Something about typical fantasy rankings has been bothering me lately. By listing all relevant players in order of draft desirability, we still don't really have anything actionable until we add a denominator of ADP. If I tell you a player is my #5 quarterback, that doesn't tell you whether I would recommend drafting him or not. When you add the dimension of ADP, it becomes clear right away who my rankings recommend targeting and who my rankings recommend avoiding. This leads to an experiment idea of rethinking rankings. Instead of ranking players by draft desirability (or projected end of year finish), why not rank players by desirability of drafting them at ADP? This table will show you the rough ADP of a player, and where I would consider drafting the player. This ranking should help when prioritizing targets pre-draft and understanding the next best outcomes when targeted players go off the board ahead of you. Any and all feedback welcome!
Note: Industry ADP tends to lag behind actual drafts, so don't feel wedded to the ADP or estimation when a particular one is worth drafting. Your league might see these players go off of the board earlier and require earlier picks, but he relative order of the attractiveness of drafting at ADP (whatever that adjusts to in your league) should be relatively accurate.
Projected ADP | Worth Drafting In? | ||
1 | Tom Brady/NE | 7th/8th | 6th |
2 | Carson Palmer/ARI | 12th-13th | 10th-11th |
3 | Ben Roethlisberger/PIT | 5th | 5th |
4 | Philip Rivers/SD | 9th/10th | 9th/10th |
5 | Sam Bradford/PHI | 10th-11th | 10th-11th |
6 | Andy Dalton/CIN | 13th | 13th |
7 | Tony Romo/DAL | 7th | 8th |
8 | Russell Wilson/SEA | 4th | 5th |
9 | Jay Cutler/CHI | 12th-13th | 13th |
10 | Andrew Luck/IND | 1st/2nd | late 2nd |
11 | Matt Ryan/ATL | 6th | 8th |
12 | Ryan Tannehill/MIA | 8th/9th | 10th |
13 | Eli Manning/NYG | 8th | 10th |
14 | Aaron Rodgers/GB | 2nd | late 3rd |
15 | Jameis Winston/TB | 12th-13th | 15th or later |
16 | Teddy Bridgewater/MIA | 10th-11th | 12th |
17 | Matthew Stafford/DET | 7th/8th | 10th |
18 | Colin Kaepernick/SF | 10th-11th | 13th-15th |
19 | Cam Newton/CAR | 6th | 9th |
20 | Drew Brees/NO | 4th/5th | 8th |
21 | Peyton Manning/DEN | 3rd/4th | 6th |
22 | Joe Flacco/BAL | 10th-11th | 15th or later |