Fantasy football rankings vs. expert consensus – Week 16

It is that time of year again. Lineups need to be set, and with that comes some tough decisions. We’re in the thick of the playoff in Week 16, the semis for most, so the stakes are at their highest point yet, and this week’s start/sit decisions are that much more critical. 

One of the most popular tools here at FTN is our fantasy football rankings. Each week, we bring you non-PPR, PPR and half-PPR rankings to help you win your league. 

Throughout the season, I will break down which players our FTN rankers prefer more (or less) than the expert consensus rankings found at FantasyPros. For this article, I will be looking at the half-PPR format.

Quarterback 

QBs the FTN rankers like more than ECR

QBs the FTN rankers like less than ECR

• As we head into the semifinals, we see only minor differences between the ECR and our FTN ranks within the quarterback ranks. 
• Within the top five, we see that Joe Burrow and Justin Fields are flipped, with our rankers preferring Burrow. 
• Dak Prescott and Daniel Jones are both ranked one spot higher by our FTN rankers inside the top 10. 
• The most significant differences come within players who our FTN rankers have lower than the ECR with Geno Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Gardner Minshew and Deshaun Watson all being two spots lower than the ECR.

Running Back 

RBs the FTN rankers like more than ECR

RBs the FTN rankers like less than ECR

• The most significant difference between the ECR and our FTN ranks is with Jerick McKinnon, as our rankers have him five spots lower than the ECR, but both have him inside the top 20. 
• After this we also see a significant gap between Nick Chubb and Raheem Mostert who our rankers have three spots lower than the ECR. 
• We can also see AJ Dillon has a three-spot difference, but our rankers are more in on Dillon than the ECR. 
• Within the top 10 we also see our rankers in more on Saquon Barkley and James Conner as we have them two spots higher than the ECR. 
• Additionally, we see our rankers favor Christian McCaffrey to Derrick Henry at the top of the rankings. 
• Latavius Murray is another player our rankers have two spots higher than the ECR.
• Isiah Pacheco and Miles Sanders are also players our FTN rankers prefer this week as we have them two spots higher than the ECR.
• On the flip side, we see that our rankers are a bit lower on Josh Jacobs, Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon. 

Wide Receiver

WRs the FTN rankers like more than ECR

WRs the FTN rankers like less than ECR

• Within the wide receiver ranks we see the most significant difference is with Terry McLaurin who our rankers have four spots lower than the ECR and Michael Pittman who our Rankers have four spots higher than the ECR. 
• Within the top 10 we see our FTN rankers are more in on A.J. Brown and Amon-Ra St. Brown as they have both of them ranked higher than the ECR.
• We also see that JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquise Brown and Allen Lazard are all players who our rankers have two spits higher than the ECR. 
• On the flip side, we see DeVonta Smith, DJ Moore and Diontae Johnson being ranked two spots lower than the ECR. 
• We also see three players who our rankers are a bit lower on inside the top 10, Stefon Diggs, DK Metcalf and CeeDee Lamb who are all one spot lower than the ECR.
• Jaylen Waddle, Mike Williams and Christian Watson are all inside the top 20 this week in both sets of rankings but the ECR prefers them a bit more than our rankers. 

Tight End

TEs the FTN rankers like more than ECR

TEs the FTN rankers like less than ECR

• For another week we see that the ECR and our FTN rankers are fairly aligned within the top 15 tight ends. 
• The most significant difference is with Darren Waller as our ranked are less in on him than the ECR this week. 
• On the flip side, we see that our rankers are more in on Pat Freiermuth and Greg Dulcich this week, having them both as top-12 options.