Top 10 Fantasy Football Seasons of All Time at Every Position

We have reached August, which means it is officially fantasy football season. There’s no better way to kick off the best time of the year than by taking a quick stroll down memory lane. Today, we’re looking back at the top 10 fantasy seasons of all time (since the merger, technically) at each position. As a bonus, I’ll also mention candidates to add their names to these prestigious lists in the upcoming 2025 season. Let’s get right into it.

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Top 10 Fantasy Football Seasons of All Time

Note: I will be using points per game (minimum 15 games) to give full credit to players in the 16-game era, as well as half-PPR, because that is the superior scoring format.

Top 10 Fantasy Football Quarterback Seasons Ever

I immediately wondered if I had made a mistake setting the minimum filter at just 15 games, as both of the top two quarterbacks played less than full seasons. However, both 2019 Lamar Jackson and 2011 Aaron Rodgers earned their week off by leading their teams to the No. 1 seed with a week to spare; it feels fair not to punish them for that. Unsurprisingly, given the league’s trend toward passing over the years, this is a fairly modern list. However, we do have a mix of player archetypes, from pocket passing legends in Drew Brees and Peyton Manning all the way to dual-threat demons in Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. This list reads a lot like a who’s who of the best quarterbacks of the last two decades, with one glaring exception.

When it comes to candidates to join this list in 2025, we have to start with the man already on top, Lamar Jackson. This list makes an argument that Jackson deserves to be the QB1 in average draft position (ADP), given that his most recent season was the fifth-best fantasy performance of all time. However, it’s also hard to argue against the current QB1 in ADP, Josh Allen, who is already on this list twice as well and could certainly make it three times in 2025. Sticking with names already on the list, Jalen Hurts could provide his second top-10 season if the Eagles throw the ball a bit more this year than they did in 2024.

Although he is on this list twice, I don’t think Patrick Mahomes has the juice to make a third appearance. Both of his previous top-10 seasons came during the height of the passing boom, and he has been below 18 fantasy points per game in each of the last two years. With the rise of two-high safety coverages, only true dual-threat quarterbacks are a threat to put up these historic seasons —Joe Burrow lapped the field in passing stats last year and averaged only 21.9 points per game. That leaves one final candidate to potentially join this list in 2025: Jayden Daniels. If the reigning Rookie of the Year finds a second-year leap instead of a sophomore slump, he has all the tools to provide a historic fantasy season.

Top 10 Fantasy Football Running Back Seasons Ever

Comparing this list to the one above for quarterbacks, some clear differences jump out right away. For one, where six of the 10 best quarterback seasons were provided by just three players, only one running back appears twice. That player is the same one at the very top with by far the best running back fantasy season of all time: LaDainian Tomlinson. Based on this list alone, Tomlinson has a very strong argument for being the GOAT fantasy football running back. From Tomlinson to Steven Jackson to Shaun Alexander, this list also makes it clear that the 2000s were the era of the running back. As a result, this list has only one active player in Christian McCaffrey. There are also a couple of surprising names, at least in comparison to the quarterback list. Todd Gurley was an incredible player at his peak, but he’s no inner-circle Hall of Famer like all of the signal-callers on the list above (feel free to message me angrily about including Jalen Hurts in that group).

In terms of candidates to join this list in 2025, there aren’t many. My 49ers fandom may be peeking through here, but I would argue Christian McCaffrey has a chance to join Tomlinson as the only two-timer on this list. He’ll need to stay healthy, but his 2023 season (his only full season in San Francisco) only just missed the cut at 18th overall and 22.4 points per game. Beyond McCaffrey, things look bleak, as true three-down workhorses are a thing of the past. The only back to average even 20 points last season was Saquon Barkley (21.2), and it’s hard to see things breaking any better for him this year than they did last year. He might have had a shot if the tush push ban had gone through.

