Minnesota Has the #8 Defense...or is that #25?...

The StatLeader Defensive fantasy football team rankings are posted for each of the fantasy football leagues we cover.

If you have purchased any of the Fantasy Football magazines out there, this will probably come as welcome news. Why? Because the mags can't seem to figure out how to rank defenses. Want some examples? OK, check out the range of these projections!

Minnesota:

• #8 - ESPN
• #13 - Sporting News
• #16 - FootballDiehards.com
• #22 - NFL.com
• #25 - FFEnforcers

Want another one?

How about Dallas?

• #4 - WOCFF.com
• #5 - FFEnforcers
• #12 - NFL.com
• #17 - Sporting News
• #24 - ESPN

...there are more.

So why are these number so diverse? Lets look at how some of these are determined.

FootballDiehards.com:

• The rankings here are based on the average of the 15 expert sources they survey. Useful, we guess, but there isn't any rhyme or reason as to why these "experts" placed the teams where they did. Come on Guys, you told us what everyone else thinks - tell us what you think about defenses.

• Also note their defensive scoring system awards 1 pt/sack, 2 pts/INT or FR, 6 pts/TD, 2/safety, 5 for a shutout, 2 for 1-5 points given up, and 1pt for 6-10 given up. Great! But what if you are in a league that uses yardage? Or, perhaps one that doesn't use points scored against the defense (e.g. only against the offense.) See what I mean?

• By the way, your Sporting News expert ranked Dallas at #22, however, his own magazine rates them at #17.

NFL.com, ESPN, Sporting News:

• The rankings presented here appear to be primarily based on the intuition of one or more of their staff experts. The question is, how much is based on fact and how much on feeling? The diversity in the numbers is probably a good indication.

We could go on and on!

At StatLeader Fantasy Football we are not adverse to adding a dash of intuition into the equation, but our rankings are based primarily in the numerical analysis of the teams. That includes not only their historic performance and projected numbers, but also the results of these numbers as applied to fantasy football game specific scoring systems.

Ultimately, only the end of the season will tell who was right.