NFL

Using Our Draft Kit to Win Your CBS Fantasy Football League

Brandon Gdula  —  @gdula13 Aug 11th, 2017
CBS' draft lobby takes some getting used to. Cut down on your research time with some of these tips.

Fantasy football drafts don't make or break your season.

The best drafts can get demolished by injuries or poor in-season management, and good roster moves can help undo a crummy draft. But it's never a bad thing to have a strong team after the draft, and it should never be your goal to DGAF your way through a draft with the intent to make up for it with waiver-wire pickups and trades.

One way to nail your draft -- or to not flub it up completely -- is to know your particular site's default rankings well. Whether it's ESPN, Yahoo, or NFL.com, there are mostly minimal differences in player ranks -- when you compare them to what you find in a CBS lobby.

That's not to say that CBS' rankings are good, bad, or anything in between. But if you're in a CBS league, you better do some mock drafts there to get familiar with the player list.

That or just keep reading to see some fundamental principles in the CBS lobby as well as some overvalued and undervalued players when we customize our draft kit (or draft kit app) to CBS' default settings.

Fundamental Principles

1. The rankings are unique. That's really the only way I can say it. There are players who are listed significantly above or below the industry average and our customized rankings.

2. All touchdowns are six points. That includes passing touchdowns.

3. Benches are short. The default format lists five bench slots. That gives you a 14-player bench, two shorter than ESPN, and one shorter than NFL and Yahoo.

4. Default leagues have three wide receivers and no flex. They're also standard leagues, so that means you aren't getting bonus points for loading up on wide receivers (but you need three of them each week), and that also means you really don't want to be stuck with a second tight end when you can play only one and have a really short bench.

Overvalued CBS Players According to Our Projections

Um, there are 25 players inside CBS' top 100 who should be taken 24 picks or more later, per our customized projections.

Player Pos CBS Draft App numberFire Rank Difference
J.J. Nelson WR 89 261 -172
C.J. Prosise RB 90 234 -144
James White RB 73 204 -131
Latavius Murray RB 37 123 -86
Matt Bryant K 79 154 -75
Stephen Gostkowski K 86 152 -66
Samaje Perine RB 71 132 -61
Jonathan Stewart RB 64 124 -60
Tevin Coleman RB 18 76 -58
Derrick Henry RB 99 155 -56
Adrian Peterson RB 65 118 -53
Doug Martin RB 66 115 -49
Theo Riddick RB 56 104 -48
Delanie Walker TE 45 93 -48
Danny Woodhead RB 53 100 -47
Brandon Marshall WR 33 77 -44
Mark Ingram RB 24 67 -43
Marshawn Lynch RB 21 59 -38
Jameis Winston QB 47 84 -37
Rishard Matthews WR 51 87 -36
Mike Gillislee RB 49 83 -34
Matt Forte RB 69 103 -34
Kyle Rudolph TE 68 102 -34
Zach Ertz TE 74 107 -33
LeGarrette Blount RB 91 117 -26


Yeah, so there are two kickers inside the top 100 of the default rankings, so don't take them there.

But this is why you need to dig into your site's draft before, you know, your draft starts. J.J. Nelson at 89th is a prime example, too. His fellow Arizona Cardinals wide receivers are listed later: Larry Fitzgerald is found 96th and John Brown is 163rd.

Numerous timeshare backs -- or straight up backups -- are listed comfortably inside CBS' top 100, and our projections disagree there, so keep an eye out on draft day for these types of players in particular.

Undervalued CBS Players According to Our Projections

These players are inside our top 100 but are at least 24 picks later in CBS' draft lobby.

Player Pos CBS Draft App numberFire Rank Difference
Pierre Garcon WR 283 92 191
Ameer Abdullah RB 149 50 99
Alshon Jeffery WR 111 35 76
Andrew Luck QB 100 27 73
Matthew Stafford QB 144 81 63
Martavis Bryant WR 146 85 61
Golden Tate WR 97 39 58
Russell Wilson QB 84 28 56
Jamison Crowder WR 127 71 56
Andy Dalton QB 132 78 54
Devante Parker WR 148 94 54
Tyler Eifert TE 118 65 53
Larry Fitzgerald WR 96 44 52
Cameron Meredith WR 142 90 52
Willie Snead WR 104 56 48
Brandin Cooks WR 76 29 47
Ben Roethlisberger QB 93 47 46
Jimmy Graham TE 143 97 46
Tyreek Hill WR 105 62 43
Corey Davis WR 139 98 41
Eddie Lacy RB 112 73 39
Rob Gronkowski TE 62 24 38
Allen Robinson WR 70 32 38
Donte Moncrief WR 126 89 37
Kirk Cousins QB 85 49 36
T.Y. Hilton WR 55 20 35
Derek Carr QB 120 95 25
Amari Cooper WR 50 26 24


So, there are 28 players who are two full rounds later (in a 12-team draft) than we'd value them.

Primarily, they're wide receivers. Don't forget that CBS' default format requires three wide receivers and just two running backs. Even in a standard league, that means you can't be lagging on wideouts.

Hidden Gems

Pierre Garcon has to count because he's listed at 283 in the CBS lobby. He's a top-100 pick, per our projections, in this setup.

Detroit Lions rookie receiver Kenny Golladay is found 274th, and New York Jets wideouts Robby Anderson (278th) and ArDarius Stewart (1,103) can be found with some searching.

Denver Broncos running back De'Angelo Henderson, who had a nice showing in Week 1 of the preseason is 562nd in the lobby.

Chris Conley, who could have a role opposite Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce in the Kansas City Chiefs offense is found 311th; he's 177th in our rankings. Houston Texans receivers Braxton Miller (375th) and Jaelen Strong (312th) are players to keep an eye on, too.

Josh Gordon is 895th. Just in case.