We all remember our first fantasy football draft. For many of us, we started playing this wonderful game when our age started with a 1. The initial strategy that so many of us used was drafting the player we saw with the most projected points. Many times, that was a QB. (My first pick ever was Aaron Rodgers for this very reason.)
Now, I can’t remember the last time I drafted a QB in the first two rounds for a league that didn’t have a SuperFlex position. Why is that? The difference in fantasy points that can be scored by a QB you draft later is not that much compared to your early QB as it is for other positions.
What is Fantasy Football WAR?
This logic is the basis of WAR or Wins Above Replacement (also commonly referred to as WORP or Wins Over Replacement Players). We are looking at how valuable a player is compared to what a replacement-level player at the same position can do.
So that begs an obvious question… what is a replacement-level player? That definition can vary depending on whom you ask. Simply, he is an average player whom you can find on your bench or on waivers to plug into your lineup just to fill an empty spot.
For how WAR is calculated here, it is an average of the next starting number of players at each position. So, let’s take a 12-team league with two RB spots, meaning 24 RBs are tapped to start every week. Let’s presume the admittedly unlikely scenario that the league successfully chose the optimal top-24 RBs to start. The “replacement-level player” in this particular league is the scoring average of the RBs 25-48 for that week… the next 24 RBs.
Players are then compared to the replacement level to help determine how much that individual helped (or hurt) you in trying to win that week’s matchup. Each player’s performance gave you a percentage chance of winning that week. This will be the player’s probability of helping you win over what a replacement-level player would have done — WAR.
This season, I will be charting WAR to determine the most valuable players of the season and how that impacts roster construction. So, make sure you keep coming back to Fantasy Points to see how WAR can give you that extra advantage over your league mates.
For today, though, I will be walking you through how your league settings impact the values of your players. There are dozens of different league formats, so I will be hitting on a few of the most popular ones, and you will be able to see where the players fall for each league setting on the Fantasy Points website.
Those leagues are 2-WR PPR, 2-WR Half-PPR, 2-WR Standard, 2-WR TE Premium, and 3-WR PPR leagues.
To compare the leagues, I calculated the WAR of every player in each league over the last 10 years and used this to determine the value of each position.
League Types
2-WR PPR
The 2-WR family of leagues is arguably the most popular in fantasy football and will be the baseline for how we compare league formats. In this league setting, an elite RB is the most valuable player in the format. We all love the outrageous WR1 seasons, but over the last 10 years, the overall RB1 has reigned supreme.
| Rank | QB WAR | RB WAR | WR WAR | TE WAR |
| 1 | 3.948578417 | 5.962593028 | 4.350593399 | 3.370827271 |
| 2 | 3.238742427 | 4.839671532 | 3.658549176 | 2.739570091 |
| 3 | 2.92700413 | 4.466669566 | 3.272158225 | 2.240598749 |
| 4 | 2.631748434 | 4.003565266 | 2.954072282 | 1.970568537 |
| 5 | 2.371005551 | 3.792736931 | 2.783223007 | 1.742595313 |
| 12 | 1.469081451 | 2.40038867 | 1.777212542 | 0.7220761655 |
| 24 | 0.3495723035 | 1.486789244 | 0.9731797032 | -0.04052946908 |
| 36 | -0.1500652879 | 0.7302972915 | 0.4057482092 | -0.4506728878 |
In fact, the three most valuable players in fantasy football are the top three RBs on the season. WRs are generally the second most-valuable position, with QBs coming at third and TEs typically significantly lower at fourth. Now, a stud TE is still valuable, but you want “The One” at other positions if given the chance.
This makes sense, though. Because of the number of starting RBs and the scarcity of players at the position who make a difference, RBs will end up being the most valuable players.
There are not a large number of RBs who can perform at an above-average clip week in and week out. This sets a low bar on what the replacement level is for the position, and those that can exceed that make a difference on your fantasy teams.
On the flip side. the quality of WRs outside the top 24 puts value in the elite playmakers, but it also means that there are many WRs who can produce at the replacement level. This is also true for the QB position.
The TE position is the least valuable due to the number of TEs who can perform at a replacement level.
As we look at other league types, you will see that the number of players you need to start a position changes its value.
3-WR PPR
| Rank | QB WAR | RB WAR | WR WAR | TE WAR |
| 1 | 3.641412847 | 5.548559908 | 5.166790958 | 3.108015278 |
| 2 | 2.979234667 | 4.487841106 | 4.55410844 | 2.526202742 |
| 3 | 2.693208452 | 4.145632687 | 4.191529963 | 2.058513843 |
| 4 | 2.421357516 | 3.707766583 | 3.895157658 | 1.807509543 |
| 5 | 2.181760333 | 3.517485412 | 3.738585932 | 1.594394273 |
| 12 | 1.343753772 | 2.219698411 | 2.782483034 | 0.6500096522 |
| 24 | 0.298978818 | 1.366975459 | 1.943282735 | -0.04705372261 |
| 36 | -0.1561697586 | 0.6569916877 | 1.384775527 | -0.4370865535 |
3-WR PPR leagues are becoming more popular due to the depth of the position. When determining WAR, this will raise the average score from the teams in the league since there is another player in the starting lineup. You will see that this deflates the value of the RBs, QBs, and TEs, but WRs are considerably more valuable in this league format.
