Football season has returned! All 32 NFL teams have now reported to training camp and the first preseason game of the 2021 season isn’t too far behind. Soon, our Sundays will be filled with wall-to-wall NFL action and we’ll experience the first 17-game regular season in history.

With the reawakening of football season comes the start of peak fantasy football draft season, where millions across the globe dive head-first into research and mock drafts in order to position themselves for success in the fall and winter months. A great season starts with a great draft. That’s where these rankings come in.

Dozens and dozens of hours of research went into the ranking process for the 2021 season, starting with custom stat projections for more than 250 NFL players. Those projections are available via the links below and are very useful to not only see the thought process behind the rankings but to help you customize these rankings to fit your league’s unique settings. After making those projections, I determined the player rankings based on a combination of potential upside, injury risk, the likelihood of reaching the projected total, how many games they’ll play, total points versus average points, etc. It’s important to note that the rankings below are not just in descending order of projected fantasy points—although, as previously mentioned, the rankings are heavily weighted by those projections.

All of my rankings reflect the order in which I would select players if I were drafting right now in a 12-team, full-point PPR, single-QB league with ESPN scoring and no bonuses. These rankings will be updated frequently throughout the preseason both here at TDN and inside the FantasyPros’ ECR formula.

If you have any specific questions or want to know more about what I think of certain players, follow me on Twitter (@JaimeEisner) or Instagram (@JaimeEisnerTDN). I’d be happy to chat with you! Also, be sure to tune in to the TDN Fantasy Podcast for in-depth audio breakdowns of these rankings, my projections, and all the latest fantasy football news throughout the 2021 football season.

Projections: QB | RB | WR | TE | Top 200

Rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | Top 200