Jeremy Schwob: Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings Explained

Welcome to another installment in our new series of articles where DLF rankers not only explain their dynasty fantasy football rankings, but also include a number of the 2023 rookie draft pick selections so you can see how we each, individually, value those dynasty rookie picks in comparison to players as if it were a dynasty fantasy football startup draft.

Be sure to catch all of the Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings Explained series.

DLF has always offered our readers multiple sets of dynasty fantasy football rankings from different experts to provide a broad view of player rankings. With many different strategies for building a successful dynasty team, no single set of rankings could possibly meet the needs of every coach. Instead, we’ve long subscribed to the idea of our experts providing their own individual rankings, ultimately giving our readers the opportunity to gravitate to a particular expert who closely matches their own style of ranking or, perhaps, instead choosing to use an average ranking across all experts. Valuation variability between players in the rankings can often be large but that variability can provide opportunity as well. Our DLF expert rankers should always be able to explain why they are higher, or lower, on a particular player.

While explaining our rankings will provide greater insight alone, we are also including a number of 2023 rookie draft selections interspersed with the players so you can get a better idea of how each of our rankers values those selections when compared to existing veteran players. As would be expected, you will find a great degree of variability in the valuation of these picks as well depending on the style of the ranker. Each draft class has its own quality and depth and, depending on how the ranker values that quality and depth, individual rookie selections will appear earlier or later on the list.

A note about the tables. The Rank column indicates this ranker’s personal rankings. The AVG column indicates the consensus rankings value at the time these rankings were created. The “+/-” column indicates how much higher or lower the ranker is to the consensus average.

Each week we will provide rankings for 120 players and 2023 rookie draft picks, alternating between 1QB and Superflex rankings. For a deeper list of rankings, please visit our consensus dynasty fantasy football rankings.

SUPERFLEX DYNASTY FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS: JEREMY SCHWOB

If you know anything about how I approach dynasty, then you’re aware of the influence I believe bias plays in our attempts to make things more objective. Rankings, in particular, are the start of placing those subjective perceptions into a quantifiable number. Rankings serve as a building block for consensus rankings, average draft position (ADP), and ultimately dynasty value.

Throughout my ranks, I will discuss specific players, particularly those I have much higher or lower than our DLF average ranking. However, I will also weave in some strategy related to how I structure my rankings and how I play in a superflex format overall, which will help better inform the understanding and utility of my rankings.

I don’t shy away from taking stances. That’s where edges can be had. With that, I’m very open to being wrong. The thing is, being “right” with rankings really pertains to short durations or to finding incredible outliers. If you look at DLF average rankings next off-season, they will be completely different. Some names will remain but we’ll be able to look back scratching our heads at some of these names. That’s okay though. If you treat most of your understanding of rankings, ADP, and dynasty value as where people feel comfortable having players rather than a player’s definitive worth in dynasty, I think you’ll utilize all those measures in a much more effective and enjoyable way.

Rankings: 1 - 24

When playing superflex, I tend to try going against the grain and punt quarterback to a degree to take advantage of building incredible depth at all my other positions. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t rank the top group of quarterbacks extremely highly. I have 8 quarterbacks before the elite wide receivers enter my rankings. Of note, after a chalky start, I have Trevor Lawrence as my fifth overall player, slotting right behind Joe Burrow. I think he’s a must-have if you have the opportunity to acquire him in a startup between picks 5 through 10, or in a trade for any of the quarterbacks I have listed closely behind him (i.e., Justin Herbert, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, or Justin Fields). This to me signals a slight tier drop after Lawrence into these subsequent quarterbacks and elite skill position players.

If you don’t have one of those top 5 quarterbacks on your roster, don’t fret. This is probably a good place to inject my strategy around structure. I’m typically looking to build for consistency, which to most superflex managers would indicate gobbling up the next tier of quarterbacks. I often find myself in this position where I’m instead pivoting to building around other positions, especially wide receiver. Additionally, while I have the wide receiver grouping of Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, AJ Brown, CeeDee Lamb, and Jaylen Waddle next in line, I also look for other managers who covet the comfort and security of having one of these names on their roster. Similarly, to the top quarterbacks, I try leveraging this and would be happy to bump down 10+ spots (or more) in my rankings to acquire multiple players to build depth. Rankings, ADP, and dynasty value are so fluid that I don’t pretend to think that how things currently sit for myself or the community is correct. As a final important clarifier here, I want to emphasize that the willingness to move down in my rankings for other players is not to accumulate value but rather to gather the aforementioned depth.

