The Guru Score, Explained: How We Rank Every Fantasy Player
Rankings are opinions. The Guru Score is math. Here's how it works.
Start with Value Over Replacement Player (VORP)
Every player is compared to a replacement-level player at the same position — the guy you could pick up off the waiver wire on a Tuesday. If your RB1 projects for 280 points and the waiver-level RB projects for 140, your RB1's VORP is 140.
What you're actually drafting
The gap is the whole point. You're not drafting 280 points — you're drafting the 140 you couldn't have gotten for free.
This is the core idea: a 280-point QB in a 1-QB league is worth less than a 220-point RB, because QB replacements score way more than RB replacements.
Adjust for positional scarcity
Not all positions are equal. There are maybe six tight ends worth starting in a 12-team league. There are 30+ startable running backs. The Guru Score weights scarcity so elite TEs get credit for being rare.
Factor in durability
Availability is a skill. Players who were on the field all of last season get a small boost; players who missed big chunks of the year take a penalty. We cap it so one unlucky injury doesn't tank a season-long grade.
Reward draft-day value
The score also looks at where a player is actually being drafted. When his projected value outruns his ADP, he gets a bonus — that's the steal signal lighting up.
Output: one number — wins above a waiver pickup
The Guru Score is how many wins of edge a player gives you over a replacement-level pickup. One number, and the whole scale fits on a card — this is the same ladder you'll see on every player in a Draft Guru draft room:
The Guru Score scale
Why it matters at the draft
When two players are available in round 7 and one has a Guru Score of +4.5 and the other +1.8, you have an answer. No more agonizing over name-brand rankings from five different sites.
Where Draft Guru comes in
A number is only worth something if it's in front of you at the moment you have to decide. The Guru Score sits on every player in a Draft Guru draft room, and it's the engine underneath everything else the AI tells you — the ranked suggestions, the reasoning attached to them, and Sleeper Detection, which is really just this number disagreeing with ADP loudly enough to be worth flagging.
It also travels. Share your screen during a real draft on ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper, NFL.com or CBS and the same math grades the board as it fills in, without moving your league anywhere. On Elite, analysis fires automatically before your pick and again after it, so you're not the one remembering to ask.
One honest limit worth stating: the Guru Score adjusts for sport and for position scarcity, not for your league's specific scoring rules. It tells you who is far above replacement at his position. Your format still decides how much you care — which is a judgement call, and tiers are how you make it.
Where Draft Guru comes in
On every player, every round
Guru Score — the rating above, live in the draft room. Pro
When the score disagrees with ADP
Sleeper Detection — that gap, flagged before the room notices. Pro
Hands-free on the clock
Smart Auto-Analyze — fires before your pick and after it. Elite
Grade a draft on another platform
AI screen reading — ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper, NFL.com, CBS. Free for 1 draft a season
See it work before you pay
Practice drafts — adaptive AI opponents, any slot. Free · unlimited
The math is the easy half. Having it on screen at the moment you're on the clock is the half that wins drafts.
Unlock Guru Score with Pro — it powers every pick recommendation in the app. Or start free and run a practice draft first.
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Until Sept 10, 2026, the first 1,000 members lock the full AI co-manager — screen reading, Sleeper Detection, waiver & trade advisor — at $3.33/mo ($39.99/yr), forever. Cheaper than one bad FAAB bid. See pricing.