Travdogg's positional rankings from week 15 onward (1 Viewer)

[travdogg]

QB
Tier 1:
1. Jalen Hurts (3), 2 games under 20 points all season, 1 was in a rainstorm, and 1 was squatting on a lead against the Cooper Rush Cowboys, and he's getting Goedert back.
2. Patrick Mahomes (2)
3. Josh Allen (1)
4. Joe Burrow (4)
5. Justin Fields (5), had his best game as a passer before the bye week, and should be healthy with an extra week of rest. Hasn't finished lower than QB8 since week 5.
Tier 2:
6. Geno Smith (10), I've been way too slow to treat him like the pro bowler he has been. He's basically been Tua, but with occasional rushing stats. Top-5 over the last month.
7. Lamar Jackson (7)
8. Justin Herbert (9)
9. Tua Tagovailoa (8)
Tier 3:
10. Trevor Lawrence (11)
11. Dak Prescott (12)
12. Deshaun Watson (13)
Tier 4:
13. Daniel Jones (14)
14. Kirk Cousins (NR), 2 top-10 weeks in last 3. QB is so thin this year, that its enough for him to rejoin the list.
15. Tom Brady (NR), its been ugly to say the least, but he's been a top-15 QB over the last month, and nothing should change about that. Ceiling is basically gone, but still has a floor due to attempts.

Dropped off: Kyler Murray (6), I think he was gonna have a big game against NE too. What a horrible week it was for guys getting hurt early in games. Tyler Huntley (15), sounds like he could be back this week, but how valuable is likely 1 game?

 

[travdogg]

RB
Tier 1:
1. Josh Jacobs (1)
2. Austin Ekeler (2)
3, Christian McCaffrey (3), arguably RB1 in any game SF doesn't blow out their opponent to the point where CMC isn't on the sidelines in the 4th. RB1 and RB2 finishes since Mitchell went down.
Tier 2:
4. Derrick Henry (13), it felt premature to move him to the teens, but he was struggling, and the Titans were giving Hillard almost as many snaps. So, naturally Hilliard gets hurt, and Henry is back to his top-5 self. I stand by the logic in moving him down, but he deserves to be bumped back up.
5. Nick Chubb (4)
6. Saquon Barkley (5)
7. Jonathan Taylor (6)
Tier 3:
8. Dalvin Cook (8)
9. Aaron Jones (11)
10. Joe Mixon (7)
11. Rhamondre Stevenson (10)
12. Kenneth Walker (9)
Tier 4:
13. Tony Pollard (16)
14. Miles Sanders (17)
15. Travis Etienne (12)
16. James Conner (14)
Tier 5:
17. Ezekiel Elliott (24), Pollard is the better player, but Zeke has 4 straight top-15 weeks since he came back, in what is a true 50-50 backfield.
18. Alvin Kamara (15)
19. Isiah Pacheco (23)
20. Brian Robinson (21)
Tier 6:
21. Najee Harris (25)
22. David Montgomery (26)
23. D'Andre Swift (19)
24. Rachaad White (NR), the better part of a 50-50 RBBC, on a team that can't run, but loves to check down.
25. Zonovan Knight (NR), back-to-back top-12 weeks. Carter takes passing downs, but Jets D is good enough to prevent big deficits.
Tier 7:
26. Jamaal Williams (NR), didn't do anything last week, but reclaimed starting job. Was hoping Swift was pulling away, but that was too optimistic.
27. Leonard Fournette (18), poor man's Zeke to White's poor man's Pollard.
28. Antonio Gibson (30)
29. Khalil Herbert (28)
30. Dameon Pierce (20), gonna miss at least 1 game, maybe 2, but still worth hanging onto for that week 17 Jags game.

Dropped off: D'Onta Foreman (22), only saw half the work in a game they lead throughout. Game script was ideal for him, and he was 3rd in his backfield in fantasy points. Still the Panthers RB I'd want most, but zero trust right now. Samaje Perine (27), seemed to be the 3rd down RB in Mixon's return, but that's rarely been a profitable role, and someone from Higgins/Hurst/Boyd will be back I'd bet. Latavius Murray (29), very rare that a RB seeing 63% of his backfield touches is almost worthless, but here we are.

