Sup league, fans of the elite dynasty podcast, or anyone else who may have stumbled onto this blog. With all the sadness that comes to the conclusion of the fantasy season brings on a new chapter of hope for the league as we approach the peak of the offseason. The draft is just days away and what better time to release the yearly Tiers ranking than now.
For some, this season was a good building block for years to come, a few were total disappointments and one was champion. These tiers will be reflective of the last 10 years, and what that owner has accomplished in that time span. I like to think this is the order from best to worst of the league’s existence thus far. Some of this is recency bias but I’ll try my best to explain why people are in whatever tier they fall into as well as why one team may be above another.
Wow. 10 years. Give it up to our league for having 14 owners enter in 2013 and the same group of obsessed lunatics still remain a decade later. As noted in last years blog, I have implemented a change in my metrics and trying to apply that to my viewpoint of these rankings as well. Prior, your Average Finish (AF) was 2x more important than your Points For (PF). That has now been switched. The only thing you can control is how many points you score. The strength of the conferences change, schedule luck is a real thing, and I think the further the league goes the more PF becomes a better metric of long term success.
Unlike when this started, there is obviously the increase of rebuilding. Teams bottoming out and hopefully cashing in on those draft picks. While this is usually the best route for some teams to go, it will not be used as a factor for my rankings. If you sucked for two years, you sucked for two years. There will be no leeway given for those who were just bad or for those who were rebuilding correctly. I think this is obvious in my previous rankings but just wanted that out there.
Piggybacking on my change of PV vs AF.. I know I’ve been a little AF bias when it comes to actually making these tiers, or picking teams over the other. It was much easier to see how often a team was finishing last, missing the playoffs, etc.. where that wasn’t as obvious when looking at peoples PF. I usually just had it ranked per year and really didn’t look into how often someone was scoring in the top half… or 1st/last. I tried doing that this year as best as i could while also factoring everything else.
Enough rambling, let’s get started.
Tier Elite:
#1 Rogers (previously 2)
Moving up one spot from last year is Rogers, who now reclaims his spot as the best owner in league history and is now the 5th time he has owned that title. This may seem odd, as Rogers is coming off a 10th place finish and has now missed the playoffs the last 3 years, but let’s start with the positives we all know. Three time champion, winning them all in consecutive years from 2016-2018. In that time span, he ranked 1st, 1st and 5th in PF and despite his playoff misses, he still remains 2nd all time in PF. His AF did fall from 3rd overall too 5th overall, and in that time span was 8th, 12th and 8th in PF.. so slightly below average for 2 of those years. Besdies 2021, Rogers has single digits overall in PF every single year and has still made the playoffs 6 times. The margin in this tier is very small, but due to the change in value for PF, the metrics support this move and so does the eye test. Congrats on reclaiming the number one spot… but don’t get too comfortable.
#2 Greg ( previous 1)
Greg moves down 1 spot to the #2 overall owner but is still in good company in Tier Elite. Greg is still in the middle of his rebuild where he will be looking to revamp his team in the upcoming couple of drafts. Sadly this has come at the cost of finishing 13th and 11th back to back years, and his PF ranked 13th and 14th in those two years. Greg is a funny team where his winning seasons are not when he’s at his best. In his three titles he finished 8th, 7th and 4th in PF in those years while not winning when he finished 2nd in 2017, 2nd in 2018 and 3rd in 2020. Overall Greg still has an impressive resume. Three titles, playoffs 7/10 years and is still 2nd overall in AF. Unfortunately, Greg has dropped all the way to 7th in the overall PF. The last two years have hurt and as noted, even when he wins he’s been at or below average for two of them. But that’s how Greg wins..he finds the FA’s you pass up on.. he wins scrappy and is smarter on the weekly matchups than you are. The move down was mostly due to the decline in his PF historically, but the 3 titles speak for themsevles.
#3 Addison (prev 3)
For the first time ever… I have found myself in Tier Elite. It feels good to finally break from Tier Great (and Tier dope last year). Now we will address the Asiata in the room, and that is the 2022 title. I can knowledge and respect the opinions around it and its why I kept myself at three, as I think it can argue I could be higher. There’s really no more to say on it, no opinions will be changed and I will be proceeding as if i am a three time, back to back champion. Congrats to me! With this season I have moved up from 5th to 3rd on PF and remain 3rd overall in PF. Overall I’ve been a pretty consistently good team, making the playoffs 7/10 years, being a top half scorer in eight of those years and seven of those years i was in the top five in PF. Not too shabby. Unlike those above me, I have made the playoffs in the last two years and I think having three titles to accompany being 3rd in both PF and AF is impressive and worthy of this tier. Even you 2.5r’s can agree a move up is justified. But as I said the margin here is think…another playoff run for me and misses by the two above…who knows what may change.
Summary: Rogers moves above Greg for betting a more consistent scorer, as Rogers is 6-4 vs Greg in head to head PF, and Greg being 7th isn’t the best look. I move up tiers due to my 3rd title but remain behind Rogers and Greg for Asiata reasons + I’m still behind Greg in AF and Rogers in PF.. I’m in the middle of both so this felt fine.
