DraftEdge Pro User Manual

Welcome to DraftEdge Pro

DraftEdge Pro is an auction-draft optimizer built for serious fantasy football managers. It connects to your Sleeper league (or any custom league setup), values every player at Fair, Target, and MAX dollar amounts based on your specific scoring, roster, and budget, and then helps you execute live by tracking every purchase, computing real-time inflation, surfacing market heat, and recommending who to nominate.

Everything is offline. Your league data, draft history, and CSV uploads are stored on your device — nothing leaves the phone except read-only API calls to Sleeper.

How the math works

DraftEdge takes either projected fantasy points or KTC dynasty values, computes a replacement-level baseline by simulating which players would actually be drafted given your starting roster slots and FLEX weights, applies a bell-curve scarcity adjustment (scarcity is higher in shallow rosters, lower in deep ones), then translates points-above-replacement into dollars proportional to total league budget. Target is the central estimate, Fair is just below it, MAX is the ceiling beyond which the player can't pay back. All three update live as purchases come in.

Privacy: your league settings and auction history live only in expo-sqlite on your phone. If you uninstall the app, that data is gone — there is no cloud sync.

Quick Start — 3 Minutes to Live

Step 1 · Connect a league

1. Open the app. You'll see the brand hero with a glowing cyan logo ring.
2. Find your Sleeper League ID in Sleeper → League → Settings → League ID. It's a 16–19 digit number.
3. Paste it into the SLEEPER LEAGUE ID field and tap Load League. DraftEdge fetches your rosters, users, scoring, and any drafts.
4. Or: tap Configure Manually in the League tab to set up an ESPN, Yahoo, or any other-platform league by hand — pick scoring, roster slots, TEP, SuperFlex, budget.

Step 2 · Star your team

Inside the League tab, every roster row has a star icon on the right. Tap the star next to your team. From now on the app knows whose budget is yours, locks the build optimizer to your roster, and surfaces “Buying Power” relative to the rest of the league.

Step 3 · You're ready to draft

Bundled auction prices load automatically based on your league format. The Values tab is now populated with Fair / Target / MAX dollar amounts. The Build tab has an optimal roster ready. The Live tab is ready to record purchases. You can optionally load a custom CSV in the Projections tab for points-based valuation, or an XLSX of your home-league auction prices.

Tip: in real Sleeper auctions, flip on Live Sync (top of the Live tab). DraftEdge polls Sleeper every few seconds and auto-imports every pick — you don't type anything during the draft.

The Five Tabs

DraftEdge has a single bottom tab bar with five sections: League, Projections, Values, Build, and Live. You can swipe horizontally between tabs (gesture-driven) or tap the tab bar — both have haptic feedback. Each tab is independent: switching never loses your scroll position or filter selection.

League Tab

Your home base. Shows the connected league, all rosters, who's spent what, and the starting-position pills. Pull to refresh fetches fresh data from Sleeper.

What's on the screen

• Header — league name, season, total teams. Tap Change to load a different Sleeper league. Manual leagues show Edit Setup instead.
• Stat Row — three branded StatCards: Budget/Team, Teams, and Draft Status (or Format for manual leagues — “1 QB” vs “SuperFlex”).
• Detected Budget Banner — if Sleeper reports a different budget than your setting, an info banner shows both numbers so you can reconcile.
• Starting Roster — pill row of every starting position (excluding bench/IR/taxi).
• Teams Table — every roster with team name, dollars spent, dollars left, and a star toggle. Stars your team for the rest of the app to track. Left turns red when remaining budget drops below $20.

Manual Setup Form

Tap Configure Manually on first launch (or Edit Setup later) to access the manual setup card:

• Format — 1 QB or SuperFlex.
• Scoring — Standard, Half PPR, or PPR.
• TEP Bonus — None, +0.5, +0.75, or +1.0 tight-end premium.
• Starting Roster Spots — steppers for QB (SuperFlex only), RB, WR, TE, FLEX (RB/WR/TE), SuperFlex, Bench.
• League Settings — number of teams (4–20), budget per team (any positive integer).

Tip: when you long-press a player to record a purchase manually (Values tab), DraftEdge treats your league as “manual draft active” and unlocks the long-press flow even if you haven't connected Sleeper.

Projections Tab

All player data lives here. Browse the player pool, filter by position, sort by KTC dynasty value, projected points, age, dynasty rank, or market price. Load custom CSVs for points/value or WAR, or an XLSX of league-specific auction prices.

