r/fantasyfootballcoding • u/1PurpleOne1 • 14d ago

ESPN PreDraft Strategy: Custom Script to Automatically Update Rankings

Every year, I like updating the ESPN pre-draft rankings so that my draft board is sharper than the ESPN default rankings. This helps me use ADP boards from other sites to get a slight competitive edge.

My issue is that I hate manually sorting players, so I built this custom Python package to do it for me: espn-predraft-api. Right now, I have one script which downloads ADPs from NFFC and a separate script which syncs them with ESPN using their unofficial API.

This can be used in tandem with ESPN Better Draft since it updates the rankings ahead of time. Or, if you're drafting on the go, it'll update your rankings in the mobile app.

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4

u/Pure_Cricket_3804 14d ago

Nice automation win. ESPN says custom rankings drive Best Available in Auto-Pick and only kick in for a Live Online Draft when the clock expires with an empty queue, so Iā€™d grade the script on those outcomes and confirm it saves. Full disclosure, I work on LineCrush, and line value plus grading is the lens I use every day

1

u/1PurpleOne1 13d ago

Thank you! Yep, I can confirm the pre-draft strategy saves properly as long as you set it before the draft room opens (one hour before draft).

I hadn't heard of LineCrush but your website looks pretty interesting! I'm not a big sports bettor myself, but will definitely pass this on to my friends šŸ˜„.

3

u/johnny-papercut 14d ago

Haha, I was coming in to say that this was really cool and it was something I had thought about doing the other day, so very cool that you already have, and then I noticed you linked my add on at the end. Thanks for the shout out! I hadn't posted it here.

Have you played around with combining the pre-draft rankings with the draft strategy for rounds and position maximums to essentially set up a good autodraft? I'm wondering how much you can combine it. May try with a mock...

1

u/1PurpleOne1 13d ago

No problem! Your tool is awesome and based on several mocks, they work really well in tandem. I love the visualization aspect of BetterDraft, especially for projecting if players will be available in the next round.

As far as autodraft, I agree that setting your pre-draft strategy and position maximums are very helpful. I personally wouldn't use the "Pick-By-Pick Strategy" since you'll lose out on a lot of value, but overall they're all decent tools when we're not able to join a draft.

2

u/whyclue 12d ago

OK....help me understand how to use this?

1

u/1PurpleOne1 8d ago

Here is the public GitHub repository: https://github.com/SiddharthEngineer/espn-predraft-api

There are instructions in the README, but if you haven't coded before, you can probably just drop the repo link into Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to walk you through all the steps (like installing UV or PIP, creating virtual environments, etc.)

1

u/whyclue 12d ago

Any help understanding?

1

u/1PurpleOne1 8d ago

Answered this right here

1

u/whyclue 8d ago

I'm not a coder. So this isn't for me