2025 Preseason Power Rankings

 

Here we are again, fellow owners. The Boys League has been renewed for a fifth season. This medium cannot properly express my excitement and eagerness for the NFL season to begin, and the fantasy football season with it.

Now, you've all heard this before, but I want to restate how disgusted I am by Yahoo's ranking and grading system. It is clear their ADP criteria does not account for our league setting, nor does it factor in our ownership group's savviness over that of other inferior fantasy football leagues (the names of which I will not utter here). It has a team finishing 14-0, for crying out loud! Rest assured, dear owners, I have barely considered the Yahoo rankings in my own, which we shall get to presently.

You all know that last season I provided (or at least attempted to provide) predictions for each team in the fantasy football landscape. Unfortunately, the relationship between the Great Oracle (May his beard grow ever longer, and his potions remain ever-potent!) and I has become a bit strained over the recent months, and so his wisdom has become veiled to my eyes and ears. Therefore, the predictions provided for each owner is from my own reasoning, and not some preternatural insight. Take what is said with a grain of salt, if you will.

My apologies, but one more clarification: For each team, I have provided a grade for each position according to roster, on a 1-10 scale, 1 being the strongest, and 10 being the weakest (obviously). Your individual draft grade is heavily dependent on this, but is not directly tied to your preseason power ranking. It is more a consideration of how I think your draft strategy led to your position on this list.

Thank you for reading through this introduction, and now for the rankings themselves...

1. Travis ("Justin Deez Nuts")

(QB/RB/WR/TE) 8/3/6/1

  I was not sure where I was going to put this team at first, but when looking over the roster more, I very much like the strategy here. Travy committed to grabbing the best TE in fantasy in Brock Bowers (1), and pairing him with top ten options in the WR1 and RB1s (Jahmyr Gibbs & Drake London, 2 & 9 respectively). The rest of the lineup are solid fill in options which offer a healthy mix of floor depth and exciting upside players. On the QB front, the group is thin on paper, consisting only on two second year players: Caleb Williams (10) and JJ McCarthy (19). But if one or both of them breaks out, this team will be a true force to be reckoned with.

Grade: (A) Not quite at the A+ level for me, but it's hard to find too many flaws here. This team receives the only A grade I gave this year.

Prediction: This team will stumble out of the gates a bit, but once everything clicks together, they wil lgo on a strong run that will see them make the playoffs, while fighting for a division title. Jahmyr Gibbs wil finish as the RB1 overall, and Drake London as the WR6.

2. Joe, of the Guinee variety ("So...what's going on?")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 9/1/3/5

Analysis was high on Guinee's team this year, and when giving a closer look to the overall roster, it isn't had to see why. Taking a look at the roster, there is excellent balance. Let's start at WR: Malik Nabers (5) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (6) at the starting spots, with Mike Evans (17) and Rome Odunze (28) contending for flex position. The RBs: Glorious Saquon Barkley (3), Jonathan Taylor (10), and Tony Pollard (23) providing nice balance, with Tyrone Tracy (26) as a more than acceptable RB4. Now, the QB and TE positions don't provide the same inspirational thoughts, but you hope they can at least do their part, and not hold back what is otherwise a strong roster.

Grade: (B+) I wanted to give this team an A, I really did. But there was a decent amount of auto-drafting going on, by my estimation, and while that often provides a solid team, it doesn't get a strong grade from me for overall strategy.

Prediction:

3. Pat ("A Lamb to the Slaughter")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 10/5/2/3

Fantasy football is for the bold, and Pat is a bold man. Rolling the dice of Christian McCaffrey (4) once again as his first round pick. He followed that up by taking one of the highest regarded WRs in CeeDee Lamb (2) as well as a top tier TE in Trey McBride (2). Josh Jacobs (11) makes for a strong RB2, and current and former Jets WRs (Davante Adams, 15 & Garrett Wilson, 17) round out the starting skill position players. I'm not quite as high on either of them, for differing reasons, but the least there is depth behind them, with the boom-bust Xavier Worthy (22) and reliable Jakobi Meyers (47) rounding out the room. The depth at RB leaves something to be desired, so you hope one of those situations plays out well for peace of mind, but that shouldn't be a concern if you get what you'd expect from the star players. The real blemish is in the QB room, with a promising but young Drake Maye (13) and Sam Darnold (28). I'm going out on a limb to say this doesn't outright hurt their prospects, but I am more concerned about this room than I am of any other team's.

