Happy Friday!

Welcome all to the FIRST First Seed Fantasy newsletter of the 2026 draft season.

I return to writing this newsletter as the draft season begins to warm up. Rankings and draft rooms are brewing, drafts are being scheduled and new leagues are being considered. If you're new here, hello! If you were with me last year, welcome back. I’ve missed you.

I'll be sending this newsletter weekly to pair with my Abusing Draft Rankings tool as a way to highlight draft values, share my personal rankings, and discuss roster news throughout the summer. Now let's prepare to win these drafts!

📝 Draft Day Cheat Sheet
🏷️ First Look Draft Values
🔍 Draft Room Trend Watch
🥇 First Draft Rankings

Another year, another update to my draft cheat sheet - JuiceSheets!

These sheets pair nicely with my Abusing Draft Rankings as it includes projections and a value column for Standard, Half PPR and PPR scoring on ESPN, Sleeper and Yahoo. Check it out as a tool to use as you draft.

Every week I’ll highlight draft values found in draft rooms, primarily using my Abusing Draft Rankings tool to help find these players.

FantasyPros ECR: 68 overall | ESPN ADP: 135
Landmine Score: 0.7

The lowest Landmine Score in the entire sheet right now - and the QB position is already running cheap across the board this year (see Draft Room Trend Watch below). Herbert clears even that lowered bar easily, sliding well past where other discounted QBs are landing. If you're punting QB early like most of your league, this is where you make it back.

FantasyPros ECR: 54 overall | ESPN ADP: 110
Landmine Score: 2.6

Kraft shows up as a top-3 value in nearly every ESPN format I track, and Standard is no exception. In a position with almost no reliable middle class, letting a top-54 overall player fall to pick 110 is exactly the kind of gap this tool exists to find.

FantasyPros ECR: 66 overall | Sleeper ADP: 111
Landmine Score: 2.5

A rookie name that Sleeper drafters clearly haven't caught up on yet. Price is going 45 picks later than his overall consensus rank - if you're stocking your bench with dart throws in the double-digit rounds, he's one of the better ones available anywhere.

FantasyPros ECR: 96 overall | Sleeper ADP: 144
Landmine Score: 2.6

A deep-league value if there ever was one. Downs is falling nearly four full rounds past his overall consensus rank in Sleeper PPR rooms specifically - worth a very late flier if you're still filling out a bench in a larger league.

Every so often I'll pull back from individual players and look at whether a whole position is moving as a group. This week's finding is a clear one.

QBs are being punted hard on ESPN and Sleeper. Across ESPN Half PPR, ESPN PPR, and Sleeper Standard leagues, the average Landmine Score for QBs is sitting between 3.8-4.4 - well below the normal 5.5-6.5 range that other positions run in. That's not a couple of discounted names, that's the entire position sliding.

And RBs are absorbing the difference. On those same platforms, RB is running high - average Landmine Scores of 6.2-6.5 in the early-to-mid rounds, meaning drafters are reaching for backs earlier than expert consensus suggests. It's the classic tradeoff: leagues that punt QB are plowing those early picks into RB.

What this means for your draft: if you're on ESPN or Sleeper, don't be surprised to see QB value sitting there deep into your draft all summer - it's a room-wide behavior, not a one-week blip. On the flip side, don't expect a screaming RB bargain on those same platforms; you may need to reach a round earlier than you'd like to lock in your guy. Yahoo, by contrast, is tracking ECR closely position-by-position right now - no real skew either direction.

The first draft of my 2026 rankings are LIVE! Here's a look at my top QBs, powered by FantasyPros ECR. Feel free to view all player ranks at the link below. Ranks will continue to be updated.

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