THE PRE-SNAP

Under the hood

Methodology

Every number on this site comes from somewhere specific, refreshes on a schedule, and has limits. This page explains all three in plain language — no jargon, no hand-waving.

What "market value" means

The values behind the Trade Analyzer and Rankings are trade-market prices. A third-party market-data service aggregates trades that real managers actually accepted in thousands of fantasy leagues on a major league-hosting platform, and derives a single value per player from them. When the market shifts — a breakout, an injury, a depth-chart change — the values move because real trades moved.

We display those values as-is. We do not compute them ourselves, and we don't know the service's exact internal formula — whether it uses means, medians, or a fitted model is their implementation detail. What we can say honestly: the ordering reflects what managers pay, not one analyst's ballot.

What "real leagues" and "real drafts" mean

"Thousands of real leagues" means actual, active fantasy leagues whose managers accepted trades with their own seasons on the line — not survey answers, not expert polls. "Real drafts" on the Draft Board means live mock drafts run by real users on a third-party drafting platform. ADP (average draft position) is the average slot where each player was taken across those drafts; the count of drafts in the current week is shown right on the board so you can judge the sample yourself.

How rankings and draft flags are derived

The Rankings board is simply every player sorted by current market value — we add no editorial adjustment. The VALUE and REACH flags on the Draft Board compare two orderings of the same player: his market-value rank versus his draft-position order. When the market ranks a player 12 or more spots better than drafters are taking him, he's flagged VALUE; 12 or more spots worse, REACH. It's a rank-gap heuristic, not a projection.

How fresh each dataset is

What the numbers can't tell you

Market values lag breaking news by hours; early-season and preseason samples are noisy; a "fair trade" verdict is a band, not a truth — roster fit, byes, and league tendencies matter and no aggregate can see them. Treat everything here as guidance, not certainty. If a number decides your championship, read it twice and check the timestamp under it.

How news is collected and categorized

Headlines on News and Rumours are gathered automatically from the public feeds of major national sports outlets. Every item links to — and credits — the outlet that did the reporting; nothing is rewritten. Category labels (Trades, Signings, Injuries, Coaching & FO, Buzz) are assigned by automated keyword rules with an explicit veto list for legal stories, opinion pieces, and other non-transactions. When the rules aren't confident, a story is left uncategorized rather than mislabeled. Spotted a wrong label anyway? See corrections.