 

[travdogg]

WR
Tier 1:
1. Justin Jefferson (3)
2. Davante Adams (1)
3. Tyreek Hill (4)
4. Stefon Diggs (2)
5. Ja'Marr Chase (5)
Tier 2:
6. AJ Brown (6)
7. CeeDee Lamb (8), last week's game was very disappointing considering it was ideal game script. Feels like a great bounce back candidate.
8. Jaylen Waddle (9)
9. Amon-Ra St. Brown (7)
Tier 3:
10. Amari Cooper (11)
11. Christian Kirk (12)
12. DK Metcalf (13)
13. Tee Higgins (10)
14. Keenan Allen (22), sure looks like the Keenan Allen of old, rather than old Keenan Allen. Probably my favorite WR to watch, he's uncoverable 1-1.
Tier 4:
15. Tyler Lockett (16)
16. Terry McLaurin (18)
17. Garrett Wilson (20)
18. Mike Williams (19)
19. Chris Godwin (23)
20. DeAndre Hopkins (14), losing Murray removes the ceiling for this passing game. Hopkins/Brown should still see 8 targets weekly, but TDs may be a lot harder to come by.
21. Hollywood Brown (15)
Tier 5:
22. Chris Olave (17)
23. Christian Watson (24)
24. Mike Evans (21)
25. JuJu Smith-Schuster (27)
26. Michael Pittman (25)
Tier 6:
27. DeVonta Smith (26)
28. Jerry Jeudy (37)
Tier 7:
29. Brandon Aiyuk (30)
30. Allen Lazard (31)
31. Adam Thielen (38), more boom/bust than ever before as team's #3 passing option but can have 60+ and a TD in any given week.
32. DJ Moore (33)
33. Zay Jones (40), Jags have embraced pass 1st offense, and Zay has 43 targets in last 4 games.
34. Treylon Burks (35)
35. DJ Chark (NR), back-to-back nice games, and has established himself as the clear #2/deep threat. Think Jameson will affect Reynolds more than Chark.
Tier 8:
36. Jakobi Meyers (36)
37. Courtland Sutton (39)
38. Darius Slayton (32)
39. Diontae Johnson (NR), out targeted Pickens in 3 straight, and now goes back to Trubisky who favors him even more.
40. Deebo Samuel (29), possible he's out for the regular season, but Deebo also has a history of beating timelines, so I'm not out on him yet. Probably looking at week 17 though.

Dropped off: Gabriel Davis (28), always been boom/bust, but the booms are basically random, and in short supply. Also, he's just not anything special as a WR, truthfully, I think McKenzie is better. Bills likely need a #2 next season. Josh Palmer (34), just missed the cut, but Williams will likely be more involved the healthier he gets, and when everyone is healthy, Palmer is a bit of a crapshoot.

 

[travdogg]

TE
Tier 1:
1. Travis Kelce (1)
Tier 2:
2. Mark Andrews (2), has had some bad luck, and obviously injuries to himself and others have hurt, but I think the smart play is to stay the course. Nobody else has his upside after Kelce.
3. TJ Hockenson (5)
4. Dalton Schultz (3)
Tier 3:
5. Pat Freiermuth (8), weird trend the last 2 weeks, lower snaps, but higher targets. I'm gonna bet on his talent, and lack of surrounding talent, and say he finishes strong. Trubisky probably helps.
6. George Kittle (6)
7. Dallas Goedert (4), possible he gets eased in as Eagles are basically locks for the #1 seed with the Vikings loss. That said, he's a great TE, and his injury wasn't likely something that will be chronic so its possible I'm underrating him.
8. David Njoku (7)
Tier 4:
9. Evan Engram (NR), back-to-back top-5 weeks, Engram has been on and off this list all year, but Lawrence looks like he's turned the corner, and is taking guys with him.
10. Gerald Everett (11)
11. Darren Waller (9)
Tier 5:
12. Cole Kmet (10)
13. Hayden Hurst (14)
14. Chigoziem Okonkwo (NR), back-to-back top-8 games, and he looks super explosive in an offense that desperately needs it. He is still however playing behind Hooper, so ceiling is limited until that changes.
15. Greg Dulcich (12)

Dropped off: Juwan Johnson (13), banged up, and offense looks like the drizzling poos. Taysom Hill (15), probably prefer him to Johnson on the off chance they go to him at QB, but he's entirely a mystery as to if he'll score 8+ points, or not see the ball more than 1-2 times.

