
Photo via: Saints/Facebook
These are my very early ranks, so keep in mind I post these on Thursday. Make sure you check the injury report on Sunday for players that have missed practice. If it doesn't look like a player will play this week, I typically won't rank him. Keep in mind, these are PPR rankings, and don't forget to set your lineup for Thursday Night Football.
If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on Twitter. Be sure to check out my show MoneyLine with Jerry Bo on ESPN 97.5FM. We're on every Sunday morning from 10-noon, and we'll talk a lot of fantasy football and NFL gambling getting you ready for kickoff every Sunday.
QB
Rodgers should bounce back after a tough loss against the Chargers. Photo by Andy Lyons/GettyImages
1 Lamar Jackson
2 Drew Brees
3 Patrick Mahomes
4 Russell Wilson
5 Aaron Rodgers
6 Philip Rivers
7 Kyler Murray
8 Dak Prescott
9 Jimmy Garoppolo
10 Jameis Winston
11 Josh Allen
12 Matt Ryan
13 Jared Goff
14 Matthew Stafford
15 Derek Carr
RB
Feed Zeke...Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images
1 Christian McCaffrey
2 Saquon Barkley
3 Ezekiel Elliott
4 Dalvin Cook
5 Aaron Jones
6 Alvin Kamara
7 Josh Jacobs
8 Mark Ingram
9 Derrick Henry
10 Marlon Mack
11 Melvin Gordon
12 Le'Veon Bell
13 Nick Chubb
14 Jaylen Samuels
15 Chris Carson
16 Austin Ekeler
17 Tevin Coleman
18 David Johnson
19 Todd Gurley
20 David Montgomery
21 Damien Williams
22 Devin Singletary
23 Devonta Freeman
24 Ronald Jones
25 Latavius Murray
26 Jamaal Williams
27 Matt Breida
28 J.D. McKissic
29 Joe Mixon
30 Tarik Cohen
WR
Thomas comes in at No.1 this week. Photo by New Orleans Saints/Facebook
1 Michael Thomas
2 Chris Godwin
3 Amari Cooper
4 Julio Jones
5 Cooper Kupp
6 Tyreek Hill
7 Mike Evans
8 Tyler Lockett
9 Keenan Allen
10 Davante Adams
11 Stefon Diggs
12 Kenny Golladay
13 Emmanuel Sanders
14 Allen Robinson
15 D.J. Moore
16 John Brown
17 Mike Williams
18 Golden Tate
19 Calvin Ridley
20 Christian Kirk
21 Michael Gallup
22 Odell Beckham Jr
23 Marvin Jones
24 Zach Pascall
25 Sammy Watkins
26 Jamison Crowder
27 Devante Parker
28 Robert Woods
29 Marquise Brown
30 JuJu Smith-Schuster
31 Tyler Boyd
32 Larry Fitzgerald
33 D.K. Metcalf
34 Tyrell Williams
35 Danny Amendola
36 Jarvis Landry
TE
It's hard not to like Henry against the Raiders. Photo via:Chargers/Facebook
1 George Kittle
2 Travis Kelce
3 Hunter Henry
4 Austin Hooper
5 Darren Waller
6 Mark Andrews
7 Greg Olsen
8 Gerald Everett
9 Jared Cook
10 Jonnu Smith
11 Jack Doyle
12 Jason Witten
13 T.J. Hockenson
14 Mike Gesicki
15 Vance McDonald
DEF
1 Ravens
2 Colts
3 Bills
4 Saints
5 Bears
6 Cowboys
7 Rams
8 Giants
9 Chargers
10 49ers
11 Steelers
12 Vikings
13 Packers
14 Lions
15 Browns
KICKER
1 Justin Tucker
2 Wil Lutz
3 Robbie Gould
4 Harrison Butker
5 Brett Maher
6 Zane Gonzalez
7 Michael Badgley
8 Greg Zuerlein
9 Matt Gay
10 Mason Crosby
11 Matt Prater
12 Adam Vinatieri
13 Joey Slye
14 Dan Bailey
15 Steven Hauschka
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Astros lose tight one despite brilliant outing from Hunter Brown
May 15, 2025, 10:29 pm
It’s a fun series between the Astros and Rangers through the weekend in Arlington, but by no means is it a critical series. It would be nice for the Astros to not lose three out of the four games (or obviously all four) to their upstate rivals. The Astros have lost their last five road series, dropping two out of three games in each of them. As with the Astros, pitching has been the strength of the team for the Rangers thus far. After the humdinger Hunter Brown-Jacob deGrom mound matchup Thursday night, the Rangers give the ball Friday to Nathan Eovaldi with his earned run average at 1.78, then Saturday it’s Tyler Mahle with his even more sparkling 1.47 ERA. Heading into Thursday play, the Mariners having lost five of their last six games meant just a game and a half separate first from fourth place in the American League West. The Astros, Rangers, and Athletics are all right there. Only the Angels are inconsequential.
