre-draft rookie stuff.

Here’s my take on the QB landscape for those in keeper leagues:

Given his youth, supporting cast, and what he's shown so far Packer QB Aaron Rodgers is about as appealing as it gets at the QB position for those in keeper leagues

The QB position in the NFL isn’t exactly bursting with young talent, so if you have a stud like Drew Brees (31), Peyton Manning (34), Aaron Rodgers (26), or Philip Rivers (28), then you’re doing really well at this position in your keeper or dynasty league. If you’re in a dynasty league or don’t have any restrictions in terms of the number of years you can keep a player, Rodgers (who will be 27 in December) and Rivers (who will be 29 in December) may [...]

It’s been a fairly quiet and pretty anticlimactic free agent period so far. The one thing I’ve learned over the years about free agency is that its impact is pretty top-heavy, and overall overrated – at least when it comes to fantasy football. There are usually 3-4 major moves that have big impacts, and there are always a few moves that appear to be under-the-radar, yet wind up being key. But for the most part, the excitement some people feel in March and April dwindles down to next to nothing come September.

That said, I still have some thoughts on what’s gone down the last 5-7 days or so, and here’s a quick review. If you’re interested, we are keeping up on all the moves each day with our 2010 Free Agent Tracker.

The Chester Taylor signing by Chicago still boggles my mind a little bit. I understand you can never have too many quality veterans like Taylor, but let me put it this way: I don’t think he would have been much better than a healthy Matt Forte behind that terrible [...]

It’s already magazine time for us, and while we’re not putting out a ton of content right now, that doesn’t mean we’re sitting around the office watching clips on YouTube or checking our Facebook pages.

Okay, maybe we are a little.

Most of the time, we’re working on content for our 2009 magazine. We’re trying to get as much done as possible before the draft because, once that occurs, we’re in serious Magazine Mode and our deadline comes quickly. This year, we’ll be publishing the magazine a little earlier than usual, so we should have a good amount of 2009 content up in just 4-5 weeks. By the end of May, we’ll have the entire print magazine up on the site, and we’ll be rolling big time with a ton of content.

It’s still a little tough, however, to formulate strong opinions on players and team because the draft is a big part of the puzzle, and teams are still signing free agents (and making trades). We’re not totally clear on things like how the OLs are shaping up, and we don’t know a ton about player roles in those cases in which they’re up in the air. I also haven’t studied the [...]

It’s time to take a look at the WRs for keeper leagues. This position is tough because there’s always a huge drop-off after the true studs, and players can quickly go from being very productive to fantasy afterthoughts. That said I would place a premium on the studs at the position, especially the best of the best.

When we’re talking about the best of the best at WR, we’re talking about guys like

Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne, and Calvin Johnson. These guys are young, in mostly good situations, and are clearly elite, if not dominant. I’d view keeping him as a top priority, and I’d only keep a handful of RBs over them.

Chief WR Dwayne Bowe may not be a freak talent, but he is on the cusp of being considered elite and could be the next "stud" at the position, especially with his QB position upgraded this off-season.

There’s nothing wrong with the next tier of top receivers, and I also view them a studs: Greg Jennings, Roddy White, Steve Smith, Anquan Boldin, Braylon Edwards, Marques Colston, Brandon Marshall, Dwayne Bowe, Randy Moss, and Terrell Owens. These guys aren’t all perfect, like Edward for example, but they are either [...]