Dynasty FootballDynasty League Football RankingsGeneral

The Top 250 Dynasty Football Rankings 4.0 – Week 3 Refresh

As always, these #Dynasty250 rankings are designed for 2QB and superflex leagues, so if you play in single quarterback league, fade the QB’s. Next, ask your commissioner if you can change the league to be a 2Qb league.

Whether you play redraft or dynasty, if you’re new to ZeroRB, or maybe just generally skeptical after decades of drafting running backs in rounds one and two, take a moment to consider what has happened through two weeks this year. Had you followed my general strategy of buying the cheaper running back in each backfield, by ADP you would have Coleman, Ware, Sims, McKinnon, Riddick/Washington, DeAngelo, Crowell, C-Mike, Gio, Blount and Yeldon over the more-expensive nominal starters. With that in mind, maybe it’s time to sell high on a CJ Anderson for a 2017 1st (stacked draft class) and at talented backup running back (I like Alfred Morris). Maybe you can get even more than that.

For transparency, if you want to know what my typical dynasty team looks like, you can take a look at my year-two, 13 team superflex roster here (best ball, rotisserie).  It’s very much the kind of resilient roster (light on expensive RB’s and heavy on high end QB/WR’s) that I like to build. I also own two of the projected top five picks as I further solidify myself as a perennial contender indefinitely.

#Dynasty250 4.0. Enjoy.

*9/21 11:49 am ET EDIT: this list was published before IR news on Ameer Abdullah and Adrian Peterson. Rather than re-work the entire list, just keep that in mind and I’ll update in the next release