 

[need2know]

Love your stuff bro.

Waddle hasn't done anything in a month. Why still so high? He's probably staying on my bench

 

[Uncle Leo]

Waller?

 

[travdogg]

Love your stuff bro.

Waddle hasn't done anything in a month. Why still so high? He's probably staying on my bench

I think he's very due for a big game. I don't hold his week 13 against him as he was barely on the field in that one due to getting nicked up. Despite the slow month, Waddle is still WR10 on the season, and the Dolphins D isn't great.

 

[travdogg]

Waller?

He's expected to be back this week, and TE is such that he's instantly a starting caliber option. Also, the Raiders have been needing a #2 behind Adams this whole time.

 

[Judge Smails]

Understand the rankings, but if Jacobs finishes anywhere near RB1 these last 3 weeks with his matchups then I’ll be extremely surprised.

 

[travdogg]

Understand the rankings, but if Jacobs finishes anywhere near RB1 these last 3 weeks with his matchups then I’ll be extremely surprised.

I'm not sure I'm seeing that hard of a schedule. I mean sure SF in week 17 isn't ideal, but I don't see NE as a bad matchup, and Pittsburgh is a legit good matchup.

Pats just gave up 114 and a TD to James Conner and gave up 156 and a TD to the Singletary/Cook combo the week before.

Steelers just gave up 186 and a TD to Dobbins/Gus and 112 yards to Patterson/Allgeier. Not a one of these guys are anywhere near Jacobs league.

 

[LionOfGosforth]

Nice work Trav as always. I never 100% agree with everything but enjoy the logic and different thinking. No love for Goff? He's top 6 last 2 weeks. Also, I think Lockett at WR15 is a bit low, especially behind such up and down types as Cooper. He's scored a td in 6 straight games and basically has a 60/1 floor and he's WR7 in my scoring. Maybe i'm a little biased

 

[Timmay]

Goff still getting no love.

 

[Team Smokin']

TE
Tier 1:
1. Travis Kelce (1)
Tier 2:
2. Mark Andrews (2), has had some bad luck, and obviously injuries to himself and others have hurt, but I think the smart play is to stay the course. Nobody else has his upside after Kelce.
3. TJ Hockenson (5)
4. Dalton Schultz (3)
Tier 3:
5. Pat Freiermuth (8), weird trend the last 2 weeks, lower snaps, but higher targets. I'm gonna bet on his talent, and lack of surrounding talent, and say he finishes strong. Trubisky probably helps.
6. George Kittle (6)
7. Dallas Goedert (4), possible he gets eased in as Eagles are basically locks for the #1 seed with the Vikings loss. That said, he's a great TE, and his injury wasn't likely something that will be chronic so its possible I'm underrating him.
8. David Njoku (7)
Tier 4:
9. Evan Engram (NR), back-to-back top-5 weeks, Engram has been on and off this list all year, but Lawrence looks like he's turned the corner, and is taking guys with him.
10. Gerald Everett (11)
11. Darren Waller (9)
Tier 5:
12. Cole Kmet (10)
13. Hayden Hurst (14)
14. Chigoziem Okonkwo (NR), back-to-back top-8 games, and he looks super explosive in an offense that desperately needs it. He is still however playing behind Hooper, so ceiling is limited until that changes.
15. Greg Dulcich (12)

Dropped off: Juwan Johnson (13), banged up, and offense looks like the drizzling poos. Taysom Hill (15), probably prefer him to Johnson on the off chance they go to him at QB, but he's entirely a mystery as to if he'll score 8+ points, or not see the ball more than 1-2 times.

I woke up to hearing about the Driskel kid. And picked him up in two leagues for potential.
Jeff Driskel, HOU QB, TE listed on Yahoo leagues.
Any insights Travdogg? Freiermuth had a Q tag and I started looking around at TE. Muth looks like he'll be good to go. I generally wouldn't carry a second TE unless there is upside / injury status in question.

 

[MCFootball123]

First of all - love this, and have followed it all year. Much appreciated.

Moving Waddle above St Brown is as egregious as anything I've seen! St Brown is on fire - Waddle definitely isn't. The reasoning is you "feel" like he's going to have a good game? St Brown was hurt more games and is WR6. Big difference in ppg.

