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.