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WR, Steve Smith - Carolina Panthers
This guy must be the MVP of the NFL, hands down. If he's doing it for contract reasons, or legit injury reasons, who knows? But we do know this - Steve Smith is single-handedly blowing up fantasy seasons for many, many teams, and simultaneously destroying his own NFL team's chances of winning games by his extended absence. He's right up there with Peyton Manning in terms of value to the franchise. Although this is no solace to a Steve Smith owner, such as myself.

WR, Antonio Bryant
Starting the season with back-to-back 100-yard games will do a lot for your confidence as a wannabe goto #1 wide receiver, and it will also do plenty to raise your fantasy stock in a hurry. Don't look now, but Bryant appears to be a consensus Top-10 play for the remainder of the season. Owners who drafted this guy have to loving this. It's common to hear good things during training camps and preseason coverage, and it's also quite common for all of that good vibe and chemistry to evaporate at first whistle on opening day. The Bryant-Smith lovefest appears to be real, and this duo sure look like they are on a mission to establish themselves as an elite combo in the NFL. The defense is porous enough to keep this team throwing too, so that also helps.

WR, Jerricho Cotchery - New York Jets
Can he keep this up? Will Pennington's arm stay attached to his body? We're not sure. But reality is reality, and right now, Jerricho is playing 'lights out' football. If you snatched him up on the waiver wire, you may have yourself a nice find here.

RB, Brian Westbrook - Philadelphia Eagles
Is he brittle? Yes. Is the tongue perpetually in the back of your throat if you own this guy? For sure. If Westbrook's food is too spicey, the trainers are called in, and rightly so. But say what you want about Brian Westbrook, after two weeks he's safely in the top-5 at his position and more than supporting his ADP (average draft value) coming into this season. Which is more than we can say about plenty of first round choices so far this season.

QB, Michael Vick - Atlanta Falcons
Jim Mora deserves an immense amout of credit here. He finally figured it out. He finally realized that Michael Vick needs to run and that Vick can barely hit a barn door on a sunny day with a football. Matt Schaub on the other hand, now there's a west-coast offense's dream, literally a Matt Hasselbeck clone, and quite likely just as good. So, you stop trying turn Michael Vick into Matt Schaub, because the truth is, Schaub will run a true west-coast offense far better than Vick ever will. So, you run Vick's ass off in a spread-type offense, and you do so knowing full well that if Vick gets hurt you bring in Schauby (as Mora affectionately calls him) to run the WCO show. It's the perfect situation for everybody. Vick finally gets to be Vick. Fantasy owners have long been wondering 'if' and 'when' MIchael Vick's true Top-5 fantasy potential would be unleashed. Well, if Vick can keep his motor running, I'd say this is 'the' year to have drafted Michael Vick.

Defense - Baltimore Ravens
Yes the Bears have been great too, but right now the Ravens are in a class of their own defensively. The entire defensive unit are playing out of their minds. They finally have a quarterback who can manage the game and not make the 'big' mistake. Think Trent Dilfer. Yikes. McNair hasn't even begun to get into gear. Which is to say, he's not hurt, and he's not playing behind a shoddy offensive line, yet. Clearly McNair performs his best when he's banged up, a condition he enjoyed with great frequency in Nashville. Nonetheless, McNair's best numbers this season are probably still ahead of him. This makes McNair an attractive and potentially productive, cheap option to acquire in fantasy leagues.

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