With that said, I do think Jahmyr Gibbs is a potential candidate, especially if David Montgomery misses time or is phased out of the Lions’ offense. The electric 23-year-old averaged over 30 points in the three games Montgomery was absent last season. Finally, if we’re looking for a dark horse, what about Ashton Jeanty? He’s a truly generational prospect with very little competition for touches in the Raiders’ backfield. It’s certainly not likely, but if Jeanty is as good as advertised and Chip Kelly runs his old, incredibly fast-paced offense, maybe we are in line for a truly historic rookie season.

Top 10 Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Seasons Ever

Unsurprisingly, the GOAT is at the top of the receiver list, the only player to ever break 22 points per game. Jerry Rice is closely followed by Cooper Kupp‘s triple crown season, then we have four straight years by two very different players in Randy Moss and Antonio Brown. We also have our second appearance of last season, as Ja’Marr Chase‘s historic year earns him the seventh spot.

Of course, we have to start with Chase when looking for candidates to join this group in 2025. He is in the same perfect situation he was in last year, with an elite pocket-passing quarterback, pass-happy coaches and a terrible defense. To be clear, we shouldn’t expect Chase to average nearly 20 points per game for a second year in a row, but it certainly wouldn’t be some huge surprise if he did.

There are three other active players already on this list, but that doesn’t mean we have three other viable candidates. Cooper Kupp is not the player he was four years ago, and Tyreek Hill wasn’t his usual self in 2024 either. Honestly, it’s hard to see even Lamb, still in his prime at 26 years old, matching his 2023 performance. Brandin Cooks was the Cowboys’ second-leading receiver in that season with just 81 targets; I have to imagine George Pickens commands more volume than that.

I’m tempted to say that Justin Jefferson, the most talented receiver in the league, could post his first top-10 season this year. But his best season so far came in 2022 with 17.92 points per game, landing him only 32nd on this list. He also has decent competition in Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson, and an unproven quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. I also considered making a case for Puka Nacua, who averaged 18.1 points in his eight healthy games last season. But with Davante Adams in town, it’s hard to see even Matthew Stafford feeding his top target quite enough to crack this list. Chase stands alone as the only receiver in a perfect enough situation to have a realistic shot at making this list (again).

Top 10 Fantasy Football Tight End Seasons Ever

Wow. I guess that Rob Gronkowski guy was pretty good at football. The fact that he did all this while also being one of the best blocking tight ends of all time is truly absurd. Of course, I also have to shout out Jimmy Graham and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, who combine for four of the top five spots. The rest of the list consists of Raiders legend Todd Christensen, whom I must admit I had to look up, and Mark Andrews‘ dominant 2021.

While there are two active names on this list, I don’t see either Kelce or Andrews returning to all-time form in 2025. Even ignoring the fact that they both seem to have lost a step, their situations are much worse than they once were. Neither player is projected to lead their team (or come particularly close) in targets this season, which is the bare minimum requirement to make this list.

With that requirement in mind, there are only two tight ends who have a realistic chance to join this list after the 2025 season. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that those two players are the top two tight ends by ADP in Brock Bowers and Trey McBride. Honestly, you could argue that even Bowers and McBride don’t have much of a shot. They averaged 12.16 and 12.14 points in 2024, respectively. That leaves them nearly 2.5 points below Andrews, the worst season on this list.

However, there are good reasons to believe that both of these young studs have another level of production within their range of outcomes. Bowers was a 21-year-old rookie last season and received what should be huge upgrades at quarterback and coaching over the offseason. It doesn’t take much imagination to see him taking a big step forward. McBride, meanwhile, posted the 41st-best tight end season of all time while scoring just four total touchdowns. If he had scored 10, a perfectly reasonable number given his 111 receptions, he would have been one short of this list at 11th all-time.

Aside from Bowers or McBride, George Kittle also deserves mention, as he averaged a point more per game than either of his younger counterparts last season. If we remove an irrelevant Week 18 game in which he played just 29% of the 49ers’ offensive snaps, Kittle averaged 13.9 points per game, putting him within striking distance of the top 10. With that said, it’s hard to see the 31-year-old adding even more volume to close that distance, especially if San Francisco’s receivers don’t all get injured again. If we get a historic tight end season this year, it’s probably coming from one of the up-and-coming studs at the position.

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Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasyPros.com. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.