Now that the stress of drafting is over, let’s get to the Post-Draft #PowerRankings! My personal takeaways from this year’s draft were:
The mid-tier RBs and WRs went for a lot more money than I expected. The top-tier RBs and WRs stayed in the mid-$60s to $70s range, which is what I expected, but players like Omarion Hampton for $42, Chuba Hubbard for $31, RJ Harvey for $26, Jakobi Meyers for $21, George Pickens for $18, Jordan Mason for $17, and Ricky Pearsall for $14, Tyler Warren for $10 - just to name a handful - took me by surprise.
It was massively beneficial to have two value Keepers, and a big disadvantage to have no keepers. Both Gabs and Jeff Chen kept both of their players at a pretty big discount, and that freed up more money for them to spend on the draft, hence their post-draft rankings. On the other hand, Aaron didn’t keep anyone and after spending his money on the inflated prices of Ja’Marr Chase, Brock Bowers, Jalen Hurts, Mike Evans, and Garrett Wilson, he had very little money to spend on RB.
Keeping one stud is beneficial, even if it’s not at a discount. For the teams that kept a stud, it still ended up being a value pick even at around average draft price: Bijan at $62, Saquon at $55, and Derrick Henry at $55 were all good values compared to Jahmyr Gibbs at $69 and CMC at $66.
Keeping at the onesie position (QB and TE) is only beneficial if you get a big discount, and keeping two onesie players puts you at a huge disadvantage, even with discounts. Keeping Jayden Daniels at $16 made sense, and keeping Trey McBride at $22 made sense, but keeping both players made me automatically weak at RB and WR. In retrospect, I probably should have kept Ja’Marr Chase at $64 and then either Daniels or McBride. I thought I might be able to draft Chase at $70 but didn’t think I’d be able to draft Daniels at $22 or McBride at $28. Looking back, I was clearly wrong. Jeff Chen keeping Kittle at $19 made sense because he still had a stud WR in Nico (at a discount) to rely on, so it didn’t end up handicapping him too much. Of course, if Daniels turns out to be QB1 and McBride turns out to be TE1, maybe keeping them would have been worth it.
Enough rambling from me - on to the rankings!
This year, I decided to tabulate my grades for each position and present the table (with colors!) for your visual pleasure. I do some form of this every year, but it’s mostly in my head: I’ll rank each team’s positions and then based on a mentally weighted scale, give a final ranking. But this table just looks much prettier.
Hopefully the columns are self-explanatory - I grouped K / DEF together, and included “XF” which just means X-Factor. X-Factor includes if a team has a lot of high-risk / high-reward players (due to injury history, being a rookie, other unknown factors), if a team has a lot of depth or a lack of depth at multiple positions, if a team has a scary QB/WR stack or a redundant RB/WR, WR/TE stack, if a team manager is a historically active manager, or if a team manager is just overdue for better luck.
The weights are (somewhat arbitrarily):
QB: 20%
WR: 35%
RB: 30%
TE: 10%
K / DEF / XF: 5%
So, after all the analysis and calculation, the final table reveal:
...on which the following rankings are based. Enjoy!
1. Run It Back! (Gabs)
QB: Dak Prescott, Jared Goff
WR: Brian Thomas Jr., Marvin Harrison Jr., DK Metcalf
RB: Bucky Irving, Jonathan Taylor, Kenneth Walker III, Quinshon Judkins, Jaydon Blue, J.K. Dobbins
TE: Zach Ertz
K: Brandon Aubrey
DEF: Buffalo, Arizona
While my preliminary glance through the post-draft rosters put Jeff Chen’s team at the top, after looking more closely, I ended up giving Gabs’s team the slight nod over Jeff’s. While Gabs only has 3 WRs, I think they are all due for good seasons and are probably the best WR trio in our league. Brian Thomas proved his worth last year, and should continue his positive trajectory with a new OC in Jacksonville. Marvin Harrison Jr had a disappointing rookie season, but still put up decent numbers as a WR2 option, and ought to be better with a year of experience under his belt. Aaron Rodgers tends to hyper-target his WR1s, so that will give DK Metcalf plenty of volume if he stays healthy. Gabs has solid RBs as well - Bucky Irving, JT, and Kenneth Walker are all RBs with their workloads cut out for them. The potential for a surprise breakout from Judkins or Blue makes Gabs’s RBs fairly deep and exciting to monitor. Dak or Goff will be serviceable at QB, but Gabs will likely be streaming the TE position throughout the year until he finds someone steadier - Ertz isn’t going to be the long-term solution. Gabs’s and Jeff’s total grades were separated by a mere 0.05 points, so while it wasn’t a huge difference between their teams, it was enough to bump Gabs to the top.
