We've previewed the two Super Bowl teams in text over the past two days; now to see how the rankings based on those projections shake out. While there aren't many surprises at the top, the next-best options, at both wide receiver and tight end, look intriguing.
Tyler Higbee and C.J. Uzomah both suffered knee injuries in the conference championship games. Uzomah says he's definitely playing, and most likely Higbee will too. It's the Super Bowl; if you can stand and walk, you're probably going to give it a go. It'd be nice to see both players get in a practice of some sort before Sunday, but it's not a given that that will happen.
As a result, I think the possible sleepers -- lower-value selections who could pan out in daily lineups -- seem to be Kendall Blanton and to a lesser extent Tyler Boyd. Blanton is fairly obvious, since he caught 5 passes for 57 yards against the 49ers when Higbee was sidelined early. But some will overlook him.
With Boyd, he seems more likely to be the beneficiary of Uzomah's absence. Uzomah missed almost all of the AFC Championship Game, but Drew Sample still caught only 1 pass. Not that Boyd was huge in that game (4 for 19), but he at least saw 6 targets. With two weeks to prepare, and Uzomah not practicing, it seems more likely they'll dial up a couple of plays for Boyd than Sample, who's mostly on the field for his blocking.
Rankings are below, with projected points for three different scoring systems, sorted by PPR. Note: For the two Defenses, the headings for the four stats columns should be Takeaways, Sacks, Points Allowed and TDs (Defensive and Kick Returns).
| SUPER BOWL PLAYER RANKINGS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Tm | Player | Pass | Rec | Run | TD | Std | PPR | TD |
| QB | LAR | Matthew Stafford | 292 | 0 | 2 | 2.5 | 25.1 | 25.1 | 10.3 |
| WR | LAR | Cooper Kupp | 0 | 112 | 0 | .81 | 16.1 | 24.6 | 4.9 |
| QB | CIN | Joe Burrow | 277 | 0 | 6 | 1.8 | 22.0 | 22.0 | 7.5 |
| RB | CIN | Joe Mixon | 0 | 28 | 60 | .86 | 14.0 | 17.7 | 5.2 |
| WR | CIN | JaMarr Chase | 0 | 84 | 2 | .61 | 12.3 | 17.3 | 3.7 |
| WR | LAR | Odell Beckham | 0 | 59 | 2 | .67 | 10.1 | 14.9 | 4.0 |
| WR | CIN | Tee Higgins | 0 | 73 | 0 | .38 | 9.6 | 14.7 | 2.3 |
| WR | CIN | Tyler Boyd | 0 | 56 | 2 | .33 | 7.5 | 11.5 | 2.0 |
| TE | LAR | Kendall Blanton | 0 | 41 | 0 | .32 | 6.0 | 11.2 | 1.9 |
| RB | LAR | Cam Akers | 0 | 12 | 44 | .41 | 8.0 | 9.9 | 2.4 |
| PK | CIN | Evan McPherson | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| PK | LAR | Matt Gay | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| D/ST | LAR | Rams Defense | 1.6 | 3.7 | 25 | .17 | 7.8 | 7.3 | 1.0 |
| WR | LAR | Van Jefferson | 0 | 32 | 1 | .25 | 4.8 | 6.9 | 1.5 |
| RB | LAR | Sony Michel | 0 | 3 | 25 | .31 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 1.9 |
| D/ST | CIN | Bengals Defense | 1.5 | 2.6 | 28 | .16 | 6.5 | 4.8 | 1.0 |
| TE | CIN | C.J. Uzomah | 0 | 20 | 0 | .17 | 3.0 | 4.6 | 1.0 |
| TE | LAR | Tyler Higbee | 0 | 18 | 0 | .20 | 3.0 | 4.5 | 1.2 |
| RB | LAR | Darrell Henderson | 0 | 9 | 2 | .06 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 0.4 |
| RB | CIN | Samaje Perine | 0 | 6 | 6 | .05 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 0.3 |
| RB | CIN | Chris Evans | 0 | 4 | 3 | .02 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 |
| TE | CIN | Drew Sample | 0 | 6 | 0 | .03 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 |
| WR | LAR | Ben Skowronek | 0 | 6 | 0 | .02 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| RB | LAR | Buddy Howell | 0 | 1 | 0 | .01 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| WR | CIN | Mike Thomas | 0 | 1 | 0 | .01 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| QB | LAR | John Wolford | 3 | 0 | 0 | .02 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| RB | LAR | Jake Funk | 0 | 1 | 0 | .01 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| QB | CIN | Brandon Allen | 3 | 0 | 0 | .02 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| WR | LAR | Brandon Powell | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| TE | LAR | Brycen Hopkins | 0 | 1 | 0 | .00 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| TE | CIN | Mitchell Wilcox | 0 | 1 | 0 | .00 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| WR | CIN | Trent Taylor | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| WR | CIN | Stanley Morgan | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| WR | CIN | Trenton Irwin | 0 | 0 | 0 | .00 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
--Andy Richardson