Our data sources, how grades and tiers are built, and where we stand.
The short version: we pull real player data from public sports APIs (Sleeper and ESPN) and draft data from Fantasy Football Calculator, then use Claude AI to write the analysis, grades, and summaries. Everything refreshes automatically through the week, so nothing you read is hand-massaged to sell you something. We do not write fake expert bios, we do not run display ads, and we take no sportsbook, DFS, or affiliate money.
Every number on the site traces back to a public, checkable source. We do not scrape private feeds or invent projections.
Cached data is refreshed on a schedule (for example ADP is re-pulled through the day and injuries several times daily), so pages stay current without hammering the source APIs.
The grades, tier labels, one-line verdicts, and news summaries are generated with Claude AI on top of the real stats above, then cached and refreshed automatically. We would rather tell you a page was written by a model than invent a fake senior analyst with a stock-photo headshot. The math that feeds the AI (ranks, ADP, percentiles) is deterministic and described below, so you can check our work rather than trust a byline.
Each player gets a letter grade and a tier based on their position rank. We use the projected position rank when a projection exists, and fall back to last season's finish otherwise. That rank is compared against fixed cutoffs that differ by position, because "top 5" means something very different at tight end than at wide receiver. These are the actual thresholds:
| Position | A+ Elite | A Core | B Solid | C Flex | D Bench |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QB | ≤ 4 |
5–10 |
11–18 |
19–28 |
29+ |
| RB | ≤ 5 |
6–12 |
13–24 |
25–40 |
41+ |
| WR | ≤ 6 |
7–18 |
19–36 |
37–54 |
55+ |
| TE | ≤ 3 |
4–8 |
9–14 |
15–22 |
23+ |
| K | ≤ 5 |
6–12 |
13–20 |
21–32 |
33+ |
| DEF | ≤ 5 |
6–12 |
13–20 |
21–32 |
33+ |
So a running back projected as RB5 grades out as A+ (Elite), an RB20 lands at B (Solid Starter), and an RB45 is a D (Deep Bench) stash. What each tier means in plain English:
| Grade | Tier | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | Elite | Every-week must-start, one of the best at the position. |
| A | Core Starter | A reliable weekly starter you can plug in with confidence. |
| B | Solid Starter | Startable most weeks, especially in good matchups. |
| C | Flex / Depth | A flex play and bye-week fill-in with upside in the right spot. |
| D | Deep Bench | A deep-league or handcuff stash more than a weekly starter. |
A player with no usable rank is shown as Unranked (NR) rather than being forced into a grade.
On player pages, each stat bar shows where that player ranks against others at the same position, not against the whole league. We build a distribution of every qualifying player's total for that stat (players who appeared in at least six games), sort it, and then find where the player falls inside it. A percentile of 90 means the player's total is higher than about 90% of qualifying players at his position for that category. Bars are position-specific: receivers are measured on receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and targets, running backs on rushing yards and touchdowns, carries, and receptions, and so on. This is a genuine peer comparison, not an arbitrary "out of 100" score.
NFL Fantasy Edge is independent. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the National Football League, any NFL team, Sleeper, ESPN, or any fantasy platform. We run no display advertising, and we accept no sportsbook, daily-fantasy, or affiliate money, so there is nothing steering our rankings toward a bet or a sign-up bonus. The only thing we sell is Premium, which analyzes your own roster after you connect your league. Team and player names belong to their owners and are used for identification only.
If a number looks wrong or a grade does not match reality, tell us. Accuracy is the whole point. Reach us at support@nflfantasyedge.com or on the contact page. More on who we are lives on the About page.