A Note on How We Value Rosters — July 2026 Update

The data behind the numbers. Our valuations are estimates produced by a model, and the model is only as good as the market data it is calibrated against. That data reaches us three ways: public reporting from credible outlets, which we cite and link on the player's page wherever it exists; direct submissions from athletes, their representatives, and people close to programs, which we handle confidentially; and our own market research — the coaching surveys, GM interviews, and transfer portal deal data that anchor each position's benchmarks. A figure that reaches us through a private submission moves the published number without publishing the source, and we never identify which figures those are. That is deliberate: it protects the people who share information with us, and it lets the picture get more accurate without anyone's privacy paying for it.

The model change. A valuation is only as strong as its independence. With this update, a reported figure — public or submitted — informs exactly the player it belongs to. The positional benchmarks used to value everyone else derive purely from the model's own fundamentals. In practice, one player's widely reported deal no longer mechanically moves his teammates' numbers — and the same roster data now produces the same team totals every time the model runs.

The data work. Over recent weeks we have been working through roster audits team by team: offseason position changes, portal arrivals and departures, and depth alignment checked against official rosters and publicly reported depth charts. This week's model run revalues every roster we cover against that refreshed data. A player who switched positions this offseason is now valued on the curve for the position he actually plays, and team pages and roster articles already reflect the updated numbers. Roster work is never finished — portal movement keeps surfacing after the window closes, and corrections ship as we confirm them.

What a figure means. Every valuation we publish is an estimate — our best read of a player's market value given the strongest data available to us, refined as new information arrives. It is not a report of what a player is paid unless we link reporting that says so. The full approach is on our methodology page.

A living data set. The model improves as the data does. A reported deal or a direct submission informs one player immediately; in the aggregate, better data informs the next calibration of the model itself — so the picture sharpens for every comparable player in the sport without any single figure moving another player's number. Valuations, and the rankings built on them, will keep moving as the market moves. Athletes, agents, and program staff who want to share or correct information can reach us confidentially through /verify. It makes the whole picture better.