EFL Power Rankings - Post-Draft, 2023
Elite Fantasy League
2023 POWER RANKINGS - POST-DRAFT
Welcome to 2023’s Elite Fantasy League - the league’s 15th year in operation. For me, I am proud that this league has such a storied history. For you, know that being part of and winning a championship in a league that has been around this long is something to be very proud of. For your sake, hopefully your draft will be the reason you’ll lift Fauxbardi XV.
And, if you didn’t see it before, feel free to check out this elaborate statistical view of the league’s history: EFL history.pdf
Before we get too far…
A Rundown on Last Season’s Finale
Jets Jets Jets paced the league last year, only truly challenged by Pewter Pirates’ late season surge.
Of course, that lasted all of one weekend - preempted by a series of #freezingcoldtakes from yours truly…
Cold take #1:
FIRST ROUND:
Cold take #2:
SEMI-FINAL
Cold take #3:
CHAMPIONSHIP
Yes, it’s true. Ruthlessberger ran the table and held off Butt Fumble (who was vying for their second set of back-to-back championships) to complete the Elite Fantasy League’s first WORST-TO-FIRST season and second 8th-seed title run.
Unlucky for Ian, since he never sent me his address last year for his Toilet Trophy, he received both his 2022 Fauxbardi and 2021 Toilet Trophy at the same time.
Speaking of Toilet Trophies: Michael Schultz’s Sweet Carolina was kind enough to take that off of our hands in 2022. And I was kind enough to send it to him as a wedding gift. Good news for Sweet Carolina is, the precedent for worst-to-first is now set by 2021-2022 Ruthlessberger. So maybe a second run is in the works?
Now, onto the rest…
The Rankings
With a VERY interesting draft in the books, let’s take a look at how much we agree or disagree with Yahoo’s draft grades. I really think that we’ll be a pretty even group this year, despite what Yahoo may think about our disparity.
Pewter Pirates and Ruthlessberger seemed to have found the draft's secret sauce getting the only two A+ draft grades I can remember seeing all-time. Probably just a coincidence that they were the only teams to pick two kickers, right?
Speaking of disparity, just look at where we stack up on the grading scale:
So, with that said, here’s where I think we start the season from a power ranking standpoint. Of course, this is the most conjectural of all conjectures because we have no idea which 3rd string RB will become the league leader and which #1 overall pick will be hurt all year.
Read ‘em and don’t weep.
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1.
Run CMC
Y! Draft Grade: B-
Manager: Nick Gosney
Years in League: 5
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2019)
I can’t tell you exactly why the two A+ drafters aren’t here at the top, but dang it, I just like this team.
Justin Herbert didn’t send shock waves last year, but could’ve just been experiencing a little sophomore slump. Tee Higgins was WR12 last year if you exclude his weeks injured - a true Pippen to Ja’Marr Chase’s MJ. Amon Ra St. Brown and Deebo Samuel probably round out the best WR core in the league.
Add to that a healthy CMC and Javonte Williams, a top 3 kicker, and an upside TE… there just isn’t a glaring weakness with the team.
In fact, this team is good enough to have Tyler Lockett and Isiah Pacheco on the bench. You wish you had that problem.
Prone to: Underachieve. Ok, maybe I just raved a lot, but it’s entirely possible that Tyler Lockett and Isiah Pacheco become starters if Deebo Samuel and Kenneth Walker III regress this year due to other weapons on their teams. And, beyond that - not necessarily by any fault of this team - I already went on a flier to put this team at #1, when it could very well be a middle-of-the-road team. So there’s kind of nowhere to go but down from here.
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2.
Ruthlessberger
Y! Draft Grade: A+
Manager: Ian Svendsen
Years in League: 7
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2022)
Honest question: How many years has Ruthlessberger had Lamar Jackson? It feels like every year. This is definitely the latest in the draft Ruthlessberger was ever able to snag LJ, though. With his 6th round pick, Ruthlessberger was able to add LJ to an already-formidable pairing of Cooper Kupp and Saquon Barkley. That kinda feels like 50-60 points weekly right there. But if you’ve known anything about Kupp, Barkley, and LJ over the past few years… they’re slightly susceptible to the injury bug. Any one of those players going down could really screw up Ruthlessberger’s season.
