Levi Chappell: 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.

1QB DYNASTY FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS: LEVI CHAPPELL

One of the funniest trends I find on Twitter is when someone posts a trade that went down and tweets something similar to, “How did I do?” or “Which side would you take?”.

That question is always responded to with values and opinions that could not be farther from one another. “You robbed the other owner” is directly followed by “Where did you learn to trade… the toilet store”? (A classic response).

This proves one thing of certainty… value is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen many trades that at face value looked very lopsided. That trade would end up flipping and becoming lopsided the other way in less than a year. You just never know what someone’s career arc is going to look like.

At the end of the day, we can be very confident in our rankings and feel good about them, but we are all making our best guesses. Most likely we will end up being wrong more often than we are right. That’s the nature of the game.

So, I will do my best to walk you through how I decide on my rankings. Hopefully, you find this somewhat helpful, but at the end of the day, you have to make your own decisions and set up your rankings as you feel comfortable. I research and watch a lot of film, I’m decently well-versed on rankings and players, and thankfully have been right sometimes. I have also been wrong a lot, so when you read this, I would like you to do three things:

1. Have fun
2. Learn what you will
3. Most importantly… don’t take yourself (or me) too seriously

The last thing I will add is that without team context, rankings can be difficult, but I’ll do my best to give context when needed.

Let’s jump in!

Rankings: 1 - 24

As you can see, pretty standard at the top. Can’t go wrong with JJ or Chase at the top two spots. The third spot may be different for me than others. I am typically a bit less gung-ho on rookie hype… not the case for Bijan. He is my #3 dynasty player even before knowing his landing spot. He is the highest ranked rookie I have ever seen coming in, and I think rightfully so.

Nothing else stands out too much from my top 12. The one player that I have ranked slightly lower than others, is Tee Higgins. He is a baller, and a fantastic player. I just have a hard time putting a WR2 on their own team in my top 10. He may very well still get the amount of targets where it doesn’t matter, but I want alpha’s in the top 10 and he never will be with Chase on that team.

Moving down the rankings a bit more, you will see Garrett Wilson is slightly lower than consensus. I like Wilson as much as anyone, but until I know the QB situation, he will stay in the mid to high teens.

Then we get to the rookie 1.02 pick. To me, there are two tiers above everyone else in this rookie class. Tier one is Bijan and tier two is Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Since Wilson, London, and Olave have all proved they can do it at the next level, JSN is just behind them.

Rounding out the top 24, you will see Patrick Mahomes slightly higher than consensus. He is a cheat code at the position and well worth the price in my opinion, especially in six point passing TD leagues.

Rankings: 25 - 48

Once you get to ranks 25+, you start to see some of these studs that are getting up in age a bit (moving past the point where 29 is old). Many times, these type of values/trades are team dependent. Could I see Stefon Diggs getting traded straight across for DeVonta Smith in a rebuild/contending trade? Yes. But in a vacuum, I still lean towards the insane production of Diggs for a while longer. Diggs, Godwin, Jacobs, Kupp, a lot of these guys are league winners for contending teams, but have a smaller window.

Let’s move down to DeAndre Swift. As a Lions fan, this one is tough. He is immensely talented. IF, and that seems to be a big if… if he can stay healthy, a top 10 performance is not out of the realm of possibilities, wouldn’t even be a surprise. But he can’t stay on the field, and isn’t always as consistent as you would like. We will have to see how much longer the coaching staff wants to feature him.

Rookie pick 1.03… as of right now, I would assume that is Jahmyr Gibbs. That could definitely change, but that is who I am picturing. Explosive back, but on the smaller side. I like this range for him, and he would be a coin flip of Swift or Gibbs. I could also see a rebuilder trading Chubb or Mixon for him straight up.

Mark Andrews is lower for me. Two reasons I am lower on him than consensus: 1. Lamar Jackson possibly not being a Raven and the uncertainty around that situation. 2. The Ravens complete lack of receiving talent. If they bring in a veteran or draft a couple of pieces, I could see his target share going down a bit. He is still elite at the position, but not currently in the 30’s for me.

Let me round out the top 48 with a couple of young WR’s I have higher than just about anyone. Christian Watson and Jameson Williams. If you couldn’t tell, I like bigger, uber athletic WR’s that can win you weeks. I think it’s pretty simple to find a WR who can get you 8-12 points a week, and won’t cost that much to acquire. Guys like Juju or Jakobi Meyers. What is difficult to find is a WR who can win you a win on multiple occasions. I think both players are set up for huge 2023 seasons.

