The Top 250 Dynasty Football Rankings - August 2016

Making fantasy football rankings is a relative breeze, because unlike other sports that can be highly format dependent, my rankings would remain mostly unchanged for any league size or type.

Don’t get me wrong, if you play in a 14-team Superflex or two-QB league, a quarterback is incrementally more valuable than if you play in a 12-team league of the same type. So you should remain aware of the nuances of your own league (TE premium, PPR, etc.). Still, the goal—get potential starters that can contribute over many years—remains the same. Mine are necessarily designed for those 2QB leagues (so fade QBs if you play in single quarterback leagues) and tend to lean towards PPR since that is the dominant format today.

I’ve played fantasy football for decades, keeper league football since 2009 until going from zero to sixty on to to dynasty football in recent years. (I can’t imagine playing redraft ever again.) Here’s the kind of roster you can end up with if you follow my WR/QB-heavy strategy. I will need to trade for a running back or two before the season starts, but I should be pretty well set up to contend for an extended run. And if you want to read more about my general philosophies as a dynasty player (so you know what you’re getting yourself into), I wrote them out here.

In addition to general experience, I tend to get a lot of football information from my favorite sites like Rotoviz, Rotoworld, 4for4 and ProFootballFocus.

Without further adieu… the rankings:

*8/25 Edit. Find the 8/23 update here.