CSV Loading

• Value/Points CSV — projected fantasy points (auto-detected) or a static dollar value per player. Drives the projection mode of the valuation engine.
• WAR CSV — optional Wins-Above-Replacement records. Used by the Win-Now side of the Build slider and the WAR Value Alerts in the Live tab.
• Auction Prices XLSX — pre-built XLSX with per-format columns (12-team PPR, 12-team SF, 10-team Std, etc.). DraftEdge auto-picks the right sheet based on your league. Bundled prices load automatically — load this to override with your home league's history.

Templates

Tap Value/Points Template or WAR Template to download a starter CSV with the exact column structure DraftEdge expects. The file is shared via the iOS share sheet — save it to Files, fill it in on a desktop, and re-import.

Filter & Sort

• Position pills: All, QB, RB, WR, TE, K, DEF.
• Search: fuzzy player-name match (Levenshtein distance), with up to 8 suggestions.
• Sort keys: Name, KTC value, Rank, Age, or Market price.

Values Tab (Optimizer)

The dashboard you'll spend the most time on. Every player's Fair, Target, and MAX bid in one sortable list, with live market heat dots and Buying Power up top.

Buying Power Bar

• BUYING POWER — your remaining budget vs. league average. Labeled VERY STRONG / STRONG / NEUTRAL / WEAK / VERY WEAK and color-coded cyan → green → orange → red.
• SPENT — total dollars committed across the entire league so far.
• REMAINING — total dollars left across all teams (the denominator in inflation math).
• MY LEFT — dollars left on your team specifically. Drops as you record your own purchases.

Position Pills with Heat Dots

• Red (HOT) — the position is going for materially over its average target bid. Don't reach.
• Cyan (COLD) — going under target. Look for bargains here.
• Orange (FAIR) — within the noise band. Bid normally.

Valuation Table

Five columns: Player · Fair · Tgt (or Adj) · MAX · Value/$. Tap any column header to sort; tap again to flip ascending/descending. The default sort is MAX descending so the highest-ceiling players sit on top.

Value/$ is points-per-dollar — KTC value (or projected points) divided by MAX bid. Higher = more value per dollar at the ceiling. Useful for finding pure bargains in the late rounds.

Market-Adjusted Mode (MKT toggle)

Tap the MKT button in the search row to turn on market-adjusted Targets. The third column header changes from Tgt to Adj, and every player's recommended bid shifts to reflect what the market is actually paying for that position right now. A green banner reminds you the engine is in adjusted mode. Players now under their adjusted target are flagged with VALUE / GREAT VALUE / STEAL labels — the strongest signals to act on.

Long-Press to Record a Purchase

Long-press any player row to open the purchase modal. Type the price, pick the buying team from the horizontal roster chip row, tap Confirm. The pick is added to your auction history, the budget bar updates, the build re-runs, and the player disappears from the available list. Long-press is enabled in two situations:

• Manual leagues — always.
• Sleeper leagues — only when Manual Draft Tracking is on (Live tab → Mock subtab → start tracking).

Build Tab

The roster constructor. Given your remaining budget, your locked-in players, and your Win-Now-vs-Dynasty preference, the optimizer picks the highest-value combination of players that fills every starting slot and bench under budget. Every dollar bid pushes the optimizer to a new optimal lineup in real time.

Build Bias Slider

• Pure Win-Now (0%) — WAR-driven. Ignores long-term dynasty value and chases this season's expected wins. Bias toward proven veterans.
• Balanced (50%) — half WAR, half KTC dynasty value. Good default for most dynasty startups.
• Pure Dynasty (100%) — maximizes long-term roster value via KTC tier multipliers. Bias toward young assets and rookies.

The slider snaps in 5% increments. The pill on the right shows the current label (Pure Win-Now, Win-Now Focus, Leaning Win-Now, Balanced, Leaning Dynasty, Dynasty Focus, Pure Dynasty). The track tints orange below 50% and cyan above.

Summary Bar

• Cost — total dollar cost of the proposed roster.
• Budget — your remaining budget.
• Left — leftover (Cost − Budget). Green when positive, red if the optimizer can't fit.
• Total Value — combined KTC value across all proposed slots.

Slot Rows, Locks & Excludes

Each slot (QB, RB, WR, TE, FLEX, SuperFlex, Bench…) shows a colored pill with the slot label, the proposed player, that player's max bid, and a lock state. Tap any slot pill to enter Swap Mode — the build candidate list at the bottom now filters to only players eligible for that slot. Tap a candidate to lock them in, replacing whoever was there.

