dailynewsnblog
Tristan H. Cockcroft
Multiple Authors
The trade deadline in ESPN leagues is quickly approaching and, let’s face it, some dynasty teams don’t have it in them to compete for a championship. Or, if you are fortunate enough to still be in the race, you might need to fortify your roster with some trades. With now being a key time for roster decision-making, it’s time to take a look ahead to the future. The rankings below evaluate player value for the rest of 2026 as well as the next five-plus seasons, serving as an effective price guide for dynasty and keeper leagues.
The rankings formula
This Dynasty 300 update uses the following player valuation formula:
The rationale behind these weights is to provide a long-term projection of player values, in order to help fantasy managers in dynasty/keeper leagues who are weighing trades or looking ahead to the winter roster cut-down. For those in redraft/single-year leagues, my points-league rankings for the rest of 2026 can be found here. This page, however, is for fantasy managers who need to forecast deep into the future.
Several factors can influence these values. Here are some of the other things to consider:
Your league’s format: Is your dynasty league a traditional roto or points-based league? Does it use ESPN’s standard settings, or more traditional or even deeper roster settings? These rankings take a more points-based lean, to mirror our standard game, but since they project over a long range, they do bring into consideration player values over a broader set of formats.
Number of keepers: How many players can you keep each year, and must every team keep the same number?
Player pricing: Is your league a draft or salary-cap format, and do you price players by draft round or for a dollar amount — or is price not part of the keeper equation?
Contract factors: Are there limits on the number of years you can keep a player and/or are there guaranteed contracts, and is there price inflation?
Farm teams: Does your league include minor league/farm-team slots, and how are these players factored into the keeper system?
Team competitiveness: Are you a contender, rebuilder or something in between?
Dynasty 300
Note: “Elig. Pos.” is the player’s eligible position(s) for 2026 in an ESPN league. Positional eligibility is determined based upon a minimum of 20 games, or any position played at least 25% of the time, in 2025, or 10 games played in 2026. Players’ projected future positions — for 2027 and beyond — are considered in the ranking. Players’ listed ages are as of July 22, 2026.
Players’ peak rankings in past keeper lists (“Prv. Peak”) are also provided, with preseason (“Pre”), midseason (“Mid”) and end-of-season (“End”) designated to differentiate the times of the years in question. For example, Rafael Devers is listed with a peak of 7 in “Mid 20,” meaning that, before this edition, his best all-time rank had been 7th, in the 2020 midseason list (Devers also garnered a No. 7 ranking in both the end-of-2019 and preseason-2020 lists, but for these purposes, the peak ranking represents the most recent time the player reached said peak.) A “–” means that the player has never before made the top 300 overall.
