Hacking Your Fantasy Football Draft Room: Take Advantage of These ESPN & Yahoo Player Rankings

Shane McCormick

I remember playing Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out as a kid. I would get past the usual guys like Glass Joe, Don Flamenco, and Bald Bull, but eventually, every time, Mike himself would continually beat me. Then, a friend of mine gave me the cheat code to beat Mike. It didn’t make it less satisfying to beat Mike with the cheat code.

It shouldn’t be less satisfying for you to dominate your drafts when you use the ESPN and Yahoo default rankings as your cheat code in those site draft lobbies. Whether it’s your own rankings or if you are using another site’s rankings, you will see player differences that could be 10+ spots in difference. That could be up to a two-round difference in a 12-man league.

You will probably have some ESPN and Yahoo home league drafts coming up. So, let’s look at some of the most polarizing players on both sites that can give you an advantage in your drafts.

The Best Player Values on ESPN

Josh Allen

You can get Allen 10+ spots lower in ESPN than in Yahoo and 20+ spots lower than in Sleeper drafts. Allen has been the No. 1 or 2 fantasy QB in four seasons. I would take Allen all day, every day, in round 3 of any site’s draft.

Jordan Love

Love is going in rounds 7/8 of ESPN drafts, which is almost two rounds later than in Yahoo drafts. In 2023, Jordan Love had:

-Over 20 fantasy points in eight of his final nine games

-Four games with at least 27 points over that stretch

-Had (5) three touchdown games, which was more than Mahomes, Herbert, or Allen.

Caleb Williams

Williams is listed at 30 and 20+ spots lower in ESPN than Yahoo and Sleeper drafts. Williams has an increadible set of offensive weapons this year in the WR, RB and TE rooms.

Williams will not only throw for a good number of touchdowns this year, but he also has good rushing upside, having rushed for 27 touchdowns over his last three seasons.

Kyler Murray

At 83rd overall in ESPN leagues, you are getting Murray almost 30 spots lower than in Yahoo leagues and 10+ lower than the average of all other draft sites. With the No. 4 draft pick, Murray got the best wide receiver (Marvin Harrison Jr.) in the draft, and what many have said is a generational talent. Last year, coming off his injury, Murray still had three top-10 finishes in seven games without throwing for more than 256 yards in any game.

In most of these games, his leading receiver yardage-wise was either tight end Trey McBride or Greg Dortch. Murray’s top finish in fantasy points per game was in 2020, when he finished as the QB6. The addition of Harrison Jr. could put him back in that territory again.

Cooper Kupp

Kupp is listed 41st overall on ESPN, which is 14 spots lower than Yahoo. Every camp report about Kupp has been extremely positive this year, with many saying he looks like the Kupp who won the triple crown in receiving. Puka Nacua will miss the entire preseason with a knee injury. Given the ADP difference, even if Nacua is ready for week 1, Kupp could be the better draft value. When both WRs played at least 50% of the snaps last year, Kupp had more catches and more touchdowns than Nacua.

Amari Cooper

If you are a fan of Amari Cooper and are drafting in an ESPN league, you will get him about 10 spots lower than other sites. With multiple quarterbacks last year, Cooper still put up over 1,200 yards receiving. He’s averaged 123 targets a season in his last four years. While he has much larger ceiling games with Joe Flacco, he still averaged around 17 fantasy points per game with Deshaun Watson.

Pat Freiermuth

Freiermuth is going 20+ spots lower in ESPN than in Yahoo and Sleeper. Arthur Smith LOVES to target his tight ends in his offense. Over the last five years, his offense's lowest target share for tight ends was 24%. Last year it was over 30%. A chunk of targets is available in this offense with the departure of Diontae Johnson.

After George Pickens, the rest of the receiving group consists of rookie Roman Wilson, Calvin Austin, Van Jefferson, Quez Watkins, and Marquez Callaway. You are looking at the No. 2 receiving option on this team, who should have better quarterback play in 2024.

