Using Our Draft Kit to Win Your Yahoo Fantasy Football League

When you enter your fantasy football draft -- whether it's at your friend's house with your long-time pals or online with people you'll never meet -- your magazine rankings just aren't enough.

You're going to miss out on value by not relying on customized draft rankings -- which we offer in our online draft kit as well as our brand new draft kit app -- and that's going to be compounded by the specific draft application your site of choice uses.

A certain player might be listed as a top-20 pick on one site but outside the top 40 on another. That's going to impact your draft, and that's why knowing your draft site's app matters.

We've already broken down how to dominate your ESPN draft. Now, let's check out Yahoo drafts based on their default scoring (except 12 teams instead of 10).

Fundamental Principles

1. Default Yahoo leagues feature three receivers. It's pretty old school, but if your commissioner puts you into a default league, know that you'll be running out one quarterback, one tight end, two running backs, and three receivers. There is no flex position in default formats, meaning you only need two running backs, giving a bit more credibility to the wait-on-running-backs strategy.

2. Yahoo lists 20 quarterbacks in the top 125. By comparison, ESPN's draft app has 11, and our rankings have 15. This bumps down a good many receivers and running backs. You'll have to know your leaguemates to know if they'll be tempted by grabbing an extra quarterback based on the draft app rankings, but this creates value opportunities.

3. The app is pretty balanced. There aren't too many positions out of order according to our rankings. That is to say that they don't value tight ends drastically higher than we do, for example.

4. But there are some big player differences. We just think some guys should swap spots with others.

Overvalued Yahoo Players According to Our Projections

We'll start with the quarterbacks and tight ends who are significantly (i.e. about a round and a half or more) overvalued in the Yahoo draft app, according to our customized rankings for standard-scoring leagues.

We're not even in the same galaxy on how to handle Tom Brady, and you shouldn't consider him with a top-85 pick.

Kirk Cousins and Eli Manning are two heroes in the streaming world -- where we rely on waiver-wire quarterbacks -- but their price, per Yahoo's draft app, has skyrocketed this year. There are other quarterback values to be had later on, so don't overpay for these guys now that everybody else is in on the party.

As for tight ends, things aren't too wonky, but there are three potential top-tier tight ends -- Jordan Reed, Travis Kelce, and Julius Thomas -- who are priced at their ceiling. We've located some valuable tight ends further down in the draft app.

But first, here are some of the most overvalued players at the running back and receiver positions inside Yahoo's top 100.

Like we saw with ESPN, Yahoo's draft app is a bit more optimistic about some young receivers -- Tyler Lockett, Kevin White, Sterling Shepard, and Donte Moncrief -- than our customized rankings suggest they should be. They all have upside, but that upside is factored into their draft app ranking on Yahoo.

If you're in a PPR league, we actually think Keenan Allen is a bit of a value based on his position in the Yahoo draft app, but we view him as overvalued at 17th in the app in standard formats.

Undervalued Yahoo Players According to Our Projections

Rather than overspending for the quarterbacks and tight ends we've already looked at, try waiting on these players, some of the most undervalued in the Yahoo draft app.

Matt Ryan isn't quite the value that he is on ESPN, but we do see him as undervalued. Of course, he's still the QB20 on Yahoo's draft app despite being 120th overall. Our algorithms project him to finish as the QB11 in this format, which awards four points for passing touchdowns and subtracts just one for interceptions.

Even Carson Palmer and Aaron Rodgers are values in standard-scoring leagues, though if you're in a PPR setup, you shouldn't focus on quarterbacks as early as Rodgers is listed in the app.

Jason Witten and Antonio Gates are substantial values even as top-132 picks via Yahoo's draft app.

The following are receivers and running backs inside Yahoo's top 125 who our algorithms view worthy of a pick at least 20 spots sooner than recommended in standard-scoring leagues.

Veterans, mostly, make up this list, as there is undue hype in the younger talent in the Yahoo draft app. Plus, you can get Ameer Abdullah or Charles Sims, both of whom have receiving ability and a realistic shot at a big workload, later than you should be able to.

Hidden Gems

Honestly, there are kind of a lot here.

You'll have to scroll down to 126 to find Stefon Diggs in the Yahoo app, but we rank him as a top-70 option in standard leagues and a top-60 choice in PPR formats. Brandon LaFell let down owners big time last season with the Patriots by dropping the ball (over and over again) on a golden opportunity, but he could wind up as the second receiver in Cincinnati. He's our 132nd-ranked player but is listed 187 in the Yahoo app.

LeGarrette Blount is our 78th-ranked player in standard leagues but is 130th in the app. Darren Sproles (122 in our standard ranks, 97th in PPR, 173rd in the app) is making waves in Philly and could be their starting running back. Shane Vereen is listed 183rd overall but is a top-115 pick in PPR formats, per our rankings.

Jerick McKinnon is only an Adrian Peterson injury away from a starting role, most likely, and he's supposed to be involved in the offense more than he has been in the past. He's our 135th-ranked player in standard leagues but is 178th on Yahoo.

Similarly, we've seen that Chris Ivory is overvalued in the app, and that leaves T.J. Yeldon (84th in our standard ranks, 89th in PPR, 140th on Yahoo) wildly underpriced. Ivory isn't known to stay healthy, and Yeldon can handle a sizable workload.