Eric Karabell is a senior writer for fantasy baseball, football and basketball at ESPN. Eric is a charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame and author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments".
Several real-life trades have shaken up the rest-of-season rankings, as you will see below, but it is a bit tough to argue that anyone on the move is in a position in which he can greatly aid a fantasy team. After all, Carlos Hyde is not likely to start for long with his new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Amari Cooper surely will for the Dallas Cowboys, after serving a bye week for the second consecutive week, but this is hardly an ideal offense for a wide receiver to thrive. As a result, some might be curious about their new placement in these rankings.
As always, use the rankings below for whatever purposes you desire, whether it is for trade talks (deadline in standard leagues is four weeks away!), bar bets or for lining of the birdcage. We will hardly take it personally.
Note: "UP" and "DOWN" indicate a move of at least five spots from the previous week's overall rankings, or at least three spots from the previous week's positional rankings.
Overall top 100
Quarterback
We are seven weeks in and cannot deny that some of the top fellows in overall scoring at this position do not quite match up with the rankings, but that is fine, we are projecting ahead. Matt Ryan forced his way into our top 10. Andrew Luck is close. The problem, of course, is that many quarterbacks are deserving of top-10 attention, and few, if any, of the top options struggled in Week 7. Patrick Mahomes adds to his overall lead at the position, however. Youngsters Baker Mayfield and Mitchell Trubisky move closer to, but still far from, QB1 status. Finally, you still do not want Miami Dolphins fill-in Brock Osweiler as your starter.
Running back
An odd mix of players are moving up at this critical position, starting with New England Patriots pass-catcher -- and more -- James White pushing his way into the top 10. White gains a bit of value with rookie Sony Michel suffering a knee injury, though it does not appear too serious, but also because of usage. White is hardly just a receiver out of the backfield. He is also, incidentally, sixth among running backs in season PPR scoring, and 13th overall. Not bad. Rookies Kerryon Johnson and Nick Chubb move into the top 20, the former because he is receiving the volume we want, the latter because of the Hyde trade, while Tevin Coleman, Marlon Mack and Adrian Peterson move up in the top 20.
Michel highlights the running backs heading in the other direction, and he is joined by Leonard Fournette (and the other two Jaguars running backs as well), Jordan Howard, LeSean McCoy and Marshawn Lynch. Injury concerns drop the latter two players and Fournette, while Howard has simply been ineffective and finally passed by his teammate Tarik Cohen. Catching passes is valuable in PPR formats, and that is the standard at ESPN. If the likes of Chris Thompson, Nyheim Hines and Dion Lewis can stay healthy and add value while catching passes, they would move up as well.
Wide receiver
The top 10 wide receivers from a week prior remain in those spots because, much like quarterback, most of these players remain productive from week to week and injury is generally not a factor. For running backs, it always seems to be. Cleveland's Jarvis Landry and Philadelphia's Alshon Jeffery reclaim top-20 status while Los Angeles Chargers star Keenan Allen has not looked like much of a star lately. Allen hits his bye week as the No. 24 wide receiver in PPR formats, boasting only one more touchdown than Julio Jones, but far fewer catches and yards. Quarterback Philip Rivers has -- most of the time -- a pair of running backs to throw to and pair of unrelated Williams options as well. Allen has fewer fantasy points than DeSean Jackson.
Cooper stays in the same range he was before, failing to jump past the likes of Tyler Boyd and John Brown, emerging as reliable options, and annual producers Doug Baldwin and Demaryius Thomas. Josh Gordon gets to play with Tom Brady. Cooper does not. This position is deep. I view Cooper as a WR3, barely, but Oakland's Jordy Nelson, who did score touchdowns in three consecutive games recently, emerges as the top outside threat for David Carr, and thus moves up in the rankings ahead of other question marks.
Tight end
Injured Patriot Rob Gronkowski remains No. 3 here, though he takes a hit in the overall rankings. Let us see if Gronkowski plays in Week 8. Meanwhile, it was time for several underperforming veterans to take a hit at this position, though with few great options to move past them, some will still rely on Kyle Rudolph and Jordan Reed. Kirk Cousins throws to his dynamic wide receivers. Alex Smith does not throw to anyone. Who would have guessed Reed would stay healthy but fail to produce big numbers? There just is not much to get excited about at tight end, though Miami Dolphins rookie Mike Gesicki and out of nowhere Detroit Lions sophomore Michael Roberts move up and could continue to do so. Reed is rostered in 91 percent of ESPN standard leagues and has eight catches for 100 yards over three weeks. Ugh.