Long-press any slot row for the context menu: Lock, Unlock, or Exclude. Locked players are forced into the build no matter what. Excluded players are blacklisted and never appear in any future build (until you clear excludes via Clear Locks in the action bar). When you record a purchase to your own roster anywhere in the app, that player is auto-locked.

Tip: lock the few players you really want, run a build, see what budget is left for the rest. If the build comes back with negative Left, you can't afford your locks at current prices — either unlock someone or accept paying over MAX on a star.

Live Tab

The auction-room cockpit. Five sub-tabs — Buys, Nominate, Budget, Market, Mock — plus a sticky entry bar for fast manual purchase entry and a Live Sync toggle that polls Sleeper every few seconds.

Sticky Entry Bar

Always visible at the top. Type a player name (the SearchBar fuzzy-suggests live), enter the price, pick the buying team from the horizontal roster chip row, tap ADD. The pick lands in Buys, the budget tab updates, the build re-runs, the market analysis recomputes. If the buying team is your starred roster, that player is auto-locked in the build.

Live Sync Header

The thin header below the entry bar has the green sync dot, the timestamp of the last sync, an optional MOCK badge if you're using a Mock subtab override, a manual refresh button, and the on/off Switch. With sync on, DraftEdge polls Sleeper's draft endpoint every 3 seconds and imports every new pick automatically. With it off, you record everything by hand via the entry bar or the Values-tab long-press.

Buys Subtab

Reverse-chronological list of every pick made so far. Each row shows the player, position badge, team name + roster ID, the actual price, and the player's target bid for comparison. The price turns redif the team paid >10% over target, cyan if they got it >10% under target. Swipe a row to open the trash icon and remove an erroneously-recorded pick.

When you have at least one purchase logged, a Generate Draft Report button appears at the top of the list. Tap it to produce a full PDF scorecard for your team — overall grade, value summary, slot-by-slot breakdown, and shareable via the iOS share sheet.

Nominate Subtab

DraftEdge's nomination strategy. Recommends players to throw out where: opponents still need that position and have the budget to pay and you don't actually need that player yourself. The goal is to drain other teams' budgets without risking getting stuck as the max bidder.

• Top card for the #1 recommendation: player name, position, expected sale price, target bid, MAX bid, plain-English rationale, and the 2–3 likely bidders with their remaining budget and est. max bid.
• Ranked alternatives below — additional candidates with expected price.
• SAFE TO WALK badge — if you don't need this player at any roster spot, the badge appears so you can nominate aggressively and just back away if the price gets stupid.

Budget Subtab

League-wide budget map. Every team is listed (sorted by their draft slot if known), with a horizontal spend-bar that fills as they buy players. The bar tints red once a team has spent more than 85%. Your team is highlighted with a gold star and a subtle background. A banner at the top tells you your draft pick number when slot data is available.

Market Subtab

• WAR Value Alerts — high-WAR players still available where the market is currently paying under projected target. Each alert is labeled PRIME VALUE (gold) or WAR VALUE (orange) with the WAR tier, target bid, adjusted target, and a one-line rationale.
• Position Market Heat — for every position with at least 2 purchases, shows a card with the average paid vs. average target, a HOT/COLD/FAIR badge, a trend arrow (rising/falling/flat), and an under/over-target progress bar showing what % of buys came in under target.

Mock Subtab

Practice mode. Lists every available draft on your league (real + any active mocks Sleeper is showing). Tap one to override the Live Sync target — DraftEdge now syncs from the mock instead of the real draft. If your mock isn't listed, paste the mock's URL or numeric ID into the manual field. Use Clear mock to revert to the real draft. For manual leagues, this subtab also exposes Start Manual Auction Tracking, which enables the long-press purchase flow on the Values tab.

Auction Workflow — Pre-Draft → Live

Phase 1 · The Week Before

1. Connect your Sleeper league (or set up manually).
2. Star your team in the League tab.
3. Optional: load custom value/points and WAR CSVs in the Projections tab (or rely on the bundled prices).
4. Set your Build Bias slider — Win-Now if you're trying to win this season, Dynasty if you're building for the future.
5. Lock the 2–4 players you absolutely want (Build tab → long-press a slot → Lock). Re-run the build and see what's affordable around them.