I don’t love the DK Metcalf and Dallas Goedert picks early, but Ruthlessberger did get a couple diamonds in the rough later in the draft with James Cook and Evan McPherson (don’t sleep on the 5-point 50-yard bombers).
What will probably be most frustrating for Ruthlessberger will be LJ stealing carries and TDs from his 2nd RB, J.K. Dobbins. But the reality is, if Ruthlessberger can get 50 points out of their other 7 players each week, they are going to beat most teams.
Prone to: Underachieve. If only because of the potential for injuries. Otherwise, this team should be a top team.
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3.
Pewter Pirates
Y! Draft Grade: A+
Manager: Sy Gallimore
Years in League: 15
Best Finish: Champ (2x – 2010, 2020)
Here’s the thing: these are my ratings. And, yeah, I’m biased, but come on, guys. I killed this draft.
And I’d be #1 in these rankings, too, but I made one blunder by taking a flier on Jonathan Taylor, who is now out for at least 4 weeks because Jim Irsay is a terrible owner. I stand by grabbing Taylor late in the draft because who could’ve seen that coming? We’ll see if it backfires further. But I still like this team without him.
As long as the Chiefs keep Chiefsing, Mike Williams doesn’t lose his back again, Travis Kelce doesn’t realize he’s 34, Ridder is as good as 2022 Mariota was, and the Dallas defense doesn’t catch whatever disease the Cowboys have had as a whole for the past 20 years, we should be in good shape, folks.
Prone to: Stay level. There will be weeks this team underachieves and weeks it overachieves, which will probably land it somewhere around where it currently sits in these rankings.
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4.
Sweet Carolina
Y! Draft Grade: D
Manager: Michael Schultz
Years in League: 3
Best Finish: 3rd (2021)
I don’t know what Yahoo hated about this draft other than that it’s a team of shoulds. Hurts should be a QB1 or 2 this season. Diggs should be the focal point of a prolific offense and not let the offseason unrest impact him. Derrick Henry should still be getting 25 touches a game. Darren Waller should be a top (or the top) target for Daniel Jones this season. Mattison should be getting all of the touches Dalvin Cook used to get. Aaron Rodgers should be putting Greg the Leg in scoring range frequently.
I get that a lot of those are less of a sure thing than Sweet Carolina is hoping. But surely the upside is there?
Could’ve had better options than Miles Sanders & Carolina’s defense, but, hey, we’re all homers at heart.
Prone to: Stay level. There’s just too many players that could be bringing solid points to see this as a true D-level team.
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5.
ThrowUpThe X
Y! Draft Grade: B-
Manager: RD Gallant
Years in League: 14
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2013)
There’s enough to like here. ThrowUpThe X managed to snag two good running backs, one RB with good upside in Gibbs and 3 projected top 25 receivers. Throw in a top 4 defense and you start feeling good about there being a decently high floor for ThrowUpThe X.
Somehow, though, it feels more likely to underachieve than overachieve. The QB and TE spots are uninspiring, two of their RBs have the potential of splitting carries, one of the WRs hasn’t played meaningful games since 2020, and that Top 4 defense faces a brutal schedule.
To his credit, ThrowUpThe X might’ve drafted a career low number of Dallas players (only 3) as long as you don’t include Dalton Schultz, who was in a Cowboys uniform a couple of months ago.
Prone to: Underachieve. Enough question marks to feel like there’s more downside than upside.
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6.
Jets Jets Jets
Y! Draft Grade: C-
Manager: Tim Cook
Years in League: 15
Best Finish: Champ (1x - 2015)
If Dalvin Cook is Minnesota Dalvin Cook and NYJ totally forgets about Breece Hall, this team is solid across the board. True to form, Jets Jets Jets might’ve reached for a couple of those Jets players, but darn it if he doesn’t deserve some slack for drafting some comfort players while dealing with kidney stones.
