Welcome to the "Original" Dynasty Rankings Fantasy Football Blog

This blog was born out of a Dynasty Rankings thread originally begun in October, 2006 at the Footballguys.com message boards. The rankings in that thread and the ensuing wall-to-wall discussion of player values and dynasty league strategy took on a life of its own at over 275 pages and 700,000 page views. The result is what you see in the sidebar under "Updated Positional Rankings": a comprehensive ranking of dynasty league fantasy football players by position on a tiered, weighted scale. In the tradition of the original footballguys.com Dynasty Rankings thread, intelligent debate is welcome and encouraged.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Playoffs Week 2: Updated Running Back Rankings

RUNNINGBACKS

TIER ONE
[100] Adrian Peterson® MIN 23.5
[99] #LaDainian Tomlinson SD 29.2
[96] Steven Jackson STL 25.1
[94] Brian Westbrook PHI 29.0
[92] Frank Gore SF 25.2
[90] Joseph Addai IND 25.3
[88] Maurice Jones-Drew JAX 23.4

TIER TWO
[82] Marshawn Lynch® BUF 22.4
[79] Clinton Portis WAS 27.0
[76] Willis McGahee BAL 26.9
[74] Reggie Bush NO 23.5
[73] #Ronnie Brown MIA 26.7

TIER THREE
[68] Ryan Grant GB 25.7
[68] Marion Barber III DAL [R] 25.3
[66] Laurence Maroney NE 23.5
[66] #Larry Johnson KC 28.8
[64] #Willie Parker PIT 27.8
[58] Brandon Jacobs NYG 26.2

TIER FOUR
[52] DeAngelo Williams CAR 25.4
[51] Michael Turner SD (U) 26.5
[50] Jamal Lewis CLE (U) 29.0
[42] Ernest Graham TB 28.7
[40] LenDale White TEN 23.7
[34] #Kevin Jones DET 26.0

TIER FIVE
[27] Jerious Norwood ATL 25.1
[27] Selvin Young® DEN 24.9
[25] Edgerrin James ARI [x] 30.1
[24] Chester Taylor MIN 29.0
[23] Thomas Jones NYJ 30.0
[20] Julius Jones DAL (U) 27.0
[19] Travis Henry DEN [x] 29.8
[19] #Justin Fargas OAK (U) 28.6
[18] #Michael Bush® OAK 24.3
[16] #Kenny Irons® CIN 25.0
[16] Fred Taylor JAX 32.6

TIER SIX
[12] #Cedric Benson CHI 25.7
[11] #Cadillac Williams TB 26.4
[11] Rudi Johnson CIN [x] 28.9
[10] #Deuce McAllister NO 29.7
[10] Kenny Watson CIN 30.6
[9] #Derrick Ward NYG [R] 28.1
[9] Ladell Betts WAS 29.0
[8] #Ahman Green HOU [x] 31.5
[8] Lamont Jordan OAK [x] 29.8
[8] Shaun Alexander SEA [x] 31.0
[7] Chris Henry® TEN 23.3
[7] DeShaun Foster CAR 28.6
[7] Leon Washington NYJ 26.0

TIER SEVEN
[6] #Ricky Williams MIA [T] 31.3
[6] Ahmad Bradshaw® NYG 22.5
[6] Najeh Davenport PIT 29.6
[6] Pierre Thomas® NO 23.7
[5] #Sammy Morris NE 31.5
[5] Chris Brown TEN (U) 27.4
[5] Lorenzo Booker® MIA 24.3
[5] Dominic Rhodes OAK [x] 29.6
[4] Mewelde Moore MIN (U) 26.1
[4] Adrian Peterson CHI 29.2
[4] #Kolby Smith KC 23.8
[4] Maurice Morris SEA 28.8
[4] Kenton Keith® IND 28.2
[4] Musa Smith BAL (U) 26.3