Rank Name Position Comments
1 Odell Beckham WR
2 DeAndre Hopkins WR
3 Andrew Luck QB
4 Cam Newton QB
5 Aaron Rodgers QB Yards per attempt has continued to drop in the early going this year. Consider me moderately concerned since we’re splitting hairs among elite assets.
6 Russell Wilson QB Fading due to the ankle injury and the failing O-line
7 Allen Robinson WR Rough start, but better days are to follow for the just-turned-23-year-old.
8 Julio Jones WR
9 Mike Evans WR
10 Antonio Brown WR
11 Amari Cooper WR
12 Rob Gronkowski TE
13 Brandin Cooks WR
14 Sammy Watkins WR Great time to buy him, but his 2016 value is undeniably shaky.
15 Alshon Jeffery WR
16 A.J. Green WR
17 Will Fuller WR If there’s a lesson to be learned with Fuller, it’s to stop thinking we are smarter than the GM’s when he gets taken ahead of prospects we like more.
18 Jameis Winston QB
19 Stefon Diggs WR
20 Dez Bryant WR
21 Marcus Mariota QB
22 Jordan Matthews WR For a guy with youth, pedigree, health and production he gets very little love.
23 DeVante Parker WR
24 Corey Coleman WR Did not take long for him to declare himself as legit.
25 Donte Moncrief WR
26 Sterling Shepard WR Has made a number of contested catches already.
27 Jarvis Landry WR There’s no precedent for players to get his volume with such low yards per target, but the Dolphins use him in a unique way to supplement their running game. Fade for standard (non PPR).
28 Demaryius Thomas WR Hip injury and shaky 2016 QB situation has me fading behind some of the kids.
29 Derek Carr QB
30 Blake Bortles QB
31 Todd Gurley RB Oh, running backs…
32 Kelvin Benjamin WR My biggest whiff from the offseason. Benjamin remains the target hog he was as a rookie.
33 Le’Veon Bell RB Arrow up incrementally since two weeks of the suspension are up.
34 David Johnson RB If he holds up, he’s a league winner, but I’d still sell for a stud WR for dynasty.
35 Keenan Allen WR I still don’t believe he’s injury prone and there may be a nice buying opportunity off os someone   that was burned by him twice.
36 T.Y. Hilton WR
37 Josh Gordon WR
38 Willie Snead WR
39 Doug Baldwin WR
40 Lamar Miller RB
41 Kevin White WR
42 Tyler Boyd WR Only a matter of time before he further dips into Lafell’s workload.
43 Allen Hurns WR
44 Josh Doctson WR
45 Ezekiel Elliott RB If you’re not close to *definitely* a differentiated talent then I’d rather have another WR I like and fish in the cheaper pool.
46 Tom Brady QB
47 Ben Roethlisberger QB
48 Eric Decker WR
49 Tyler Lockett WR
50 Randall Cobb WR
51 Brandon Marshall WR
52 Jordan Reed TE
53 Carson Wentz QB Pro Football Focus’ top graded QB FWIW. There’s risk with such limited track record, but man he looks like a veteran out there.
54 Matthew Stafford QB There’s something to the narrative that Stafford may be liberated now that he can spread the ball around (plus Marvin Jones is good, y’all).
55 Andy Dalton QB
56 Philip Rivers QB
57 Matt Ryan QB
58 Ryan Tannehill QB
59 Drew Brees QB We saw good Brees in the dome week 1, bad Brees in New Jersey week 2.
60 Michael Floyd WR
61 Jeremy Maclin WR
62 Eli Manning QB
63 Carson Palmer QB
64 Jordy Nelson WR
65 Melvin Gordon RB Just a great time to sell for… yep, you guessed it. A stud WR.
66 Devonta Freeman RB You missed your window to sell high, but the analysts I trust still believe Freeman has a clear talent edge over Coleman.
67 Jamaal Charles RB Pass that baton to Ware, JC.
68 Mark Ingram RB
69 C.J. Anderson RB If you have a playable RB on your bench, I’d sell for Booker and a 2017 1st type offer. Churn through the starting RB’s.
70 Carlos Hyde RB
71 Eddie Lacy RB
72 LeSean McCoy RB
73 Doug Martin RB
74 Marvin Jones WR
75 Laquon Treadwell WR
76 Michael Crabtree WR
77 Travis Kelce TE
78 Greg Olsen TE
79 Larry Fitzgerald WR
80 Zach Ertz TE
81 Tyler Eifert TE
82 Emmanuel Sanders WR
83 Julian Edelman WR
84 Martavis Bryant WR His value goes up every week that we get closer to his return (and without news of any setbacks).
85 Jared Goff QB
86 Paxton Lynch QB
87 Tajae Sharpe WR
88 Duke Johnson RB
89 Giovani Bernard RB
90 Joe Flacco QB
91 Brock Osweiler QB
92 Kirk Cousins QB Again, do not mistake mediocre for bad, but there’s more risk that he can’t stick as an NFL starter than there was week 1.
93 Adrian Peterson RB Limited information on how long he’ll be out, but this rank assumes this year isn’t his last.
94 Travis Benjamin WR Plenty of value tied to the circumstances, so if you fall out of the race sell asap.
95 Eric Ebron TE Ebron got screwed out of a second TD and is blossoming into a differentiated TE1 among the tight end muck after Gronk, Olsen and Reed.
96 Jerick McKinnon RB
97 Charles Sims RB
98 Theo Riddick RB You can fade some for standard, but he is going to have a steady role in the NFL for a long time with upside for more whenever the lead back goes down.
99 Spencer Ware RB It’s scary how the Chiefs churn out studs to replace aging studs (Priest Holmes, Larry Johnson, Charles and now Ware).
100 Tyrod Taylor QB
101 Ryan Mathews RB
102 Matt Forte RB
103 Dak Prescott QB Hasn’t really made plays beyond what’s there quite yet, but looks like he belongs and in dynasty I want long-term utility over upside at QB so I can focus elsewhere.
104 Alex Smith QB Here’s what you’re getting with Smith – good enough to win with. He is locked in to a long term deal.
105 John Brown WR How much of his lack of targets and production is related to the concussion?
106 Latavius Murray RB The fantasy community killed Latavius, but credit where due – he has played well. Sounds like touches will be spread out, though.
107 Derrick Henry RB
108 Phillip Dorsett WR
109 Michael Thomas WR
