2020 Fantasy Football Tiers (Non-PPR)

By: Clifford Buck, Fantasy Analyst

These rankings/tiers will all be based off of ESPN’s Non-PPR scoring and standard settings (1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX).

We’re in the second half of August, teams are starting to practice in full pads, everyone’s in the best shape of their lives (lol), Bruce Arians is cussing out Tom Brady, football is back. With no preseason games and so many questions about COVID, this will be one of the most unpredictable seasons ever, especially when it comes to fantasy football. That doesn’t mean you still can’t do all the draft prep possible. My rankings look different this year as I’ve incorporated positional tiers. We’ll start off looking at each position individually, but at the end we will combine all the tiers into what could be an ideal draft strategy,

RB Tiers:

Player	Team	Tier
Christian McCaffrey	CAR	I
Saquon Barkley	NYG	I
Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	I
Alvin Kamara	NO	I
Dalvin Cook	MIN	I
Derrick Henry	TEN	I
Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	II
Josh Jacobs	LV	II
Miles Sanders	PHI	II
Joe Mixon	CIN	II
Austin Ekeler	LAC	II
Kenyan Drake	ARI	III
Nick Chubb	CLE	III
Aaron Jones	GB	III
James Conner	PIT	IV
Todd Gurley	ATL	IV
David Montgomery	CHI	IV
David Johnson	HOU	IV
Leonard Fournette	JAX	IV
Le’Veon Bell	NYJ	IV
Chris Carson	SEA	IV
Jonathan Taylor	IND	V
Cam Akers	LAR	V
Ronald Jones	TB	V
D’Andre Swift	DET	V
Melvin Gordon	DEN	V
Devin Singletary	BUF	VI
Raheem Mostert	SF	VI
Mark Ingram	BAL	VI
Kareem Hunt	CLE	VI
Antonio Gibson	WAS	VII
JK Dobbins	BAL	VII
Phillip Lindsay	DEN	VII
Jordan Howard	MIA	VII
Tevin Coleman	SF	VII
James White	NE	VII
Tarik Cohen	CHI	VII
Kerryon Johnson	DET	VII
Darrell Henderson	LAR	VII
Zach Moss	BUF	VII

Takeaways:

First let me remind you that this is for Non-PPR scoring. Second, just because Derrick Henry is in the same tier as CMC that doesn’t mean I’d ever pick Henry over CMC. 

Tier one is pretty simple, for me it’s the true workhorse running backs that have extremely high floors. You can’t really go wrong if you land one of these guys. Initially I had Cook in tier 2 because of a potential hold out, but reportedly he’s been a full participant so far in training camp. 

The next tier is probably my favorite tier amongst all the position groups. With Damien Williams opting out, Clyde Edwards-Helaire (CEH) has an opportunity to be a three-down back lining up behind Patrick Mahomes in an Andy Reid offense. That’s overall RB1 potential right there. According to PFF, Josh Jacobs had the second most efficient RB season last year, sandwiched right in between Nick Chubb and Christian McCaffrey. Considering he was playing injured for the majority of the second half of last season, that efficiency is damn impressive coming for a rookie. Just imagine if he sees more snaps on third downs. Miles Sanders really came on strong to end his rookie season. The only time he saw more than 15 combined carries and receptions was in weeks 13-16, when he averaged 18.55 fantasy points per game. The Eagles let Jordan Howard walk in free agency and didn’t sign any veteran backs, so it looks like Sanders could become a true workhorse this season. Once Cincinnati started feeded Mixon like a bellcow, his production spiked. Before his week 9 bye Mixon saw 20 touches in a game once, after the bye he received 20 touches in a game six different times. In those six contests he averaged 17.53 fantasy points per game. Now he’s playing with the number one overall pick at QB and AJ Green is back to help stretch the field. Austin Ekeler is the last member of this tier and for good reason. Melvin Gordon is now in Denver and Ekeler has absolutely crushed it every time he’s played without sharing touches with Gordon. Through the first four weeks of last season (before Gordon reported to the team), Ekeler averaged 20 touches and 20.75 fantasy points per game. Derrick Henry was the second highest scoring RB last season and he averaged 18.4 points per game. 

