Draft Day Guide

How to use FantasyArb during your live draft. Open this alongside your draft platform and follow the phases as your draft unfolds.

In this guide

  1. Pre-Draft Setup (15 min before)
  2. Build Your Target List
  3. Early Rounds (1-3): The Foundation Picks
  4. Mid Rounds (4-8): Where Arb Is Richest
  5. Late Rounds (9+): Positional Need Fills
  6. Live Pick Tracking
  7. When to Switch Views
  8. Quick Reference

1. Pre-Draft Setup

Do this 15 minutes before your draft starts. The goal is to have FantasyArb configured and your target list ready before you're on the clock.

Setup Checklist

Configure your view

1
Select your draft platform from the dropdown (ESPN, Yahoo, or Sleeper). This determines which platform's rankings are compared against ECR.
2
Set your scoring format to match your league (Standard, Half-PPR, PPR, or Dynasty). Arb scores shift significantly between formats — a steal in PPR might be fair value in Standard.
3
Start in Overall view, All positions. This gives you the broadest picture of where value exists across the entire draft board.
4
Sort by platform rank (click the platform column header). This arranges the board roughly in the order players will come off the board in your draft lobby.
Pro Tip

Open FantasyArb in a second browser tab or on a second screen. You want to glance at it while your draft platform is front and center. Sorting by platform rank makes it easy to scan ahead to who's coming up next.

2. Build Your Target List

Before the draft starts, identify the players you want to target. These are your pre-draft watchlist picks.

Target Identification

Find the biggest mispricings

+
Sort by arb score (descending). The players at the top are the biggest steals — players your platform ranks much lower than expert consensus. These are the ones your league mates will let slip.
★
Add steals to your watchlist. Click the star icon on any player to watchlist them. Focus on players with arb scores of +10 or higher — these are meaningful mispricings, not noise.
−
Note the overpays. Scroll to the bottom (or sort ascending) to see who your platform overvalues. These are players to avoid drafting at their platform price. If someone else takes them, that's a win for you — it means a steal falls to you.
Watch Out

Don't just chase the highest arb score blindly. A +45 arb score on a player ranked #180 by ECR isn't as impactful as a +15 on a player ranked #30. The arb formula accounts for draft importance, but use your own judgment too — early-round steals win leagues.

3. Early Rounds (1-3): The Foundation Picks

The first three rounds carry the most draft capital. A mispricing here is worth more than anywhere else in the draft. Stay in Overall view for these rounds.

Rounds 1-3 Strategy

High-value position targets

RB and WR dominate the early rounds. Filter to each position and look for players with positive arb scores in the top 15-20 at their position. A running back your platform has at #18 overall but ECR has at #8 is a league-winning pick if he falls to you.

QB is where platforms diverge most in the early rounds. Some platforms push elite QBs into the first round; ECR often has them later. If your platform overvalues a QB (negative arb score), let someone else take him — the RB or WR that falls to you is the real win.

At this stage, don't filter by position — keep "All" selected and scan the overall arb scores. You want to draft the best value available regardless of position, building your foundation on mispricings.

Live Draft Tactic

When your pick is 2-3 spots away, sort by platform rank and look at the cluster of players near your pick number. Which ones have the highest arb scores? Those are your targets. If one of them is still there when you're on the clock, take him.

4. Mid Rounds (4-8): Where Arb Is Richest

This is where platform rankings diverge the most from expert consensus. The "name premium" fades, ADP gets noisy, and the biggest exploitable gaps appear.

Rounds 4-8 Strategy

Switch between views strategically

Start each pick in Overall view to see the best value across all positions. Then filter by your positions of need. If you drafted RB-RB-WR in the first three rounds, filter to WR and TE to see where positional value exists.

Pop into Positional view when you're targeting a specific position. Positional arb scores measure the gap within a position group — a player might be fair value overall but a steal within the WR ranks. This is especially useful for TE, where the position pool is shallow and a 3-spot mispricing is significant.

Check your watchlist. If a watchlisted player is still available deeper than you expected, that's your cue — the mispricing played out and you're getting the value you identified pre-draft.

Pro Tip

Use the tier column to spot cross-tier value. A player in Tier 3 being drafted alongside Tier 4 players is a structural mispricing — the arb score includes a tier bonus for exactly this reason. You're getting a higher-tier player at a lower-tier price.

