RosterIQ help center

The numbers behind your next decision

Learn what RosterIQ's abbreviations mean, how the Draft Kit values players for your specific league, and where each analytics signal comes from.

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Production, value, and price are different

A projection estimates production. Draft value measures that production against the players available at each position in your league. Market data estimates draft cost and availability. Keeping those ideas separate is what makes a player's rank explainable.

Projection

Expected production

A projected stat line for the season, re-scored under your league's actual settings.

VBD = (VORP + VOLS) ÷ 2

League-relative draft value

VORP compares a player with a likely replacement; VOLS compares him with the last projected starter. Their average is the Draft Kit's transparent overall value.

ADP / Market rank

Expected draft cost

Market information tells you when a player may go. It helps you capture value without treating a popular price as a projection.

Reference

Glossary

This covers the abbreviations and labels currently shown across RosterIQ's analytics, Draft Kit, and player tables.

Draft value & market

These terms help answer two different questions: how much production is a player worth in your league, and when is the market likely to draft him?

VBD — Value-Based Drafting
RosterIQ's overall draft value. It is the average of VORP and VOLS, expressed in projected fantasy points under your league's scoring and roster settings.
Live VBD
The live Draft Kit rank for the column marked My team. It starts with projected points over the league's last starter-quality player, removes drafted players, and adjusts after every pick for open slots, redundant depth, positional timing, runs, remaining scarcity, ADP value, starter injury risk, and bye overlap. D/ST and kicker are held for the league's final matching roster rounds, while one-QB options are discounted when market cost says they should remain available later; Superflex and two-QB leagues are exempt from that quarterback delay. Early-round protection keeps best-player-available in control at multi-start positions. Best Ball and manual tuning remain optional advanced overrides. Base VBD remains visible for comparison, and pinned players stay at the top of the user's board.
AI draft analysis
An on-demand explanation of one available player using the latest server-verified board, roster needs, league scoring, projection, VBD, injury status, and market cost. It is recalculated when requested and is not shared or stored as another user's advice.
VORP — Value Over Replacement Player
Projected points above the likely replacement player at the same position. When market coverage is sufficient, RosterIQ uses the market's draftable depth to set that baseline.
VOLS — Value Over Last Starter
Projected points above the last player expected to start at that position across your league. It keeps league-specific starter scarcity visible.
ADP — Average Draft Position
The average pick where a player is drafted on a platform. It estimates cost and likely availability; it is not a production projection.
Market rank
RosterIQ's normalized consensus rank from ESPN, Sleeper, and Yahoo. Each source is ranked within itself before combining them, so incompatible raw ADP scales are not mixed together.
vs Mkt — versus market
The difference between the RosterIQ overall rank and the market rank. A positive number means RosterIQ values the player earlier than the market does.
Proj Pts / Projected
Projected season fantasy points after RosterIQ applies the selected league's scoring rules to the projected stat line.
Proj/G — Projected points per game
Projected fantasy points divided by projected games. It makes players with different expected availability easier to compare.
Tier
A group of players separated from the next group by a meaningful value or projection drop-off. Tiers are created from the shape of the board, not a fixed player count.

Scoring, roster & positions

Your league setup changes the rankings. RosterIQ re-scores each projected stat line using the settings attached to the selected league.

PPR — Point Per Reception
A scoring format that awards points for each reception. Full PPR usually awards 1 point per catch, half PPR awards 0.5, and standard scoring awards none unless your league has customized it.
FLEX
A starting lineup slot that can be filled by RB, WR, or TE. RosterIQ allocates each FLEX slot once across its eligible player pool rather than counting it for every position.
SUPERFLEX
A FLEX-style slot that can also be filled by a QB. It naturally makes quarterback scarcity more important because more quarterbacks can be starters.
D/ST — Defense / Special Teams
A team defense, not an individual player. Its score can include sacks, takeaways, touchdowns, and points-allowed tiers.
QB, RB, WR, TE, DEF, K
Quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, team defense, and kicker.
IR — Injured Reserve
A roster slot for an injured player. IR does not count as a draftable starting or bench spot in RosterIQ's replacement-level calculation.
Availability scenario
A weekly lineup view that either uses the model's expected injury availability or asks what the optimal lineup becomes if one uncertain player is active or out.
Weekly autopilot
An opt-in pass that applies the highest-projected valid RosterIQ lineup once per NFL week after projections refresh. It updates RosterIQ only and does not submit a lineup to an external fantasy platform.
FA — Free agent
A player without a listed NFL team in the data currently available to RosterIQ.

Player-table statistics

These abbreviations appear in the Players table and Draft Kit. A projected label means the expected season total; otherwise it is an actual-stat column for the selected season.