Tier three is probably where I’ll receive the most backlash. Let me start this tier off talking about Nick Chubb, because if Kareem Hunt wasn’t in Cleveland Chubb would be in tier one. But, if Nick Chubb wasn’t in Cleveland Hunt would be in tier one, maybe top of tier two because of his off the field issues. I think both backs should help each other’s efficiency and actual, real football impact, but I’m not as sure about Chubb’s volume as I am the guys in the tiers above. The same kind of argument could be made for Aaron Jones. While Green Bay doesn’t have a Kareem Hunt caliber back up, they are returning pass catching back Jamaal Williams and they used a second round draft pick on AJ Dillon. While I don’t think AJ Dillon (6’0’’ 247 lbs) will take away too many touches, I could easily see the Packers using him as a goal line back and complement to the more elusive Jones. I also have to mention that Jones scored an absurd 19 touchdowns last season and is due for some regression in that area. The last guy in this tier comes with the most risk, in my opinion, but also the most upside. Kenyan Drake played eight games for Arizona last year and had some mixed results. On the one hand, he finished the season last year with 38.6 points, followed up with 30.4 points, and ended the season with a 14.3 point performance. On the other hand, he played eight games for Arizona, was the starter in all eight, and he finished with 8.0 points or less four different times. He’s in a great position to build off the end of his last season, which would make him an elite fantasy option, but don’t be surprised if he ends up in a timeshare by the end of the year either. 

After tier three I think there’s somewhat of a drop-off. I’m going to keep it rather brief on the rest of the tiers. Tier four consists of the rest of the running backs that are coming into this season as their teams lead ball carrier. The only difference between these players and the one’s in tiers above them are all the question marks. Conner – injuries, Gurley – injuries, Montgomery – efficiency, Johnson – injuries, Fournette – terrible team/on trade block, Carson – competition for touches/hopefully Seattle realizes they have Russell Wilson. 

Tier five is all the guys that are in a new setting/rookies who are the favorites but have competition for lead back duties. Ronald Jones technically didn’t change teams but his setting has certainly changed, swapping turnover prone Jameis Winston for game managing Tom Brady. 

Tier six is guys that should be locked in for about 10-15 touches per game. It’s hard to imagine any of them seeing more than that unless something happens to one of their backfield counterparts. Tier seven is a weird mix of veterans that you know what you’re going to get and young players that seem to have the second best odds of winning lead back duties for their respected teams. 

WR Tiers:

Player	Team	Tier
Davante Adams	GB	I
Michael Thomas	NO	I
Tyreek Hill	KC	II
Julio Jones	ATL	II
DeAndre Hopkins	ARI	II
Adam Thielen	MIN	III
DJ Moore	CAR	III
Mike Evans	TB	III
Chris Godwin	TB	III
Odell Beckham Jr.	CLE	IV
Kenny Golladay	DET	IV
Robert Woods	LAR	IV
Allen Robinson	CHI	IV
JuJu Smith-Schuster	PIT	IV
Terry McLaurin	WAS	V
DJ Chark	JAX	V
AJ Brown	TEN	V
AJ Green	CIN	VI
Courtland Sutton	DEN	VI
Keenan Allen	LAC	VI
Stefon Diggs	BUF	VI
Amari Cooper	DAL	VI
Cooper Kupp	LAR	VI
Calvin Ridley	ATL	VI
DK Metcalf	SEA	VI
Marquise Brown	BAL	VI
TY Hilton	IND	VI
DeVante Parker	MIA	VI
Tyler Lockett	SEA	VI
Henry Ruggs	LV	VII
Jerry Jeudy	DEN	VII
Will Fuller	HOU	VIII
Darius Slayton	NYG	VIII
CeeDee Lamb	DAL	VIII
Michael Gallup	DAL	VIII
Jamison Crowder	NYJ	VIII
Mike Williams	LAC	VIII
Julian Edelman	NE	VIII
Jarvis Landry	CLE	VIII
Diontae Johnson	PIT	VIII
Deebo Samuel	SF	VIII
Golden Tate	NYG	VIII
Brandin Cooks	HOU	VIII
Tyler Boyd	CIN	VIII
N’Keal Harry	NE	IX
Jalen Reagor	PHI	IX
Justin Jefferson	MIN	IX
Hunter Renfrow	LV	IX
Mecole Hardman	KC	IX
Van Jefferson	LAR	IX

Takeaways:

Let’s start this off with the fact that Davante Adams is listed above Michael Thomas. These are the clear top receivers coming into this season, and maybe the only one’s getting drafted in first rounds this year. You can’t go wrong with either one, but if I had to pick one I would go with the more consistent touchdown producer in Adams. 