Rank	NAME	Position	Comments
1	Odell Beckham	WR	Best combination of youth and proven production, even if they have come with some health issues.
2	DeAndre Hopkins	WR
3	Russell Wilson	QB	The volume ticked up along with his efficiency as a thrower last year. Only benefitted from one rushing TD.
4	Aaron Rodgers	QB	Rodgers attempted a career-high number of passes last year. If he can do that with efficiency anywhere close to where it was pre-2015…watch out.
5	Andrew Luck	QB	Recency bias is strong. There were always more warts than was obvious even before last year, but I’m still buying with confidence.
6	Allen Robinson	WR
7	Cam Newton	QB	Wouldn’t quibble with anyone that put him 1.1, which is why I traded down from the top of my most recent startup.
8	Julio Jones	WR
9	Mike Evans	WR
10	Antonio Brown	WR	If your time is now, go get him.
11	Sammy Watkins	WR
12	Amari Cooper	WR
13	Rob Gronkowski	TE
14	Keenan Allen	WR	Fantasy’s least appreciated superstar had a fluke injury cut short his dominant ’15.
15	Brandin Cooks	WR	Still younger than many rookies.
16	A.J. Green	WR
17	Dez Bryant	WR
18	Demaryius Thomas	WR
19	Alshon Jeffery	WR
20	Marcus Mariota	QB	Last year was a good first step, but bust risk remains.
21	Jameis Winston	QB	RT: Last year was a good first step, but bust risk remains.
22	Blake Bortles	QB	Garbage time king has more warts than volume stats imply, but obviously I still like the overall package.
23	Derek Carr	QB
24	Todd Gurley	RB	If anyone thinks there’s such thing as a good long-term running back investment, go sell them Gurley.
25	Ezekiel Elliott	RB	See Gurley comment.
26	DeVante Parker	WR
27	Donte Moncrief	WR	Another impossibly young third-year wideout.
28	Jarvis Landry	WR	Can fade in standard (non-PPR).
29	Corey Coleman	WR
30	Ben Roethlisberger	QB
31	Tom Brady	QB	Obviously I don’t think he’s retiring any time soon.
32	Kevin White	WR
33	Jordan Matthews	WR
34	Le’Veon Bell	RB	Damaged goods; trust me I get the tantalizing appeal, but I am staying away.
35	T.Y. Hilton	WR
36	Randall Cobb	WR	Should benefit from Jordy’s return to the lineup.
37	Laquon Treadwell	WR
38	Josh Doctson	WR	Getting frustrating Kevin White / Parker health vibes, but love the prospect.
39	David Johnson	RB
40	Lamar Miller	RB
41	Devonta Freeman	RB
42	Allen Hurns	WR
43	Philip Rivers	QB
44	Matt Ryan	QB	Boring and reliable.
45	Andy Dalton	QB	Boring and reliable.
46	Ryan Tannehill	QB	Boring and reliable.
47	Sterling Shepard	WR
48	Jordan Reed	TE
49	Doug Baldwin	WR
50	Stefon Diggs	WR	Diggs did not come out of nowhere; he was a highly-touted recruit out of high school.
51	Jeremy Maclin	WR
52	John Brown	WR
53	Drew Brees	QB	I don’t know that the size/arm strength is there to help Brees decline gracefully and remain in the lineup beyond this year.
54	Kirk Cousins	QB
55	Teddy Bridgewater	QB	I think he can be more than a game manager.
56	Matthew Stafford	QB
57	Brandon Marshall	WR	I don’t know how much time is left, but I still expect WR1 numbers this year. Good enough for me.
58	Michael Floyd	WR
59	Doug Martin	RB
60	Jamaal Charles	RB	Wake me up when he isn’t dominant on the field.
61	Jordy Nelson	WR	ADP prices him as though he will automatically bounce back to register multiple WR1 seasons.
62	Carlos Hyde	RB
63	Mark Ingram	RB	Looking increasingly likely that he could maintain a pass-catching role.
64	Jared Goff	QB	Bust risk is real, but even if he’s only a competent starting QB that means you can avoid an expensive QB market.
65	Eli Manning	QB
66	Zach Ertz	TE	My number two tight end has improved in every year; touchdowns are noisy and I think they’ll come just by law of averages.
67	Devin Funchess	WR
68	Carson Palmer	QB
69	Kelvin Benjamin	WR	Based on ADP you will never get him anywhere close to here. Between mixed reports, poor efficiency year one and the risk of another ACL injury, I am avoiding.
70	Travis Kelce	TE
71	Tyler Eifert	TE
72	T.J. Yeldon	RB	Love those talented non “lead” back that come at a discount.
73	Adrian Peterson	RB	If you’re going to pay up for him, then don’t half ass it… load up on win-now pieces instead of hedging.
74	Tyler Lockett	WR
75	Greg Olsen	TE	Another great target if your time is now.
76	Emmanuel Sanders	WR
77	Michael Thomas	WR
78	Duke Johnson	RB	Perfect role and skill set to be the ideal modern fantasy running back, but the price has become that of a workhorse.
79	Eric Decker	WR
80	Golden Tate	WR
81	Julian Edelman	WR
82	Giovani Bernard	RB
83	Larry Fitzgerald	WR	Pair with Brandon Marshall for old-guy discount and a championship ring. YPA is low, but he gets peppered with targets. Why so much cheaper than Jordy by ADP?
84	LeSean McCoy	RB
85	Eddie Lacy	RB	Only lack of competition stops me from sliding into the 100’s.
86	Tyler Boyd	WR	Really impressive college production and draft position makes him arguably the most likely rookie WR to succeed long term.
87	Will Fuller	WR	The Texans thought enough of him to take him 21st overall. That in and of itself, historically, bodes very well for his odds of success.
88	Leonte Carroo	WR	A significant value play based on rookie draft ADP.
89	C.J. Anderson	RB
90	Marvin Jones	WR	Expecting a career year given opportunity, health and red zone chops.
