John Arrington: Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings Explained

Welcome back to another installment in our series of articles where DLF rankers not only explain their dynasty fantasy football rankings, but also include a number of the 2024 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. 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.

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.

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 2024 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: John Arrington

You’d think I would have learned my lesson.

Last month, I wrote an article explaining my superflex dynasty rankings and joked about how it was such poor timing because it was right before NFL free agency opened up. Little did I know that it would end up as one of the most active free agency periods in recent memory! So much has changed in such a short period of time that I had to completely redo my ranks for this go-round. Naturally, I also signed up for this article, just a few weeks away from the NFL Draft throwing a wrench in my ranks once again! They really aren’t lying when they say that dynasty is a year-round game.

One advantage to focusing on our ranks during this time of year is if we are forward-thinking enough, we can take advantage of potential value increases/decreases that will happen post-draft. With that in mind, I’ve moved players up or down my ranks, based on educated guesses I’m making about what will happen when Roger Goodell steps up to the podium for NFL Draft weekend.

As much as I’m looking toward the future, I still have my important “rules” that I use anytime I create rankings:

Shut That Window

When I first started playing dynasty fantasy football, I focused way too much on youth and how long a player could be on my team. If I could get five or more years out of a player, I wanted them on my team. Don’t get me wrong, I still covet youth just like any other red-blooded dynasty player, but I now stick to projecting two-year windows for players. So much can and will change between now and the 2026 season, it just doesn’t make sense to try to project beyond that. Major injuries, retirements, coaching changes, and free agency can all affect a player’s dynasty value or at least their point-scoring ability, so I don’t want to focus on anything beyond the next couple of seasons.

Zombies

Every year, especially during this time of the offseason, some older players are left for dead. Tyreek Hill is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Last year Hill was being drafted as WR9 in March ADP, with rumors swirling of him potentially retiring after the 2025 season(three seasons later). Hill of course went on to finish as the WR2 on the season, for the second year in a row, and looks poised to continue that trend for at least the 2024 season. A year later, Hill is still being drafted as WR9, according to March ADP.

I Don’t Believe You

Each season there are a handful of players who end up having a career year because of special circumstances or even just variance. I try my best not to fall for those one-year-wonder type traps, and my rankings will reflect that with some of the new hot names. Christian Watson is a perfect example of a player from last season that I was wary of. Watson was not a high-end prospect in my opinion, but some people were excited about him, and he finished the 2022 season on a hot streak. Because of that streak, he skyrocketed up people’s ranks, and those people were rewarded with a WR65 finish, averaging 11.3 points per game played(WR43 per game).

Keeping those rules in mind, let’s dive into my 1 QB rankings!