Playoff Cheat Sheet: Positional Rankings for Postseason Drafts

Playoff Cheat Sheet: Positional Rankings for Postseason Drafts

This list is geared toward playoff leagues with standard fantasy scoring (4/6, 20/10, non PPR) and that draft only once before the playoffs and count all scoring through the Super Bowl. So it's a mix of per-game production and the number of projected games for a given team.

For PPR rankings, not much changes. You could bump up Devonta Freeman over LeGarrette Blount, for example, but it's hard to think of anyone else who makes a significant move.

For postseason rankings for the upcoming week, check out Jeff Erickson's Weekly Rankings.

* = check status

QBTMWR TMTETM
Tom BradyNEAntonio BrownPITTravis KelceKC
Ben RoethlisbergerPITJulian EdelmanNEJimmy GrahamSEA
Russell WilsonSEAJordy NelsonGBMartellus BennettNE
Aaron RodgersGBJulio JonesATLJason WittenDAL
Matt RyanATLDoug BaldwinSEALadarius GreenPIT
Dak PrescottDALDez BryantDALJared CookGB
Eli ManningNYGOdell BeckhamNYGEric EbronDET
Alex SmithKCDavante AdamsGBLevine ToiloloATL
Matthew StaffordDETChris HoganNEAustin HooperATL
Brock OsweilerHOUTyreek HillKCWill TyeNYG
Connor CookOAKJeremy MaclinKCRichard RodgersGB
Ryan Tannehill*MIAMalcolm Mitchell*NEC.J. FiedorowiczHOU
Matt MooreMIADeAndre HopkinsHOULuke WillsonSEA
Tom Savage*HOUGolden TateDETRyan GriffinHOU
Matt McGloin*OAKEli RogersPITDion SimsMIA
RBMichael FloydNEGavin EscobarDAL
Le'Veon BellPITMohamed SanuATLMatthew LengelNE
Ezekiel ElliottDALJarvis LandryMIAJesse JamesPIT
LeGarrette BlountNEAmari CooperOAKClive WalfordOAK
Devonta FreemanATLMichael Crabtree*OAKMychal RiveraOAK
Dion LewisNESterling ShepardNYGJerell AdamsNYG
Thomas RawlsSEATaylor Gabriel*ATLK
Lamar Miller*HOUMarvin JonesDETStephen GostkowskiNE
Spencer Ware*KCTerrance WilliamsDALDan BaileyDAL
Tevin ColemanATLCole BeasleyDALMatt BryantATL
Paul PerkinsNYGAnquan BoldinDETSteven HauschkaSEA
Ty MontgomeryGBRandall Cobb*GBChris BoswellPIT
Jay Ajayi*MIADeVante ParkerMIACairo SantosKC
Latavius MurrayOAKPaul RichardsonSEAMason CrosbyGB
Alex CollinsSEAJermaine KearseSEANick NovakHOU
Rashad JenningsNYGVictor CruzNYGSebastian JanikowskiOAK
James WhiteNEGeronimo AllisonGBRobbie GouldNYG
Zach ZennerDETChris ConleyKCMatt PraterDET
Charcandrick WestKCKenny StillsMIAAndrew FranksMIA
DeAndre WashingtonOAKWill FullerHOUD
Aaron RipkowskiGBBrice ButlerDALPatriots
Kenyan DrakeMIASeth RobertsOAKSeahawks
DeAngelo WilliamsPITCobi HamiltonPITSteelers
Christine MichaelGBSammie CoatesPITChiefs
Darren McFaddenDALAldrick RobinsonATLCowboys
C.J. Prosise*SEADarrius Heyward-BeyPITPackers
Alfred BlueHOUJeff JanisGBTexans
Damian WilliamsMIATanner McEvoySEARaiders
Jalen RichardOAKJustin HardyATLGiants
Lance DunbarDALDanny Amendola*NEFalcons
Alfred MorrisDALLions
Dwayne WashingtonDETDolphins

Notes:

The Patriots are obviously the top team to bankroll as they're at least even money to play three games. The problem with them is aside from Tom Brady and maybe Julian Edelman, it's hard to know which players will get opportunities in a given week. Moreover, the Patriots' first-round bye means they can play only three games maximum. Players from teams in the Wild Card round have more upside as they can play four.

The No. 2 team is probably the Steelers as the AFC other than the Patriots is weak, and as the No. 3 seed, the Steelers won't face the Patriots until the AFC Championship game, which would already be their third, i.e., as many as the Patriots would have even if they win the Super Bowl. Should the Steelers lose in a shootout to the Pats, and the Pats play another bye-week team from the NFC in the Super Bowl, the Steelers could generate the most points even while losing in the conference final. Moreover the Steelers tree is narrow - Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown dominate the touches - and their first-round matchup is against a defense (Miami) they should torch and a game in which they're favored by 9.5 points.

After the Steelers, it was tough to rank the next teams: the Packers are red hot and have four-game potential, but they're only 3.5-point favorites against the Giants, so they have a much bigger chance of losing right away. The Seahawks, like the Steelers, have four-game upside and an easy Round 1 home matchup, but Seattle has looked shaky over the last month.

The three other bye-week teams are also problematic, and not only because their upside tops out at three games. The Falcons have the best offense in the league, but they will probably draw the Seahawks and be favored by only a few points at most. If the Lions upset the Seahawks, the Falcons draw the Giants-Packers winner, and that will also be a tough game, given Atlanta's poor defense.

The Cowboys are great offensively and have a narrow tree, but they'll likely draw the Giants, who beat them twice, or the Packers, i.e., neither matchup would be easy. (If they draw the Lions, that's best-case scenario, but improbable.)

The Chiefs have only one reliable player, Travis Kelce, and while they're very likely to play two games, as they'll probably face the winner of the Texans/Raiders game, they'd be roughly even money against the Steelers at home in the division round and a big underdog to beat the Patriots in New England in the AFC title game if they got through. In other words, the Chiefs are likely to play two games at most, so they lack upside, and face a tough likely opponent, so they lack floor too - and that's assuming you even could predict which non-Kelce player would get the ball.

Among the remaining teams, only the Giants have any plausible upside, and that's largely because of their defense, though Odell Beckham, Eli Manning and Paul Perkins could win you your playoff league if the team went on a 2007/2011-esque run. But they're 3.5-point underdogs at Lambeau Field, so it's more likely than not they'll be out in the first round.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Liss
Chris Liss was RotoWire's Managing Editor and Host of RotoWire Fantasy Sports Today on Sirius XM radio from 2001-2022.
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