110 Golden Tate WR Everyone in the offense has looked great except Golden Tate.
111 Ameer Abdullah RB Too much talent around him to have a ton of confidence in the volume. Limited information on the foot injury.
112 T.J. Yeldon RB Has not taken advantage of the opportunity in the early going.
113 DeMarco Murray RB
114 Breshad Perriman WR That week one catch along the sidelines is why I remain optimistic.
115 Leonte Carroo WR
116 Kenneth Dixon RB Excited about his chances to be a second half league winner.
117 Delanie Walker TE
118 Sam Bradford QB I believe Bradford will start again next year, either in Minnesota or elsewhere.
119 Teddy Bridgewater QB
120 Tony Romo QB
121 Ryan Fitzpatrick QB Tough rank, because he seems legit willing to walk away from the sport (which is totally reasonable).
122 Nelson Agholor WR Questionable hands, but good prospect and has been given a chance to make plays down field consistently.
123 Tavon Austin WR
124 Jimmy Garoppolo QB Instead of a pricey rookie QB next year, just buy Jimmy who is a near lock to get a shot to start after what he did weeks one and two.
125 Tevin Coleman RB Buy the cheaper running back in dynasty – would have netted you Coleman, Sims, Riddick, McKinnon, etc. at a fraction of the price.
126 Jeremy Hill RB
127 Isaiah Crowell RB
128 Devin Funchess WR Where are the targets?
129 Kenyan Drake RB
130 C.J. Prosise RB I know from experience that if you’re a contender it’s easy to lose patience on Prosise (I did), but despite all the bodies he is the only pass catching back on the roster.
131 Ladarius Green TE
132 DeSean Jackson WR
133 Julius Thomas TE
134 Coby Fleener TE
135 Quincy Enunwa WR No fluke. Jets’ de facto tight end has size, speed and hands.
136 Thomas Rawls RB Hopefully you followed the “get the cheaper RB” principle and avoided.
137 Dwayne Allen TE
138 Clive Walford TE
139 Tyrell Williams WR
140 Austin Seferian-Jenkins TE I just gave up Funchess for him in TE Premium league.
141 Tyler Ervin RB
142 Devontae Booker RB
143 Christine Michael RB
144 Matt Jones RB
145 Martellus Bennett TE Is this guy going to have a monster season or is this guy going to have a monster season?
146 Mike Wallace WR In hindsight maybe we all should have seen Flacco to Wallace as a match made in heaven.
147 Jonathan Stewart RB
148 Gary Barnidge TE
149 Dorial Green-Beckham WR
150 Jamison Crowder WR
151 Rishard Matthews WR
152 Davante Adams WR
153 Dwayne Washington RB Athletic freak who has flashed in preseason; at this writing I don’t know much about Abdullah injury.
154 Arian Foster RB
155 Jimmy Graham TE I think he will pick it up, but not expecting return to glory.
156 Hunter Henry TE I love him as a prospect and Gates has looked sluggish; opportunity could come sooner than we thought.
157 Markus Wheaton WR
158 Kenny Stills WR
159 Torrey Smith WR
160 Frank Gore RB I’d rather ride him into the sunset than stash someone ranked behind him, provided I’m contending.
161 Chris Conley WR
162 Dion Lewis RB
163 Jay Cutler QB High end backup or low end starter?
164 Jeremy Langford RB Hopefully you listened to basically entire fantasy community when they said this guy lacked skills. Opportunity hangs by a thread.
165 Malcolm Mitchell WR
166 Jay Ajayi RB
167 DeAngelo Williams RB Best… handcuff… ever.
168 Shane Vereen RB Fade in standard.
169 LeGarrette Blount RB
170 Braxton Miller WR
171 Austin Hooper TE
172 Antonio Gates TE
173 Chris Ivory RB
174 DeAndre Washington RB
175 Jaelen Strong WR
176 Pharoh Cooper WR
177 Chris Hogan WR
178 Virgil Green TE
179 Jordan Howard RB Looked much more spry on MNF than I anticipated. Prefer to Langford at price.
180 Bilal Powell RB Still a nice handcuff to Forte.
181 Alfred Morris RB Falling in love with his upside behind that offensive line should Zeke bust, get hurt or get suspended.
182 Terrelle Pryor WR
183 Sammie Coates WR Intersting best ball player, but I’m not seeing a long-term starter.
184 Rashad Jennings RB
185 Paul Perkins RB
186 Mike Glennon QB My favorite QB spec add for 2017.
187 Victor Cruz WR
188 Jesse James TE I like to think Big Ben calls him “Heath” just cuz’ (not my joke).
189 Kenny britt WR
190 Vincent Jackson WR Toast emoji.
191 Trevor Siemian QB
192 Cole Beasley WR
193 Pierre Garcon WR
194 Mohamed Sanu WR
195 Steve Smith WR
196 Dennis Pitta TE Flacco always had a thing for this guy.
197 Darren Sproles RB
198 Maxx Williams TE
199 Tyler Higbee TE
200 Kyle Rudolph TE
201 Jason Witten TE
202 Charles Clay TE
203 Cameron Artis-Payne RB CAP, not Fozzy, earned larger role when Stewart was out last year.
204 Marqise Lee WR A pulse from the former blue chip prospect…
205 Jalen Richard RB
206 Shaun Draughn RB
207 Brett Hundley QB
208 Chris Thompson RB
209 Wendell Smallwood RB
210 Justin Forsett RB
211 Alex Collins RB
212 Jared Cook TE
213 Eli Rogers WR
214 Zach Miller TE
215 Rashard Higgins WR
216 Josh McCown QB This tier of QB’s is a total fudge.
217 Cody Kessler QB
218 Jacoby Brissett QB
219 Robert Griffin III QB
220 Colin Kaepernick QB
221 Blaine Gabbert QB
222 Brian Hoyer QB
223 Paul Richardson WR
224 Vance McDonald TE
225 Mike Gillislee RB
226 Kamar Aiken WR
227 Jermaine Kearse WR
228 Terrance Williams WR
229 Larry Donnell TE
230 Andre Ellington RB
231 Chris Johnson RB
232 James Starks RB
233 Terrance West RB
234 Justin Hardy WR
235 Crockett Gillmore TE
236 Lance Dunbar  RB
237 Rob Kelley RB
238 James White RB
239 Ted Ginn Jr. WR Disregard if you’re not in a best ball league.
240 Adam Humphries WR
241 Jordan Cameron TE
242 Jonathan Williams RB
243 Brandon Lafell WR
244 Javorius Allen RB
245 Malcolm Brown RB
246 Devin Smith WR
247 Darius Jackson RB
248 Cardale Jones QB
249 Danny Woodhead RB A sneaky stash in PPR leagues.
250 Case Keenum QB