While I believe in the importance of youth in dynasty, I’m often a bit lower on rookie picks. You’ll notice that I do have the 2023 Rookie 1.01 (presumably Bijan Robinson) at 15th overall but you’ll have to wait for subsequent groupings for other rookie picks. I’m also not very high on this class for dynasty but you’ll see the picks scattered throughout my rankings, primarily because they are good currency that others may covet… “It could even be a boat!?”

Before moving to the next section of my rankings, I want to highlight three more names: Stefon Diggs, Deebo Samuel, and Tua Tagovailoa. With Diggs and Deebo, these are two great players who can win you multiple weeks and remain in tremendous situations. Yes, they are getting older, but they are still assets I would be willing to prioritize for what you will get from them in the coming years. I’m a big Tua fan, so it pains me to see him lower than our DLF average by 8 spots. However, concussions are obviously no joke. I’m all about Tua in redraft and best ball, but investing so much in dynasty makes me wary. The potential of him turning into nothing if he continues to experience traumatic brain injuries (yes, that’s what they are in the neuropsychological field) is sometimes a risk I’m not willing to take. That being said, I’m still in on him at the right spot and just traded for him in a superflex league this week.

Rankings: 25 - 48

I think the most interesting aspect of this range is the tight end position, where you will find Mark Andrews, George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Kyle Pitts pulled apart like an accordion rather than our bunched DLF average rankings. Let me play you the tune of my thoughts here. First, it may be a bit strange to see them listed in that order. I think that both Andrews and Kittle have 5 years or more remaining in their careers, but lean Andrews because of target competition and his paring with Lamar Jackson (he’s going to sign). I think the few years that Andrews has on Kelce is a differentiating factor, especially with them being the primary option in their passing games headed by strong quarterbacks. I simply worry that the great Kelce may not be on the field much longer. Kyle Pitts is an interesting one. Difficult to beat the youth and his tremendous rookie season. Though, Atlanta is a weird offense to be on right now. I’m not concerned about Pitts’ talent, more just not sure I want to wait for the hopes that it gets figured out while he potentially gets lapped by the others in production for the next few years. You’ll notice that I have similar concerns about Drake London at the top of the next section as well.

The other big discrepancies here are being higher on Chris Godwin and much lower on Kyler Murray. Similar to Atlanta, Tampa Bay does not appear to be a great place to be playing right now. However, I really think Godwin resembles Keenan Allen to me. I think he’s going to have a productive 5 years sitting under zone coverages and soaking up targets from whomever and wherever that may be. Alternatively, I’m worried about Kyler, as you can tell. Now that he’s gotten paid and is coming off a major knee injury, I wonder if we see Kyler run a whole lot less, if at all. If he becomes more of a pocket passer and Arizona (if he stays there) is going to be a full rebuild of the offensive line and weapons, I want no part of that.

Rankings: 49 - 72

This grouping displays some very wild shifts in my rankings compared with the DLF average. Names that stand out are Drake London, Keenan Allen, Treylon Burks, Daniel Jones, George Pickens, Jerry Jeudy, Tony Pollard, Rhamondre Stevenson, and Christian Watson. The theme here appears to be young-ish guys that there is some hype around that I have questions about like the quarterbacks throwing these wide receivers the ball or mistrust that competition won’t be added to running back depth charts. I could see all of these guys being much higher in my ranks in better situations, which of course could happen. Okay, so now let’s talk about Keenan. I have some bias here. There are no teams without Keenan on my dynasty roster. I know the end is coming but I think he’s going to continue to produce up until the end. The guy just scores fantasy points and allows me to take bigger swings with the rest of my depth. In my eyes, he will always be one of the more underappreciated players and dynasty assets.

Similar to Shane Manila’s reaction to his rankings, it appears I’m on the Daniel Jones train. More truthfully, I believe in Brian Daboll as a very good coach that will continue to set Daniel Jones up for success in the coming years. If Jones impresses again with a still fairly limited pass-catching group, I think they will significantly upgrade their wide receiver group to see if Danny Dimes can solidify himself and a very good dynasty asset. What a world we are living in.