Otherwise, Jets Jets Jets is a team expecting a lot of young players to take a step forward… and with good reason. Trevor Lawrence, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave are likely all in line for better seasons than a year ago. Just how much better remains to be seen.
Oh, and teams with Nick Chubb were 8% more likely to win their fantasy leagues last year - better than any non-QB. So that might help.
Prone to: Overachieve. Upside QB, upside WRs, top 5 RB, top K, top DEF. OBJ is what keeps this team grounded from really launching into the top tier of teams.
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7.
Turn down for Watt Y! Draft Grade: B
Manager: Joshuwa Shelton
Years in League: 9
Best Finish: 3rd (2018)
Nailed their first 5 picks, nabbing two top-10 WRs and a couple of running backs and a quarterback, all of whom have high upside (although, Breece Hall has a 30pt font “?” next to him…. Like this:
?)
Unfortunately, after the first 5 picks, the rest of the draft didn’t really provide any players that are overly exciting – instead selecting many players who are trying to find an old form of themselves (read: Diontae Johnson, Michael Thomas, Terry McLaurin, David Njoku). If that works out, Turn down for Watt will be sitting pretty. But Yahoo liked this draft more than my eye test does.
And I don’t like Matt Gay because he was once part of the Bucs 45 year slew of kicking woes.
Prone to: Stay level. Too good to be lower, too many past-primes to be too much higher. And Matt Gay.
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8.
Johnny Baseball
Y! Draft Grade: D
Manager: Chad Holcombe
Years in League: 1
Best Finish: N/A
Overall it’s not a bad team. In fact, there’s not much to hate about this team. In fact, the WR core and the oft-overlooked TE/K/DEF combo all look pretty dang good. But I’m not huge on Michael Pittman as a 3rd WR, Aaron Jones and Khalil Herbert as an RB pairing or pretty much anyone on the bench.
A lot of this team’s success will ride on whether Gabe Davis is a true WR2 this year, Ja’Marr Chase has a similar tear to last year, and Aaron Rodgers finds his 2020 form.
Prone to: Stay level. This gives a 6-win-last-team-in-but-could-knock-off-the-number-one-seed-because-most-of-its-players-will-be-on-teams-fighting-until-the-end type of vibe.
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9.
Butt Fumble
Y! Draft Grade: D
Manager: Austin Owen
Years in League: 10
Best Finish: Champ (3x – 2016, 2017, 2021)
What a different draft it would have been if Butt Fumble had been able to draft LJ with the first pick of the 6th round instead of his second TE in a row. But, as the old adage goes, what’s one man’s technological blunder is another man’s chance at a Fauxbardi. What a true Butt Fumble this turned out to be.
If Ruthlessberger wins something this year, Butt Fumble gets a hockey assist.
Not a shot to Kittle, but if Butt Fumble had gotten LJ, he might’ve been able to use his Burrow pick (which was a nice recovery, by the way) on a serviceable running back. Alas. Internet.
Prone to: Overachieve. Listen, it might not be a huge overachievement for this team to jump a spot or two and make the playoffs, but it still counts. If a burst-onto-the-scene-no-name RB gets picked up off the waiver wire, this team does have pieces that could make it dangerous.
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10.
Golden Boy Y! Draft Grade: D-
Manager: Kyler Stock
Years in League: 2
Best Finish: 6th (2022)
Golden Boy had the worst-rated draft of any team in the Elite Fantasy League this year, according to Yahoo. I think the primary suspects are a slew of B+ to C-rated WRs and a completely-unproven-but-worst-projected TE. Otherwise, there’s a decent amount to be excited about on this team. Josh Allen and Bijan Robinson both have chances to be top 5 at their positions. Joe Mixon and Jaylen Waddle are B players, Keenan Allen and Deandre Hopkins are likely past their prime but can still deliver decent numbers ( especially as both are still #1 options for their respective teams), and Harrison Butker is always good for a high-floor with the Chiefs scoring frequently. This might not be the best team, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself stressed on the Sunday that you match up with them.
Prone to: Overachieve. Golden Boy truly might have the highest upside of any of our bottom-half teams, especially if Kamara manages a top 30 RB season after his 3 week suspension is lifted.
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