It's been seven long months, but fantasy football and our fantasy football positional rankings are back!
Each week during the NFL season, we will rank enough players at each position to appease everyone from those in 8-team leagues to 16-team leagues, those that can start two QBs, two TEs, three RBs and four WRs. We cut out the rest, because if you're looking at who the 50th-best running back or the 17th-best kicker is for that week, you need more help than any Web site can give you.
2012 NFL Week 1 Fantasy Football Rankings — Defense/Special Teams
| Rk | Player | OPPONENT |
| 1 | Houston Texans | vs. MIA |
| 2 | Philadelphia Eagles | at CLE |
| 3 | Seattle Seahawks | at ARI |
| 4 | Chicago Bears | vs. IND |
| 5 | Baltimore Ravens | vs. CIN (Mon.) |
| 6 | New York Jets | vs. BUF |
| 7 | Buffalo Bills | at NYJ |
| 8 | Detroit Lions | vs. STL |
| 9 | Pittsburgh Steelers | at DEN |
| 10 | San Francisco 49ers | at GB |
| 11 | Atlanta Falcons | at KC |
| 12 | Green Bay Packers | vs. SF |
| 13 | Cincinnati Bengals | at BAL (Mon.) |
| 14 | New York Giants | vs. DAL (Wed.) |
| 15 | Minnesota Vikings | vs. JAC |
| 16 | Arizona Cardinals | vs. SEA |
Rankings are based upon Athlon Sports' standard scoring system:
DEFENSIVE SCORING
0 points allowed = 12 points
1-6 points allowed = 10 points
7-13 points allowed = 8 pts
14-20 points allowed = 6 points
21-27 points allowed = 2 pts
28+ points allowed = 0 points
Safeties = 2 points
Fumbles recovered = 2 points
Interceptions = 2 points
Sacks = 1 point
Defensive/Special Teams TDs = 6 points
Additional Week 1 Positional Rankings
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
Kickers
