3 Overvalued Players to Avoid on ESPN Leagues (2023 ADP)

Last month, we took a look at some of the most overvalued players for those in ESPN fantasy football leagues. Now it’s July, and mock draft season is upon us. That means we’ll have more valuable data as more fantasy leagues continue to conduct drafts as the summer transpires.

I took a look at our ADP (Average Draft Position) tool to determine players that are being over-drafted on ESPN. The tool combines the updated ADP for different sites along with our latest Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) to provide players to target and avoid based on average draft position. You can also use our mock draft simulator to sync your league and complete fantasy football mock drafts against the current ADP of your league host.

Fitz’s Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
Fantasy Football Draft Strategy
2023 Fantasy Football Draft Kit
Expert Consensus Fantasy Football Draft Rankings

Most Overvalued Players on ESPN

Patrick Mahomes (QB – KC)

Patrick Mahomes is amazing. He’s the best quarterback in football and could one day go down as the greatest of all time. He is an athletic marvel and is a lock to give you a weekly advantage at QB if he stays healthy.

But 14th overall? Despite how incredible he is, I can’t justify taking Mahomes as an early second-round pick. It’s just too much to sacrifice from a positional value standpoint. In other words, while I love the player, I’m content with landing a starting back or receiver with that second-round pick and getting 80% of Mahomes many rounds later.

Darren Waller (TE – NYG)

I think ESPN drafters might be stuck in a time machine that took them back to 2020. That’s the only explanation for why Darren Waller is being drafted 45th overall right now on that platform. For comparison’s sake, Waller is ranked 30 spots lower in our Expert Consensus Rankings.

Waller isn’t a terrible flyer to take at tight end after the top six players are off the board. But considering he’s changing teams and is out of his prime, Waller’s a ludicrous fourth-round pick right now.

Brandin Cooks (WR – DAL)

I want to make this clear: I like Cooks this season as Dallas’ WR2, a role he’s performed well in previously. But ESPN drafters might still think Cooks is the lead receiver on the Houston Texans, as he’s being drafted at the end of Round 7.

When healthy, Cooks will be the strong complement to CeeDee Lamb that the Cowboys’ offense has lacked. But the key word here is “complementary.” Drafting Cooks this early doesn’t give you much room for error.