Jeff Ratcliffe's updated top 200 fantasy football rankings for 2019 PPR leagues

With fantasy football draft season about to kick off, it’s time to hit refresh on our 2019 fantasy football rankings. Below you’ll find the top 200 fantasy football rankings for PPR leagues 2019. Why 200? Well, that’s essentially 16 rounds of players in a 12-team league. With these rankings you can get a sense of how to value players relative to each other across positions. You’ll also get a sense of the trends developing in 2019 fantasy football drafts.

This year’s fantasy drafts are likely to see running backs fly off the board early and often. So you’ll notice below that there are more running backs in the top 50 than any other position. In total 24 backs crack the top 50. While it may be tempting to zig while others zag this year, keep in mind that so many running backs at the top of rankings actually pushes value down the board at wide receiver. So even if you go running back heavy early in your drafts, you’re still likely to find solid value at wideout in the middle rounds.

One of the biggest questions in this year’s fantasy football drafts is whether to go tight end premium. Travis Kelce, Zach Ertz, and George Kittle will all be off the board by the end of the third round (and maybe even earlier). We know that last year, having one of these three players provided a major advantage on nearly a weekly basis. However, spending such a premium pick means you’ll likely sacrifice landing a top 15 running back or a top 12 receiver. Is that value cost to great? The answer to that question really depends on where the next six tight ends can be had. Current rankings and ADP data suggest between Rounds 5-7. If that trend holds, it might actually be more cost-effective to pass on the Big 3 and grab one of the next five tight ends off the board.

Casual fantasy football drafters tend to overvalue quarterback. Things aren’t as bad as they were a decade ago when you were likely to regularly see quarterbacks drafted in the first round. But signal-callers still tend to go earlier than their relative value suggests they should Patrick Mahomes is the consensus top fantasy quarterback this year, but you’ll notice he only comes at No. 42 below. That’s a mid-fourth-round fantasy draft grade. And this isn’t a knock on Mahomes whatsoever. Simply put, the gap between Mahomes and what you will likely be able to get off waivers each week isn’t as large as the gap between the top running backs or wide receivers and a replacement level player. Like most years, the wise thing to do this year is wait at the position a scoop value in and around the ninth or 10th round.

You’ll also notice that the top-ranked fantasy team defense is the Chicago Bears at 152nd. That’s a 13th-round fantasy draft grade, which is nowhere near where they’ll be drafted. Current ADP has the Bears coming off the board in the eighth round. So in selecting the Bears at market values means you’re likely giving up about five rounds of value at the position. In this same spot, you could/should be scooping value at wide receiver and running back, drafting the one of the five tight ends after the Big 3, or even breaking the seal on quarterback. Any one of those moves will make your team significantly better than drafting a defense in the eighth round. Let someone else make that move. You’ll have plenty of upside options to pick from in the late rounds of your drafts.