Erickson: 2021 PPR Fantasy Football Rankings & Tiers

The 2021 Fantasy Football draft season has arrived. Fantasy leagues are firing up, and everybody wants to know how they can gain an upper edge. The first step to gaining an advantage is to break every position into tiered rankings — these groupings offer a picture of where value may lie as other drafters begin to stray from the consensus. Combining the tiers and overall rankings will make it easy to find value while drafting.

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The following is my freshest collection of fantasy football rankings for 2021 PPR fantasy football leagues. Find breakdowns of positional tiers below the overall 300 and more of PFF's fantasy rankings here. My most up-to-date Half-PPR rankings plus tiers can be found here.

2021 PPR Fantasy Football Rankings (last update: Sept. 2)

QUARTERBACKS

TIER 1: THE FANTASTIC FOUR

• PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
• JOSH ALLEN, BUFFALO BILLS
• KYLER MURRAY, ARIZONA CARDINALS
• LAMAR JACKSON, BALTIMORE RAVENS

Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL, but he’s also vastly overrated in fantasy football. His ADP as the 36th player off the board is almost a full round ahead of the other Tier 1 quarterbacks. The quarterbacks in this tier all offer similar fantasy QB1 overall upside, so it's best to wait for another elite passer after Mahomes comes off the board.

The only exception would be if a roster already includes a combination of Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and/or Clyde Edwards-Helaire. In that case, Mahomes is worth the late third-round or early fourth-round selection in the pursuit of a Kansas City Chiefs team stack. 

TIER 2: TOP-TIER UPSIDE

• DAK PRESCOTT, DALLAS COWBOYS
• RUSSELL WILSON, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
• JUSTIN HERBERT, LOS ANGELES CHARGERS
• JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
• AARON RODGERS, GREEN BAY PACKERS

Dak Prescott has moved down slightly into the Tier 2 of quarterbacks. This is by no means a knock on Prescott as a fantasy commodity because he does possess top-five upside. During the first four weeks of the 2020 season, the Dallas Cowboys ranked first in passing yards per game (423) and third in points per game (24) with Prescott under center. The fifth-year QB led all quarterbacks in fantasy points per game (31.8) during that span. 

However, the catastrophic ankle injury he suffered last season could have an impact on his rushing numbers. He’s still No. 5 overall in the quarterback rankings but should be drafted at least a full round after the Tier 1 quarterbacks (Rounds 6 & 7).

Green Bay Packers stud left tackle David Bakhtiari was recently placed on the PUP list, which does not bode well for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. 

Without Bakhtiari's presence on the left side of the line, the quarterback’s chances of experiencing passing touchdown regression increase substantially. Bakhtiari is the NFL's premier pass-blocking tackle, grading out at 94.4 in that department over the past three years. Fantasy drafters should not expect a repeat performance of Rodgers' 9.1% touchdown rate from 2020, further bolstering the case for fading him at his QB8 ADP.

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