Tier Great:
#4 Ducc (prev 4)
For the fourth straight year, Ducc leads off our Tier Great but unlike other years…he is alone. Ducc stands alone in Tier Great because i think he has proven to be above all those behind him by a good margin. For just the second time since 2018, we have an owner who is first in BOTH PF and AF… the first was Rogers in 2019 and now it is Ducc in 2023. He now has the longest active made playoff streak at 4 and has made the playoffs in 9/10 years, which is also a league best. In 2019, Ducc missed the playoffs finishing in 13th place but was still 5th in PF. Ducc has never finished below 5th in PF for 10 straight years and was top three in 6 of those years. Really just a wild run of consistency from Ducc and consistency at an elite (great) level. But like every year, we must mention the only blemish on Ducc’s otherwise pristine resume and that is having no titles. Yes he’s made it to the finals three times.. but has yet to secure The Gene. Just one title and you could argue for Ducc to be in the elite tier with other 3 time winners, but until then you must remain in Tier great, but this time you can bask in its glory alone.
Summary: If you remove titles, Ducc has been the best owner. He belongs to be in Tier Great and I think for now no one else does.
Tier Solid
#5 Tizz ( prev 5)
Leading off Tier Solid is Tizz, who is ranked equivalent to last year but falls from Tier Great to Tier solid. After a dominant four year stretch from 2019-2022, which included two finals appearances and one Gene, Tizz missed the playoffs in 2023. He has now only made the playoffs in that 4 year stretch mentioned and prior was a bad team. From 2014-2017 he was 13th, 11th, 10th and 12th in PF but was able to avoid any last place punishment’s. 2018 was a tough year, as Tizz did miss the playoffs for the 5th straight time but was 3rd in the league in PF. A foreshadow to the league before his dominant run began. Overall, Tizz is 7th in AF and slipped to 4th in PF. Being 4th in PF despite having some of the awful years just shows how good Tizz was at his peak, leading the league in scoring in both 2020 and 2022. Winning is hard, and Tizz can still hold his head high that he is just one of 5 owners to do so.
#6 Josh (prev 6)
Staying at 6th overall and in Tier Solid is Josh. Josh moved up from Flaz up into Tier solid in 2019 and has stayed there ever since. Overall, Josh sits 5th in PF and 4th in AF, pretty good. After four straight years of making the playoffs, Josh’s streak came to an end by coming in 9th in 2023. Despite this, Josh has still made the playoffs 8/10 year which is 2nd best in the league. Josh has also made the finals in 2015 and 2019 but sadly has not cashed in on the gene. Overall Josh is an above average scorer historically, leading the league in PF in 2021 and being in the top half in seven of those 10 years which makes sense given he is 5th in league history in PF. Josh is basically Ducc-lite. He’s always in the playoffs, usually in the top half of scoring, makes the finals multiple times but just can’t get the title. Will he try to rebound in 2023… or blow it up?!
#7 Chad (prev 7)
Rounding out Tier Solid is Chad. Chad historically has been in Tier bad until his 2022 title propelled him up a tier and where he remains in 2023. Outside of Tier elite, we have two owners who historically haven’t been that good… but have a title. Chad has made the playoffs just 4/10 times and finishing last one of those times. Scoring wise he’s been below average 5 times with three of those being in double digits. The last three years have been promising though. Playoffs all 3 years, 8th, 3rd and 2nd in scoring and a title to go along with it. Overall Chad ranks 8th in AF and 8th in PF which is both kinda flaz/bad but still above other owners and as mentioned…the gene. Chad is definitely on the right track to move up but I would like to see those overall numbers increase relative to those above him.
Summary: At first I compared those with the titles and felt Tizz had a stronger resume, given he’s above Chad overall in both PF and AF. I debated Josh above Tizz , due to having double the playoff appearances and three spots above him in PF, but i didn’t want to dilute the value of a title too much to where it doesn’t matter. The metrics also agreed with me here on this order so I feel good with it.
Tier Flaz
#8 Nick (prev 8)
Staying at number 8 but falling down a spot in the rankings is Nick. Nick has been in Tier Solid since 2017 and will be the first time he falls downward in tiers. Nick will also own this tier all by himself. When i looked at the historic numbers, Nick is actually not that bad. Overall, he’s still 6th in both AF and PF, and two of the times he missed the playoffs he was 6th and 5th in PF. Basically the schedule gods prevents him from two more title runs. That being said, Nick has missed the playoffs for 5 straight years which puts him at just making it 5 times as well. In that span, Nick did lead the league in PF in 2015, and was top half in all 5 years ( two of them being 7th). Although Nick had a great 5 year stretch, he has yet to make it to the finals, let alone with the gene. Nicks 2-5 playoff record is the major thing holding him back and the recency bias is too much to ignore. The last three years, Nick is 13th, 12th and 12th in scoring, finishing 13th, 10th and 12th. The rebuild has been…slow and non existent but I will continue to trust Nick as an owner and see if he can not be an embarrassment in 2024.