The Author

Tom Trudeau

Tom Trudeau

11 Comments

  1. September 21, 2016 at 9:30 am

    Good call on Fuller. I took him in the 12th round of my draft. I’m feeling pretty good about him. You have Derrick Henry way too low in my opinion. I have a feeling he’ll get the majority of touches by week 9. I have no faith in DeMarco Murray right now doing anything of value. Keep up the good work Tom I appreciate these!

  2. […] TheDynastyGuru.com updates their rankings of the top 250 overall players for dynasty/keeper leagues. […]

  3. Jeff
    September 21, 2016 at 10:54 pm

    I can compete this year…given that would you trade Melvin Gordon and Travis Benjamin for Sammy Watkins? His 16 uncertainty scares me.

    • September 22, 2016 at 8:55 am

      Without a doubt, yes. That’s the kind of buy low, sell high that dynasty owners dream of.

  4. robbyrobdu
    October 11, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    I started a 2 QB 2 TE 16 team 40 man dynasty 9 years ago…I have noticed the value of RB’s dropping, but you take that to an extreme…if that works for you, and it can I respect that…WR are much more stable ND it is a passing league…but the value of a workhorse back with job security is still VERY high.

    I give points to rushes, however, as this more mimics real life…rushing wears down a defense…and I could not let a catch for zero yards be worth more than a 7 yd rush…I think full PPR with no points for rushing is very unrealistic. Call it forward thinking.

    All that said I always enjoy lists and everyone is entitled to their opinions…I have a VASTLY different view from you on MANY values…but I love how much you take age into account…for the MOST part….you have a ton of rookies ranked very high…and seem to have given up on a lot of guys too early (you would seriously trade Perriman for Boyd? No way).