This value change is all due to how a replacement-level WR is determined. Now, there are far fewer quality WRs you can throw into your lineup off the bench or waiver wire who can perform at the same level as your starters, since you have to start so many WRs.
Aside from the RB1 still being the most valuable player in the league, WRs consistently are more valuable than any other position at the same rank.
2-WR Half-PPR
| Rank | QB WAR | RB WAR | WR WAR | TE WAR |
| 1 | 4.187397434 | 5.835009918 | 3.950219224 | 3.088170984 |
| 2 | 3.441770605 | 4.807582202 | 3.408810708 | 2.434584664 |
| 3 | 3.1100385 | 4.409972959 | 3.035636799 | 2.023571998 |
| 4 | 2.796458886 | 4.017314032 | 2.708793613 | 1.8390196 |
| 5 | 2.519340036 | 3.740781033 | 2.573514981 | 1.560615118 |
| 12 | 1.568267124 | 2.449740761 | 1.617269677 | 0.6630997937 |
| 24 | 0.3944202401 | 1.502674965 | 0.9191230474 | -0.02335568667 |
| 36 | -0.1415805392 | 0.7695954976 | 0.3627443303 | -0.4009323909 |
Now, we really start affecting the value of positions when we change to half-PPR and standard leagues.
Compared to the 2-WR PPR leagues, these leagues will be lower-scoring leagues and will reduce the value of every position… except for the QB.
The QB position has scored the same number of points for your team in every single league setting so far. With the other positions now scoring fewer points due to the lack of value in receptions, QB is the second-most valuable position, usurping WRs at the top end.
It is still really close between the two positions for half-PPR leagues, but you can start to see just how powerful an understanding of your league settings can be.
2-WR Standard
| Rank | QB WAR | RB WAR | WR WAR | TE WAR |
| 1 | 4.398928315 | 5.68083696 | 3.477735398 | 2.771920694 |
| 2 | 3.622569307 | 4.757890157 | 3.162222259 | 2.161567188 |
| 3 | 3.272482847 | 4.322403834 | 2.686018628 | 1.797709147 |
| 4 | 2.942909134 | 3.931931989 | 2.507336036 | 1.649347761 |
| 5 | 2.652640418 | 3.702874647 | 2.357754313 | 1.416505069 |
| 12 | 1.657497294 | 2.48039788 | 1.431926432 | 0.6047015131 |
| 24 | 0.4387482093 | 1.534972662 | 0.8326465207 | 0.01556290275 |
| 36 | -0.1317110569 | 0.8434355727 | 0.3507924276 | -0.3054987124 |
As we look at the standard leagues, the situation gets even worse for WRs and TEs. Their value continues to drop since they are scoring even fewer fantasy points compared to the other positions. As expected based on the half-PPR league results, QBs continue to become more valuable. They are still not as valuable as RBs, but they are now a clear #2.
TE Premium
For this, I did a .5 TE premium addition to the 2-WR PPR league format (so TEs get 1.5 PPR, like in FFPC). The results will show you why this league type is becoming much more popular.
| Rank | QB WAR | RB WAR | WR WAR | TE WAR |
| 1 | 3.892928466 | 5.888513203 | 4.290925129 | 3.802487173 |
| 2 | 3.191332795 | 4.775613079 | 3.609885476 | 3.14200774 |
| 3 | 2.884197127 | 4.408029015 | 3.226633967 | 2.560522464 |
| 4 | 2.593123116 | 3.949687335 | 2.911596394 | 2.24775955 |
| 5 | 2.336068618 | 3.742805795 | 2.743066164 | 2.001706728 |
| 12 | 1.445963763 | 2.367305217 | 1.750026533 | 0.8729388881 |
| 24 | 0.339910384 | 1.465026124 | 0.9560509223 | -0.03224662307 |
| 36 | -0.15146979 | 0.7172079978 | 0.3955721923 | -0.4857947351 |
These results continue to show how a higher average weekly lineup score will slightly devalue other positions. The important change is that the TEs become much more valuable compared to how they have been viewed in every other league format.
While still the least valuable position, they are at least comparable to the QB position in terms of value. Raising the replacement-level TE score each week means that it is much more valuable to your team when a player can significantly beat that score.
While you will oftentimes see managers in leagues like this, you will want to pay close attention to how much of a premium is put on TE receptions in the league settings. While more valuable for .5 TE-premium leagues, they are still the least valuable position for starters.
Closing Remarks
Before your season kicks off, having an understanding of how your league settings impact the value of players is critical to bringing home the trophy. In this article, we discussed which positions are more valuable in different leagues. It is always a good bet that at similar ranks, starting RBs are going to be the most valuable players in your lineup.
The more WRs you add to your league, the more valuable they become. Receptions matter! And, TE Premium leagues start to make the position more relevant to your lineup.
Make sure you stick with Fantasy Points throughout the season as we monitor which players are the most valuable to your leagues and how you can capitalize on value at other positions to make your team better!
