Jeff Smith: 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: Jeff Smith

I’m not sure what my favorite part of doing rankings is. I know I like that there are no right or wrong answers, only one person’s thoughts versus another’s. I also like that they are used as a tool to value players. If you keep these things in mind, you can use rankings to your advantage.

All to often, people use rankings as gospel. Do not be that guy or gal. Also, don’t limit yourself to just one particular person’s rankings. Try to challenge yourself and find someone whose thoughts aren’t necessarily aligned with yours in terms of value. This will give you more perspective and prevent you from getting tunnel vision or becoming fixated on a certain group of players.

In dynasty fantasy football, things are a little more complicated than they are in redraft. That is a lesson I seem to keep learning over and over again. I recently finished last in a redraft charity league full of mainly casuals and definitely void of any “experts” in the league. Talk about a humbling experience.

Anyway, I digress. You have to be able to think for yourself and make rational decisions in your dynasty leagues. It is not as simple as saying well I have player A ranked at 8 and player B is ranked 9, so they are almost equal. You have to account for age, roster construction, opposing team needs, and contract length if you are in a contract league.

Lastly, keep in mind, these are my thoughts and opinions on players, not hard truths. Also remember, that these change by the day, if not the hour or minute. Because there is no off-season here at DLF, I have the pleasure of thinking about NFL players' value in some form or fashion for 365 days a year. Who's got better than I do? Nobody!

Now for my 1 QB + Picks thought process.