Fantasy football tiers are the best way to draft in fantasy and this article is designed to keep you organized and flexible throughout your draft. For example, if you get sniped on your Round 5 receiver target, simply pivot to the next player within that tier. If you start your draft receiver-heavy, bump up the running backs and tight ends in the following tiers as you complete your team.
The rankings in this article are influenced heavily by our projections. Consensus ADP from Sleeper, Yahoo!, and ESPN is baked in. The overall rankings can be used for Half- and Full-PPR scoring formats. The only real differences between these two scoring systems is that more receivers are viable and the wideouts tighten the scoring gap between RB scoring in Full-PPR. Check out the graphs within this article for a visual of this concept.
Scroll to the bottom of the page if you want a download of the Tiers 150 vs. ADP.
This is all of my offseason research in one spot.
Tier 1
Ja’Marr Chase (Rank 1 | ADP 1)
Chase has notched WR5, WR3, WR15, and WR1 (last year) finishes to start his career. Recall that Joe Burrow missed seven games in 2023, resulting in Chase’s one “down” WR15 campaign. He was WR8 by FPG in Weeks 1-10 in that season before Burrow went down. Chase is averaging 87.5 yards per game in his career. This is the fourth-most receiving yardage that a WR has put up before their 25th birthday in NFL history, beating out Randy Moss (84.3), Julio Jones (80.5), and Jerry Rice (78.0). Chase has scored 46 TDs. Moss (53 TDs) is the only receiver to score more times before turning 25 years old in history. Chase’s mind-meld with Joe Burrow is already legendary, and his insanely high floor has earned him consensus WR1 status. Among receivers that earned at least 75 targets in a single season, Chase’s catchable target rate ranks WR4 (86% in 2021), WR3 (85% – 2022), WR8 (82% – 2023), and WR5 (86% – 2024). That’s absurd.
Saquon Barkley (Rank 2 | ADP 2)
Barkley is coming off his second-best career season (20.9 Half-PPR FPG) since his rookie campaign (21.1 FPG). Outside of two injury-shortened seasons in 2020-21, Barkley has finished top-8 in FPG in five out of his 7 seasons – four of which were top-5. No running back has finished as the repeat RB1 since Todd Gurley in 2017-18, but Barkley is certainly set up to be the first to do so. The Eagles still have the best offensive line in football, they’re favored in 14-of-16 games from Weeks 1-17, and Barkley is a bell cow to the highest degree. He played on 74% of the Eagles' snaps (RB5), just 1% behind Bijan Robinson. Barkley has played on at least 74% of his team’s snaps in 5-of-7 seasons, with his two failures only due to injuries. The Tush Push is still alive for another year, but Barkley was objectively a little unlucky with touchdowns last season. Barkley scored 6 TDs on his 23 carries inside the 5, and that is well behind his peers. Josh Jacobs (23 inside-5 carries, 12 TD), Derrick Henry (22 carries, 11 TD, and Kyren Williams (21 carries, 12 TD) each had significantly better TD luck on similar volume.
Bijan Robinson (Rank 3 | ADP 3)
After a somewhat disappointing rookie season mired by poor QB play, Robinson ascended as the RB4 by FPG last season. Robinson has already rolled up 98.5 scrimmage yards per game – becoming one of 12 RBs to average at least 95 YSM/G across their age 21-22 seasons since the merger. Atlanta is implied to score 22.2 points per game (22nd), and they’re favored in 6-of-16 games this coming season, so the Falcons’ significantly worse team outlook compared to the Eagles keeps Barkley ahead of Robinson. That doesn’t mean that Robinson can’t make the leap as fantasy’s most valuable player. His floor is ridiculously high because of his role as a receiver. Robinson’s 59% route participation (RB2) and 12.5% target share (RB5) is borderline McCaffrey-level elite. He has earned 158 targets across 2023-24, which is 10th-most by a RB over his first two seasons since 1992. It’s impossible not to love Bijan’s game. Over the last two combined seasons, Robinson has forced 0.23 missed tackles per carry – seventh-best.
Tier 2
Jahmyr Gibbs (Rank 4 | ADP 5)
While sharing the backfield with David Montgomery, Gibbs has actually averaged slightly more scrimmage yards per game (99.7) than Bijan Robinson (98.5) over the last two combined seasons. Like Robinson, Gibbs also just turned 23 years old. Despite the snap split – Gibbs has played on 57% and 56% of Lions’ snaps in 2023-24, respectively – Gibbs is one of the most consistent players in fantasy football. He’s finished as a top-24 weekly scorer in 83% of his starts over the last two seasons, trailing only Christian McCaffrey (95%), Kyren Williams (86%), and Alvin Kamara (85%). The only concern is that Gibbs’ touchdown upside is going to remain capped this season with Montgomery so heavily involved near the goal-line. Over the last two combined seasons, Gibbs has 24 carries to Montgomery’s 36 inside the 5 in their games played together. Gibbs is quietly one of the most elusive players in the game with 0.24 MTF/carry (RB6) since he entered the league – beating out Bijan Robinson by a whisker.
