(Via: Pro Football Focus)

While this chart only goes up to 2011, the overall long span of time covered gives the best perspective when considering running backs in your upcoming fantasy football drafts.

A rule of thumb: Don’t draft backs over 32 years old.

Marshawn Lynch is 31. His peak season was his age 28 season when he tallied 17 total touchdowns and rushed for over 1,300 yards. As noted above, the average peak of a running back spans from ages 25-28. No running back in the last 10 years has finished in the top-five at the position beyond their age 32 season. To expect anything different from Lynch in 2017 would be an irrational fantasy football decision based on both narrative and data. Feel free to draft Lynch, but don’t draft him under the guise that he has top-five upside, regardless of his excellent situation in Oakland…

This is what we mean when we talk about the value of age in fantasy football, as while we love to fall in love with players and the mystique of their unique abilities, the fact of the matter is that age is one of the few indicators on when a player may rise or fall.

This thought process works for other positions as well…

Wide receivers generally rise in their mid-twenties, peak at around 28-29, and then fall off a cliff after 33. Sure we all seem to love Jordy Nelson, what he did last season, and his chances of another great season due to his pairing with Aaron Rodgers, but just keep in mind that he’s 32 years old now and has dealt with significant injuries throughout his career.

Contrarily, look at a guy like T.Y. Hilton. He’s often considered one of the tier-two wideouts, while he has seemingly improved in every one of his NFL seasons thus far. Entering his age 28 season – generally a wideout’s prime – there is cause to believe that he will jump up into the top-tier when 2017 is all said and done. Keep his name in mind come draft day.

While it is becoming harder and harder to figure out an age in which quarterbacks are definitively “over the hill,” there is at least data available that suggests when a quarterback is too young to be relied upon in fantasy leagues. Sure there are outliers like Dak Prescott last season and the always coming from behind Blake Bortles, but generally, quarterbacks do not finish in the top-10 at the position prior to their age 25 season. With that in mind, a potential breakout star in that regard this season is Trevor Siemian, who now has a season of starting experience under his belt and will play all of 2017 as a 25-year-old. Beyond that though, Siemian is not a player to fall in love with, however using age as a potential guideline in your draft strategy, Siemian could be a late-round value with excellent upside.

The trickiest position to use age as a means of value is at the tight end position. Most research suggests that a tight end’s prime age is from 28-30, however many tight ends can remain top-10 relevant well into their 30’s. Much of the position’s relevancy comes from remaining healthy and being guaranteed consistent targets. If you can get both of those things from your TE, historically they will finish within the top-10 at the position, regardless of age. If you are interested in elite production (top-three at the position) however, looking further into research suggests that only three tight ends in the last 10 years have finished in the top-three at the position beyond their age 30 season. With a defined elite prime, the position becomes easier to value in that regard, however top-10 production seems ageless for tight ends.

Ultimately, the point here is that age does matter in fantasy football and the overused cliché is true – “Father Time is undefeated.” At every position there is either an age in which you are too old to make an impact any longer or too young to understand the position at the NFL level. Like everything else in life, there are exceptions, but using age as a general guideline along with the other 33 strategies in this draft guide, you can formulate a recipe to ultimate fantasy success.