NFL free agency begins in just weeks and we are now two months away from the NFL draft. When both of those take place, everyone’s rankings will be thrown to the wind and reassembled but there is nothing stopping us from taking a snapshot of where things stand today before it all happens.

Today’s rankings won’t include rookies, but I’ll tell you about some of my pre-draft favorites before we get to the full set of rankings. Obviously, landing spot will be crucial to determine rookie’s rankings, as Anthony McFarland is an inferior prospect to Jonathan Taylor, but if McFarland lands with the Chiefs in Round 3 and Taylor with the Jets in Round 2, McFarland might be the better bet for 2020.

I’ll also highlight a few of my favorite early running back and wide receiver targets compared to ECR (the expert consensus). Keep in mind as you view these rankings that everything is for half-PPR leagues. If it were SuperFlex, Lamar Jackson would be my #1 overall pick. Or, if it was a standard league, Michael Thomas would slide down to #5 overall. In PPR, Davante Adams would jump to #8, for instance. Alright, let’s do this!

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Rookie Running Backs
Like almost everyone else (Tags has Clyde Edwards-Helaire as his #1 RB!), I have DeAndre Swift and Jonathan Taylor neck and neck at #1 and #2. If either lands in Tennessee to replace Derrick Henry, I’d consider taking them at the end of the first round. Taylor, especially, would be the ideal fit. And again, I’m boring here, but J.K. Dobbins is my #3 running back. I expect all three of them to find their way into substantial carries from the early weeks of the season and finish about like Miles Sanders did, if not better. At this point, though, I’d draft them #2, #3 and #4 overall in a dynasty rookie draft behind Jerry Jeudy, who is likely to be productive twice as long considering the difference in positions. I already mentioned Anthony McFarland because he is a favorite of mine and virtually equal with Edwards-Helaire for #4 on my rookie big-board.

Rookie Wide Receivers
I just said Jeudy is my #1 overall player right now for dynasty leagues but landing spot could certainly change that. An ideal fit would be with the Jets where he’d have no competition for targets and a young but talented QB to grow with in Sam Darnold. After Jeudy, I see a sizeable gap then CeeDee Lamb who is a more athletic version of Anquan Boldin. Tee Higgins, and not Henry Ruggs III, Laviska Shenault Jr or Jalen Reagor is my #3 wideout, although I have a first round grade on all four. I actually have a first round grade on a seventh receiver, but almost certainly not one you’d guess. Yeah, I like Gabe Davis, Justin Jefferson and Tyler Johnson, but for me, Donovan Peoples-Jones‘ elite ceiling has me drooling. I’d have ranked him the #1 wideout in last year’s class if you could take his tape and profile and move it back one year.

Early Favorite RB Targets
Oddly, my rankings are very much in line with the industry near the top. Once we get down to Kareem Hunt and Raheem Mostert, though, you’ll notice a sizeable gap between myself and the rest of the experts. Hunt may very well return to Cleveland, but even if he does, we were looking at a low-end RB2 in his minimized role. There is also a chance he ends up as a high-end RB1 in a spot like Atlanta. Mostert, meanwhile, was the most efficient back in football last year and is the easy favorite to lead the 49ers in touches next year. I also want to throw a shoutout to Tony Pollard, Justin Jackson, Rashaad Penny and Ryquell Armstead, who will all be favorite late-round targets of mine unless anything major changes.

Early Favorite WR Targets
Mike Tagliere and I recently discussed this on the FantasyPros Football Podcast, that if drafts were today, we would LOVE to start with Odell Beckham in the late-third then A.J. Green in the 5th or even 6th round. I’m a huge believer in both of these alpha-receivers having big bounceback campaigns. Likewise, Terry McLaurin and Anthony Miller will be my favorite mid-round targets while I’d be thrilled to add upside plays in the late rounds like Mecole Hardman, Corey Davis and my dude, Jakobi Meyers. Meyers’ tape blew me out of the water this season and I’m convinced he has a real shot of becoming an every-down player for New England this off-season.

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