Rankings: 73 - 96

This section could be titled the forgotten dynasty darlings. I remember the days when Mike Evans was being dealt for between three and ten (yes this was all the rage on Twitter when Evans went for 10!) first-round rookie picks in a league. Joining him are the like of Derrick Henry, Joe Mixon, Calvin Ridley, Miles Sanders, and Alvin Kamara. I don’t really have strong takes on these guys other than they are just aging or have off-field issues (in the cases of Mixon, Ridley (I guess), and Kamara) and may rely more on the name cache that still exists. I actually like Ridley and Sanders for the next few years and am surprised I’m not much higher than the DLF average. Quick note about Najee: I am way lower but I feel like we could have (and still can) see this coming. I don’t think he ever belonged in the first round or two of rankings and I think he’ll be falling off the cliff shortly, so get out now.

Regarding the quarterbacks in this section, it’s a mixed bag of limited ceiling plays and longevity concerns. I’m fine with any of these guys on a superflex roster but I don’t view them as safe pieces (i.e., Kirk Cousins, Jared Goff, and Geno Smith), especially a year or so from now. I have Trey Lance and Brock Purdy here with the former being much lower than DLF average and the latter being much higher. Lance probably has a lot more raw talent but I think we have missed the opportunity to really see it. This is going to be Purdy’s job and he’s a fine acquisition right now. I still have Lance here because I think he’ll go elsewhere via trade at some point. A fresh start could give him an opportunity to recoup some dynasty value. However, in that scenario, he’ll probably be even cheaper at a later date, at least for a period of time.

Rankings: 97 - 120

This set of rankings concludes with a lot of players that I’m lower on than the others at DLF. JK Dobbins amazes me that he’s still really good and efficient while it looks like he parked illegally for a week and now runs with a car boot on his leg. I just won’t have any of him on my rosters and I’m alright if he proves me wrong. I actually really like Jahan Dotson as a player, so I may need to revisit him. Largely this is due to Terry McLaurin being a stud and the Commanders being a nightmare, generally. I think I also may need to revisit Dallas Goedert, but the lack of a consistent ceiling would be my concern in Philadelphia alongside AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and an elite running game.

I’m sick of waiting for AJ Dillion to do something other than have spike games in December. A few other names to mention are Mac Jones and Gabriel Davis, which are both players I don’t think are very good and will be phased out in some capacity. As it pertains to Wan’Dale Robinson, Isiah Pacheco, and Rachaad White, (and Khalil Herbert, who I have in the next section), I worry that we are projecting roles they probably won’t ever have. Wan’Dale would need to recover quickly, well, and produce right out of the gate to stay where he is, while also avoiding certain competition which is likely coming next year. Rachaad White is going to play running back for a terrible team with a horrid offensive line. He could also get a backfield partner and not have the same rate of dump-off passes headed his direction with Tom Brady now in retirement.

Conversely, I like how things are panning out for Kadarius Toney. They sought him out, eased him in, have made it clear that he is going to be a focal point of the offense, and oh yeah – his quarterback is Patrick Mahomes.

Just Missed The Top 120

Finally, I’m clinging to life with Rashaad Penny and Allen Robinson just outside the conclusion of these rankings. The upside case for Penny is not hard to make. He’s really good. Now he’s on one of the best teams and has a tremendous offensive life. Can he stay healthy? Most running backs don’t, especially ones named Rashaad Penny. But… if he does, then he’s going to win you your dynasty league this year. If you’d rather sell at your trade deadline, that’s probably going to be an option where you can get a lot more in return than he costs you right now.

If that didn’t make you puke, well then let’s finish by talking about Allen Robinson. Matthew Stafford was supposed to be his savior. It’s just ARob’s luck that Stafford expectedly regresses but unexpectedly battles potentially-career threatening injuries to his elbow and his spine. Alright back to Robinson. He has looked bad. I don’t think his string of down years is entirely his fault, but he’s definitely declining. I think if he stays in Los Angeles, they spend this offseason trying to figure it out with him. If they move him, I think a strong contender may scoop him to play as their WR3. I think he would excel eating up beat-up secondaries in single coverage with a good quarterback.

As I said before, I’m open to being wrong. Let me know in the comments below what I got wrong in my rankings…or how I made you the most uncomfortable with my commentary. Alternatively, if there’s something you gathered from this that isn’t player specific, let me know as well – since that’s an important component for the efficacy of this exercise.

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Jeremy Schwob

Jeremy is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Penn State. He is an avid fan of St. Louis sports and the Dayton Flyers. You can find him advocating for wide receivers and pushing that value is misused as fact on Twitter.

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