The Art & Science of Dynasty Rankings with Jake Ciely

Rankings are one of the most consumed forms of fantasy football content, but many dynasty managers don't know what they're actually looking at. Jake Ciely of The Athletic, an expert ranker for 15 years, joins Jeff to pull back the curtain on how they're built, what they can't tell you, and how your team's situation should shape how you use them. This is not a debate about rankings. It's a conversation about the thought process behind the list. *Key Takeaways* • Rankings are a vacuum snapshot — they tell you what a ranker prefers if all else is equal, not what you should do for your specific team. • Tiers communicate more than order; a player ranked 21 and a player ranked 28 in the same tier are essentially interchangeable, and a good ranker wants you to know that. • Dynasty rankings take roughly twice as long to produce as redraft rankings because every player evaluation involves a multi-year time horizon. • Jake weights the current season heavier than most dynasty rankers, arguing that too many managers are optimizing for 2029 instead of actually trying to win. • Age is primarily a tiebreaker in the top tier, but becomes a more significant factor around ages 27–28. • Contract situations are the underrated companion to age in dynasty valuation. • Consulting redraft rankings alongside dynasty rankings can help break close calls, especially when you want to know which of two players has a clearer path to contributing this season. • The hardest players to rank well are often not the stars but the mid-tier options whose range of outcomes is widest and upside matters more than floor. • Jake's closing advice: stop being a lazy manager. Look at other teams' needs, make offers, start conversations. Don't just wait for trades to come to you. *Chapters/Timestamps* 00:00 – Introduction 04:58 – The Question Rankings Try to Answer 14:08 – Tiers and What Gets Lost 21:13 – Weighting This Year vs. Future Years 27:32 – How Age and Contracts Factor into Rankings 37:38 – How Jake Uses, and Avoids, Outside Rankers 42:36 – When Are Your Rankings Done? 52:56 – Should Dynasty Managers Use Redraft Rankings? 01:04:17 – Stop Being Lazy & #BanKickers *Links Mentioned* Jake Ciely at The Athletic: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/auth... Jake's Post-Draft Dynasty Rankings: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7212... Follow Jake on Twitter/X: https://x.com/allinkid All In Speed Run podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... FantasyPros: https://www.fantasypros.com Jeff's Dynasty Rankings: https://www.footballguys.com/rankings... Follow Jeff on Twitter/X: https://x.com/jeffblaylock Footballguys: https://www.footballguys.com Dynasty Compass website: https://www.dynastycompass.com *Related Episodes* Episode 28 – The Rookie Draft Pick Where Everything Changes:    • The Rookie Draft Pick Where Everything Cha...   Episode 35 – On the Clock? When to Trade That Rookie Draft Pick with Pete Nova:    • On the Clock? When to Trade That Rookie Dr...   Episode 12 – Draft Picks: The Currency of Dynasty:    • Dynasty Compass | The Currency of Dynasty