Rankings: 49 - 72

Many times, these are the value players that end up winning you championships. Obviously, we would love to have 3-4 top 10 players, but that just doesn’t happen often. Guys like Dalvin Cook, Terry McLaurin, Jerry Jeudy, etc. They probably aren’t and shouldn’t be your RB1 or WR1, but can help you immensely.

A couple of vets that are in this range that I would like to touch on are Travis Kelce and Aaron Jones. If you are a contender, they are STILL great buy candidates. Kelce, even with his amazing stats, continues to get cheaper due to age. If you want a huge leg up in winning, add him. Jones has some uncertainty about Rodgers, but he didn’t need an MVP A-Rod in order to still help teams last year. Just know, you are trading for a depreciating asset… which many times is how you win championships.

Another trend you may find in my rankings for 1QB leagues, is that I am typically lower on almost all QBs (except maybe the elite of the elite). Herbert, Burrow, Jackson, and Fields are how I have them in order, and all are lower than consensus. I just find it pretty easy to replicate QB success in 1QB leagues, and value WRs and RBs much higher.

Rounding out this tier of players, I will highlight two guys that I have decently higher than consensus. Dallas Goedert, and Rashod Bateman. For Goedert, it’s pretty simple. I think he might be the most talented TE in the game not named Kelce. Yes, I realize what I said. I just love everything about his game. He is now paired with a bonafide superstar QB and I think his ceiling is huge. With Bateman, this might seem counterintuitive to why I didn’t value Andrews as high, but I just believe in the talent of Bateman and think that his injuries have been unlucky thus far. I think he is a true #1 receiver, and hopefully has a QB to throw it to him.

Rankings: 73 - 96

This is what I like to call “value city”. All of these players have some sort of question mark, or else they would be higher. This is also where you typically find some of these backend first round rookies that end up being “lightly educated dart throws”. Is this where Sean Tucker, Josh Downs, or Zay Flowers ends up? We shall see.

You can find a lot of RBs in this range. Players that can help you without costing a fortune. Miles Sanders, David Montgomery, Devin Singletary, etc. You can even find a player that you think may be in for a big year but for reasons, hasn’t quite been valued highly yet. I see that in James Cook and Calvin Ridley in 2023. I believe the buy window is now for them, not when the pre-season starts.

You will also find older vets here. I’m looking at you Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins, and James Connor. Players that would be in your starting lineup week in and week out but probably only have 2-3 years left of production.

Lastly in this tier, you might find some wildcards like Cam Akers, and Rachaad White. The draft may very well determine their value moving forward, and they sit in no man’s land until that happens. Maybe you took a shot on Michael Carter last off-season in hopes that he would start to see Breece Hall crush his hopes and dreams. Time will tell with those players.

Rankings: 97 - 120

Obviously, in this area, you are looking more at role players and bench depth. It’s a mix of aging vets getting phased out, and younger guys with potential upside. Some guys that I like in this area are Alec Pierce, Wan’Dale Robinson, Josh Palmer. Pierce is a nice WR2, much will depend on who the QB is and whether or not they sign a FA in the off-season. If Wan’Dale recovers from his injury, he could be a big part of the Giants’ offense moving forward. Josh Palmer is a guy I have liked since coming out of college. I am not sure what the future holds for Keenan after this year, so Palmer may have some future value while having potential spot starts with Williams and Keenan being out quite a bit.

A trend of mine that you may notice is older players that are not the number one option on their team anymore, possibly have a hefty cap hit, and seemed to be phased out of the offense a bit. Guys like Lockett, Cooks, Juju (still 26, but will bounce around most likely), Zeke, Gibson, Waller, etc. These are guys that I would try and sell for as much as possible and move off of.

As far as picks go in the 97-120 range, you will probably find very late firsts and early to mid seconds around here. Players with decent draft capital, but not bonafide stars. Good bench options or possibly even taxi squad players.

I hope that was somewhat helpful from a player and tier breakdown. I would recommend making your own big board of ranks, at least the top 120. It can help you understand your own ranks and what your tendencies are. Most importantly… have some fun!

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Levi Chappell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Fueled by coffee, Levi spends most of his days in the real estate industry. When not in the real estate world, he is engulfed in dynasty and other sports. When other kids were playing with lincoln logs and legos, Levi was reading sports almanacs... for fun. "Too much fantasy" is not in his vocabulary.

Latest posts by Levi Chappell (see all)

• Levi Chappell: Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings Explained - February 24, 2023
• 2023 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: Josh Downs, WR North Carolina - January 23, 2023
• 2023 Dynasty Rookie Early Look: Quentin Johnston, WR TCU - January 14, 2023