2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Tight Ends

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Tight Ends by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Antonio Gates 20.32 (10 games)
2. Jacob Tamme 15.91 (10 games)
3. Jason Witten 15.83 (16 games)
4. Dallas Clark 14.95 (6 games)
5. Jermichael Finley 13.42 (5 games)
6. Vernon Davis 13.42 (16 games)
7. Mercedes Lewis 11.63 (16 games)
8. Chris Cooley 11.18 (16 games)
9. Tony Gonzalez 11.04 (16 games)
10. Zach Miller (Oakland) 10.90 (15 games)
11. Brandon Pettigrew 10.76 (16 games)
12. Kellen Winslow 10.56 (16 games)
13. Benjamin Watson 10.46 (16 games)
14. Aaron Hernandez 10.16 (14 games)
15. Rob Gronkowski 10.04 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards receiving/rushing, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard receiving or rushing game.

As he has been for a decade, Antonio Gates is still far and away the top fantasy tight end in the game. We’ll see if Gates missing 6 games in 2010 with injury becomes a trend that points toward an impending retirement for the perennial All-Pro veteran.

Evidently, it doesn’t much matter who plays the tight end position for Indianapolis. Whether it’s Dallas Clark or Jacob Tamme or possibly your own grandmother, Peyton Manning is going to feed them with a steady stream of passes.

While many expected an injury-prone Jermichael Finley to surpass him statistically in 2010, Jason Witten put in the best season for any tight end physically able to play all 16 games of the season. With the biggest and only surprise on the list being Mercedes Lewis, the tight end category offers up quite the vanilla amount of intrigue, what with there being so little statistical deviation between ranked players beyond the first handful.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Wide Receivers

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Wide Receivers by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Andre Johnson 22.07 (13 games)
2. Roddy White 21.45 (16 games)
3. Hakeem Nicks 20.78 (13 games)
4. Brandon Lloyd 19.75 (16 games)
5. Reggie Wayne 19.16 (16 games)
6. Dwayne Bowe 18.98 (16 games)
7. Calvin Johnson 18.95 (15 games)
8. Greg Jennings 18.71 (16 games)
9. Mike Wallace 17.79 (16 games)
10. Terrell Owens 17.45 (14 games)
11. Steve Johnson 16.46 (16 games)
12. DeSean Jackson 16.36 (14 games)
13. Marques Colston 16.23 (15 games)
14. Brandon Marshall 16.05 (14 games)
15. Larry Fitzgerald 15.92 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards receiving/rushing, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard receiving or rushing game

As expected by most fantasy gamers, Andre Johnson and Roddy White proved as 2010’s top studs at the wide receiver position. But few anticipated Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Lloyd to wind up being ranked in the 3rd and 4th slots. While Reggie Wayne, Calvin Johnson and Greg Jennings lived up to their lofty reputations, Dwayne Bowe, Mike Wallace and an aging Terrell Owens fared better than advertised.

But the eye-popper of all eye-poppers on this list is Steve Johnson, who came out of nowhere to surpass 1,000 yards receiving and score 10 touchdowns for the lowly Buffalo Bills. It almost seems like DeSean Jackson would be ranked higher than 12th, and he would be in leagues that award individual players for punt return touchdowns, but it is saying quite a bit that he’s still ranked higher than top 15 regulars Marques Colston, Brandon Marshall and Larry Fitzgerald.

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Running Backs

2010’s Top 15 Fantasy Running Backs by: Total Points per Games Played (Games Played in Parenthesis)

1. Arian Foster 27.44 (16 games)
2. Darren McFadden 23.11 (13 games)
3. LeSean McCoy 21.21 (15 games)
4. Frank Gore 20.86 (11 games)
5. Peyton Hillis 20.28 (16 games)
6. Adrian Peterson 20.13 (15 games)
7. Chris Johnson 19.68 (16 games)
8. Maurice Jones-Drew 19.51 (14 games)
9. Jamaal Charles 19.03 (16 games)
10. Ray Rice 17.91 (16 games)
11. Matt Forte 17.79 (16 games)
12. Ahmad Bradshaw 16.49 (16 games)
13. Steven Jackson 16.46 (16 games)
14. Michael Turner 16.41 (16 games)
15. Rashard Mendenhall 16.13 (16 games)

Scoring System: 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving, 1 point per reception, 6 points per touchdown rushing/receiving, -1 point per fumble lost, 5 bonus points per 100 yard rushing or receiving game.

Going into the 2010 season, the 3 top-rated fantasy running backs were Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, and Maurice Jones-Drew. It’s extremely interesting to see not a single one of them ranked in the top 5 on this list. No one would have believed in a million years that Peyton Hillis would outperform all 3 of them.

Arian Foster of course started the 2010 season destroying the Indianapolis defense and just kept cruising from there. Darren McFadden and LeSean McCoy at the 2 and 3 positions are certainly apt to raise eyebrows. Throw Frank Gore into the top 5 mix and it becomes apparent just how much the scoring system used here values running backs who catch a ton of passes.

Were we to tier these players, Foster would stand alone. Then when factoring in games played as part of the criteria, everyone from McFadden down to Jamaal Charles would comprise the 2nd tier as practically interchangeable options. That still leaves much quality in the 3rd tier, with a host of steady performers who each went the distance of the 16 game season rounding out the list.

Oh yes, one other thing to notice: not a single rookie in the top 15. For all of those who were drafting Ryan Mathews in the 1st and 2nd rounds of their fantasy drafts last year, you might want to slow your roll a bit on such blind prognosticating.

Tulane Points Shaving Scandal

There were dark days at Tulane University back in 1985 when it was discovered that just about the entire Green Wave basketball team was involved in rigging games for bettors. Three Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brothers coaxed Tulane players with cocaine and cash to shave points in a series of Metro Conference contests. Eventually, the culprits John "Hot Rod" Williams, Jon Johnson, Clyde Eads, David Dominique, and Paul Thompson were not only found out, but arrested. And the ordeal led to Tulane completely shutting down its basketball program for two seasons.

Tulane's 1st NCAA Tourney Victory

Green Wave Coach Perry Clark was named national coach of the year in 1992 for resurrecting the Tulane basketball program which had been shut down completely in 1985 on the heels of a point-shaving scandal. Not only would '92 mark the first time Tulane had made the NCAA basketball tournament, but the Green Wave went on to upset St. John's (RIP Malik Sealy) in the first round...

Perry McDonald and the Georgetown Connection

In 2009, Perry McDonald was inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. Known nationally as a senior team captain at Georgetown, Perry McDonald made a name for himself long before teaming up with legendary Hoyas coach John Thompson. Averaging 23.9 points per game for his career at Carver, McDonald was twice named the Times-Picayune Metro Most Valuable Player (1983 & 1984) and was selected as all-state four times (1981-84).

Perry McDonald wasn’t the first New Orleans blue-chipper to play at Georgetown. That would have been Steve Martin of St. Aug who starred for the Hoyas from 1975-79. But McDonald did begin a three-year run for Georgetown signing players from New Orleans, including Cohen’s Jaren Jackson in.’85 and De La Salle’s Dwayne Bryant in ’86. Decades later, Georgetown would of course win the bidding war for the services of Parade all-American Greg Monroe, who played his high school ball at Helen Cox.

Name, High School, (years at Georgetown):

Steve Martin, St. Augustine (1975-1979)
Perry McDonald, Carver (1984-88)
Jaren Jackson, Cohen (1985-89)
Dwayne Bryant, De La Salle (1986-90)
Greg Monroe, Helen Cox (2008-10)

1977-78 LSU Game Program