The next tier consists of three guys that can score from anywhere on the field and are their teams clear number one receiver. If Hopkins was still in Houston he’d probably be in tier one, but we have to account for some early struggles as he adapts to a new situation. 

Tier three includes three different types of situations. With Stefon Diggs now in Buffalo, Thielen is the clear go to target for Kirk Cousins. The only problem with him is his lack of top-end speed and the fact that the Vikings are going to lean on the run even more this season. DJ Moore is entering his third NFL season coming off of a 1,175 yard campaign. What kept Moore from popping in this scoring format last season was his lack of touchdowns. He only scored four times last year, but he should be due some positive regression. It helps that the Panthers defense is going through a rebuild, so they should be a part of a lot of shootouts or airing it out playing from behind. Mike Evans and Chris Godwin make up the rest of this tier, which may come as a surprise to some. Most people have this dynamic duo ranked higher amongst WR, but I just don’t see it. As I mentioned in the RB section, Tampa Bay has swapped out turnover prone Winston for game managing Brady. While it’s an upgrade at QB, it’s not necessarily an upgrade for fantasy. All of Winston’s turnovers, particularly all of his pick-sixes, led to Tampa playing from behind or being a part of shootouts. They had to air it out almost every game. Brady should run a much more controlled offense which would lead to less opportunity. Tampa also signed Brady’s BFF Rob Gronkowski, and man does he look good/healthy. We don’t know what kind of role Gronk will be playing or how many snaps, but any amount of Gronk means less targets for Evans and Godwin. 

Tier four is made up of top targets who are either looking to bounce back (OBJ, JuJu, Woods?) or who need to become more consistent to make the next jump. OBJ and JuJu are both big time talents that need to bounce back after very disappointing 2019 seasons. Golladay and Robinson both need to become more consistent. Golladay had four games last season where he scored 4.4 points or less, that’s not someone you should feel comfortable starting as your WR1 (where he’s currently being drafted). Robinson had nine games where he scored 8.6 or less, and that includes a four week stretch where he scored 6.2, 0.6, 8.6, and 1.5 respectively. Woods is kind of in the middle of OBJ/JuJu and Golladay/Robinson. While Woods is essentially 1A to Cooper Kupps 1B, Woods has the higher upside of the two due to his superior ability to play on the outside. Over the past two seasons Woods has caught a combined 176 passes for a total of 2,353 yards. He has also rushed a combined 36 times for a total of 272 yards over those two seasons. That’s 212 touches and 2,625 yards over two seasons, or 106 touches and 1,312.5 yards average per season. The only problem with Woods has been scoring touchdowns, he scored three last season. 

Tier five consists of a third year receiver, Chark, who is coming off a breakout season and two second year receivers, McLaurin and Brown, who are coming off extremely productive rookie seasons. These three are above tier six because they are their team’s clear number one wideout while also still being young enough that they could take a leap into stardom at the receiver position. 

The tier below those three is a long list of rather well known commodities. Courtland Sutton may be listed lower here than he is elsewhere, but the Broncos added two dynamic receivers early in the NFL draft, they signed a good pass catching running back in Melvin Gordon, and they should expect Noah Fant to continue to improve at tight end. That’s a lot of mouths to feed for young Drew Lock. The same argument could be made for Amari Cooper. Cooper is already inconsistent, but now you add CeeDee Lamb and there’s a real possibility that he could completely disappear in a few games this season. For the most part this tier comes down to who you personally like better, because any one of these guys could have the best season of the group. Some of the guys that I think have the highest upside in this group are Green, Diggs, Brown, and Metcalf. 

This next tier is one of my favorites. Tier seven consists of just two players, both first round rookies from Alabama. Before this past NFL draft there had been three Alabama wide receivers drafted in the first round since 2011: Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, and Calvin Ridley. Ridley had the least amount of yards of those three during his rookie year, with 821. He also caught 10 touchdowns that season. Cooper finished with over 1,000 yards and 6 touchdowns, and Jones finished with 959 yards and 8 touchdowns while only playing in 13 games. It’s probably a safe bet that at least one, maybe both, of Ruggs and Jeudy have a pretty impressive year. 