G
Games played, or projected games in a projected context.
Pts / PPR Pts / Std Pts
Fantasy points, full-PPR fantasy points, and standard (non-PPR) fantasy points.
Yds
Yards. Pass, Rush, and Rec identify passing, rushing, and receiving yards.
TD
Touchdown. Pass TD, Rush TD, and Rec TD identify the way the touchdown was scored.
INT
Interception. For offensive players it is an interception thrown; for D/ST it is an interception made.
Cmp / Att
Pass completions and pass attempts.
Car / Rec / Tgt
Rushing carries, receptions, and receiving targets.
FG / PAT
Field goal and point after touchdown (extra point).
FR / Sfty / Blk
Fumble recovery, safety, and blocked kick.
PA/G / YA/G
Points allowed per game and yards allowed per game for a team defense.

Availability

Injury badges reflect the latest ESPN status. Availability can affect near-term projections, but an injury label is context rather than a guarantee of a player outcome.

Q
Questionable — the player may play, but availability is uncertain.
D
Doubtful — the player is unlikely to play.
O
Out — the player is not expected to play.
PUP
Physically Unable to Perform, an NFL roster designation for a player unavailable to practice or play under league rules.

Methodology

How RosterIQ analyzes data

RosterIQ uses a measured, league-aware process rather than a single opaque score. The result remains auditable: you can see projected points, league-relative value, market context, and source agreement separately.

  1. 1. Gather independent inputs

    nflverse supplies NFL statistics, rosters, schedules, and draft capital. ESPN supplies injuries, depth charts, schedules, and a projection source. Sleeper supplies a projection source, ADP, and aggregate add/drop activity. Yahoo contributes market data.

  2. 2. Build a projected stat line

    RosterIQ blends the available ESPN and Sleeper stat-line forecasts equally. If only one source projects a player, that source is used rather than treating the missing source as zero.

  3. 3. Make narrow, measured adjustments

    Rookie forecasts receive limited backtested context from draft capital, historical rookie outcomes, market expectations, and depth-chart position. Byes, home/away context, and immediate injury availability are also reflected. Veterans are not pulled toward market rank.

  4. 4. Treat team defense differently

    A D/ST forecast models the probability of each points-allowed tier instead of pretending the expected points allowed is one certain outcome. This matters because shutouts and blowouts score very differently.

  5. 5. Re-score for your league

    The projected stat line is passed through your selected league's scoring rules. PPR, passing-touchdown values, kicker settings, D/ST settings, team count, and roster slots can all change the result.

  6. 6. Calculate value and tiers

    RosterIQ calculates starter demand from dedicated slots and allocates FLEX and SUPERFLEX demand once across eligible positions. It then computes VORP, VOLS, VBD, and value-based tiers from the finished board.

Analytics

What the dashboard signals mean

Dashboard lists are deterministic filters with clear evidence thresholds. They are shortlists for research, not automatic draft commands.

Potential sleepers

Value ahead of price

QB, RB, WR, and TE with positive VBD who RosterIQ ranks at least five picks ahead of normalized market consensus.

Breakout radar

Early-career upside

Rookies and players in their first three NFL seasons with positive league-relative value.

High conviction

Independent agreement

Positive-VBD players with at least two projection sources within 12% of each other. High confidence also requires at least two market sources; lower coverage receives Medium or Low confidence.

Market fades

Price ahead of value

Players the consensus market ranks at least five picks earlier than RosterIQ. A fade means avoid the current price, not never draft the player.

Platform activity

Aggregate manager behavior

Sleeper add/drop lists represent activity across Sleeper leagues, not availability in your private league. Use them as a prompt to investigate the role, injury, or news behind the movement.

Market movers

Direction, not raw scale

ESPN and Yahoo changes are normalized within each platform before they are combined into market heat. Raw roster percentages and ADP values are never blended as if they shared one scale.

Trust & transparency

What RosterIQ does not claim

Fantasy outcomes are uncertain. RosterIQ is designed to make the uncertainty and the decision tradeoffs visible rather than hide them behind a black-box rank.

Missing data stays visible

RosterIQ does not invent a projection when no vendor covers a player. Sparse market coverage falls back to a last-starter baseline and is labeled in the Draft Kit.

AI news does not change rankings

AI summarizes bounded excerpts from recent approved news sources into a player-level evidence card. It does not modify a projection, VBD, tier, or market signal, and the source timeline remains available on the card.

Backtests inform the model, not certainty

Projection choices are retained when they improve historical testing and removed when they do not. Historical vendor feeds can reflect in-season revisions, so past absolute error can be more optimistic than a true preseason forecast.

Your league is the final context

Use value alongside roster construction, risk tolerance, and the live draft room. A player can be a good value at one price and a poor pick at another.