With the 2023 NFL season on the horizon, fans will begin to see preseason fantasy football rankings take shape. The Kansas City Chiefs won’t have much changing in terms of their fantasy football projections this season. Given that fact, we’re going to take a different approach to how we’re going to rank players.
If you’re not familiar with this specific style of tier list, they emerged out of the video game subculture. Specifically, they were created as a means to rank tiers of characters in the “fighting” game genre. They’ve since been adapted and used to rank all sorts of things. Now, we’re adapting it to reflect Chiefs players in fantasy football:
S Tier
- Patrick Mahomes
- Travis Kelce
These two remain in a tier of their own. Kelce is consistently among the highest-scoring tight ends in fantasy football and last season he was by far the best tight end with over 1,000 receiving yards for the seventh consecutive season and a career-high 12 touchdowns.
Depending on your fantasy league settings, you’ll want to value Mahomes accordingly. He’s been one of the more consistent options at the QB position since 2018, which is good enough for us to rank him in this tier. As we learned during the postseason, he can get it all done on one leg as well.
A Tier
- Isiah Pacheco
- Jerick McKinnon
- Harrison Butker
The Chiefs seem to be doing everything possible to ensure that both Pacheco and McKinnon are healthy and fresh for the start of the season. They were both productive players in fantasy last season, especially McKinnon as a touchdown-scorer.
As one of the highest-scoring offenses in the league, Butker is always going to have a consistent level of production. He might not be kicking field goals at a high clip, but he’s going to provide a steady stream of PATs and he’ll look to recapture some consistency now that he’s healthy.
B Tier
- Kadarius Toney
- Skyy Moore
- Chiefs D/ST
I’d consider the players (and defense) in this tier as the “on the rise” tier. They’ve seen flashes of elite play and production, but they just need to see consistency in their performance. I think the opportunity will be there for Moore this year. If Toney can stay healthy, we all know the type of talent he can be. The defense feels like they’re a few pieces away from cracking the top 10 in the league. Creating turnovers and keeping up sack numbers will be key in 2023.
C Tier
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Richie James
- Rashee Rice
- Deneric Prince
I reserved this tier for two types of players. First are the rookies who still need to prove it. Second is the reliable, but uninspiring veterans.
If you’re banking on these players for consistent production, you’re probably going to find yourself disappointed. However, this is the tier where you can hit some home runs. Prince and Rice could both thrive if given the opportunity. James and Valdes-Scantling will both offer some consistent receiving production, but they’re probably never going to be more than a WR3/Flex player on your fantasy team save for maybe one or two weeks out of the year.
D Tier
- Justin Watson
- Clyde Edwards-Helaire
- Jody Fortson
This tier is reserved for the occasional touchdown-scorer. In deeper leagues, these are guys who might be good to keep on your bench and rotate into the lineup in hopes that they’ll get into the endzone. There’s a possibility that each could see elevated roles if the team goes through some attrition at their respective positions, but you probably shouldn’t bank on it.
E Tier
- Noah Gray
- Blake Bell
- Matt Bushman
All three of these players probably have some value in deeper leagues, but their roles are unlikely to lead to a great amount of production. Bell and Bushman might even be fighting for a single roster spot.
F Tier
- Justyn Ross
- John Ross
- Ihmir Smith-Marsette
- Blaine Gabbert
If these players get you even a fraction of a fantasy football point on Sunday you should consider yourself lucky. Most of them probably won’t make the team and if they do, their opportunity to play and make a consistent impact will be few and far between.