Summary: Although he’s 6th in both PF and AF, he lacks a title and I don’t feel those rankings are a big enough gap over Tizz/Chad who do have titles. Josh’s resume is much better than Nick in really every facet. I could have stuck him at the bottom of Tier solid, but he needed to be taken down a notch. Agent Flaz.
Tier Bad:
#9 Rigg ( prev 9)
While we don’t have a ton of moment order wise, we do have some shifting in the tiers as the standards for these change. After two straight years of making the playoffs, it does seem a bit mean to bump Rigg down into bad.. but i feel Nick has been better by enough of a margin to warrant this. Perhaps it’ll change next year. The main reason i felt this gap was needed was due to the overall ranks, where Rigg is 9th in both PF and AF. Not great. Rigg has just made the playoffs 5/10 times, but it only one of four owners to have made the playoffs multiple years in a row. Rigg’s scoring has been extremely volatile, as he is only one of three times to finish dead last in scoring two times, but has also been in the top half of scoring six times. Rigg has always been the darkhorse team but has yet to actually win a playoff game, having a woeful 0-5 record. Historically, maybe Rigg is more meh then bad, but we have a new tier coming soon so for now…bad he stays.
#10 Kojac (prev 12)
Kojac remains in tier bad but moves up two spots from 2022 which i think is the biggest overall move upward. Woo! So this year we did have a three way tie for overall finish (historically) with Kojac, Rob and Itzler all having 9.100 averages. I guess going forward I could just split the points three ways but the way I’ve done it is simply who did better this year gets the higher spot. So Rob would be 10th, Kojac 11th and Itzler 12th. To go along with his 11th AF is being 12th in PF. All of this points to being in a lower tier, but he’s still been able to make the playoffs 5/10 times which is significantly better than those ranked lower. Kojac has come in last twice, but did lead the league in scoring this year and has been 3rd, 6th and 1st the last three years. We’re in tier bad so there’s more bad to say than good, but enjoy the rise of two spots.
summary: Both of these teams are bad but have at least made the playoffs 5/10 times. Rigg is 9th in both categories and while Kojac lacks a little in those two i felt the playoff appearances was enough of an edge.
Tier Gross:
Originally I wanted to keep this at Tier bad and rename the above but finding a word between Flaz and Bad was difficult but finding a word between bad and buns seemed easier. Alas, the birth of Tier Gross. This group was also very hard to order.
#11 Weyer (prev 10)
I honestly don’t really know how to order these next three teams. Overall, Weyer fell drastically from 9th in AF to 13th and is 10th overall in PF. Weyer has also only made the playoffs 2 times and has now missed the playoffs 5 years in a row. The bright side is you have never come in last, but you have also never made it to the finals or even win a playoff game. In scoring you have managed to come in the top half three times and never once were you lower than 11th in PF on any given year. The upside isn’t high but you downside isn’t…the lowest it can be. I’m not sure if you belong higher than the two below you but you’re gross and don’t need and further analysis. You’re the most flaz of the gross.
#12 Itzler ( prev 11)
Itzler falls one spot in the ranking and tier with his new home in Tier Gross. The good…Itzlers magical run in 2017 making it to the finals. Itzler has made the playoffs just two times and one of those times was being the 8th seed in the orignal season. Although that seems cheap, he was oddly 1st in PF that year so i guess he deserved to be in. After 2014, Itzler has yet to finish in the top 7 in scoring and is 11th overall in PF. He’s 12th in PF but again he was tied and went just recency bias there. Itzler has also come in last twice, both having the worst and easiest punishment. His team feels like it’s better than the results show, but he did come in last in scoring in 2020 and even this year was just 9th. Idk…It’s a gross resume.
#13 Rob (prev 13)
Staying a 13 and falling into Tier Gross is Rob. Now while i have shown a ton of recency bias, I will am not going to let Rob’s run to the finals this year blind me from how bad he’s been prior. This year was great though. Finished 2nd in the league, 4th in PF and was just 2nd time he’s made the playoffs, the first being 2019. Robs PF overall is 13th and that’s due to the digusting years he had in 2021 and 2022, where he finished dead last in scoring. Prior, Rob had nice years, being 6th in PF in 2017 and 4th in 2019 but the 13th overall in PF, 10th in AF (due to tiebreaker) and just 2 playoffs is..gross.
Summary: It’s all gross. Rank them anyway you want, I don’t care.
Tier Buns:
#14 Eric (prev 14)
Last and least is Eric who has been in Tier Buns since the inception of this blog. Others were with him but have moved onto bigger and better things. Since this began we have seen big moves..like tizz going from 13th in AF to 7th… Or greg slipping from 4th to 7th in PF…all teams have had shifts even if it’s just one single spot in either PF and AF…except Eric. Eric has been 14th in AF and PF from 2018-2023. Eric is still the only team in the league to not make the playoffs, and has never been in the top half of scoring. Eric has been 10th or worse in PF 9 of these 10 years, being 13th twice and dead last twice. To go along with never making the playoffs , Eric has been in last a league high three times. The worst part is, it doesn’t look any better for him in 2024, as his division is very strong and even some of the teams in tier gross have much better rosters. Tier Buns will firmly be occupied by our dear commish for what seems like years to come.
Summary: Eric = buns
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