Rankings Update + Mid-Season RB Tiers

The most colourful RB Ranks in the Industry are BACK!

Hi Folks,

I’ve been updating the ranks weekly without posts each time and will likely continue to do so throughout the rest of the season. But for those who didn’t have it before, the link is below the pay-wall.

More exciting: I have done a mid-season version of my Annotated RB Tiers. For those who have not seen these before, it’s something I do a few times each off-season and once in-season to give you a more in-depth look at my thoughts on the RB landscape. Here’s how it works:

1. The RB Tiers are their own tab on the same sheet as the rankings.

2. The RBs are tiered in an intentional order, but please don’t view them as rankings: the tiers are meant to be of roughly interchangeable value, and your preference between them should (if you agree with my tiers) be based more on team situation than player preference.

3. Tiers are based on my “Base Pick” valuation system: this means each tier has a draft pick value I’ve assigned to it that is my opinion of their “break even value.” I.E. if I am offered more than that, I would generally sell, and if I can buy for less than that, I would generally buy.

4. A “base pick” = a draft pick in the given round which is in the upcoming year and has an equal chance of being in position 1-12. It’s not a pick that actually exists and is merely a valuation device.

5. I have broken some tiers into two clusters: buying power and production. That basically means I’d prefer one cluster if I need production now and the other if I’m thinking long-term. I don’t have any preference between the clusters and they should be viewed of interchangeable value with their counterparts in the other cluster of the same tier in a “vacuum.” (For example, on some teams I would prefer Zach Charbonnet to Joe Mixon and on others I would prefer Joe Mixon to Zach Charbonnet)

6. The colour-codings are described in my “Legend” on the google sheet. But each back is given a classification based on age, productive value, contingent value (if applicable) and prospect profile (for young players).

Please feel free to drop any specific or general questions about the rankings or an individual player in the comments of this post.