Rest-of-Season QB & RB Rankings

By: Mike Johnson (@mjohnson86)

We are just under halfway through the regular season for most fantasy leagues and a lot has changed in the first six weeks. Each league is different and has its own settings, standings, and nuance so evaluating where you are at and where you are going is important at this point. Some teams near the top of standings may be open to making some moves to take on an injured player or one whose offense is struggling right now that could help you when it matters most in the playoffs. Some teams near the bottom may be in desperation mode and can’t wait for players to get healthy or their team’s offense to figure things out, and need to make moves now to keep any playoff hopes alive. 

Those in the middle have options to hold course or make a move. There are only two teams on bye in Week 7 and two on bye in Week 9, with NO BYES in Week 8. So we are heading into a short stretch where not as many teams should be stressed with short-handed bye-week-related situations as we saw in Week 5 and Week 6.

With all of that in mind, here are my updated “rest-of-season” rankings for you to use when evaluating your teams. It is more of an art than a science doing this in the middle of the season, as you have to weigh what we’ve seen with possible regression to preseason expectations (some players have already played their best football, while others have already played their worst). Obviously these are fluid, and even injury news throughout this week will change things, but this should give you a rough idea of where players should currently be valued, in my opinion. 

QB

Tier 1 ::

These are truly elite players who have proven themselves and are mostly matchup-proof. You can start them every week, and in the case of Hurts, who already had his bye, you can feel confident with no other QBs on your roster:

1. Lamar Jackson

2. Jalen Hurts

3. Josh Allen

4. Jayden Daniels

Tier 2 ::

These are QBs on very good offenses that always have a chance to put up a good week, and in good matchups can easily top the position or come close to it in a given week. Mahomes is towards the bottom of the tier mainly because he is the type that holds you hostage with his name value. It feels impossible to bench him, but for the last year he has been a far better real-life QB than a fantasy one. He may perform better than his slotting on this list, but if you can get something of value for him in a trade based on his name I’d do it:

5. Joe Burrow

6. Jordan Love

7. C.J. Stroud

8. Dak Prescott

9. Kyler Murray

10. Brock Purdy

11. Caleb Williams

12. Baker Mayfield

13. Patrick Mahomes

14. Anthony Richardson

Tier 3 ::

These are pocket passers on good offenses. They aren’t going to add much with their legs but have plenty of firepower in their receiving corps to post a big game:

15. Kirk Cousins

16. Geno Smith

17. Aaron Rodgers

18. Jared Goff

19. Sam Darnold

Tier 4 ::

These are higher-variance QBs who will post a few really good scores the rest of the way but also are likely to have a few clunkers:

20. Trevor Lawrence

21. Drake Maye

22. Matthew Stafford

23. Tua Tagovailoa

24. Daniel Jones

25. Andy Dalton

Tier 5 ::

These are QBs in situations that are difficult to trust in any given week:

26. Justin Herbert

27. Deshaun Watson

28. Derek Carr // Spencer Rattler

29. Justin Fields // Russell Wilson

30. Bo Nix

31. Will Levis

32. Aidan O’Connell 

RB

Tier 1 ::

These five RBs have proven themselves to be capable of massive spike weeks and are clearly the top option of their team. Henry is a bit susceptible to workload concerns if the Ravens fall behind, but that is rarely going to happen:

1. Saquon Barkley

2. Kyren Williams

3. Derrick Henry

4. Kenneth Walker

5. Joe Mixon

Tier 2 ::

These are talented RBs that are a step below those from Tier 1. Bijan, Gibbs, Breece, Montgomery, and Cook all play with RBs that may cut into their workloads. Kamara and Taylor are dealing with injuries and have offenses that are struggling and have uncertain QB situations.

6. Bijan Robinson

7. Jahmyr Gibbs

8. Breece Hall

9. Alvin Kamara

10. Jonathan Taylor

11. David Montgomery

12. James Cook

Tier 3 ::

This is the last of the RBs with clear workloads on good and/or run-based offenses. It is bookended by Mason and McCaffrey, who obviously will have their values inversely correlated depending on health. I would not trade any of the RBs ranked above CMC straight up for him at this point. Likewise, if you are a team sitting at 5-1 or 6-0, I would strongly consider a move with any player, and possibly two, from Tier 4 to get CMC from an owner who can’t wait to see how his situation plays out and needs help now:

13. Jordan Mason

14. De’Von Achane

15. D’Andre Swift

16. James Conner

17. Josh Jacobs

18. J.K. Dobbins

19. Christian McCaffrey

Tier 4 ::

This is a tier of players whose value will sway significantly on a weekly basis going forward. The order of these players can vary greatly depending on your team’s situation and how urgent current wins are versus thinking long-term towards the playoffs:

20. Tony Pollard

21. Najee Harris

22. Aaron Jones

23. Chase Brown

24. Tyrone Tracy Jr.

25. Brian Robinson Jr.

26. Chuba Hubbard

27. Rico Dowdle

28. Kareem Hunt

29. Ty Chandler

30. Tank Bigsby

31. Travis Etienne

32. Nick Chubb

33. Rachaad White

34. Bucky Irving

35. Zack Moss

36. Rhamondre Stevenson

37. Tyler Allgeier

38. Jonathon Brooks

39. Austin Ekeler

40. Javonte Williams

Tier 5 ::

The “if anything happens” tier. These are guys whose value depends largely on their return from injury or an injury to a player above them on the depth chart. These are ideal stash candidates if you have room on your bench and are past bye weeks with a good chunk of your roster:

41. Braelon Allen

42. Zach Charbonnet

43. Jaylen Warren

44. Tyjae Spears

45. Isiah Pacheco

46. Isaac Guerendo

47. Ray Davis

48. Kimani Vidal

49. Trey Benson

50. Blake Corum

51. Emanuel Wilson

52. Roschon Johnson

53. Devin Singletary

54. Sean Tucker

55. Kendre Miller

Join us Thursday for Rest-of-Season rankings for WRs and TEs!