Grade: (B+) That's right, a 'B'... as in, 'bold strategy'. And his IR spot is already filled too! Never change, Pat.

Prediction: CMC will stay healthy for the majority of the season, and while he might not end up being the fantasy cheat code of years past, he will finally reward Pat's faith in him. What will doom Pat this time is that his WR room won't be as good as he expects, and he will refuse to pay for high level QB, instead going to the waiver wire to pick up... Jaxson Dart?!)

4. Justin ("Goff My Ass")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 6/10/1/8

To start off, I am blown away by the starting WR talent on this roster: JaMarr Chase (1), Puka Nacua (4), & Terry McLaurin (20) seems almost unfair. Without question, this is the top group in the league. The QB room has three solid options, led by second year phenom Bo Nix (8) and team mascot captain Jared Goff (14). The TE room isn't awe inspiring, but has two solid contributors in Tucker Kraft (11) and Zach Ertz (17). That's all pretty solid when taken as a whole, but we are still missing a fairly important part of said whole: the RB room. If this WR room is the best in the league, then they balanced that by having the worst RB room in the league. James Cook (14) and David Montgomery (25) are not bad players, and they are both attached to top tier offences, but so much of their scoring came from TD spikes last season, and each of their respective outlooks coming into this year points to at least some statistical regression. Now, having read that, you might be asking yourself why I still have them so high on this rankings, and my answer is simply that in a PPR league, having three legitimate WRs can make up for a lot of flaws. Maybe.

Grade: (B) On the whole, this team took values when they were there for the taking, but one or two questionable decisions holds me back from giving a higher grade.

Prediction: This team will not finish in last place. That's my bold prediction. There you go.

5. Zach ("Got vax?")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 7/4/7/2

Zach went into this draft with one mission, and he achieved it. The Bock Purdy-George Kittle (11-3) stack was obtained at a reasonable cost. Justin Herbert (17) is the ever-enticing but often disappointing QB2. Drafting Travis Kelce (7) a few rounds later was... a choice. It's excellent depth, I suppose. The RB room has a strong hero RB in one Bijan Robinson (1), paired with the talented yet injury-prone Kenneth Walker III (16), alongside his faithful Robin, Zach Charbonnet (32). The WR room leaves me with a few questions, but I don't mind Brian Thomas Jr. (8) as a WR1. A few questions, but middle-of-the-road feels like a fair rating.

Grade: (C) Feels a bit low, but a few questionable strategy decisions in the mid and late rounds of the draft, that would have given this team a bit more upside in my eyes. I feel like it is a fair grade, albeit not a very complementary one.

Prediction: A team which will once again be mired in mediocrity, right there in playoff contention, but unable to return to the Promised Land.

6. Victor ("Daniels in the Lions Den")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 4/6/5/7

This team came out of the draft without having what would be considered a lot of star names, but in its place they managed to build a roster with both depth and potential upside. There are currently eight rookies on the 15 man roster, by far the most of any team, and these will be lead into battle by second year QB Jayden Daniels (3) as well as Jordan Love (16). Bucky Irving (9) is an interesting choice for RB1, a healthy Nico Collins (6) has an outside shot to finish as WR1 this season, and David Njoku (8) has his carpool buddy back as his starting QB. With a lot of unknowns, it's hard to put this team much higher than where they are, but it will be an intriguing team to follow.

Grade: (B-) Yeah, I think it went fairly well, all things considered.

Prediction: Some of the rookeis will click and thrive, some will not. This team will trade at least one of the rookies that do, and live to regret it when the playoffs approach.

