2020 Fantasy Football Rankings

The fantasy football season is right around the corner and I don’t know about you, but I could use an enjoyable break from this CRAZY world. Besides the world going nuts the fantasy football off season was nothing short of wild itself. Big names like Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon found new teams while rookies flew up draft boards *cough* Clyde Edwards-Helaire *cough*. With all of these moves and changes it took a long time to adjust the rankings to my very particular liking, but the time has come… and now here they are! I am presenting to you the FantasyProjection 2020 Fantasy Football Rankings position by position. A magician never reveals his secrets, but just understand that the model behind these rankings goes into pain staking detail and projects the points for each player to multiple decimal points. As usual, these rankings are based on a .5 PPR scoring system and are a fool proof way to win your fantasy draft.

Quarterbacks

Lamar Jackson

It is no surprise to anyone that Lamar Jackson is at the top of the fantasy football QB rankings this year. The man played like he was possessed last year when he threw for 3,100 yards and 36 TDs while adding another 1,200 yards on the ground and 7 more TDs. Jackson not only played QB for the Ravens, but he also played RB… I’m surprised he didn’t throw himself the ball at any point. All of this adds up to one of the best fantasy season ever played at the QB position and there is no sign that will stop. Jackson is an easy first pick at the QB position you will just have to decide if you want to use a second round pick to get him. My opinion on the matter is in most 1 QB leagues it’s not worth using a round 2 pick even on the uber talented Jackson. You are better off waiting on QB and filling less deep positions like RB, WR, or TE.

Ryan Tannehill

Tannehill comes in at the 16th best fantasy football QB going into the 2020-2021 season. Listen, I know what you are all thinking this is absolute madness… I get it, but you have to remember Tannehill was incredible for fantasy football last season. Once he was shipped off to the Titans and Mariota took a seat on the pine Tannehill took over like he was destined to be at the helm of the Titans. Tannehill threw for 2,700 yards in only 11 games. Quick math, thats on pace for a nearly 4,000 yard 16 game season. Tannehill also threw 22 TDs, again thats on pace for 32 TDs just passing. That would have put him in the top 12 for passing yards and top 4 (TOP 4!) for passing TDs. This alone should be enough to have him at least 16th this year, but now lets discuss rushing. Tannehill somehow gained another 185 yards on the ground and 4 more TDs again in only 11 real games played. I believe that Tannehill is a late round QB steal and may not be a flashy name, but he will far exceed your expectations and his draft value.

Running Backs

Clyde Edwards-Helaire (CEH)

This player was easily one of the hardest to calculate fantasy points for this season. Clyde comes in at 7th on the fantasy football rankings for the RB position. He is a very talented rookie RB who has walked into the most potent offense in the NFL and a situation where the RB in front of him (Damien Williams) is holding out for safety concerns. This news vaulted CEH up our rankings and landed him in a territory very few rookies find themselves in. The reason for his position is very much based on the assumption that he will benefit from an RB position that very frequently creates top tier fantasy RBs do to their persistent use in the passing game. We have to remember that this is the same offense that vaulted another rookie (Kareem Hunt) into 1,300 yards 8 TDs and 53 receptions for 455 yards and another 3 TDs. In the even more distant past this offensive scheme also produced LeSean McCoy. There is a huge amount of room for CEH to be successful and I feel that he will take the opportunity and run with it Pun. Intended.

Joe Mixon

I went back and forth between CEH and Mixon over and over, but in the end I went with the stronger offense CEH finds himself in to put him SLIGHTLY ahead of Mixon. Mixon had a tough fantasy football year in 2019 and it was mainly due to running behind the worst offensive line in the NFL. Mixon still managed to rush for over 1,100 yards and 5 TDs while adding 35 receptions for 287 yards and 3 TDs. All in all this was a fairly good year for Mixon, but not indicative at all of what he is capable of. Mixon is an elite athlete and with the offensive line being worked on over the offseason, I can only expect that we could see Mixon near his full potential. To me I anticipate Mixon will be an extremely steady RB1 this season and will definitely get the workload to have a chance at the top 5 at the position.

Wide Receivers

Chris Godwin

Godwin had a breakout fantasy football season in 2019 and now finds himself at number 5 on the WR fantasy football rankings for 2020. Godwin had 86 reception for 1,300 yards and 9 TDs in 2019. If those stats weren’t enough to vault him into the top of the 2020 rankings alone one tiny new addition did…Tom Brady is now his QB. I get it, Brady may not be as good as he once was, but lets face it he’s still the GOAT and anything is better than Jameis Winston throwing the ball. Godwin and Mike Evans will continue to fight for targets as will new addition Rob Gronkowski, but I feel that there will be plenty to go around in Bruce Arians high flying offense. I find myself having a tough time deciding between Godwin and Evans for fantasy so please pick who you prefer, but try to take one of them. I have a feeling this will be an extremely productive offense… at least for fantasy football.

Cooper Kupp

I know I know I might be the only fantasy football analyst on the planet putting Kupp in the top 10 fantasy football rankings at the position, but trust me he is worth it. Kupp has been incredible since entering the league. In 2019, Kupp had 94 receptions for nearly 1,200 yards and 10 TDs. In only 8 games in 2018 he had 40 receptions for 566 yards and 6 TDs. This means that over the past two years Kupp has average 6 receptions for 74 yards and .7 TDs per game or 15 fantasy points per game. If you extrapolate these average over and entire season he would be on pace for 96 receptions 1,184 yards and 11 TDs. This would have put Kupp at 9th in receptions, 9th in yards, and 1st in TDs for the 2019 season. As it was, he was already 9th, 12th and 3rd respectively for these stats in 2019. Kupp is going way too late in fantasy football drafts and is absolutely deserving of being in the top 10 at the position.

Tight Ends

Darren Waller

Darren Waller emerged on the fantasy football scene in 2019 after being frequently featured on the HBO TV show Hard Knocks. Waller had 90 receptions for over 1,100 yards and 3 TDs on the season good for the 2nd most receptions and 2nd most yards at the position (Kelce obviously 1st). The only thing holding Waller back were the lack of TDs which I can only assume will regress positively towards the mean seeing the insane amount of targets he is seeing. Not that he needed much more of a reason to be included in the top 5 fantasy football TE rankings, but WR Tyrell Williams is injured and will attempt to play through the injury which may mean more reliance on Waller this season. If you can snag Waller in your draft you will have a top 5 TE at the least with potential for a top 2 finish.