2. I am not sacko! (Jeff Chen)
QB: Lamar Jackson
WR: Nico Collins, Tyreek Hill, Emeka Egbuka, Cooper Kupp, Stefon Diggs
RB: James Cook, David Montgomery, Nick Chubb, Javonte Williams, Najee Harris, Joe Mixon
TE: George Kittle
K: Harrison Butker
DEF: Pittsburgh
Jeff Chen started the draft a lot more aggressively than he usually does, and I think it paid off. He was able to secure Lamar Jackson at QB, get pretty good WR help behind Nico in Tyreek (a value pick) and Egbuka (a high-potential rookie). Kupp and Diggs are big names that have been on a downward trajectory, yet still could rebound, and at least Jeff has the luxury to wait and see if they are worth rostering after a few weeks. While James Cook and David Montgomery have their potential downsides (both had a high reliance on TDs last year, and there is a likely regression to the mean coming), they’ve shown they can produce fantasy numbers. Chubb, Javonte, Najee, and Joe Mixon look like a bunch of garbage on the bench, but I do think one of those 4 may emerge as a useable fantasy asset at some point in the season, so Jeff’s decision to roster them may be beneficial - similar to his WR situation. Kittle should be a top-tier TE, and I think Jeff is just overdue for a good season this year. We shall see.
3. 大展鸿图 (Jeff Lin)
QB: Joe Burrow
WR: Malik Nabers, AJ Brown, Ricky Pearsall, DJ Moore
RB: Breece Hall, TreVeyon Henderson, Tank Bigsby, Rhamondre Stevenson, Zach Charbonnet, Jacory Croskey-Merritt
TE: Sam LaPorta
K: Ka’imi Fairbarin
DEF: Denver, Houston
Besides Jeff Lin, I don’t think anyone in our league knows what his team name says without having to Google translate it. I had to Google translate it, and I still can’t tell you what it means. Such a disgraceful ABC - should have tried harder in Mrs. Feung’s class. Anyways, Jeff Lin was able to capitalize on some good values earlier in the draft (AJ Brown for $36, Breece Hall for $21, LaPorta for $12) so that he could go hard for his targets, even at elevated prices (TreVeyon Henderson, Ricky Pearsall, Zach Charbonnet, Jacory Croskey-Merritt). Nabers + AJ Brown is a solid WR duo, and one could do worse at WR3 than DJ Moore or Ricky Pearsall (who expects to take advantage of all the SF WR injuries). While I don’t love the Breece Hall pick, I do think TreVeyon Henderson has a fairly clear path to fantasy stardom. And between Bigsby, Charbonnet, or Jacory, one or more of them should emerge over the course of the season as their situations allow. Barring injury, Joe Burrow should be able to produce at the levels he did last year, given Cincy’s high-powered offense likely being as good as they were last year and their low-powered defense probably still as bad as they were last year. I would expect a bounce back year for LaPorta - maybe not back to his rookie season, but better than last year. Jeff’s defenses are also pretty good, and we all know how active Jeff is throughout the season - any shortcomings from the draft are usually compensated for by mid-season through his trade and waiver activity, hence a more favorable X-Factor grade.