Phase 2 · Mock-Draft Practice

1. Live tab → Mock subtab. Pick any active mock from the list, or paste a Sleeper mock URL.
2. Turn Live Sync on. DraftEdge polls and pulls every pick automatically.
3. Watch the Buying Power bar, position heat dots, and Market subtab to learn how the engine reacts.
4. When the mock is over, tap Clear Mock. Your auction history wipes clean for next time.

Phase 3 · Live Draft Day

1. Open Live tab. Confirm Live Sync is on (Sleeper) or Manual Tracking is on (other platforms).
2. Pre-draft: scan the Nominate subtab for your opening throwaway nomination — drain a position other teams need but you don't.
3. During the draft: glance at Buying Power in the Values tab. STRONG = bid aggressively. WEAK = play tight, take the bargains.
4. Watch position heat dots. Cyan dot on RB? RBs are going under target — pivot your spend. Red dot on TE? Stay out unless your locked TE is on the board.
5. Use MKT to switch into market-adjusted Targets if the room is wildly off baseline.
6. Every time it's your nomination, check the Nominate subtab top card.

Phase 4 · After the Draft

On the Buys subtab, tap Generate Draft Report. DraftEdge compiles a PDF scorecard with your overall grade, slot-by-slot value summary, total spent vs. expected, and shares it via the iOS share sheet so you can post-mortem with your league.

Glossary

Auction value tiers

• Fair — the midpoint dollar value, where this player would sell in a balanced market.
• Target — your recommended bid. The price you'd be happy paying. Sit out anything materially above this.
• MAX — your absolute ceiling. Walk away one dollar past this — beyond MAX, you're paying for hope.
• Bargain — live signal: this player is going UNDER target. Pounce.
• Over — live signal: this player has already cleared MAX. Don't bid.
• On Target — live signal: bid is sitting between Fair and Target. This is the price you wanted.

Other terms you'll see

• KTC — KeepTradeCut value, a community-sourced dynasty value scale used when projected points aren't loaded. Higher = more dynasty value.
• WAR — Wins Above Replacement. Estimates how many extra wins a player gives a team vs. a replacement-level starter. Drives the Win-Now half of the Build slider.
• WAR Tier — categorical bucket (e.g. ELITE / TOP / SOLID / FILLER) computed from a player's WAR percentile.
• TEP — Tight End Premium scoring; bonus PPR for TE receptions. DraftEdge supports +0.5 / +0.75 / +1.0 TEP.
• SuperFlex — league format with a starting slot eligible for QB or RB/WR/TE. Inflates QB values significantly.
• Inflation — league-wide deviation from baseline pricing as the draft progresses. Computed from total spent and remaining.
• Heat — real-time market signal at a position: HOT (over target), COLD (under), FAIR (in band).
• Buying Power — your remaining budget vs. league average remaining. STRONG / WEAK label per ratio.
• Value Pick — a player available below their adjusted target. Sub-labels: VALUE, GREAT VALUE, STEAL.
• WAR Value Alert — high-WAR player at a position trending under target — flagged for live nomination/bid.
• Lock — force a player into the build optimizer regardless of value.
• Exclude — blacklist a player from the build optimizer.
• Mock — a practice draft. DraftEdge can sync to public Sleeper mock drafts for live practice.

Tips, Tricks & FAQ

Hidden shortcuts

• Swipe horizontally on any tab to navigate to the next/previous tab.
• Long-press a player row in the Values tab → opens the price/team modal in 1 motion.
• Tap a column header in the Values table → sort. Tap again → flip direction.
• Tap a slot row in Build → enters Swap Mode for that slot.
• Long-press a slot row in Build → Lock / Unlock / Exclude context menu.
• Tap the star icon next to any roster in the League tab → instantly retargets “my team” for the entire app.

Gotchas

• Mock drafts and real drafts have different IDs. If you accidentally start syncing to a mock, your real-draft purchases won't be recorded. Always clear the mock when finished.
• Manual leagues don't have a real-time roster — you have to record every pick by hand (or via the Values long-press flow).
• The valuation engine recomputes on every input change. Adjusting your manual budget or TEP setting will refresh every Fair/Target/MAX value across the app — there's no stale cache.
• Locked players that exceed remaining budget will produce a build with negative Left. Either unlock or accept overpaying.

Pro tip: in the 30 seconds before a player you want is nominated, check the Buying Power bar AND the heat dot for that position. Cyan dot + STRONG buying power = bid up to MAX confidently. Red dot + WEAK buying power = walk away below Target.