    The thing that stopped me and made me have to right was the “questionable hands” you listed next to Agholor…Agholor had very arguably the best hands in the draft last year, only one close was Amari…once he gets ingrained and comfortable…and Wentz stops just dumping it off…we will see his crisp routes and suction cup hands paying off.

    Any info on why Hilton is so low as well? Or why DaVante Parker loses a year to injury but is SO much higher than very solid draft mates Perriman, Agholor, Conley, Strong (if you say trust then about Fuller why don’the we trust them about Strong?).

    Hope you have fun with this…I’m sure we have a nice discussion going!

    • October 11, 2016 at 7:57 pm

      Thanks for the feedback and enthusiasm. Looking forward to engaging in short order, but right now I’m working on an update as I’m trying to update every two weeks. It’s good to be faithful to your evaluations, but dynasty football value can change quickly.

      More soon!

      • robbyrobdu
        October 11, 2016 at 8:50 pm

        My pleasure! Eagerly await!

        • October 12, 2016 at 6:07 am

          Robby, it sounds like your league places a massive premium on running backs if you give a point per carry.

          I’ll concede few are lower on the dynasty value of running backs in a context-neutral (e.g. no RB premium) setting. The reason is simple, RB is still largely a position of opportunity, and I can stash the backups for very little capital and effectively neutralize anyone’s RB advantage when the injury / poor performance carnage strikes. Further, I’ve had much more success finding impact running backs later in the rookie draft (e.g. David Johnson was a 2nd round pick for me last year and Jordan Howard looks to be among the 2nd/3rd round picks with a chance to be a 3-down-back).

          Then there’s the fact that running backs’ longevity is just not there. Go back as recently to anyone’s 2014 dynasty RB rankings for a sobering take on how confident we should feel about any RB of any age.

          I haven’t given up on Perriman, I just really liked Boyd as a prospect and I’m more patient with him right now because he’s 21, healthy and a rookie. We both know draft pedigree is king, but there are certain age-adjusted production markers that cue us in to when a prospect may have legitimately “fallen” and Boyd has those.

          Of the WR you mentioned Parker was both drafted the highest (by far) and has produced when in the lineup. Re: Agholar, sometimes I’m liable to forget details of player as a prospect if they haven’t demonstrated it in the NFL. I watch a lot of Eagles and he’s had a ton of balls bounce off his chest, his hands or he just can’t hang on in a contested setting. I’ll concede it’s better to defer to college pedigree at this early juncture, tho.

          Re: Fuller vs. Strong, I’ll re-reference what I said before about draft pedigree being king. Fuller should be a giant reminder to the amateur scouting community that often thinks we know better than GM’s. You can have you preferences (like Boyd for me), but when a WR is the 2nd player taken at the position we should care about that.

          Let’s continue this discussion on the next rankings!

          • robbyrobdu
            October 12, 2016 at 1:46 pm

            Agreed I look forward to it!

            I have loved TDG for baseball and just stumbled upon these rankings aND was overjoyed!

            I don’t see anything on the drop down above, so what is the best way to be alerted to and access new material on Football?

          • October 12, 2016 at 1:49 pm

            New rankings are live, you may have noticed.

            Bret (“the dynasty guru”) Sayre and I are hoping to connect this Fall about improving the UX including making discovery better, particularly of the most popular posts (like rankings).

            Alerts… I hadn’t actually thought about that. I don’t know that we’ve collected email addresses of our users so the best way besides checking the site is probably twitter as I am posting every time I release a new post.

    • October 12, 2016 at 6:14 am

      Oh and re: age…

      For EVERY dynasty sport I play I see rankings with old guys ahead of young guys on the basis that they’re more proven or we think they’re better in the short term, but no one actually ever prefers those old guys in trades. Market preferences shouldn’t necessarily dictate rankings, bc they may be irrational, but I happen to agree that it’s better to have a wide open window of contention and embrace some “unproven” risk (within reason) than to be confined to a narrow 1-2 year window to win. I want to be among the best 1-3 teams every year, indefinitely.

Previous post

Dealing With Positional Scarcity

Next post

Let's Be Patient: Michael Conforto