Unit Rankings
Ranking the best coaches, positions and units of each NFL team
What are the Fantasy Life NFL Positional Unit Rankings?
The positional rankings tool on Fantasy Life provides team-by-team data that can help you define and locate the strengths of specific NFL units across the league.
The tool breaks down teams by 10 separate categories (team units) and also provides overall team rankings based on their performance across these categories. The tool is meant to act as a quick and easy visual guide to allow you to see where specific teams are excelling and where they are struggling.
This guide can be used alongside our projections and other tools to provide great context for upcoming matchups. For example, if a team with a strong DL unit (Defensive Line) rating were to play against a team with a weak OL unit (Offensive Line) ranking, it could be a signal to look further into that matchup for fantasy and betting.
Depending on the line available, potential under bets on the offensive players with the weaker OL rating could be worth making. Additionally, from a fantasy football or daily fantasy sports (DFS) perspective, using the DST unit from the team with the strong DL unit may be another way to apply this data.
What is being ranked in the Fantasy Life NFL Positional Unit Rankings?
Each positional group of every NFL team is ranked by this tool. Additionally, every team is given an overall ranking and a coaching rank based on the strengths and record of their current staff.
Overall Team Rank: Provides an overall team rank based on the holistic ranks of every unit within the tool. The overall rank is the mean of the team’s ranks in each of the other 10 unit rankings in the Positional Rankings Tool
Coaching: Ranks the current coaching unit by team
Offense: Ranks the entire offensive unit on a team-by-team basis as a whole
QB: Ranks the performance of the QB unit on a team-by-team basis
RB: Ranks the performance of the RB unit on a team-by-team basis
WR/TE: Ranks the performance of the receiving units (WRs and TEs) on a team-by-team basis
OL: Ranks the performance of the offensive line unit on a team-by-team basis
DEF: Ranks the entire defensive unit on a team-by-team basis as a whole
DL: Ranks the performance of the defensive line unit on a team-by-team basis
LB: Ranks the performance of the linebacker unit on a team-by-team basis
SEC: Ranks the performance of the secondary unit on a team-by-team basis
Who is creating the Fantasy Life NFL Positional Unit Rankings?
The NFL Positional Unit Rankings are the brainchild of Fantasy Life’s own Matthew Freedman, who is head of betting for the company.
Freedman is a profitable sports bettor with over 100,000 followers in the Action Network app and specializes in NFL betting (spreads, totals, futures, and player and draft props).
Before joining Fantasy Life, he was the Director of Content at FantasyPros and BettingPros (2022-23), Chief Strategy Officer at FTN Network (2021-22), Lead NFL Analyst at Action Network (2017-21), and Editor-in-Chief at FantasyLabs (2016-21). As a fantasy analyst, Freedman is also a five-time top-20 finisher in the FantasyPros accuracy contest.
You can also find his work here and his bets for NFL (and any other sports he decides to dabble in) in the absolutely FREE Fantasy Life Bet Tracker.
Additionally, if you are ever faced with the punishment of sitting in a waffle house for 24 hours as the result of some shoddy play in your fantasy football league, Freedman can also provide you with some great knowledge as to how to maximize your time spent in such an endeavor.
How are the Fantasy Life NFL Positional Unit rankings calculated?
Overall Ranking: Based on the power ratings that Freedman creates for each team using a weighted balance of expected points added, success rate, and yards per play for offense and defense
Coach Rankings: Based on a weighted average of various top-level team and unit statistics such as win-loss record, Super Bowl victories, percentage of seasons in the postseason, and offensive and defensive success — plus Freedman’s instinct
Offense Rankings: Based on an adjusted weighted average of the various position rankings within the offense
Defense Rankings: Based on an adjusted weighted average of the various position rankings within the defense
All Position Rankings: Based on an adjusted weighted average of various efficiency and volume metrics that directly reflect back on position group performance, potential, and depth