Fantasy football player rankings adjusted at the time: Joe Namath and Don Maynard sit in first class for the New York Jets

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the creation of fantasy football, Athleticism reviews the best fantasy players and fantasy seasons in NFL history.

A detailed look at the system used to rate historical fantasy performance can be found in our Top Fantasy Players of All Time introduction page, but here is a brief summary.

Fantasy player performance is adjusted through the era so that players who dominated during low-scoring eras can compete against players who racked up huge point totals in higher-scoring eras.

Once these adjustments are made, players are then credited for having a starter-caliber season (one point), a quality season (one point), an impact campaign (1.5 points), or being an elite starter (two points). These points stack up and are measured in both non-PPR and PPR and serve as the basis for determining who the best fantasy players in NFL history are.

Now that we’re done with the preliminaries, let’s take a look at the best fantasy players in New York Jets team history!

(Note: The numbers listed below are for player performance on the Jets.)

All-Time Fantastic Starting Lineup

QB: Joe Namath

AR: Curtis Martin

AR: Freeman McNeil

Answering machine: Don Maynard

WR: Wesley Walker

TE: Rich Caster

SuperFLEX: Art Powell

Quarterback – Joe Namath

It may come as a surprise that Namath never finished as a Top 5 quarterback, because even in his superb 1967 campaign when he became the first quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards, Namath is ranked sixth in QB fantasy points in part because of throwing a league-leading 28 interceptions. Even with that production cap, Namath finished in the Top 9 in fantasy QB scoring six times and thus finished well ahead of Ken O’Brien (12 career points) and Richard Todd (eight career points).

Running back — Curtis Martin

Martin ended up missing landing on the Patriots’ all-time fantasy list, but his tenure in New York easily put him at the top of the Jets’ list. Martin’s seven rookie-caliber seasons and five quality-caliber campaigns are both the best in Jets history and his 2001 season (244 non-PPR, 297 PPR) is the best adjusted season at the time by a running back for the New York Jets.

Running back – Freeman McNeil

McNeil only had one season as a Top 10 fantasy running back, it was the strike-shortened 1982, but he had four solid RB2-caliber campaigns that gave him a total five seasons of starting caliber. McNeil and Matt Snell both finished with 11 career points, but McNeil’s overall fantasy production was higher and so he clinches that spot.

Wide Receiver – Don Maynard

Maynard began his career with the New York Giants in 1958, then spent a year in the Canadian Football League before landing with the New York Titans of the AFL in 1960. Maynard had an immediate impact in the new league, ranking WR1 in posting 1,265 receiving yards. out of 72 receptions. It was the start of 10 straight rookie-caliber years, eight of which were quality seasons, but what really stood out for Maynard was that he ranked first/second in the PPR wide receiver rankings. /non-PPR in 1967 and second in each category. in 1968. It was towards the end of that dominant decade and showed what an elite wide Maynard was. This extended production easily made Maynard the most valuable Jets fantasy player of all time at any position.

Wide Receiver – Wesley Walker

Walker was a speedster who got off to a great start with a #3 ranking in non-PPR WR points and a #5 ranking in PPR points in his second NFL season (1978). Walker never quite reached that production peak again, as he was only a WR1 twice more in his 13 years with the Jets, but his seven years of starting caliber ranks just behind Maynard. among the WRs in club history.

Tight end — Rich Caster

Caster’s case is interesting because Pro Football Reference listed him as a wide receiver in two of his eight seasons with the Jets, indicating he was moved at the time. Having noted this, Caster was listed as a tight end in the 1972, 1974, and 1975 campaigns, finishing first in non-PPR and PPR scoring among tight ends in each of those seasons. It made Caster the first tight end to post three consensus No. 1 rankings among tight ends, and only Kellen Winslow, Todd Christensen, Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce have matched or surpassed that total since then.

SuperFlex — Art Powell

One could make a case for Mickey Shuler for that spot, as Shuler posted five rookie-caliber seasons as a Jets tight end and posted 16 career points, but Powell had three good seasons with the Jets and one season 1960 dominant. Powell posted 269.7 PPR points this campaign, a pace that still ranks ninth all-time among Jets players at any position. Considering the rarity of this type of excellence in the history of this club, it seemed best to place Powell in this list.

Best era-adjusted fantasy seasons of all time

QB: Al Dorow, 1960 (240.2 points)

RB: Curtis Martin, 2001 (244 non-PPR, 297 PPR)

WR: Don Maynard, 1965 (205 non-PPR, 273 PPR)

TE: Rich Caster, 1972 (144 non-PPR, 182.9 PPR)

SuperFLEX: Art Powell, 1960 (200.7 non PPR, 269.7 PPR)

(Top photo: Sports Focus/Getty Images)