Fantasy Football Tiers 2018
Get ready for an aggregated view of Fantasy Football tiers for the 2018 season. I’ve been contributing to various Fantasy Football communities for a number of years now with moderately helpful data analysis and insights. I work in data analytics full time, and I find that Fantasy Football analysis is a good way to hone my skills and apply them to something I find interesting and fun. Does it help me win? Sometimes. Anyone who’s played Fantasy Football long enough knows that there isn’t any silver bullet for a championship. However, good research and an informed strategy can help. Here are some resources I typically like to use to identify tiers and ranks. They are useful both in the preseason to prepare for your draft, and during the season to inform your starting lineups.
Boris Chen’s Tiers and Ranks
Boris Chen has been providing my favorite tiers and ranks for years. His draft kits are incredibly useful and the breakdown between scoring types have made it really easy to customize my analysis for the different leagues I participate in. Boris Chen uses aggregate rankings from the most accurate “pros” on Fantasy Football Pros. Using standard deviation and advanced statistical analysis, Boris clusters all players into statistical tiers.
These tiers update pretty regularly as the pros make their changes, and if you dig around you can find the raw data in spreadsheets to improve your own analysis.
ESPN Fantasy Football Rankings
Most of the leagues I play in are on ESPN. I find it very helpful to use these rankings because I’m certain the other people in my league are using them as well. I often try to compare rankings across the board — how do Boris Chen’s tiers compare to the rankings on ESPN? Here’s a basic list of ESPN Fantasy Football Rankings. Comparing what you love and trust to what your league opponents are looking at can help you determine draft value and scarcity. Use them for yourself, or as a way to manipulate the others teams in your league.
Beer Sheets Fantasy Football Tiers
One of the best full draft kits out there is Beersheets. Most of the details and improvements around these are discussed in the /r/fantasyfootball subreddit. Beersheets can be customized to the exact specifications of your league to help inform your draft strategy and prepare for any and all leagues you are in. Edge cases are going to be your own fault — why are you in such a weird league. Take all the fantasy football tiers and rankings from different sources and drop them into one easy to use Spreadsheet. That’s beersheets. It’s a bit of a hidden gem, so you’re sure to have the step up on your opponents in the 2018 season if you use these.
I’ll try to keep this post updated with new resources and improvements as we approach the start of the 2018 Fantasy Football Season. Let me know what you think and if there are any other tools you appreciate or like to use.
