I’d make a lot of changes if I was King of the season-long 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 solidly 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 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 cheatsheet:
* These rankings were found within the Yahoo draft applet as of Wednesday, August 24.
PLAYERS LISTED HIGHER THAN EXPECTED
6. Nick Chubb
26. Terry McLaurin
30. Chris Carson
31. David Montgomery
33. James Robinson
38. Darrell Henderson
56. Damien Harris
61. Trey Sermon
70. Melvin Gordon
75. AJ Dillon
89. Jamaal Williams
105. David Johnson
ADJUSTMENTS: Out of the three sites I examined, Yahoo has the most solid default ranks. That’s especially true at the top, other than the egregious Nick Chubb ranking. We need to stay in our lane. … Yahoo has really overreacted to recent news, getting too high on Damien Harris , James Robinson and Darrell Henderson . … Happy to see RBs like Chris Carson , David Montgomery , Melvin Gordon , Jamaal Williams , David Johnson pushed up too high. … But sad to see a few strong targets like Terry McLaurin , Trey Sermon very high. We likely will have to pass on them.
PLAYERS LISTED LOWER THAN EXPECTED
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