No one cares about your fantasy team: Any Given Sunday, July 2020
The numbers have been calculated and the rankings established. Before the 2020 season starts (if it actually starts) I wanted to strike a spark in what can hopefully be a more active offseason leading up to September.
That spark, is to see where each of your teams ranks overall, and who has the best team positionally. Let’s start at the top and then I’ll get into the nuts-and-bolts of how I got there as we go.
The top ranked teams:
Congrats, Zach, you’re the best ranked team of the offseason! Enjoy it while it lasts. The rankings are based on how well your team ranks position-by-position. To determine who ranked at what level by position, I didn’t just eyeball it. Each ranking was determined by a each players Average Draft Position (ADP) by position and each players Trade Value by position. I chose these numbers because ADP will help determine a players value at this moment, while the Trade Value helped determine what the players value will be this season and into the future (for example, rookie player ADPs weren’t always better than some veterans, but their Trade Values were).
This is a deep league so I didn’t take the ADPs and Trade Values of all players. If I did, people could simply improve their team’s value by cutting ties with the bottom tier players. Instead, I took the average ADP and Trade Value scores of each teams top three QBs, top four RBs, top five WRs, and top three TEs. As you’ll notice, this caused a lot of variance for teams, especially if your top-heavy at a position.
Let’s look at the teams.
#1 — Zach: It’s not hard to figure out how the defending champion got ranked as the top team by the numbers. It helps to have at least one top-five player at each position and be hella deep at WR. While his team holds a lot of current value, a lack of incoming draftees may hurt the long-term value. But that’s the price you pay to “win now.”
#2 — Quinn: Like Zach, Quinn invested in the positions that reflect a passing league. Baker, Kyler, and the newly signed Cam Newton help his QB value. From top-to-bottom he also has the deepest WR corps by Trade Value. A couple hits from the RB position and Quinn will be gunning for the number one spot.
#3 — Josh: This team is held up quite well by it’s RB unit. There’s possibly six different guys that you can start on *ehem* any given Sunday. Additionally, three rookie WRs (all high draft picks) really boost the Trade Value of that group, even if the ADP isn’t as great this year. A lot can go right here with this team.
#4 — Andrew: Andrew’s team has made all the right moves at WR and TE, but the RB ADP and Trade Value has held his team down to #4 on the Power Ranking. KeShawn Vaughn and Zack Moss are rookies, though, it’s just a matter of seeing what kind of impact they have this season.
#5 — Steve G: This team is the one of the underrated WR. There aren’t any names that are households yet, but if Terry McLaurin continues to be scary, Preston Williams recovers from injury, and TY Hilton bounces back, there’ll be plenty to talk about here. Adding Tua immediately boosted the QB room, too.
#6 — Alex Jac.: Jacobson’s team is the ultimate variance team. The QB room isn’t as good as it was last year since Jameis in now in a backup role and Odell and Calvin Ridley really need to shoulder the WR group. But boy is this RB stable impressive. They’re at least four-to-five backs deep. Easily the best in the league.
#7 — Kenny: This team could go either way this season. There’s a lot of rookie talent so it depends if guys like Denzel Mims, Jalen Reagor, or Cam Akers can contribute right away. Having a strong QB group — despite Jarrett Stidham now competing to start — and a strong TE group will help this team stay in it.
#8 — Jordan: My team. What can I say, other than: Go Lamar! Pretty middling across the board with a huge dip at RB due to a lack of depth. Why was I trying to trade Aaron Jones? Other than that, the WR room is looking sexy. My trade DMs are always open.
#9 — Pete: This one was a little shocking considering the record last year. Pete put up large numbers, but these power ranking numbers indicate a few positions that are top heavy. The difference between Christian McCaffrey and Derrius Guice as well as Darren Waller and Jace Sternberger is pretty steep at this point of the offseason. Not having a third string QB really hurt as well. Even signing a marginally okay QB could help here. An injury can really impact the potential here.
#10 — Frank: Frank’s top four WR’s are either rookies or in their sophomore season, so there’s a ways to go there before we see what that group is. Same for the RB group. However, the TE group is the strongest in the league. If Evan Engram can stay healthy and now that Hayden Hurst is maybe a TE1 option, this team has three-to-four potential TE starters in a league where that’s hard to come by.
#11 — Steve S.: The pass catchers here really hurt the final outcome of the ranking. The WR group isn’t all that deep and the TE group could maybe use a trade with Frank’s team. If players like Todd Gurley and Julian Edleman can hang on to fantasy relevance, that’ll really help this team not take the last spot.
#12 — Alex Jen.: Plenty to like here with the clear most valuable WR, Michael Thomas, right now and a possible D.K. Metcalf breakout season. Also, potential gold to be found at the RB spot. A good QB season from Dwayne Haskins and I can see this squad getting out from the bottom of the Power Rankings.
Remember, these numbers for ADP and Trade Value are a projection and not clairvoyency. The numbers can literally change in a month or two. That doesn’t mean you can’t start improving your team to move up the rankings and, in turn, start marching towards a trophy.
Catch you on the trade block.
