The NFL is loaded with young talent at the QB position. Which of these guys have the most fantasy appeal:

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Now is not the time for players coming up lame, or dropping goose eggs on the stat line. Last week of the regular season for most fantasy leagues, and there were some stellar performances and some lousy performances. Here’s the Week 13 Game Balls.

QB
Andrew Luck, IND, 391 yards, 4 TDs, 33 rushing yards – His fourth TD came with seconds left on a clutch play. Luck sure doesn’t look like a rookie to anyone, and his owners are finding him to be quite helpful down the stretch.

Tony Romo, DAL, 303 yards, 3 TDs – I’ve been a Romo apologist for a long time. He’s worthy of some of the criticism he takes, but from a fantasy perspective, Romo is a consistent performer. This week against the hapless Eagles, he put up 300 yards and 3 TDs without throwing a pick too.

RB
Adrian Peterson, MIN, 210 yards, 1 TD – I’m convinced that Peterson is some kind of terminator robot. He is absolutely inhuman in the way he conducts his professional football career. He’s consistent, and relentless.

Bryce Brown, PHI, 169 yards, 2 TDs – The rookie has been one of the best waiver wire acquisitions for fantasy owners. Four TDs over two games and Brown is turning heads. McCoy fans should be worried about what Brown does his value, even once he returns from his concussion.

WR
Wes Welker, NE, 12 catches 103 yards, 1 TD – Welker was on pace for 20 catches with 10 of his grabs coming in the first half. In a PPR format, there are few receivers you’d rather have heading into fantasy playoffs than Welker.

Calvin Johnson, DET, 13 catches, 171 yards, 1 TD – Megatron is paying off his value as a first round draft pick for fantasy owners. When it matters most, Calvin is catching everything thrown to him and putting up huge numbers.

TE
Brandon Myers, OAK, 14 catches, 130 yards, 1 TD – Myers is quickly becoming a fantasy stud at the tight end position. He’s not Gronk-like yet, but he’s a notch below that and is a must-start for his fantasy owners.

Kyle Rudolph, MIN, 6 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD – Since Percy Harvin has been out, Rudolph has stepped up his game. He’s become a nice option at tight end.

GAME-USED SOCK AWARD
Roddy White, ATL, 1 catch, 20 yards – A player like White is too good, and too talented to disappear from the playbook and to let down his fantasy owners. Inexplicably, on Thursday night, in what looked like a juicy matchup, White put up almost nothing, leaving his owners angry and frustrated. Where do we proceed with Roddy from here? You have to keep starting him, but Roddy, for this dog of a performance, here’s a game used sock. Now don’t earn another one!

Follow Jimmy Dinsmore, The Fantasy Geek, on Twitter @fantasy_geek.

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We've officially reached the halfway point of the NFL season, and more than halfway for most fantasy leagues. This week saw two rookie records fall, and without a doubt, 2012 is shaping up to be the year of the rookie. A few of those rookies receive this week’s game balls.

QB
Andrew Luck, IND, 433 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs – Luck broke the single game passing yard record for rookies and is on pace to shatter the total yardage record for rookies too. Luck looks so natural under center that it’s hard to believe he actually is a rookie. For those owners who have Luck in a dynasty format, well, congrats, he’s gonna be something special for a long time.

Carson Palmer, OAK, 414 yards, 4 TDs, 3 INTs – It pains me to include Palmer on this list, as I’ve been critical of Palmer for years. And if you started Palmer on your fantasy team, you enjoyed a statistic-rich performance. A lot of those yards were junk time, as were the TDs, but they still count. And you can’t deny 400+ yards as a quality fantasy performance.

RB
Doug Martin, TB, 251 yards, 4 TDs, 4 catches for 21 yards – Another rookie record, as Martin ran three TDs of 40+ yards en route to one of the top 10 best fantasy performances by a running back in the history of fantasy football. And did I mention that he’s a rookie?

Adrian Peterson, MIN, 182 yards, 2 TDs, 3 catches – I’m not convinced that Peterson is actually human. Most athletes coming back from a major knee injury aren’t nearly this productive. Peterson leads the league in rushing yards and has not missed a single beat. Fantasy owners who took the risk on him have found their investment paying off big time.

WR
Brandon Marshall, CHI, 9 catches 122 yards, 3 TDs – Everyone expected Marshall reunion with Jay Cutler to pay dividends, but this week was beyond those expectations. 3 TDs for the Bears receiver means fantasy gold for his owners.

T.Y Hilton, IND, 6 catches, 102 yards, 1 TD – Sticking with the rookie theme, Hilton made his presence known as Andrew Luck targeted him 7 times and Hilton caught his second TD of the year, but easily had his best performance of his young NFL career.

