Every fantasy football expert publishes rankings, but the sharpest drafters don’t draft off a numbered list — they draft off tiers. Tier-based drafting groups players of roughly equal expected value together and separates the groups where real drop-offs occur. Instead of asking “who is the 14th-best running back?” you ask “how many running backs are left in this tier, and will any of them be here when I pick again?” It’s a small shift that fixes the two most common draft mistakes: reaching for a player when an equal one would have lasted, and waiting on a player when the cliff was about to hit.
The idea comes from the same place as ADP — the recognition that a numbered list hides information. The gap between RB1 and RB2 might be trivial; the gap between RB12 and RB13 might be enormous. Tiers make those gaps visible. Boris Chen’s tier charts, built from clustering expert consensus rankings, popularized the approach in the 2010s, and today nearly every major site publishes tiered rankings for exactly this reason.
The chart below covers how tiers are built, how to draft with them, and how they interact with ADP and roster construction. Take a look, then we’ll cover how to make your own.
FANTASY FOOTBALL
Fantasy Football Tiers, Explained
How to build them, read them, and draft with them
CORE IDEA
Group by value
Not by rank number
KEY MOVE
Count the tier
Scarcity decides the pick
PAIRS WITH
ADP
Timing tool
BIGGEST CLIFF
RB and TE
Deepest: WR
How tiers are built
Four ways to draw the lines
| Method |
How the tiers get drawn |
| Expert consensus clustering |
Aggregate many rankings, then group players whose ranges overlap — where the ranges stop overlapping, a new tier begins (the Boris Chen method) |
| Projection gaps |
Rank by projected points; start a new tier wherever the drop from one player to the next exceeds a threshold (e.g., 10-15 points over a season) |
| Role and situation |
Group by expected usage — bellcow backs, committee backs, target-hog receivers, TD-dependent receivers |
| Personal |
Your own board: players you’d be equally happy with go in the same tier, regardless of what any site says |
Drafting with tiers
The rules that make it work
| Rule |
Why it works |
| Draft the position with the fewest players left in the current tier |
Scarcity first — if 5 WRs and 1 RB remain in their tiers, the RB cliff is closer |
| Within a tier, take the player with the latest ADP last |
Extract value: the early-ADP guy won’t last, the late-ADP guy might |
| Never reach across a tier line for need |
If your tier at a position is empty, the next tier’s top player isn’t worth a round premium — pivot |
| Re-count tiers after every round |
Runs happen. A tier that had 6 players two picks ago may have 2 now |
| Use tiers to plan, not to lock |
A tier sheet tells you the shape of the draft; injuries, bye stacking, and your roster still matter |
What each position’s tiers usually look like
The shape drives strategy
| Position |
Typical tier shape (12-team PPR) |
| Running back |
A tiny elite tier (2-4 bellcows), a bigger tier of RB1s, then a wide gray zone — RB cliffs come early, which is why RB goes fast |
| Wide receiver |
Deeper and flatter — the WR3 tier can run 8-10 players deep, so you can wait a round without losing much |
| Quarterback |
Two or three elite dual-threats, then a huge tier of near-equals — the classic ‘wait on QB’ logic |
| Tight end |
One or two elite, a small second tier, then a cliff — either pay up early or punt to the last rounds |
| Kicker / defense |
One tier each; draft them last |
Shapes are typical for 12-team PPR leagues; your league’s scoring changes the cliffs.
TIER FACTS
Tiers beat rankings under pressure
With 60 seconds on the clock, ‘any of these four’ is a decision you can make; ‘the 17th vs. 18th best’ is not.
They expose position runs
When a tier empties fast, a run is happening — the sheet tells you whether to join it or let it pass.
They travel across formats
Rebuild the lines for PPR, Superflex, or best ball, but the method — group, count, compare — never changes.
Building Your Own Tier Sheet
Start with a consensus ranking you trust and mark the natural gaps — the spots where you’d feel a real drop-off if you missed the player above. Then adjust for your league: bump pass-catching backs in PPR, elite quarterbacks in Superflex, deep sleepers in best ball. Keep tiers reasonably sized (three to eight players) so they’re actionable, and write positional ADP next to each name so you know who’ll last. On draft day, cross names off, re-count after each round, and take the position where the current tier is thinnest. That’s it. The sheet does the thinking so you can spend the clock on your roster instead of a rankings debate.
The Bottom Line
Tiers turn a draft from a numbered list into a series of clear choices: which group is running out, and can I wait? Combined with ADP for timing and honest projections for value, they’re the most reliable framework in fantasy drafting. For the timing side of the equation, see our guide to Average Draft Position; for the scoring format that reshapes every tier, PPR scoring explained; and for the schedule quirk that can wreck a roster, NFL bye weeks.