4. It’s Bo Time (Andrew)
QB: Drake Maye, Jordan Love, Bryce Young
WR: CeeDee Lamb, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Calvin Ridley, Deebo Samuel
RB: Derrick Henry, Isiah Pacheco, Woody Marks, Ray Davis, Will Shipley
TE: Evan Engram
K: Jake Moody
DEF: Kansas City
Andrew’s strength lies at the WR position, where he has stud CeeDee Lamb backed up by rising stud JSN. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Calvin Ridley and / or Deebo Samuel emerge as productive fantasy assets given their circumstances and abilities, but those question marks are still TBD. Andrew is also pretty solid at RB: Derrick Henry is still proving that age and “wear-and-tear” are meaningless constructs when applied to him, and Isiah Pacheco has had time to recover from his injury which led to a disappointing end-of-season - he should bounce back. Woody Marks, Ray Davis, and Will Shipley are all handcuff RBs, so it’ll take time before any of them pan out, but will be worthy additions if their starters miss playing time. I’m not a big fan of Evan Engram given he’s never been a great weekly fantasy option, but I do like the potential of Drake Maye in his second year. Andrew’s got a good mix of established and young players on his team, giving him a bump up in X-Factor rating.
5. Maybabyboo (Laura)
QB: Bo Nix, JJ McCarthy
WR: Justin Jefferson, Zay Flowers, Travis Hunter, Cedric Tillman
RB: Chase Brown, Chuba Hubbard, James Conner, Trey Benson, Bhayshul Tuten
TE: David Njoku, Jake Ferguson
K: Evan McPherson
DEF: Washington
Laura has a very solid trio of RBs, which continues her trend from last year in rostering a bunch of not-sexy-but-very-productive RBs. I’d argue Chase Brown has become very sexy, but Chuba and Conner still don’t get the respect they deserve as workhorse RBs, probably because their actual teams are terrible. Justin Jefferson anchors her WR corps, and that potential stack with JJ McCarthy might be a juicy one. Zay Flowers should hopefully emerge as Lamar’s top WR option and therefore produce fantasy value accordingly, and I like the potential of Travis Hunter with his freakish abilities. I would expect Bo Nix to continue to ascend after a hot end to the 2024 season, and JJ McCarthy as a “wait and see” prospect is very interesting. David Njoku should start the season hot with Flacco at QB, and Jake Feguson is a serviceable TE if needed. While Washington isn’t a great defense, they start the season with an easy schedule, and Laura’s JJ / JJ stack gives her a bump up in her X-Factor grade.
6. 第六 (Abraham)
QB: Patrick Mahomes, Kyler Murray
WR: Drake London, George Pickens, Keenan Allen, Jauan Jennings, Rashid Shaheed, Jordan Addison, DeMario Douglas
RB: Kyren Williams, Omarion Hampton, RJ Harvey
TE: Mark Andrews
K: Jake Bates
DEF: Philadelphia
Abraham wasn’t too psyched about his team after drafting, but I think he ended up with a solid squad. Mahomes was disappointing last season, but he’s still the best QB in the league and will find ways to win games and put up points - maybe just not top-tier fantasy points, but still serviceable points. I do like Drake London for Abraham, but George Pickens is TBD - I can see how he can flourish with Dak in a WR2 role, so if that plays out to Abraham’s favor, then WR could end up being a strong suit for Abraham. While Keenan Allen is old, he’s back with Herbert and probably still has enough left to be a solid FLEX option. I’m not so sure about the rest of Abraham’s WRs. At RB, Kyren is a good RB1 option, Omarion Hampton should be a really good RB2 option, but I’m TBD about RJ Harvey, and the fact that Abraham lacks further depth puts him at a disadvantage if his rookies don’t pan out. I’m not so sure Mark Andrews bounces back from last year, given how bad he looked and how Isaiah Likely has become more integrated into the offense. I do like the Philly D pick and also feel like Abraham is probably due for some success this year... maybe enough to fulfill his team name... or at least not get Sacko again... maybe.
