Fantasy Football 2018: Debating the top 5 players

Which players deserve to be the top 5 guys in Fantasy Football 2018? Even harder to ascertain is their order, because each one comes with an asterisk. We debate so you can win your league.

July means very little in the world of sports. Baseball enters hiatus for the All-Star break, and all the other American sports are in the offseason. July, though, is peak prep for fantasy football 2018. With drafts taking place in August, now is the time to prepare your strategy!

First thing on the fantasy football agenda is the first thing that gets drafted: the top five players. Who is deserving of such a ranking and what order do you place the best of the best in fantasy football 2018? We debate so you can win.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the Fantasy Football 2018 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

Personally, it feels like there is a distinct tier of five players that reside above the rest of the league for the Fantasy Football 2018 season. The order of those five players is interesting, though. In alphabetical order, the premiere quintet is made up of Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Ezekiel Elliott, Todd Gurley, and David Johnson.

Do you have any quibble with this top five? The sixth player off the board is going to be fascinating (and something we will address later in the week), but do you agree with this set?

From there, determining the proper draft order or who to spend the most auction dollars on is key. Each player is superb but has one or two things going against them.

Bell just passed through an ugly contract dispute with his team. Prior to the two sides failing to agree on a long-term deal, Adam Schefter reported that “it’s possible Le’Veon Bell sits out the first half of the year.” That ploy didn’t make Pittsburgh cave. Then after the deadline passed, Bell’s agent said that “this now likely will be Le’Veon’s last season as a Steeler.” I don’t know if any of that unpleasantness affects his performance on the field this season, but it certainly isn’t a good thing.

Brown is the only non-running back in the top five, which begs the question, is it worth drafting a wide receiver this early? More and more receivers are producing useful fantasy numbers each season as passing continues to flourish. More passing enhances the value of the best guys at the position, but it also raises the floor and what constitutes replacement-level. Why take Brown this early if a bunch of good WRs can still be drafted much later than any useful RB?

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Elliott is talented and no longer facing any current suspension this season. He is also suddenly a part of a pretty sorry looking offense. For the first time in his career, the entire defense will be focused on him each snap. There is no one else to fear on the Dallas offense. That should give him plenty of touches, but what will he be able to do with them? We are talking about a top-five pick after all.

That potential Elliott issue had been what really held Gurley back in 2016. He averaged a dreadful 3.2 yards per carry for a terrible offense. Gurley was special in 2017, but will that regress a little bit as defenses get used to Sean McVay’s system? And what becomes of Gurley if Jared Goff slips at all after his breakout?

Lastly is Johnson. He may be the best player of the bunch, but he missed nearly all of last season after injuring himself in Week 1. What level of Johnson will return? It is impossible to know until he gets out there, even if he is deemed 100 percent healthy by the team doctors. Also going against Johnson is having just one full season starting at the NFL level. With the exception of Elliott, these other guys have longer track records of elite success.

Because of the drop-off at RB and the depth of WR, Brown is fifth for me. Johnson ranks fourth because of the uncertainty surrounding his post-injury ceiling. I would put Elliott third and Gurley second. I see potential issues with each’s offense this year but not enough to drop them down the rankings. And that leaves Bell first. He has always felt like the best, most versatile, and most talented back in the sport. His threat to sit out part of the year failed. That means if he’s on the field for 15 or 16 games, he is my number one fantasy pick.

In auction leagues, where the price will drop by a few bucks between the first and fourth-most expensive player, the plan changes. If not much separates the top four backs, give me the cheapest one, and I’ll spend the savings elsewhere. Of course, you won’t know who will end up cheapest until all four are drafted, which is why auctions are so much fun!

Dan Salem:

I want to vehemently disagree with the Fantasy Football 2018 Top 5 players you identified, but I’m not sure it’s possible. Quarterbacks score tons of points and the top three do so more prolifically than any other. Yet there is such a gradual drop off within the top 10 signal callers that any argument is weak. It’s also hard to say which quarterbacks deserve top three billing this season.

I’m also a fan of grabbing the best player at a given position. That is Antonio Brown at wide receiver, but it’s also Travis Kelce at tight end. Yet he doesn’t score enough to warrant top five status, despite pacing every other tight end outside of the top two. What about his teammate Kareem Hunt who led the NFL in rushing yards last season? LeSean McCoy would be in the running too, if not for his potential legal woes. Mark Ingram had the second most touchdowns last season and was fifth in rushing yards, yet he is currently suspended. Does anyone else deserve consideration?

The top 5 fantasy football 2018 players are not so simple. Running backs are such a prize, because 12 players at most can be counted on every week. This leaves one or two rushers per fantasy team and makes Antonio Brown’s value less. That being said, he consistently scores a lot more points than any other wide receiver and the Steelers LOVE to throw the football. Brown remains in the top 5, as do the rest of the players. I just can’t formulate a strong enough argument to unseat anyone.

My ranking of the top 5 fantasy football 2018 players is based on how much their team will use them and how dominant I expect them to be.

1. Todd Gurley
2. Ezekiel Elliott
3. Le’Veon Bell
4. David Johnson
5. Antonio Brown

The wide receiver position offers too many options for Brown to be anything higher than fifth. Gurley is my top pick because the Rams’ offense uses him a ton and if Goff drops off at all, then he will be called upon to pick up the slack. Los Angeles is the favorite in their division and Gurley is going to reap the benefits.

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Dallas needs Elliott in both the running and passing game now more than ever. There has been no indication that he is not up to the task, as Elliott has dominated nearly every game he’s played in. Bell worries me slightly because he must protect himself for his next contract and Pittsburgh will be developing his replacement this season. That makes him third, with Johnson fourth. He will be the entirety of Arizona’s offense, but may start slow. Hunt and McCoy fell just shy of the top 5, making for a heated debate when it comes to who gets drafted sixth.