Judging by the players left standing in the most ESPN Fantasy Football championship matchups, there have been several ways to build a title contender in 2024.
No individual player can be found on a championship-matchup roster in more than 38.0% of ESPN leagues -- that league-leading number belongs to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson -- the first season since 2020 in which that has been true. Generally, at least one elite full-season performer continues with a two-week fantasy semifinal outburst, carrying his teams on his shoulders. For example, in 2023, it was Christian McCaffrey, who was on a finalists' roster in 58.9% of leagues. In 2021, it was Cooper Kupp (48%), and in 2019, it was McCaffrey again (48.1%). This year, however, has been an outlier in that regard.
Additionally, a whopping 39 different players can be found on at least 25% of ESPN finalists' rosters, the most who can claim that in any of the past 10 seasons.
That's not to diminish the accomplishments of many of the game's best players, all of whom have played big parts in getting their teams this far.
Jackson tops the list thanks in large part because he also tops the fantasy leaderboard -- his 377.98 fantasy points are most in the league by nearly 20 -- and leading all quarterbacks with 12 instances of a top-10 weekly score, totaling the third-most points among quarterbacks during the two-week semifinals (Weeks 15-16). He also entered the past week with the second-best odds to win NFL MVP at ESPN BET.
Ja'Marr Chase is a close second, one-tenth of a percentage point behind Jackson on the list. Chase's fantasy semifinals contribution was among the least exceptional of any of the top names on the list below, as his 40.8 PPR fantasy points ranked just 11th among wide receivers for Weeks 15-16, but his seasonal dominance continues to play a big part in his teams' fates. His 358.2 points for the year are second best in the NFL.
Saquon Barkley, another top contender for NFL MVP honors, is the eighth-most-common player found on ESPN finalists' rosters (34.9% of leagues have him in championship matchups). His 336.4 PPR fantasy points for the season pace all running backs and by a 45.6-point margin over second place at that.
Here are the top 50 players you'll find on rosters of ESPN fantasy football teams now in their leagues' championship matchups. Included are players' preseason ADPs (average draft position) and year-to-date totals in PPR scoring.
Takeaways
Whereas two Ravens (Jackson, Derrick Henry) placed among the top five most common players found on ESPN playoff rosters, two Detroit Lions rated among the top five on finalists' rosters: Jahmyr Gibbs (37.8% of leagues) is the No. 1 running back, and Amon-Ra St. Brown (37.6%) the No. 2 wide receiver. Gibbs' ascension to full-fledged, every-down back this past week lines him up nicely to contend for the top honor among league champions. He'll have a plus matchup against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 17 and might be needed again in a full-time role for Week 18, should his Lions remain tied with the division rival Minnesota Vikings entering their head-to-head matchup at Ford Field.
It has remained a good year to have drawn a late-round draft position, as five of the top eight players on the list were selected between sixth (St. Brown) and 14th (Gibbs) on average during the preseason. Three of them -- No. 7 Chase, No. 8 Justin Jefferson and No. 10 Barkley -- were also among the top eight players found on the most ESPN playoff teams two weeks ago.
Washington Commanders rookie Jayden Daniels' extraordinary Week 16 certainly helped a lot of fantasy managers, and his 58.06 fantasy points over the past two weeks combined were second best among quarterbacks. That earned him a place on finalists' rosters in 32.5% of leagues, third most at his position. Daniels wasn't the only late-round rookie to propel a large number of his fantasy teams into the finals -- he was selected 102nd overall on average during the preseason -- as the Las Vegas Raiders' Brock Bowers (108th overall in ADP) is the most common tight end and sixth-most-common player overall found in championship matchups.
Proving that you have to get your fantasy teams into the playoffs in order to capitalize upon a hot December, the Lions' Jared Goff, the top-scoring quarterback in Weeks 16-17 (66.40 fantasy points), finds himself on a finalist's roster in only 19.6% of ESPN leagues and outside the above top 50. Among other fantasy-semifinals standouts who fell shy of the top 50 were Keenan Allen (49.3 PPR fantasy points, fifth best among wide receivers, finalist in 13.6% of leagues), Tyjae Spears (48.8, fifth-best running back, 4.3%) and Chig Okonkwo (33.0, top tight end, 0.4%).
The aforementioned Kupp, the 14th-most-common player found on ESPN playoff rosters (56.4% of leagues), is the only non-injured player to reside on a playoff roster in more than half of leagues yet miss the top 50 entirely for the finals. Back-to-back games beneath six PPR fantasy points, including zero on three Week 15 targets, cemented his status as the semifinals' biggest bust. (Note: Injured Lions running back David Montgomery's roster rate dropped from 50.4% for playoff teams to 16.3%, predictably outside the top 50, for the finals.)
Conversely, the Miami Dolphins' Jonnu Smith, the top-scoring tight end over the past six weeks (118.5 PPR fantasy points) and No. 3 positional scorer in Weeks 15-16 (32.0), has played a critical part in his teams advancing. After placing on 42.7% of ESPN playoff teams' rosters, he helped his fantasy teams qualify for their championship matchups in 29.1% of leagues, fourth most among tight ends and 22nd overall. Smith is also easily the top undrafted skill-position player on the above list, having been selected in only 3.2% of leagues during the preseason.
We'll be back to refresh the list of players on the most league champions in two weeks. In the meantime, happy holidays and best of luck in your title matches!