7. Unicorn QueenZ (Tim)
QB: Jayden Daniels
WR: Tetairoa McMillan, Courtland Sutton, Jameson Williams, DeVonta Smith, Keon Coleman, Marvin Mims
RB: Christian McCaffery, Alvin Kamara, Jerome Ford, Cam Skattebo, Kendre Miller
TE: Trey McBride
K: Chase McLaughlin
DEF: Seattle
I went into the draft knowing I was at a disadvantage at RB and WR by virtue of keeping a QB and TE, but I didn’t realize how much of a disadvantage I would be at until the draft was playing out. I’m still happy with a young mobile QB with lots of potential and what should be a target monster at TE who should improve in the TD department this year. I also really wanted Tetairoa McMillan for obvious reasons, but not necessarily as my WR1. Even though it feels like I have a bunch of WR2s on my team, I do like my other WRs - Courtland Sutton is WR1 for what’s hopefully an exciting Denver offense with an up-and-coming young QB, Jameson Williams should make a leap this year on an explosive offense and being further removed from his ACL injury, and DeVonta Smith and Keon Coleman are nice bench options. I’m hoping CMC can stay healthier this season, but those may be misguided hopes, and Kamara is also one year older, even though the Saints will probably be dumping it off to him a lot. I’m not all that excited about my other RB options (Jerome Ford might give me a few solid weeks before he gets out-run by Judkins), but that’s what was left at the bottom of the barrel for me.
8. Terrific Tortoises (David)
QB: Baker Mayfield, Cam Ward
WR: Amon-Ra St. Brown, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Jerry Jeudy, Michael Pittman Jr.
RB: Jahmyr Gibbs, Tony Pollard, Brian Robinson Jr., Jaylen Warren, Austin Ekeler
TE: Travis Kelce
K: Wil Lutz
DEF: Minnesota
Looking at his grades, David probably had the most consistency across the board, receiving B’s in all the major categories. He started the draft strong, drafting Amon-Ra at $65, but then went all-in with the Detroit offense and drafted Jahmyr Gibbs at $69 right after that. I don’t love the built-in redundancy of drafting a stud WR and stud RB on the same team because both players can’t score a TD at the same time (usually), but Detroit should have a high-powered offense, so I can understand why David is buying in. However, I don’t see the same logic being applied to David’s Kelce / Rice / Worthy “stack” - a TD for Kelce will cancel out a TD for Rice or Worthy and vice versa, and I don’t see KC’s offense as more potent than Detroit’s. I understand Worthy being an insurance pick for if / when Rice gets suspended, but I still had to penalize David’s X-Factor grade because of his roster construction. David’s RB2 situation is rough, though - Pollard will likely get the spot, but it’s not going to look pretty. Ekeler may need to step into that role at some point, which also isn’t pretty. Jeudy, Pittman, and Ekeler aren’t terrible FLEX plays, but also have limited ceilings, in my opinion. Baker Mayfield had a great 2024 season, but I feel like he’s going to regress to the mean and be underwhelming this year. However, the Cam Ward pick is an interesting one. After a hot start to the draft, the rest of David’s draft was unfortunately meh.
9. Just Didn’t Catch D’Achane (Haji)
QB: Brock Purdy
WR: Tee Higgins, Davante Adams, Rome Odunze, Matthew Golden
RB: De'Von Achane, Ashton Jeanty, Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, Tyrone Tracy, Braelon Allen
TE: Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland
K: Jake Elliott
DEF: Detroit
Haji’s team is fairly deep at RB, so even if Achane can’t start the season at 100%, Haji should be able to rely on Jeanty and Aaron Jones as RB starters. His WRs, on the other hand, have a lot of question marks, and therefore received lower marks. Higgins is great when he’s on the field, but staying on the field has been a struggle for him. Davante Adams has never had to be a WR2, and knowing how big his ego is, I’m hesitant to believe he’ll adapt well - especially if Stafford has to miss time. Odunze has a lot of potential with Caleb Williams for another season and the addition of Ben Johnson as the head coach. And Golden will need to prove himself before rising up in the depth chart. Even though Brock Purdy is a fairly safe but boring option at QB, Haji compensated by going high-risk high-reward at the TE position and drafting 2 rookies. I guess the rookie TE breakout trend has been a thing the past 2 years, so Haji’s hoping it continues in 2025. I do like Tyler Warren’s outlook, but TBD on whether that risk was worth it.