91	Willie Snead	WR
92	Josh Gordon	WR	Too many questions to take higher, too much upside to rank lower. Presumably someone else will bite for more.
93	Tyrod Taylor	QB	I’m avoiding on the grounds that we don’t know that the NFL believes he’s a starter or a high-end backup. The contract extension means almost nothing given cut risk. Plenty of upside, though.
94	Alex Smith	QB	Good chance he starts more games in the rest of his career than Wentz or Lynch, given bust rate. Don’t confuse average with bad.
95	Carson Wentz	QB
96	Paxton Lynch	QB
97	Joe Flacco	QB	Bounce back is coming. Maintains solid job security.
98	Brock Osweiler	QB
99	Tony Romo	QB	Pair with Prescott.
100	Breshad Perriman	WR	A boom/bust prospect, Perriman has rare speed/size combination but can’t stay healthy.
101	Martavis Bryant	WR	It’s not apples to apples, but Gordon’s reinstatement is good news for Bryant.
102	Phillip Dorsett	WR
103	Thomas Rawls	RB	Too many variables that can prevent him from yielding significant value.
104	Dorial Green-Beckham	WR	It’s a red flag when a team trades away their second-round pick from the year prior, but still pedigree to be a starter.
105	Melvin Gordon	RB
106	Jerick McKinnon	RB	Maybe it doesn’t happen this year, but McKinnon has RB1 skills if AP goes down or retires. He’ll be a free agent in 2018.
107	Dion Lewis	RB	Tantalizing PPR fantasy skills and elusiveness are perfect for the Patriots offense.
108	Tavon Austin	WR
109	Charles Sims	RB	RB1 skills with the opportunity, but will it come?
110	Latavius Murray	RB	Sell, sell, sell.
111	Kenneth Dixon	RB
112	Jaelen Strong	WR	I liked Strong as a prospect enough to look past mediocre rookie year and crowded depth chart.
113	Nelson Agholor	WR	Excellent buy-low target.
114	Ameer Abdullah	RB
115	Tajae Sharpe	WR	I want to rank even higher, but anchored by ADP and draft pedigree. Really good age-adjusted production and glowing summer reports.
116	Rishard Matthews	WR	Hat tip to WaPo’s Michael Salfino for alerting me to his stand out YPA last year.
117	Derrick Henry	RB	Not my kind of running back prospect.
118	DeMarco Murray	RB
119	Eric Ebron	TE
120	Coby Fleener	TE
121	Michael Crabtree	WR
122	Devontae Booker	RB
123	Matt Forte	RB
124	Jeremy Hill	RB
125	Jamison Crowder	WR
126	Ryan Mathews	RB
127	Torrey Smith	WR	Best ball stud.
128	Ladarius Green	TE	One of the least fun things to do in fantasy is speculate on vague health issues. I’m avoiding until there’s clarity.
129	Braxton Miller	WR	Something of a mystery man with limited college reps.
130	Matt Jones	RB	Expensive JAG (“just a guy” for noobies) that’s too costly due to “likely” (nominal) starter tag.
131	Jeremy Langford	RB	See Jones, Matt.
132	Theo Riddick	RB	An elite pass-catcher, but enough buzz about Abdullah taking some of those reps to move Riddick down. It’s true that there was a perfect storm last year in Detroit in Riddick’s favor.
133	C.J. Prosise	RB	A nice stash if you’re rebuilding. Tough to guess what happens in 2016 between health and depth chart.
134	Delanie Walker	TE
135	Gary Barnidge	TE
136	Markus Wheaton	WR
137	Kamar Aiken	WR	ADP has caught up with the fact that he was actually pretty good and opportunity is still there.
138	DeSean Jackson	WR	Best ball stud.
139	Jay Ajayi	RB
140	Arian Foster	RB	I expect nothing next season (2017), but I’ll ride him into the sunset because he is a complete player even with diminished athleticism.
141	Tevin Coleman	RB
142	DeAndre Washington	RB
143	Jonathan Stewart	RB
144	Ryan Fitzpatrick	QB
145	Chris Ivory	RB
146	Danny Woodhead	RB
147	Isaiah Crowell	RB
148	Hunter Henry	TE
149	Jay Cutler	QB	Concerned about his long term job security with the Bears.
150	Robert Griffin III	QB	I don’t expect him to remain the starter long term.
151	Frank Gore	RB	If you’re not confident in your team’s ability to win now you can steer clear.
152	Sam Bradford	QB	I think he is more likely than not to start elsewhere in 2017.
153	Pharoh Cooper	WR	In the Tajae Sharpe mold as someone with excellent age-adjusted production in college.
154	Julius Thomas	TE
155	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	TE	If you’re a risk taker Seferian-Jenkins still has a lot of talent, just lots of warts on and off the field now.
156	Dwayne Allen	TE
157	Clive Walford	TE
158	Jimmy Garoppolo	QB	I think he’ll start elsewhere when he’s a FA in 2018.
159	Malcolm Mitchell	WR	Could shoot up these rankings in a year; nice cheap target for rebuilders.
160	Travis Benjamin	WR
161	Karlos Williams	RB	I believe he’ll eventually restore order as RB2 behind McCoy. Showed surprising pass catching ability as a rookie.
162	Davante Adams	WR	I hope he was hurt last year, as poorly as he played. Was probably always a bit overrated as a prospect, regardless.
163	Kenyan Drake	RB	The cheapest back in Miami, he’s also my favorite based on ADP. Foster and Ajayi aren’t exactly pillars of health.
164	Chris Hogan	WR
165	Keith Marshall	RB	I don’t like Matt Jones and Marshall is my preferred pick to beat him out, even if at present his place on depth chart looks shaky.
166	Vincent Jackson	WR	Still some juice left.
