You probably came here because you want a 2022 fantasy football salary cap values chart that you can use to easily stay competitive in your league without studying too hard. If so, what you want is a Beersheet. Our stat wizard merges the projections of dozens of different experts into one easy-to-read chart. It will make you instantly as good as the average professional analyst.
The thing is: I can make you better than the average professional analyst. All you have to do is read this short article.
The error the average professional analyst makes with their 2022 fantasy football salary cap values chart is that they take their projections, put them into a formula that converts it to salary cap dollars, and just copy-pastes that into their chart. But this assumes that supply and demand will stay the same for all players and all points of the salary cap draft. Anyone who has done a fantasy football salary cap draft at any time on any planet will tell you: The supply and demand does not stay the same.
Let me give you an example. For math purposes, let’s just say your league has 12 teams. Pretend you ask each owner to jot down their top-tier RB list. Some will write down 3 names, others maybe 4-8. But no one in the league will have 12 RBs they consider to be elite-tier. Since there are 12 teams in your league and fewer than 12 top-tier RBs, the supply of elite RBs is less than the demand. When supply is less than demand, the price almost always goes up past market value (the “projected price”). This is why the top 6-24 RBs in auction mostly go for more than the price they are listed at. It’s not infrequent for every top 20 RB to go for more than the listed value.
What does this mean? It means if you roll up to your salary cap draft with an average professional analyst’s values list then you strongly risk not getting a top RB, and have a decent risk of not getting a top 24 RB, as well. Naturally, a team short on top RBs should compensate by having elite WRs, but guess what? The supply of top WRs is also less than the demand, so they will go for more than your salary cap values chart says, and you won’t get them either.
Conversely, analyst charts overprice players who are nominated when supply is greater than demand. I base all of my drafts around the assumption that, at some point, the wide receiver market will crash. There are a lot more serviceable WRs than there are interested managers, which makes them go for a deep discount.
I’ve been collecting data on mock salary cap drafts that have all humans (bots ruin mock data). Around WR15 the price plunges to over 50% less than the listed price. Yahoo’s data backs me up on this, too. But all it takes is two managers bidding based on a values list to keep either of them from getting any of these discounts. (FYI if you want access to my chart of all-human mock auctions, join our Discord).
That’s why my 2022 fantasy football salary cap values chart looks a lot different than anyone else’s: I factor in that you’ll have to pay a bit more for top players and that you shouldn’t bid anywhere near the listed value for WR2s.
One more important thing: In order to use this list optimally, you have to do something…
You have to want certain players.
Value-shopping your entire salary cap draft means you’ll only end up with the players that every other manager in the league didn’t really want that much. The guys with too many question marks. This chart inflates the higher-end players, too, so if you just blindly bid up to the number on the paper you’ll end up with 3 high-end players and too little money left over. Narrowing down your field of players prevents both these things.
The easiest way to make a list of players you want is simple: Print out my 2022 fantasy football salary cap values chart. Then go down the list, crossing out every player that you have question marks about.
Worried about an RB’s heavy 2021 workload?
Cross him off.
Concerned about a former top-tier QB who lost their best receiver?
Cross him off. All of them.
Unsure about the 49er and Patriot backfield because their coaches seem to utterly hate fantasy with all of their cold, calculating hearts?
Cross ‘em off.
It’s okay to err on the side of caution: My own list usually has about 80 % of the players crossed out, particularly the more expensive ones as the risk is so much higher.
You now have a de facto list of players you want. Cool! Use this list to get them.
On that note, it’s important to remember that this list is not how much I personally value each player. It’s how much I think you should pay if they’re on your “want” list, based on my mock draft statistics. For my own personal salary cap rankings, click here [note to self: paste the link here when I write this>].
Got it? Then go get it!
One more note: Attention People in my 14-team Big Money League, who often download this list to get an advantage over me: Please note that this list is for 12-team leagues. Twelve. So when you find me bidding more for them in our 14-team league, quit saying “he must have put up a fake list!” Seriously, it’s been three years in a row!
That is all.
Onward!
2022 Fantasy Football Salary Cap Values Chart
(12 Teams, HPPR)
Download a printable pdf: here
[Image credits: https://jenikirbyhistory.getarchive.net/amp/media/construction-mechanic-1st-class-william-cook-is-greeted-by-his-family-after-e78e2c and https://pix4free.org/photo/24141/salary.html https://idscreenprint.com/web_store/shop/page/simplesupplydemandblog and https://www.flickr.com/photos/nnova/2592046053 and https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/49635765-pass-it-on under cc-2.0]
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