TIER EIGHT
[3] Brandon Jackson® GB 22.9
[3] Andre Hall DEN 26.1
[3] J.J. Arrington ARI 25.6
[3] Fred Jackson BUF 27.6
[3] Darren Sproles SD 25.3
[3] #Chris Perry CIN 26.7
[3] Tatum Bell DET (U) 27.5
[3] T.J. Duckett DET (U) 27.5
[3] Ron Dayne HOU (U) 30.5
[3] Jesse Chatman MIA (U) 29.0

TIER NINE
[2] Darius Walker® HOU 23.6
[2] Gary Russell® PIT 22.0
[2] Antonio Pittman® STL 22.7
[2] Michael Robinson SF 25.5
[2] Brian Leonard® STL 24.6
[2] Jerome Harrison CLE 25.5
[2] Garrett Wolfe® CHI 24.1
[2] Correll Buckhalter PHI 29.9
[2] Tony Hunt® PHI 22.8
[2] Vernand Morency GB [R] 28.6
[2] Michael Bennett TB (U) 30.0
[2] #DeShawn Wynn® GB 24.9
[2] Dwayne Wright® BUF 25.3
[2] Mike Bell DEN [T] 25.4

TIER TEN
[1] LaBrandon Toefield JAX (U) 28.0
[1] Warrick Dunn ATL [x] 33.7
[1] Cory Ross BAL 26.0
[1] Brian Calhoun DET 24.4
[1] Jackie Battle ® KC 24.9
[1] Michael Pittman TB (U) 33.1
[1] Aaron Stecker NO (U) 32.8
[1] Jason Snelling ATL 23.7
[1] Reuben Droughns NYG [x] 30.0
[1] Maurice Hicks SF (U) 30.1
[1] Kevin Faulk NE 32.3
[1] Leonard Weaver SEA [R] 26.0
[1] Cecil Sapp DEN (U) 29.7
[1] Marcel Shipp ARI 30.1
[1] #Ryan Moats PHI 25.7
[1] Samkon Gado MIA [x] 25.8
[1] Tyson Thompson DAL [R] 27.4
[1] Jason Wright CLE 26.2
[1] Anthony Thomas BUF 30.8

CHANGES:
1/11/08 - Moved Selvin Young down
1/13/08 - Moved Ryan Grant up slightly; moved Laurence Maroney up slightly; moved Fred Taylor down
1/14/08 - Moved Shaun Alexander down again; moved Ahmad Bradshaw up again
1/15/08 - Moved Brandon Jacobs down slightly

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Chris/F&L/???

I've got to ask in about MJD. I've been through the recent discussion in the Shark Pool, and can agree with the idea that the guy is a physical wildman on the field ( I think my favorite description is that he's "a bowling ball on methamphetamines", don't remember which shark said it though ). But does a guy who only averages 11 carries a game REALLY belong in Tier 1? The 89 he's got right now is a HUGE bump from the 77 last ranking, and I'm just not sure I can buy that he belongs on the same tier as the feature back guys at the top level?

Nice work on the new site, btw.

-JD

Chris Wesseling said...

Whoops. I meant to reply a couple of days ago, John Daniel, but I got sidetracked. Thanks for joining in.

I think if you say that MJD is such a dynamic talent that you wouldn't trade him for Addai right now, then don't you have to rank him pretty close to Addai? If you believe his future is special, then you're not giving him up and missing out on difference-making fantasy production once he does get a bump in touches. It's tough to know when it's going to happen, but it IS likely to happen.

Fred Taylor is looking outstanding right now and taking better care of his body, but he's going to be almost 33 years old to begin next season, and age catches up to everybody. Like I said, you can't pinpoint exactly when MJD will see that big bump in touches, but it could happen at any time.

Another thing to consider is that you mentioned only his carries, but he's a major factor in the passing game and in the return game. He's an unique fantasy player in that he's a TD vulture inside the 10-yardline PLUS a homerun threat every time he touches the ball AND one of the absolute best receiving backs in the NFL.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the footballreference site, but I know that he finished 8th among RBs in limited touches his rookie season, and I believe he finished somewhere around 12th this season. If you believe his touches are likely to increase, then he's an elite RB.