167	Mike Thomas	WR	Another highly productive collegiate wide receiver, but the draft pedigree is lacking compared to similar players like Pharoh Cooper and Tajae Sharpe
168	Tyler Ervin	RB	A talented prospect made cheap by present depth chart blues, Ervin is a nice target.
169	Jimmy Graham	TE
170	Martellus Bennett	TE
171	Wendell Smallwood	RB	From what I have seen the summer buzz is going Sproles’ way, but fantasy-friendly skill set long-term.
172	Antonio Gates	TE
173	Shane Vereen	RB
174	Paul Perkins	RB	Caught the ball well in college, but he’ll be behind Vereen this year.
175	Rashad Jennings	RB	Assuming I’ve developed a strong WR core, I like to go to battle with multiple Rashad Jennings-types at the start of the year and hope my bench backs turn in to starters.
176	Jordan Howard	RB	Sketchy fantasy profile, but the Bears have more quantity than quality in their backfield.
177	Tyler Higbee	TE
178	Maxx Williams	TE	The depth chart won’t forever remain this crowded.
179	Austin Hooper	TE
180	Zach Miller	TE
181	Jace Amaro	TE	Opportunity knocks for this 2014 2nd round pick.
182	Josh Ferguson	RB	Talented UDFA is a nice #ZeroRB target
183	Mike Glennon	QB	I think he’ll start somewhere next year and be a cheap good-enough QB. Great pickup for a rebuilding team.
184	Sammie Coates	WR	Not enough college production to entice me despite athleticism and opportunity.
185	Bilal Powell	RB	If you build your team correctly, you can win with Bilal Powell in your starting lineup.
186	Justin Forsett	RB
187	Javorius Allen	RB
188	Darren Sproles	RB	Give us one more year, Sproles. One more…
189	Steve Smith	WR
190	Terrance Williams	WR	Really missed Romo last year. Cowboys have yet to develop a significant receiving threat opposite Dez.
191	Chris Conley	WR	Another boom/bust guy. Miscast on the Chiefs because Alex Smith doesn’t take shots, but opportunity is there.
192	Pierre Garcon	WR
193	Cody Latimer	WR	Aggressive ranking, but there’s reasons to believe starting with the total lack of receiving talent in Denver after Sanders and Thomas.
194	Rashard Higgins	WR
195	Cameron Artis-Payne	RB	A rare clear-cut backup RB, just wish he had more pass catching chops (and Cam at the goal line doesn’t help).
196	Jonathan Williams	RB
197	Justin Hardy	WR	I’m watching him closely as no one has emerged to replace Roddy White and Sanu is so meh.
198	DeAngelo Williams	RB
199	Shaun Draughn	RB
200	Charcandrick West	RB
201	Mohamed Sanu	WR
202	Jason Witten	TE
203	Spencer Ware	RB
204	Kendall Wright	WR	A forgotten man, but with DGB out of the fold could be back in the mix as the slot stud he used to be.
205	Mark Sanchez	QB	Too much noise for me to invest with confidence.
206	Blaine Gabbert	QB
207	Alex Collins	RB	Monitor Seahawks’ situation closely as their individual values are fluid.
208	Vance McDonald	TE
209	Will Tye	TE	Some risk the Giants start Donnell, but Eli throws to his tight ends in the red zone and I like Tye better.
210	Dak Prescott	QB	Pair with Romo for strategic value.
211	Bruce Ellington	WR
212	Terrelle Pryor	WR	If it’s not a thing (and it probably is not), you can ditch him.
213	Darren McFadden	RB
214	Ricardo Louis	WR
215	Kyle Rudolph	TE
216	Richard Rodgers	TE	I think he’s better than Jared Cook.
217	Zach Zenner	RB
218	Christine Michael	RB	Fool me three times…
219	Brett Hundley	QB	He will test your patience, but upside is immense.
220	Daniel Lasco	RB	Not much talent in the backfield after Ingram.
221	James Starks	RB
222	Jordan Cameron	TE
223	J.J. Nelson	WR	Speed! Wheeeee!!!
224	Ted Ginn Jr.	WR	Another good best ball player due to his “home run” hitting pedigree as a deep threat.
225	LeGarrette Blount	RB
226	Ty Montgomery	WR
227	Alfred Morris	RB
228	Andre Ellington	RB
229	Mike Wallace	WR
230	Chris Thompson	RB
231	Marqise Lee	WR	I’d love to own him and take a look weeks 1-4. Health has been the problem. High end prospect pedigree, which should still matter to you even now.
232	Paul Richardson	WR	This 2014 2nd round pick is finally healthy.
233	Roger Lewis	WR	I think he’ll be the Giants’ 3rd best WR sooner or later.
234	Charles Clay	TE
235	Jeff Janis	WR	Given the variance in opinions, at this price, you ain’t getting Janis.
236	Cardale Jones	QB	A viable handcuff to Taylor in case the Bills decide to part ways next offseason (and due to injury risk).
237	Cody Kessler	QB	Not in love with the prospect, but no other plausible long term QB on the roster.
238	Colin Kaepernick	QB	Enough fantasy appeal with his legs to continue to monitor.
239	Jeff Driskel	QB	Here because if he does start, he runs.
240	James White	RB	Here because of the value of the Patriots’ pass-catching back.
241	Robert Woods	WR
242	Keyarris Garrett	WR	Worse prospects have turned into starters; sucks there’s minimal positive camp buzz.
243	Chris Johnson	RB	Acceptable #ZeroRB for one more year.
244	Devin Smith	WR	Worth a stash at the end of your roster in deep leagues.
245	Demarcus Robinson	WR
246	Chris Moore	WR	An option to be the Ravens’ vertical threat long-term.
247	Trevor Siemian	QB	Anyone who could still be week 1 starter has to crack the top 250.
248	Mike Davis	RB	There’s a pulse from the once highly recruited HS player.
249	Seth DeValve	TE
250	MyCole Pruitt	TE