7. David ("Dream On")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 5/9/4/4

On the other end of the spectrum, David decided to gravitate towards old dudes with notoriety. I jest, of course (mostly...), and there are quite a few likeable players on this roster, starting with Patrick Mahomes (6) and Baker Mayfield (9) as the starting QBs. Justin Jefferson (3) and Ladd McConkey (11) are both excellent WR1s for their teams, and the TE rooms have people you have heard of before. The RB room is not the most exciting of groups, but PPR machine Alvin Kamara and a returning Isiah Pacheco (22) should be able to give you something of a floor, even if their ceilings are decidedly lower than most other rooms.

Grade: (C-) David left the draft without taking a Browns player. Mission accomplished, I'd imagine.

Prediction: This team will miss the fantasy playoffs. But just barely, and in heartbreaking fashion.

8. Peter ("Lamarijuana and Jeanty Juice")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 2/2/8/9

Remember what I said before about making bold/risky picks for the hope of reaching higher? Well, it feels like this team made bold picks for it's own sake. At least a third of the roster are players designated as HIGH risk of injury or re-injury this season, namely Devon Achane (6), Tee Higgins (12), James Connor (30), Jaylen Waddle (32), and JK Dobbins (39). This team will cross their fingers for health and upside potential from players like Justin Fields (15) and Dalton Kinkaid (14), otherwise it will put a lot on the shoulders of Lamar Jackson (1), who is an elite QB yes, but who also ended up being on a last place team last fantasy season. Oh, and as of now Quinshon Judkins (34) still hasn't signed with the Browns...

Grade: (C-) Some good picks for the most part, I think. But there were a few decisions that made me scratch my head.

Prediction: The injury risk will come to pass in some way, and unless another immaculate waiver run comes to pass for the second straight year (which I am not counting on), this team will spend a significant portion of the season saying things like "I would be winning if X wasn't hurt" or "I would be winning if X and Y weren't hurt" or "I would be winning if X, Y, and Z weren't hurt". You get the idea.

9. Anthony ("Air Rusty")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 1/7/9/10

Tony went with the ultimate Superflex strategy: take two top tier QBs. Josh Allen (2) and Joe Burrow (5) make this QB room far and away the best going into the first week of the season. Now, a strategy like this often puts a slight cap on how one can address the other starting positions. The starting RBs are two strong options though, those being Chase Brown (8) and Kyren Williams (13). At TE, the only current player is Dallas Goedert (15), a good but oft-injured player. At WR, the room has a few concerns for me. I'm not much of a fan of Tyreek Hill (19) as a WR1, but perhaps Courtland Sutton (24) can hold down that spot instead. Rashee Rice (29) could end up being a very solid value to eventually be a WR2-3 option, but it does leave you with less depth for the first six matchups of the season. If the team can start out of the gate strong, then they could quickly climb up the rankings into the contending tier.

Grade: (C-) Sorry, fellow Jersey Boy. It was a difficult decision on my part.

Prediction: This team will also stumble out of the gates, but by Week 8 they will either be .500 and contend for the playoffs, or spend the next 6 weeks being the Spoiler Team.

10. Joe, of the Ross variety ("Click To Reveal Team Name")
(QB/RB/WR/TE) 3/8/10/6

Now, in putting this team at the bottom of the roster, you'd think I thought it was a bad one. But that is not necessarily the case. This team features two QB-WR stacks in Hurts-Brown (2-10) and Murray-Harrison Jr. (9-14), to pair alongside the immortal Derrick Henry (7). Veteran Mark Andrews (11) holds down the TE situation here, and one hopes he just keeps catching TD passes in a strong offense. The rest of the roster also has a few hopefuls with intriguing potential relative to their respective situations, so I don't think it is a hopeless case. It's just, well, someone has to be down here, and it's not gonna be me.

Grade: (C) Eh, It's fine.

Prediction: While still competitive, there will be a low point of the season where Joe will trade his QB1. Either that, or he will stub his toe really bad. But not go-to-the-hospital kind of bad. The kind where it really, really hurts, and stings for a while afterwards. You know what I'm talking about.