The rest of the guys below those tiers should all come down to personal preference, if you draft Tyler Boyd over Will Fuller nobody should really question you. 

There is one guy in the last tier that some people have probably never heard of, so let me try to sell you on him: What if I told you the Rams traded away one of their most talented offensive players, only to use a second round draft pick on a player at the same position. Sounds a lot like the Rams trading away Todd Gurley and then selecting Cam Akers, which is true, but they also traded away Brandin Cooks and then drafted Van Jefferson out of Florida. The same Van Jefferson that started over and out produced AJ Brown and DK Metcalf while they were all at Ole Miss. Just something to think about. 

TE Tiers:

Player	Team	Tier
Travis Kelce	KC	I
George Kittle	SF	I
Mark Andrews	BAL	II
Darren Waller	LV	III
Zach Ertz	PHI	III
Rob Gronkowski	NE	IV
Evan Engram	NYG	IV
Hayden Hurst	ATL	V
Tyler Higbee	LAR	V
Austin Hooper	CLE	V
Hunter Henry	LAC	V
TJ Hockenson	DET	VI
Noah Fant	DEN	VI
Eric Ebron	PIT	VI
Jonnu Smith	TEN	VI
Mike Gesicki	MIA	VII
Jack Doyle	IND	VII
Irv Smith Jr.	MIN	VIII
Ian Thomas	CAR	VIII
Dallas Goedert	PHI	VIII

Takeaways:

The top two here are no brainers. Most people have Kelce ranked higher than Kittle, but nobody should be shocked if Kittle were to get drafted first between the two. 

Mark Andrews is tier three and ahead of the next couple of guys because of his enormous upside. Andrews is only 23 and he’s the top redzone target, if not the top overall target, on one of the most potent offenses in the NFL. He finished second amongst tight ends in fantasy scoring last season while playing only 41% of Baltimore’s offensive snaps. That’s insane. With Andrews reportedly newly built physique and Hayden Hurst being dealt to Atlanta, he should be on the field a lot more often this season. 

In the next tier we have a highly consistent veteran in Zach Ertz and a 27-year-old ex-WR coming off his first full season as a tight end. Waller finished last season as the fourth highest scoring tight end and he only caught three touchdowns. 

Tier four is two guys that you could hopefully wait a little longer to draft and they could finish the season as a top-3 tight end, or outside the top-15. For Engram it’s simple, can he stay healthy. For Gronk part of it is can he stay healthy, but the other part is we don’t exactly know what kind of role he’ll play. He could be used on a strict snap count that limits his upside or he could be unleashed and regain his title as one of the top tight ends in the game. Just a note, Gronk is only five months older than Kelce. 

The next tier consists of the quadruple H’s: Hurst, Higbee, Hooper, and Henry. They are the last somewhat safe bets at the position. Hurst or Highbee have the highest ceiling, but all four should finish somewhere in the TE4-TE12 range assuming good health. 

The rest of the tight end tiers should all be considered risks, some more than others. If you’re without a tight end from the first five tiers you should strongly consider drafting two or three of the remaining guys, one could be last year’s Mark Andrews or Darren Waller.

QB TIERS:

Player	Team	Tier
Lamar Jackson	BAL	I
Patrick Mahomes	KC	I
Kyler Murray	ARI	II
Dak Prescott	DAL	II
Deshaun Watson	HOU	II
Russell Wilson	SEA	II
Josh Allen	BUF	III
Carson Wentz	PHI	IV
Daniel Jones	NYG	IV
Tom Brady	TB	IV
Aaron Rodgers	GB	IV
Matt Ryan	ATL	IV
Drew Brees	NO	IV
Cam Newton	NE	V
Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	V
Joe Burrow	CIN	V
Ryan Tannehill	TEN	V
Baker Mayfield	CLE	V
Drew Lock	DEN	V
Sam Darnold	NYJ	V

Takeaways:

Tier one is a no brainer, it just comes down to who you prefer between Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. While I think Mahomes is the better quarterback, I prefer Jackson’s huge rushing upside. 

Tier two is a bunch of guys that nobody would be surprised to see finish as overall QB1 this fantasy season. 