6 Comments

Thursday August 18, 2016 - Fantasy Football Links - FantasyRundown.com

August 18, 2016 at 8:49 am

[…] 2016 Fantasy Football Rankings: TheDynastyGuru.com ranks the top 250 overall players for keeper/dynasty leagues. […]
g2-bb45d87d2cd68ed0853b5dc63355e66e

August 18, 2016 at 5:05 pm

Didn’t see that Bell ranking coming. Is that all injury risk?
- Tom Trudeau
  
  August 18, 2016 at 5:43 pm
  
  Based on my understanding of the surgery and reconstruction/repair he had, the failure rate, high rate of instability and loss of function are concerning enough that I can’t justify paying for him over a high-end WR prospect like those ranked ahead of him. The suspension is just the cherry on top.
  
  More generally, as you can see with David Johnson’s ranking, I prefer not to hold high-end running backs. I’d rather sell for a stud WR and go fishing in the much cheaper pool of running backs that are 2nd on the depth chart.
g2-bb45d87d2cd68ed0853b5dc63355e66e

August 18, 2016 at 5:06 pm

Super fun read btw, looking forward to this!
Kaiser Souze

August 21, 2016 at 6:03 pm

Karlos Williams was just cut
- Tom Trudeau
  
  August 21, 2016 at 7:13 pm
  
  Yep. He will take a tumble in the refresh of the rankings.