Fantasy football rankings, Week 1: Tight ends

With season-long injuries a much lesser concern, can scary-health guys like Rob Gronkowski climb to the top of weekly rankings?

Peyton Manning is the consensus No. 1 quarterback for the season to come, but if you wanted to argue for Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, you could make the point without being crazy. The same goes for Calvin Johnson at wide receiver, where Demaryius Thomas has an argument for the top. Jamaal Charles, Adrian Peterson, LeSean McCoy and even Matt Forte could go No. 1 at running back.

At tight end, though, no one had any real debate for the top spot in the season rankings. It was Jimmy Graham, and everyone agreed. He was the most talented tight end by a little, but the most reliable one by a lot, and that made the difference.

On a weekly basis, though, the argument can be more interesting. Because the argument against Julius Thomas and (primarily) Rob Gronkowski on a season-long basis is injuries. In your fantasy draft, you couldn't reasonably draft Gronkowski with any real expectation of him playing 16 games. Graham gets banged up occasionally, but Gronkowski gets banged up as a matter of course.

But none of that matters in weekly rankings. Not really. When we sit down early in the week to do rankings, and Rob Gronkowski is healthy, there's no reason he can't/shouldn't rank ahead of Graham. Because as long as he's healthy, Gronkowski (and yes, Julius Thomas) can be that No. 1 tight end that he just can't be seen as over 17 weeks.

Below are the Week 1 tight end rankings, both consensus and from our individual rankers. Before that is a glance at a few key guys.

Jimmy Graham (Consensus Rank: No. 1) - Yes, after all the above, Graham still came in No. 1 in our consensus ranks, and he was unanimous among the individual rankers as well. The above point was more a general season thought. Anyway, Graham, off a legendary season, gets to start his 2014 against an Atlanta Falcons team that does not boast a strong defense. Enjoy that.

Jordan Reed (Consensus Rank: No. 7) - From that injury perspective, Reed is sort of the poor man's Gronkowski; he was great last year when he was on the field, but persistent concussion issues limited his play. But again, as long as he plays, there's no reason not to capitalize.

Antonio Gates and Ladarius Green (Consensus Ranks: Gates No. 12, Green No. 15) - The two Chargers tight ends are both fantasy-relevant, if not fantasy powerhouses. Gates is on his way out, career-wise, while Green is on the opposite end. But either could have strong seasons, and if all goes well for the Chargers, both could.

Tim Wright (Consensus Rank: No. 25) - Every one of our rankers listed the new Patriot, and none had him above 19^th. There is a wide range of possible outcomes for Wright, who finished 14^th at the position last year in Tampa Bay despite barely being a factor early in the season. If he can grow into the Aaron Hernandez-type role in New England, he could be a fantasy season-maker. But the downside is a midseason release. Early in the season, the best bet on Wright is to pick him up and watch, not use him in fantasy.

Consensus Writer Rankings

Rank	Player	Team	Opponent
1	Jimmy Graham	New Orleans	at Atlanta
2	Julius Thomas	Denver	Indianapolis
3	Rob Gronkowski	New England	at Miami
4	Vernon Davis	San Francisco	at Dallas
5	Jordan Cameron	Cleveland	at Pittsburgh
6	Jason Witten	Dallas	San Francisco
7	Jordan Reed	Washington	at Houston
8	Greg Olsen	Carolina	at Tampa Bay
9	Dennis Pitta	Baltimore	Cincinnati
10	Zach Ertz	Philadelphia	Jacksonville
11	Kyle Rudolph	Minnesota	at St. Louis
12	Antonio Gates	San Diego	at Arizona
13	Martellus Bennett	Chicago	Buffalo
14	Charles Clay	Miami	New England
15	Ladarius Green	San Diego	at Arizona
16	Heath Miller	Pittsburgh	Cleveland
17	Travis Kelce	Kansas City	Tennessee
18	Dwayne Allen	Indianapolis	at Denver
19	Delanie Walker	Tennessee	at Kansas City
20	Garrett Graham	Houston	Washington
21	Coby Fleener	Indianapolis	at Denver
22	Jared Cook	St. Louis	Minnesota
23	Tyler Eifert	Cincinnati	at Baltimore
24	Eric Ebron	Detroit	NY Giants
25	Tim Wright	New England	at Miami

Individual Writer Rankings

Rank	Daniel Kelley	Dan Ciarrocchi	John Daigle	Scott Kaliska
1	Jimmy Graham	Jimmy Graham	Jimmy Graham	Jimmy Graham
2	Rob Gronkowski	Julius Thomas	Julius Thomas	Julius Thomas
3	Julius Thomas	Rob Gronkowski	Zach Ertz	Rob Gronkowski
4	Vernon Davis	Jordan Cameron	Vernon Davis	Jordan Cameron
5	Jordan Cameron	Vernon Davis	Jordan Cameron	Vernon Davis
6	Jason Witten	Jason Witten	Kyle Rudolph	Greg Olsen
7	Jordan Reed	Jordan Reed	Antonio Gates	Jason Witten
8	Dennis Pitta	Dennis Pitta	Rob Gronkowski	Jordan Reed
9	Greg Olsen	Greg Olsen	Greg Olsen	Dennis Pitta
10	Antonio Gates	Kyle Rudolph	Jordan Reed	Kyle Rudolph
11	Ladarius Green	Zach Ertz	Dennis Pitta	Zach Ertz
12	Charles Clay	Martellus Bennett	Jason Witten	Martellus Bennett
13	Zach Ertz	Antonio Gates	Travis Kelce	Charles Clay
14	Coby Fleener	Charles Clay	Martellus Bennett	Heath Miller
15	Kyle Rudolph	Heath Miller	Dwayne Allen	Antonio Gates
16	Eric Ebron	Ladarius Green	Richard Rodgers	Ladarius Green
17	Martellus Bennett	Garrett Graham	Heath Miller	Travis Kelce
18	Travis Kelce	Dwayne Allen	Charles Clay	Delanie Walker
19	Marcedes Lewis	Delanie Walker	Tim Wright	Dwayne Allen
20	Tyler Eifert	Tyler Eifert	Ladarius Green	Garrett Graham
21	Delanie Walker	Jared Cook	Delanie Walker	Jared Cook
22	Heath Miller	Travis Kelce	Jared Cook	Tyler Eifert
23	Jared Cook	Tim Wright	Garrett Graham	Eric Ebron
24	Garrett Graham	Coby Fleener	Scott Chandler	Coby Fleener
25	Tim Wright	Eric Ebron	Coby Fleener	Tim Wright

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