I’d make a lot of changes if I was King of the fantasy football world. But my No. 1 priority would be eliminating the default rankings from the online draft applets.
These default rankings are the enemy of hard work and preparation. If the defaults are efficient, owners can just show up the day of the draft, use the site’s rankings as their “research”, and emerge with a reasonable team.
At a minimum, we know our opponents use the default rankings as a crutch. That means they may be afraid to pull the trigger on X guy in the second round because he’s listed as a fourth-rounder in the applet. Or maybe they take Y guy earlier than they should because his name is on top of the applet. Even auto-drafters can have success if the draft applet rankings are solid.
The good news for us is that these default rankings are not particularly efficient. So there are edges for us to exploit against opponents who are relying on them. The best process for us is to draft off of our own personal rankings, but also be aware of and adjust to what’s going on in the applet.
Below is what you should be aware of heading into drafts on Yahoo. Do NOT rely on these rankings; use our ETR rankings as your cheat sheet:
* These rankings were found within the Yahoo draft applet as of Monday, Aug. 21.
PLAYERS LISTED HIGHER THAN EXPECTED
7. Nick Chubb
22. Najee Harris
24. Travis Etienne
26. Aaron Jones
27. Joe Mixon
35. Breece Hall
39. J.K. Dobbins
41. Cam Akers
46. Miles Sanders
56. James Conner
96. Kenny Gainwell
137. Brock Purdy
ADJUSTMENTS: Sensing a theme? When we go into a Yahoo draft, it is extremely important to understand running backs will go high. Very high. And that’s good news for us. … The only RBs on this list I feel any regret missing out on are Nick Chubb and Breece Hall. But that’s a small price to pay to have our enemies paying absurd tags for the rest. I’m absolutely thrilled to let them draft these RBs at these prices. … This will give us a big advantage structurally. Our opponents will reach for many of the RBs listed above and then not take any that are great values later. The most important thing is to be patient at RB, and to take RBs at the appropriate price (don’t reach). Understand that we aren’t going to get screaming values at RB, but we will get outrageous values at WR (see below).
PLAYERS LISTED LOWER THAN EXPECTED
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