The Best Fantasy Football Players of the Decade, According to DraftKings

To commemorate the closing of the decade, DraftKings has compiled its list of the NFL players who have scored the most fantasy points at each position since the company launched its daily fantasy business in 2012. To get some analysis about the list, we turned to Julian Edlow, a writer who covers all major sports as well as the fantasy universe on the DraftKings Playbook Blog.

Quarterback – Tom Brady
“Tom Brady is the quarterback of the decade just based on his winning percentage of the Super Bowl,” Edlow says. “But from a DraftKings perspective, I think it’s a mistake to put him in this slot. From a fantasy perspective, he was a good season-long quarterback but won’t really have those outbursts that can win you a tournament on that many occasions. I think the best overall season of the decade goes to Peyton Manning and the best year-to-year consistency probably goes to Drew Brees. I was on a different page than DraftKings on this.”

Running Back – LeSean McCoy
“When I look at McCoy, I see why he’s here,” Edlow says. “But maybe you look at guys like Adrian Peterson or Jamaal Charles who were No.1 overall picks this decade in terms of season-long fantasy leagues. I would say they were both better than McCoy at their best and had the same type of longevity as McCoy. Now, Charles is out of the picture, but Adrian Peterson has more fantasy value right now than McCoy still and was consistently ranked above McCoy when they were two of the top five fantasy running backs.”

Running Back – Le’Veon Bell
“The last two years don’t really help Bell’s case. But I do stand behind him,” Edlow says. “Bell’s just such a great dual threat. The way he peaked over that time period in Pittsburgh I think is worthy of making the list. It doesn’t help he missed the whole season last year and the Jets have been tough for him, but when you look at the decade as a whole, I stand behind Bell being in one of these running back spots. Longevity at running back is just nonexistent, so there’s not really going to be a guy that was at their best for the whole 10 years.”

Wide Receiver – DeAndre Hopkins
“DeAndre Hopkins belongs right at the top of this list at wide receiver,” Edlow says. “He has been spectacular with Deshaun Watson, but he also produced with Tom Savage and with Brock Osweiler. He’s a down-the-field threat. He’s a possession receiver. He’s the perfect receiver that can get you points regardless of the quarterback. So I have no issue with Hopkins here at all. He belongs here.”

Wide Receiver – Julio Jones
“Julio Jones certainly should be on this list given the production that he’s had racking up yards with Matt Ryan,” Edlow says. “He’s gotten so many a hundred-yard bonuses and you have that 250-yard game against the Carolina Panthers. I would lean Hopkins over Julio though. And the only reason why is the touchdown production. We’ve seen those seasons with Julio Jones getting over a hundred catches, 1,500 yards and just four touchdowns. It’s fluky, but it’s happened multiple seasons to Julio. As great as he is, we just want more touchdowns there.”

Wide Receiver – Demaryius Thomas
“Thomas had one big year with Peyton Manning, but I don’t think he belongs on this list at all,” Edlow says. “I think he’s one of the most overrated receivers of the decade. Although he did have the fantasy numbers to back it up on a couple occasions. How about the absence of Antonio Brown? You could have Hopkins and Julio as two and three and have Brown as the third wide receiver on the list, but he got snubbed altogether. He had a lot of thousand-yard, 15-plus touchdown seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.”

Tight End – Rob Gronkowski
“I don’t think anybody can really debate this one,” Edlow says. “This is the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest. Probably the greatest tight end of all time. He had so many good seasons with Brady. Brady doesn’t even get a sniff at this spot if he doesn’t have Gronk over those years. He was a touchdown machine. You just can’t really argue the production that type of production at tight end.”

Flex Spot – T.Y. Hilton
“T.Y. Hilton has been a good value for the decade I would say,” Edlow says. “He generally can tend to be underpriced on DraftKings. He can also slide in season-long drafts. Solid player, but I think that Peterson, Charles and Bell are three guys that should be on this team, so you put two of them in the running back spots and the third one in the flex spot over Hilton. Not only does that give you a better fantasy player, but, at least for safety purposes in a cash game, you’re generally putting a running back in your flex spot because you’re going to get more touches than you get at the wide receiver position. It gives you a bit safer of a floor.”