10. #surviveandadvance (Eric)
QB: Caleb Williams, Justin Herbert
WR: Ladd McConkey, Terry McLaurin, Jakobi Meyers, Chris Godwin, Khalil Shakir, Jayden Reed
RB: Bijan Robinson, Josh Jacobs, D’Andre Swift, Travis Etienne
TE: Kyle Pitts
K: Chris Boswell
DEF: San Francisco
Eric has the strongest RB duo in our league. The Bijan + Josh Jacobs combo gives him an A+ at RB, and D’Andre Swift / Travis Etienne aren’t terrible bench options. However, the rest of his team kind of goes downhill from there. Starting with WR: Ladd is a great WR1 option, but questions still remain about when or where Terry McLaurin will play when the season starts. Although McLaurin clearly has the ability to be a WR1, his ridiculous number of TDs from last year will inevitably go down, his target share will be impacted by Deebo (assuming he’s still in Washington), and all the drama and uncertainty in Washington is a bit unsettling. I’m also not sure what Eric saw in Jakobi Meyers to go hard for him, but I guess he’s a serviceable WR3. I don’t see Godwin returning this season healthy enough to make a meaningful impact in fantasy, but I could be wrong. Shakir and Reed are two younger WRs that could turn heads, but they’ve also proven to be inconsistent in the past. So overall, Eric’s WR situation doesn’t look great. Moving on to TE, I’m probably a lot lower on Kyle Pitts than Eric is, but my guess is Eric will be searching the waiver wire pretty soon for another TE option. I’ll end on a positive note, though: SF D shouldn’t be bad, and the fact that Eric is the reigning champ gives him a slightly more favorable X-Factor grade.
11. Spider Pig (Luke)
QB: Josh Allen, Justin Fields
WR: Puka Nacua, Jaylen Waddle, Chris Olave, Josh Downs, Jayden Higgins
RB: Saquon Barkley, Tyjae Spears, Isaac Guerendo
TE: TJ Hockenson, Tucker Kraft, Dalton Kincaid
K: Cam Little
DEF: Baltimore
Let’s start with the positive. Luke kept Puka and Saquon, which was definitely the right move. He also added Josh Allen, who should be a top-tier QB this year, and Justin Fields is an intriguing backup option. TJ Hockenson is also a solid option at TE, with Tucker Kraft and Dalton Kincaid providing Luke with a lot more depth than he probably needs at that position. Baltimore should also have a good defense. Now that I’ve written that all out, there’s actually a lot more positive than I had expected. But now, the rest of his team: Jaylen Waddle is injury prone, as is Chris Olave. Josh Downs will have a sub-par QB throwing to him. Jayden Higgins has potential, but is a rookie that needs to work his way up the depth chart in Houston. Luke’s RB situation is worse. You ask: How can it be worse when he’s got Saquon as his RB1? Answer: When he’s got Tyjae Spears and Isaac Guerendo as his other RB options. I was considering giving Luke a D grade at RB, but I couldn’t do it with Saquon on his roster. I guess the average of an A and an F is a C- ish? I hope all the fun and fulfillment you had at Burning Man can last you a season’s worth of despair in FF, Luke. At least you’re not Aaron.
12. choubacca (Aaron)
QB: Jalen Hurts
WR: Ja'Marr Chase, Mike Evans, Garrett Wilson, Christian Kirk
RB: Kaleb Johnson, Rico Dowdle, Raheem Mostert, Rachaad White, Ollie Gordon, Tyler Allgeier
TE: Brock Bowers
K: Cameron Dicker, Jason Sanders
DEF: Green Bay
Ok, so in fairness, Aaron has a really good team at all positions IF YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO PLAY ANY RBS EVER. Jalen Hurts? Solid A. Ja’Marr Chase + Mike Evans + Garrett Wilson + Christian Kirk? A-minus. Brock Bowers? A-plus. Kaleb Johnson + Rico Dowdle + Raheem Mostert + Rachaad White + Ollie Gordon + Tyler Allgeier? F. F-minus, if such thing existed. How’s this for giggles: I’m willing to bet the combined score of all 6 of those RBs in Week 1 will not surpass a low-end RB1. In other words, if you add up the fantasy points of all of Aaron’s 6 RBs in Week 1, I don’t think that number will be higher than the fantasy points of whoever ends up being the overall RB12 for Week 1. Maybe even overall RB24. While Aaron still might be able to win off the backs of his other stud players, RB will clearly be his Achilles’ heel all season. Quite possibly as he limps on the road to Sacko.