Yes I am a St Brown owner

 

[travdogg]

Goff still getting no love.

Nice work Trav as always. I never 100% agree with everything but enjoy the logic and different thinking. No love for Goff? He's top 6 last 2 weeks. Also, I think Lockett at WR15 is a bit low, especially behind such up and down types as Cooper. He's scored a td in 6 straight games and basically has a 60/1 floor and he's WR7 in my scoring. Maybe i'm a little biased

Goff had 2 straight excellent matchups against the Jags and Vikings, that were both indoors (which makes a bigger difference with him than any other QB in the league) and had season high pass attempts. I see those as outlier games, though the other side of that could be having Chark and to a lesser extent Jameson playing.

I think I'm actually higher than most on Lockett. Still, I've never really liked TD dependent guys, as TDs have proven to be the least reliable stats. Sure, there are outliers, but Lockett has only topped 68 yards once since week 5.

Its possible I'm still giving too much credit/weight to Watson getting better the more he plays and extending that to Cooper. But I do think his ceiling is higher than Lockett's.

 

[travdogg]

TE
Tier 1:
1. Travis Kelce (1)
Tier 2:
2. Mark Andrews (2), has had some bad luck, and obviously injuries to himself and others have hurt, but I think the smart play is to stay the course. Nobody else has his upside after Kelce.
3. TJ Hockenson (5)
4. Dalton Schultz (3)
Tier 3:
5. Pat Freiermuth (8), weird trend the last 2 weeks, lower snaps, but higher targets. I'm gonna bet on his talent, and lack of surrounding talent, and say he finishes strong. Trubisky probably helps.
6. George Kittle (6)
7. Dallas Goedert (4), possible he gets eased in as Eagles are basically locks for the #1 seed with the Vikings loss. That said, he's a great TE, and his injury wasn't likely something that will be chronic so its possible I'm underrating him.
8. David Njoku (7)
Tier 4:
9. Evan Engram (NR), back-to-back top-5 weeks, Engram has been on and off this list all year, but Lawrence looks like he's turned the corner, and is taking guys with him.
10. Gerald Everett (11)
11. Darren Waller (9)
Tier 5:
12. Cole Kmet (10)
13. Hayden Hurst (14)
14. Chigoziem Okonkwo (NR), back-to-back top-8 games, and he looks super explosive in an offense that desperately needs it. He is still however playing behind Hooper, so ceiling is limited until that changes.
15. Greg Dulcich (12)

Dropped off: Juwan Johnson (13), banged up, and offense looks like the drizzling poos. Taysom Hill (15), probably prefer him to Johnson on the off chance they go to him at QB, but he's entirely a mystery as to if he'll score 8+ points, or not see the ball more than 1-2 times.

I woke up to hearing about the Driskel kid. And picked him up in two leagues for potential.
Jeff Driskel, HOU QB, TE listed on Yahoo leagues.
Any insights Travdogg? Freiermuth had a Q tag and I started looking around at TE. Muth looks like he'll be good to go. I generally wouldn't carry a second TE unless there is upside / injury status in question.

Driskell is Wal-Mart brand Taysom Hill in my opinion. I'd be surprised if he had as much success as he had this week again though. Houston had a perfect game script for Driskel jumping out to a sizeable lead. I suspect KC won't be as flat as Dallas was.

 

[travdogg]

First of all - love this, and have followed it all year. Much appreciated.

Moving Waddle above St Brown is as egregious as anything I've seen! St Brown is on fire - Waddle definitely isn't. The reasoning is you "feel" like he's going to have a good game? St Brown was hurt more games and is WR6. Big difference in ppg.

Yes I am a St Brown owner

When I say I feel that Waddle is going to have a good game, I don't mean in a Miss Cleo kind of way, I mean all of his utilization metrics, and the offense he plays in, make it almost hard for him not to.

I love St. Brown, he's one of my favorite players to watch this season, but I can't help but notice that's not the only game in town that he was a couple weeks ago. Chark is a big part of this offense now, and its possible, though less likely Jameson Williams becomes one. St. Brown had his worst game in 5 weeks last week, despite Goff having his best. Not worried about St. Brown, he'll get his, but I personally think his ceiling is a little lower now.

Overall, moving Waddle (and Lamb) ahead of St. Brown is more about Detroit's other weapons than anything else.