TE
Brandon Myers, OAK, 8 catches, 59 yards 2 TDs – Myers is quietly becoming a viable fantasy option at the tight end position. This week, in both PPR and non-PPR formats, he was valuable.

Jermaine Gresham, CIN, 6 catches, 108 yards – The only thing that could’ve made his performance better would’ve been a trip to the end zone, but the Bengals tight end was a beast making athletic catches and showing off the prowess that got him drafted in the first round by the Bengals.

GAME-USED SOCK AWARD
Eli Manning, NYG, 125 yards passing, 0 TDs, 1 INT – Nobody has been a bigger Eli fan than me. I’m still a fan. And Eli still has value for his owners. This was a blip on the radar, I believe, an enigma, a fantasy mirage so to speak. But, come on already. 125 yards passing and no TDs? That is just unacceptable. And so, justifiably, he lands here and receives his first game used sock award. I don’t anticipate him being here again this year though, especially with the Bengals as his next opponent.

Follow Jimmy Dinsmore, The Fantasy Geek, on Twitter @fantasy_geek

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Give us your take on which of these rookies you'd like to have on your team...

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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Playing without a true quarterback in 2011 Colts’ wide receiver Reggie Wayne only mustered 75 receptions for 960 yards, his lowest output since 2003.  It broke a span of five straight seasons in which Wayne has tallied at least 1,145 yards receiving. The most impressive number he’s produced though may be the fact he’s started in all 16 games for Indy in each of the last nine seasons.

SCHEDULE
Indianapolis ranks dead in the middle on strength of schedule, but for a young team there are no easy opponents. Opening at Chicago isn’t a great scenario, but home matchups against Minnesota and Jacksonville followed by a bye week is a nice way for Luck and company to ease into things. Going against the Texans twice, the AFC East, and NFC North wasn’t the best of draws though.

STUD
The Colts lack a true fantasy stud, but Donald Brown has the best chance of anybody to come close to that this season. The multi-talented running back is capable of hitting the holes and breaking long plays and is a threat catching the ball out of the backfield. After showing doses of brilliance in 2011, he’s going to get most of the looks with Joseph Addai out of the mix and is providing great RB2 value in the middle rounds of drafts.

DUD
Had I written this preview a month ago I would have had Austin Collie under my sleeper category for sure as he was really developing nicely in the Colts’ new offense, but then the preseason concussion came. It is his fourth one. Though he’s insisting that he’s going to make back onto the football field soon, I’m not holding my breath. Avoid him altogether.

SLEEPER
Though I can’t endorse rookie Coby Fleener as reliable TE1 option right out of the gate, I am a bit enamored by his upside. He possesses great skill sets to be successful in this league and you can’t replace the time he’s had and the chemistry he has developed playing with Andrew Luck, his former teammate at Stanford.

NEW ADDITION
After an amazing decade plus run the Colts had with Peyton Manning, they now have the good fortune to replace him Andrew Luck as their starting quarterback. He may be the best QB to come out of college since Manning. Luck is ready to produce right now and he is going to fare better than most on banking on out of the gate. Look for plenty of garbage time points and near QB1 numbers in 2012.

POSITION BATTLE
Though I expect Brown to see the bulk of the workload it’s going to be interesting to see how Vick Ballard, Mewelde Moore and Delone Carter work into the mix. Expect Ballard to be used in short-yardage and perhaps goalline situations where Moore will be utilized more as a change-of-pace, third-down type of runner.

BENCH BUILDER
Donnie Avery isn’t a great talent, but Collie’s concussions flaring up and the team so thin at the position he could sneak into a WR2 role to start the season. He isn’t worth drafting in most leagues, but in deeper formats where a fifth or sixth receiver and beyond are placed on your roster he has some upside.

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SiriusXM Radio's Kay Adams talks fantasy basics with the FOXSports Girls...

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Most of draft gurus project Stanford QB Andrew Luck as the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft...

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There are so many teams in the NFL right now, it's hard to guess which one of them will have the first overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. Regardless of which team picks first, there is no doubt (barring injury) that Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck will be the top choice. With so many teams needing quarterbacks around the league there are plenty of franchises licking their chops at the chance.

After four games of the 2011 NFL season, here are the current 0-4 and 1-3 teams. Tiebreakers are not factored into these rankings:

1. Indianapolis Colts - 0-4
2. Minnesota Vikings - 0-4
3. St. Louis Rams - 0-4
4. Miami Dolphins - 0-4
5. Kansas City Chiefs - 1-3
6. Carolina Panthers - 1-3
7. Philadelphia Eagles - 1-3
8. Denver Broncos - 1-3
9. Arizona Cardinals - 1-3
10. Jacksonville Jaguars - 1-3
11. Seattle Seahawks - 1-3

Aside from the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles every team on the list would not hesitate to draft. The question becomes do teams tank games to ensure they have the top pick?

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