I see many casual dynasty players only look at season-long fantasy rankings to determine the value of a player. However, they miss a lot of context when they do this. Firstly, the points they scored matter. Sometimes, the gap in points can be larger than the gap in rank. Secondly, missed games can affect things, especially if those missed games are not reasons for future concern. Here is a case for per-game numbers as an important consideration for player values.

Examples:

Let’s look at examples of how misleading this can be at each position. Geno Smith was the QB5 last season, D’Andre Swift has never been better than RB15, Tee Higgins has never been better than WR18, and Kyle Pitts had a breakout TE6 performance his rookie season in PPR leagues.

In points-per-game, Geno was QB8 and averaged 18.5 fantasy points. He only averaged more than 0.7 points compared to the QB13. In short, he was QB5 but there wasn’t much of a gap between him and the QBs most of your opponents would have been starting.

Swift was the RB10 his sophomore season in points-per-game. That might not seem like a huge jump up from RB15, but he was doing better than Dalvin Cook, Nick Chubb, Aaron Jones, Josh Jacobs, and Ezekiel Elliott that season when on the field. He’s proven he has what it takes to be an RB1 and we’re seeing it this year.

Tee Higgins outscored some top-10 WRs the past two years in per-game numbers. I often see people say he’s just a WR2, but the reality is that when he’s on the field, he’s been a low-end WR1. This year has been rough since he and his QB have been battling injuries, but he has shown he can be good when both are healthy.

Kyle Pitts seemed to have a great rookie year, but he was TE12 per game. This means he could have been worse than most of the TEs being started against him.

Wrap-Up

I do understand that durability can play a factor, but injuries aren’t that predictable. Look at Justin Jefferson. I’m not saying you should ignore final rankings, but here’s a case for per-game numbers to be more of a factor in how people look at players.

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