5. Late Rounds (9+): Positional Need Fills

The late rounds are about filling roster holes with the best remaining value. Arb scores are smaller here, but the steals still matter — every edge compounds.

Rounds 9+ Strategy

Best Available + position filtering

Switch to Best Available view. This filters the board to players with positive arb scores (steals only) and lets you scan through the remaining value quickly.

Filter by positions of need. If you still need a QB, filter to QB in Best Available view. You'll see only quarterbacks that your platform is undervaluing — sorted by the strength of the mispricing.

Don't reach for overpays. In the late rounds, the gap between "fair value" and "overpay" is small, but it still matters. If your platform loves a player and ECR doesn't, let someone else take them. There's always another option.

K and DST: These positions have the least predictive value in rankings. If your platform has a kicker or defense ranked way above ECR, that's noise, not signal. Draft these last and don't overthink the arb scores here.

6. Live Pick Tracking

As players get drafted in your league, mark them as drafted in FantasyArb to keep your board clean.

Draft Tracker Features

Mark, hide, and focus

D
Mark players as drafted by clicking the draft icon on their row. This flags them visually so you know they're off the board.
H
Toggle "Hide Drafted" to remove drafted players from the table entirely. This gives you a clean board of only available players — critical in the mid and late rounds when the board gets crowded.
★
Watch your watchlist thin out. As watchlisted players get drafted by others, you'll see them disappear (with hide drafted on). The ones that remain are your targets — the steals that survived.
Pro Tip

You don't need to track every single pick. Focus on marking players in your target range — the ones near your upcoming pick position. Marking the first 2 rounds of picks is usually enough to keep your board useful.

7. When to Switch Views

FantasyArb has three views and each serves a different purpose during the draft. Knowing when to switch is a skill that develops over a few drafts.

View Best for When to use
Overall Comparing value across all positions using blended arb scores Rounds 1-5, and whenever you're deciding between positions ("do I take a WR or TE here?")
Positional Finding value within a single position group Rounds 4+, when you've identified a position of need and want to see who's mispriced within that group. Especially valuable for TE and QB where the pool is shallow.
Best Available Quickly scanning only the steals (positive arb scores) Rounds 8+, or any time you want a fast answer to "who's the best value left?" Filter by position for targeted steals.

Sorting strategies

Sort by Purpose
Platform Rank See players in roughly the order they'll come off the board. Scan ahead to your upcoming pick range and look for green (steals).
Arb Score Surface the biggest mispricings across the entire board. Best for pre-draft target building and late-round scanning.
ECR Rank See what the experts think. Useful when you want a second opinion on a player your platform has ranked unexpectedly.
Tier Group players by expert-defined tiers. Good for spotting when you're getting a higher-tier player at a lower-tier cost.

8. Quick Reference

Arb score labels

Label Score Range What it means
Major Steal +30 or higher Massive mispricing. Your platform severely undervalues this player vs experts. Draft target.
Steal +10 to +29.9 Meaningful undervaluation. Solid draft target, especially in the mid rounds.
Slight Arb +3 to +9.9 Small edge. Worth noting but not a reason to reach. Take if convenient.
Fair Value -2.9 to +2.9 Platform and experts roughly agree. No arbitrage opportunity here.
Slight Overpay -3 to -9.9 Small overvaluation. Don't reach for this player at their platform price.
Overpay -10 to -29.9 Meaningful overvaluation. Let someone else draft him at this price.
Major Overpay -30 or lower Severe overvaluation. Actively avoid. If your league mate drafts him, you benefit.

Draft day cheat sheet

Round View Action
Pre-draft Overall, sorted by arb score Build watchlist of top steals at each position
1-3 Overall, sorted by platform rank Scan your pick range for green arb badges. Draft the best value RB/WR/QB.
4-8 Overall + Positional for positions of need Filter to positions you need. Check positional view for within-position steals. Take watchlisted players that fall.
9-12 Best Available, filtered by need Fill roster holes with the best remaining arb value. Toggle hide drafted for a clean board.
13+ Best Available Take the best positive arb score available. K and DST last.

Ready to draft?

Open the rankings tool alongside your draft platform. Sort by your platform's ranks, and start exploiting the gaps.

Open Rankings