Fantasy Football WR Ranking by Tier

Personal opinion; Wide Receivers are the most fun position group to draft. That makes Fantasy Football WR ranking by tier an inexact science.  There are sleepers every single year, and you can draft an elite player outside of your top 5 picks. This time last season Ja'Marr Chase couldn't catch a football without lines on it, Deebo Samuel ranked around WR40ish, and Cooper Kupp wasn't Fantasy Football WR Ranking anything more than a solid player. The point is there are gems to be had up and down the rankings. In addition to those names, Mike Williams and Michael Pittman Jr. were being drafted outside the top 45, and they both finished inside the top 15 at year's end.

There are some question marks with big name receivers. Davante Adams, Tyreek hill, and A.J. Brown are all with new teams. D'Andre Hopkins is out for the first 6 games of the season due to he PED suspension. And can Deebo Samuel be utilized as often in the 9ers game plan now that he is getting top of the market money? There are pleanty of question marks with big name receivers headed into 2022.

Rookies pop off in recent memory as well. A.J. Brown, Terry McLaurin, Justin Jefferson, CeeDee Lamb, Chase Claypool, Ja'Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, and Amon-Ra St. Brown all finished inside the top 25 for fantasy points in their rookie seasons. This year's class is really deep with 6 wide receivers taken in the first round of the draft, and another 7 taken in the 2nd round. This years rookie class is as deep any, and expect a few of them to pop off this season. I've got a few of them inside by fantasy football WR ranking by tier.

For your draft strategy, it's not imperative to get one of the elite guys. So what I try to do is look at volume.  I'm looking at Drake London, Chris Olave, and Traylon Burks. Here's your fantasy Football WR Ranking by tier for the 2022 season.

1. Justin Jefferson (Minnesota Vikings)
2. Ja'Marr Chase (Cincinnati Bengals)
3. Cooper Kupp (Los Angeles Rams)
4. Davante Adams (Las Vegas Raiders)

These are the 1st round guys. They're all known entities in big time offenses.

5. Stefon Diggs (Buffalo Bills)
6. Deebo Samuel (San Francisco 49ers)
7. Tyreek Hill (Miami Dolphins)
8. CeeDee Lamb (Dallas Cowboys)

These guys are all explosive playmakers that are the clear cut #1 in their offense. I would feel comfortable taking any one of these names in the second round. If you go RB in the 1st, and manage to get one of these names in the 2nd round, they you're sitting pretty.

9. Mike Evans (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
10. Keenan Allen (Los Angeles Chargers)
11. A.J. Brown (Philadelphia Eagles)
12. Michael Pittman Jr. (Indianapolis Colts)
13. DJ Moore (Carolina Panthers)

All of these names are very good receivers, but they're a bit more touchdown dependent that the names above them. Touchdowns are tricky to predict, so these names carry just a bit more risk than the names above. I would still feel comfortable taking any one of these names in the 3rd/early 4th round.

14. Courtland Sutton (Denver Broncos)
15. Tee Higgins (Cincinnati Bengals)
16. Mike Williams (Los Angeles Chargers)
17. Jaylen Waddle (Miami Dolphins)
18. Allan Robinson (Los Angeles Rams)
19. Dionte Johnson (Pittsburgh Steelers)

Sutton has had a very good Training Camp with Russell Wilson. He has the highest ceiling of the players in this tier. Higgins, Waddle, and Robinson are very good, but will be the second option in their team's passing attack. Johnson with a better quarterback would be higher, but when reports out of Steelers camp are Mason Rudolph looks the best, it scares me for how consistent Dionte and be.

20. DK Metcalf (Seattle Seahawks)
21. Terry McLaurin (Washington Commanders)
22. Amari Cooper (Cleveland Browns)
23. Brandin Cooks (Houston Texans)
24. Darnell Mooney (Chicago Bears)

This group is really talented, but the quarterbacks throwing them the ball are question marks at best. Metcalf, McLaurin, Cooper and Cooks are all safe picks while Mooney is very much a boom-or-bust player. target these names as your WR3 and Flex options.

25. Gabriel Davis (Buffalo Bills)
26.Jerry Jeudy (Denver Broncos)
27. Adam Thielen (Minnesota Vikings)
28. Hunter Renfrow (Las Vegas Raiders)
29. Rashod Bateman (Baltimore Ravens)
30. Amon-Ra St. Brown (Detroit Lions)
31. Elijah Moore (New York Jets)
32. Marquise Brown (Arizona Cardinals)

Davis, Jeudy, Renfrow, and Thielen will put up consistent numbers, but they are a notch and a half below the #1. Davis is very intriguing after a very good playoff run last year. If he can replicate those performances then he will be in the teens at worst this time next year. Bateman, St. Brown, and Moore all enter thier second season and are poised to take the next step. Brown will be a huge asset until D'Andre Hopkins returns in week 7.

33. Brandon Aiyuk (San Francisco 49ers)
34. Michael Thomas (New Orleans Saints)
35. Chris Godwin (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
36. D'Andre Hopkins (Arizona Cardinals)
37. DeVonta Smith (Philadelphia Eagles)
38. Christian Kirk (Jacksonville Jaguars)
39. Drake London (Atlanta Falcons)
40. Allen Lazard (Green Bay Packers)
41. Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster (Kansas City Chiefs)

All of these names fall into one of two categories. 1) proven commodities that are returning from injury (or suspension), or are in a new location. Or 2) young players who figure to be featured heavily in their offense.