Tier three is Josh Allen. His inaccuracy as a passer keeps him from tier two, but his huge rushing upside gives him a safer floor than anybody in tier four. 

The only difference between tier four and tier five is the risk that comes with each player. Cam and Big Ben are coming off injury plagued seasons, Burrow is a rookie, and Tannehill, Mayfield, Lock, and Darnold all have a high ceiling but I see their floors being much lower than the tier above them. 

Draft Strategy:

Player	Team	Position	Tier
Christian McCaffrey	CAR	RB	I
Saquon Barkley	NYG	RB	I
Ezekiel Elliott	DAL	RB	I
Alvin Kamara	NO	RB	I
Dalvin Cook	MIN	RB	I
Derrick Henry	TEN	RB	I
Davante Adams	GB	WR	I
Michael Thomas	NO	WR	I
Clyde Edwards-Helaire	KC	RB	II
Josh Jacobs	LV	RB	II
Miles Sanders	PHI	RB	II
Joe Mixon	CIN	RB	II
Austin Ekeler	LAC	RB	II
Tyreek Hill	KC	WR	II
Julio Jones	ATL	WR	II
DeAndre Hopkins	ARI	WR	II
Kenyan Drake	ARI	RB	III
Nick Chubb	CLE	RB	III
Aaron Jones	GB	RB	III
Travis Kelce	KC	TE	I
George Kittle	SF	TE	I
Lamar Jackson	BAL	QB	I
Patrick Mahomes	KC	QB	I
Adam Thielen	MIN	WR	III
DJ Moore	CAR	WR	III
Mike Evans	TB	WR	III
Chris Godwin	TB	WR	III
Mark Andrews	BAL	TE	II
James Conner	PIT	RB	IV
Todd Gurley	ATL	RB	IV
Odell Beckham Jr.	CLE	WR	IV
Kenny Golladay	DET	WR	IV
David Montgomery	CHI	RB	IV
Robert Woods	LAR	WR	IV
David Johnson	HOU	RB	IV
Allen Robinson	CHI	WR	IV
JuJu Smith-Schuster	PIT	WR	IV
Leonard Fournette	JAX	RB	IV
Le’Veon Bell	NYJ	RB	IV
Chris Carson	SEA	RB	IV
Darren Waller	LV	TE	III
Zach Ertz	PHI	TE	III
Terry McLaurin	WAS	WR	V
DJ Chark	JAX	WR	V
AJ Brown	TEN	WR	V
Kyler Murray	ARI	QB	II
Dak Prescott	DAL	QB	II
Deshaun Watson	HOU	QB	II
Russell Wilson	SEA	QB	II
Jonathan Taylor	IND	RB	V
Cam Akers	LAR	RB	V
Ronald Jones	TB	RB	V
D’Andre Swift	DET	RB	V
Melvin Gordon	DEN	RB	V
AJ Green	CIN	WR	VI
Courtland Sutton	DEN	WR	VI
Keenan Allen	LAC	WR	VI
Stefon Diggs	BUF	WR	VI
Amari Cooper	DAL	WR	VI
Cooper Kupp	LAR	WR	VI
Calvin Ridley	ATL	WR	VI
DK Metcalf	SEA	WR	VI
Marquise Brown	BAL	WR	VI
TY Hilton	IND	WR	VI
DeVante Parker	MIA	WR	VI
Tyler Lockett	SEA	WR	VI
Devin Singletary	BUF	RB	VI
Raheem Mostert	SF	RB	VI
Mark Ingram	BAL	RB	VI
Kareem Hunt	CLE	RB	VI
Rob Gronkowski	NE	TE	IV
Evan Engram	NYG	TE	IV
Henry Ruggs	LV	WR	VII
Jerry Jeudy	DEN	WR	VII

Takeaways:

There is a lot here. One note I have: I tried to keep it ordered by positional tiers, but I did combine tier four from the running backs and wide receivers. At that point in the draft you likely have around three players, so merging those two tiers basically shows that the value of those groups are about the same and you should just pick the player that you like the best.  Obviously it’s not going to be perfect, but if you followed this for say the first 4-6 rounds, you’d probably have a really nice foundation to build upon. I don’t have much else to say here, as I already summarized the positional tiers, but feel free to comment if you have any questions.

-Clifford Buck