Star power!
There is an asterisk to attach but Jeremy Pena is making a real charge at becoming a first-time All-Star game selection. Among American League shortstops, the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. is clearly the best. The clear number two in the pecking order coming into this season was the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, who is on fire after a slow start that began with him missing seven games on the injured list. Athletics’ rookie Jacob Wilson goes into the weekend batting .350 and amazingly has struck out just nine times in 164 at bats. Rangers’ stud Corey Seager being on the injured list with a balky hamstring for the second time this season helps the Astros this weekend and likely frees up an All-Star spot.
Now to that aforementioned asterisk. Pena has been sensational so far, indisputably the Astros’ best everyday player. We just need to see more staying power of performance before fully slotting Pena in the top tier of shortstops. Pena’s four-hit game Wednesday night hiked his batting average to .315, his OPS to .840. Well, last year Pena put head to pillow the night of May 15 with his batting average at .333, his OPS at .830. The rest of the season Pena hit .240 with a meager .653 OPS. That Pena drew a paltry 18 walks over his last 114 games. 2025 Pena has showed markedly better plate discipline. He’ll never be a high walks-drawn guy but incremental improvement matters, and can bear fruit in other ways.
Fruitless continues to describe an awfully high percentage of Christian Walker’s plate appearances. 2023 Jose Abreu was better (2024 Abreu was not). Plenty of season still remains for a turnaround, but more than a quarter of the season is gone and it’s not as if Walker is trending in the right direction. In three games against the Royals he went zero for 12 with seven strikeouts. With his final whiff, Walker reached the 50 strikeout “milestone” for the season in his 154th at bat. Feeble and lousy are fair characterizations of a .208 batting average and .625 OPS, magnified for someone batting clean-up most nights. Starting play Thursday 13 big leaguers actually had struck out more than Walker so far this season, among them only the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds carries a lower OPS. Walker has been even worse with runners in scoring position, batting just .171, with a sub-abysmal 20 strikeouts in 41 at bats.
Using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement statistic, the Astros’ three worst non-pitchers this season are Walker, Yordan Alvarez, and Jose Altuve. Those are the three highest paid players on the team. Altuve’s extended funk has him hitting .202 over his last 27 games with a .538 OPS. Altuve was dropped to second in the batting order basically at his request. It has not sparked him. If Altuve doesn’t pick it up, manager Joe Espada will have to consider dropping Altuve several more spots down the lineup. Alvarez is at 11 games and counting missed with a muscle strain in his right hand. He will not be approaching the career-high 147 games played last season.
Relief pitcher Tayler Scott was a revelation last season. Before joining the Astros at age 31 Scott had a big-league ERA of 9.00 in 46 innings scattered over three seasons. So it was pretty much out of nowhere that the only South African pitcher in MLB history posted a scintillating 1.36 ERA into early August before fading and winding up with a still stellar 2.23 mark. The clock struck midnight on his Cinderella story this year though, and with the Astros needing to open a roster spot this week, Scott was designated for assignment.
Book it!
Longtime Astros’ broadcasting stalwart Bill Brown has authored several books. His latest is Wartime Athletes, which tells the stories of athletes across a number of sports who served in the U.S. military during various wars. If you know anything about Bill Brown, you know each story was meticulously researched and makes for an interesting read. I’m no Oprah when it comes to the power of suggestion for reading material, but Wartime Athletes is worth your time and/or is a worthy gift for someone else.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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