42. Tyler Lockett (Seattle Seahawks)
43. Russell Gage (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
44. Chase Claypool (Pittsburgh Steelers)
45. Chris Olave (New Orleans Saints)
46. Robert Woods (Tennessee Titans)
47. Tyler Boyd (Cincinnati Beangals)
48. Kenny Golladay (New York Giants)
49. Kadarius Toney (New York Giants)
50. Jakobi Meyers (New England Patriots)

Please do not rely on any of these guys for an extended period of time. Find your favorite option and keep him benched until you see what you have.

Running back is the most position to get right in your fantasy team. You can find a late round Wide Receiver or Quarterback, but finding a pair of bell cow running backs is the key. Because you're trying to find the guys that will get 20-25 touches every game, they tend to break down quicker than the other positions. Forecasting wear and tear is far from an exact science, but there are some rules to follow. Guys over the age of 30 rarely perform at an elite level. Once the soft tissue injuries start, they tend to hang around. And touchdown dependent backs normally regress the following seasons. But like all fantasy football rankings, RB included, tiers matter.

The running back position keeps evolving at the NFL level, and knowing your league's scoring system is imperative. A guy like Austin Ekeler with the Chargers has way more value in PPR formats vs. non-PPR formats. For the most part, guys don't get 25 carries a game any more. Even a talented back like Ezekiel Elliot in Dallas split carries with a solid backup just a year after signing a massive contract.

Each of the last 9 top performing running backs in fantasy fit within a very specific framework. They were 25 years-old or younger, drafted in the top-12 ADP, and haven’t been back-to-back since 2007. Taking those data points, there are only 4 players to fit within that criteria. Najee Harris, DeAndre Swift, Saquon Barkley, and Jevonte Williams. I am not saying take these guys as your top 4 picks, but if it's close then lean with one of these guys. Here are the fantasy football RB rankings by tier.

1. Jonathan Taylor (Indianapolis Colts)
2. Austin Ekeler (Los Angeles Chargers)
3. Najee Harris (Pittsburgh Steelers)
4. Derrick Henry (Tennessee Titans)

These should be the first four picks of your draft. When healthy all of these guys are heavily featured in both the run and pass game.

5. Christian McCaffrey (Carolina Panthers)
6. Dalvin Cook (Minnesota Vikings)
7. D'Andre Swift (Detroit Lions)
8. Joe Mixon (Cincinnati Bengals)
9. Nick Chubb (Cleveland Browns)

When healthy CMC should be in tier 1. Unfortunately he hasn't been able to do that over the past 2 seasons. Cook, Swift and Mixon are all heavily featured backs, but aren't the level of backs in the tier above. Cook is the safest pick, Swift has the most upside, and Mixon is a blend of the 2. These guys should be taken in the 1st round, but not ahead of the tier 1 RB's, or the elite WR's.

10. Jevonte Williams (Denver Broncos)
11. Saquon Barkley (New York Giants)
12. Cam Akers (Los Angeles Rams)
13. Antonio Gibson (Washington Commanders)
14. Alvin Kamara (New Orleans Saints)

These are all guys with something to prove this season, but enter the year as the #1 back in their offense. There are some names that haven't been put in yet, but that's largely due to a backup that should get plenty of touches this season.

15. Aaron Jones (Green Bay Packers)
16. Leonard Fournette (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
17. Travis Etienne (Jacksonville Jaguars)
18. J.K. Dobbins (Baltimore Ravens)
19. James Conner (Arizona Cardinals)

These are your elite RB2's. Jones scares me a bit because of AJ Dillon's effectiveness las season. Fournette and Conner are the safe options on this list. Etienne and Dobbins have the most potential to break through to the top tier's of RB's.

20. Ezekiel Elliot (Dallas Cowboys)
21. Josh Jacobs (Las Vegas Raiders)
22. David Montgomery (Chicago bears)
23. Elijah Mitchell (San Francisco 49ers)
24. Clyde Edwards-Helaire (Kansas City Chiefs)
25. Breece Hall (New York Jets)
26. Devin Singletary (Buffalo Bills)
27. Rashaad Penny (Seattle Seahawks)

Zeke has real competition with Pollard in Dallas. Same story with Jacobs in Vegas with Kenyon Drake. Montgomery will be in a bad offense, but should get enough touches to have value. Mitchell, CEH, Hall, and Singletary should get plenty of touches, but there are question marks with either the offense they play in, or their touches per game.

28. Melvin Gordon (Denver Broncos)
29. AJ Dillion (Green Bay Packers)
30. Tony Pollard (Dallas Cowboys)
31. Damien Harris (New England Patriots)
32. Chase Edmonds (Miami Dolphins)
33. Kareem Hunt (Cleveland Browns)

Gordon, Dillon, Pollard, and Hunt are starting caliber backs in the NFL. They are in timeshares with the starters though, so they won't get enough volume to be a starter every week. Harris should start the season as the feature back in New England, but I'm fearful this offense will take a major step back this season. Edmonds is an intriguing fantasy player. If the Miami offense even closely resembles the San Francisco offense of the last few seasons, Edmonds could finish the season as a top 15 back.

34. Cordarrelle Patterson (Atlanta Falcons)
35. Miles Sanders (Philadelphia Eagles)
36. James Cook (Buffalo Bills)
37. Dameon Pierce (Houston Texans)
38. Rhamondre Stevenson (New England Patriots)
39. Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta Falcons)
40. Kenneth walker (Seattle Seahawks)

Patterson and Sanders are technically the lead backs in their offenses, but I fully expect that to not be the case by October. The rest of this tier is full of young backs who can take over the feature role by the middle of the season.