The Best Player Values on Yahoo

D’Andre Swift

Swift is listed 17 spots lower in Yahoo than in ESPN and 10+ lower than the average of other sites. Swift played in every game last year, aside from a meaningless week 18 matchup. He racked up (10) top-25 RB finishes, including five top-12 finishes. He lands in Chicago as the clear starter on an offense that seems prime to explode. He only had five rushing touchdowns last year due to the Brotherly Shove. I could easily see him in the 8-10 mark this year.

Joe Mixon

Mixon is another running back target for you to look at in Yahoo drafts for your first option in round 4 as opposed to ESPN, which has him at 24th overall. Last year, Mixon had more top-20 RB finishes than Breece Hall, Travis Etienne, Kyren Williams, and Jahmry Gibbs. While he didn’t have more than 87 yards rushing in a game, he did put up 12 touchdowns. He should have double-digit scoring opportunities in a dynamic offense that should be good in the red zone.

Alvin Kamara

Kamara is 15+ spots lower in Yahoo than in ESPN. At pick 33 in ESPN leagues, he would be an avoid for me for other positional players. In a Yahoo league at that ADP, he could be a solid RB1 for your first running back choice in PPR leagues.

Last year, Kamara had seven top-10 RB finishes and four other top-20 RB finishes. His involvement aided a lot of this in the receiving game, where he racked up the most receptions (75) he has had in the last three years. I think you are looking at one more year of heavy involvement for Kamara.

James Cook

You can get Cook at No. 44 overall in Yahoo, as opposed to 25th overall in ESPN. Under the offensive direction of Joe Brady last year, Cook got over 62% of the running back carries for the team.

He averaged 16 fantasy points per game with Brady and put up eight top-20 RB finishes. With the departure of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, Cook could get more work in the passing game this year as well.

Dalton Kincaid

I’ve seen Kincaid listed at 73 on Yahoo draft rankings during drafts. This is 13 spots lower than ESPN and 20+ spots lower than Sleeper. Kincaid could easily be set to lead the team in catches this year with the wide receiver departures. He had eight top-12 TE finishes last year, including five straight weeks of TE8 or better. He is a strong bet to triple his touchdown mark from 2023.

Kyle Pitts

Pitts is going 20+ spots lower in Yahoo leagues than Sleeper and 10+ over the average of other sites. The draft fatigue from past years can pay off for you this year. Whether it is Kirk Cousins or Michael Penix Jr., Pitts will have a huge QB upgrade this year. He is a much better bet to be at the TE7 or better mark from his rookie year than the TE33 or TE14 mark from the last two seasons.

DeMario Douglas

While you would have to use a 10th-round pick in a 12-man league on Douglas in ESPN, you can get him in round 12 of Yahoo leagues (and even a round or two later in Sleeper). Douglas only had 49 catches for 561 yards and only three top-30 WR finishes last year. However, Douglas did not get many opportunities at the beginning of the year, with only 10 catches in the first six games.

Douglas saw his target share increase to over 20% in the year's second half. And all of this was with one of the league’s worst quarterback options in 2023, Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe. The Patriots wide receiver’s depth chart consists of Kendrick Bourne and rookies Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. Whether it is Jacoby Brissett or Drake Maye, Douglas has a good shot of leading this WR room in targets.

Keon Coleman

You can take Coleman in round 10 of Yahoo drafts as opposed to round 8 in ESPN and round 7 in Sleeper in 12-man leagues. There are over 300 targets available this year, with the departure of Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis. The team has a stable of veterans in Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Chase Claypool, and Mack Hollins. However, none of them possess the physical traits of Coleman, who I believe will immediately be the WR1 in target volume. Coleman is a good-sized WR with strong playmaking capabilities, as shown by 18 touchdowns in the last two seasons. I think you will see Coleman utilized on the outside and with middle routes to help his fantasy value in PPR leagues. This is a WR3/WR4 you can draft that will get your WR2 value in the season. Coleman should slide into the outside WR slot on day one.

Each week we will release draft guide content here to prepare you for your drafts. So make sure you are subscribed to get this content delivered to your inbox. And as always…. Buckle Up!

Shane McCormick