Key takeaways
- Full PPR value is a scoring-system tilt, not a talent ranking. Compare a player's standard-league ADP to his full-PPR ADP and the gap shows exactly who the format is rewarding and who it's punishing.
- The gainers are dominated by tight ends and pass-catching backs. Jake Ferguson tops the board at +31.9, with Kyle Pitts (+30.6), Tyjae Spears (+29.9), Travis Kelce (+25.5), Kenny Gainwell (+24.6), Trey McBride (+20.1), Rachaad White (+20.1) and Woody Marks (+15.0) all climbing.
- The losers are early-down backs who don't catch passes. Isiah Pacheco (-19.6), J.K. Dobbins (-17.2), Blake Corum (-13.0) and Josh Jacobs (-10.3) all get cheaper once receptions count.
- The math is simple and brutal: an RB target is worth roughly 2.5x what a carry is worth in PPR. Christian McCaffrey's 102 receptions last season, over 25% more than the next-closest back, is the extreme version of that rule.
- Treat the exact size of each delta as a signal, not a decimal point. The ranking of names moving up and down is far more trustworthy than the precise number attached to any one of them.
Every full PPR value list looks a little different depending on where the ADP data comes from, but the shape never changes: tight ends and receiving backs get more expensive, and backs who mostly just run the ball get cheaper. If you've ever wondered why the guy in your league who drafts by "gut feel" keeps reaching for pass-catching running backs a round early, this is the reason. He's drafting for your scoring settings. You might still be drafting for someone else's.
In a league that plays full PPR with three receiver-flex spots and only two mandatory running back slots, this isn't a minor adjustment — it's close to the whole ballgame. Every reception is a full point, and every extra flex spot is another seat at the table for a player whose value leans on catching the ball rather than just carrying it. So before you build a board off a generic rankings site, it's worth knowing exactly which names move, and by roughly how much.
Why full PPR value moves tight ends and pass-catching backs
The mechanism isn't complicated. Standard scoring treats a catch as incidental to the yardage it produces. Full PPR counts the catch itself, which means a five-yard checkdown is worth a full point before any yardage even gets added in. That single point matters most for players whose per-touch yardage is modest but whose target volume is high — exactly the profile of a possession tight end or a receiving back who lines up in the slot.
It shows up clearest at running back. The framing stat worth memorizing: a running back target is worth roughly 2.5 times as many fantasy points as a carry in full PPR. A back who runs 15 times and catches nothing is leaving the format's best-paying job on the table. Christian McCaffrey caught 102 passes last season, more than 25% ahead of the next-closest back in the league — that gap alone is close to a full extra tier of value that a pure runner simply cannot generate no matter how many carries he's handed.
Carries are volume. Targets are the format telling you exactly where the points are hidden. In a league with three flex spots built for receivers, ignoring that is the fastest way to draft a roster that looks fine on paper and loses every week on the margins.
The gainers: tight ends and pass-catching backs climb
The measured gap between standard and full-PPR ADP is the cleanest way to see who the format is buying up. The board isn't subtle about it:
| Player | Pos | Team | PPR delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jake Ferguson | TE | DAL | +31.9 |
| Kyle Pitts | TE | ATL | +30.6 |
| Tyjae Spears | RB | — | +29.9 |
| Travis Kelce | TE | KC | +25.5 |
| Kenny Gainwell | RB | TB | +24.6 |
| Trey McBride | TE | ARI | +20.1 |
| Rachaad White | RB | WAS | +20.1 |
| Woody Marks | RB | HOU | +15.0 |
Notice the pattern: every name on that list is either a tight end or a running back with a defined receiving role. None of them is the bell-cow, twenty-carry-a-game bruiser. That's not a coincidence — it's the format working exactly as designed. Jake Ferguson (DAL) and Kyle Pitts (ATL) leading the board by that much tells you tight end value in this league isn't just about the top two names — it runs deeper into the format than a standard-league ranking would ever suggest. Woody Marks (HOU) is the name most likely to slip past a drafter working off a generic board; a +15.0 delta is real money in a three-flex league.
The losers: early-down backs get cheaper
Flip the sign and the same logic runs in reverse. These are backs whose value is built almost entirely on carries, and full PPR simply doesn't pay for carries the way it pays for catches:
| Player | Pos | Team | PPR delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isiah Pacheco | RB | DET | -19.6 |
| J.K. Dobbins | RB | DEN | -17.2 |
| Blake Corum | RB | — | -13.0 |
| Josh Jacobs | RB | GB | -10.3 |
None of this means these backs are bad fantasy players. Josh Jacobs (GB) in particular is still a legitimate every-down option, and Isiah Pacheco (DET) has real workhorse upside in a new backfield. It means their price should come down relative to a standard-format cheat sheet. If you're drafting off borrowed rankings without adjusting for scoring, you're the one paying full retail for a discounted asset.
What six seasons of ITFFL FAAB history says about chasing these gainers
It helps to know what actually happens after the draft in this specific league. Across six seasons of ITFFL waiver activity, roughly three-quarters of all roster adds have been free agents that cost nothing, not the product of a bidding war. That's the good news if you miss on a gainer at your table: a similar profile very often resurfaces for free once the season starts sorting out roles.
The bad news is that when a genuine league-altering pass-catcher does hit the wire, ITFFL pays up for it — and pays up early. Eighteen to twenty-eight waiver claims land at $100 or more every single year, and the twelve biggest bids in league history are almost all clustered in the season's first month: seven of the twelve landed in Weeks 1-3, and ten of the twelve landed by Week 7. If you're hoping to just wait out the draft and buy the next Ferguson or Spears off waivers in October, the league's own history says that window mostly closes before Halloween.
And none of that spending has bought titles on its own. Any Given Sontag has won two of the last six championships while averaging roughly $429 in season FAAB spend, 11th of 13 regular managers. The league's heaviest spender averages nearly $1,000 a season and has zero rings. The lesson for this list isn't spend more, it's spend correctly — get the receiving profile right at your draft table using the deltas above, and save the aggressive bidding for the specific Weeks 1-4 window when this league has actually shown it pays off.
How much to trust the exact numbers
Here's the honest caveat, and it matters: these deltas come from comparing two separately-run ADP boards, and the standard-scoring side of that comparison simply has a smaller pool of drafts behind it than the full-PPR side most sites default to tracking. That means the size of each number is a little fuzzy — the direction and the ranking of names is the real signal. Trust that Ferguson, Pitts and Spears are the biggest full-PPR gainers on the board and that Pacheco and Dobbins are the biggest losers. Don't treat "+31.9" as a figure you could reproduce to the decimal point in a live draft room. Treat it as "this guy is going noticeably earlier here than he would elsewhere, and here's roughly how much."
A useful gut check while you're on the clock: if a name is climbing mostly because he catches a lot of short passes, ask whether those catches are also generating yards after the catch, or just stopping the clock. Volume matters, but not all volume is priced the same even inside PPR.
The Draft-Day Version of This Same Pattern
The gainers-and-losers list above is really just a scoring-system snapshot of a pattern this league has been living out at the draft table for six years already. Rounds 1 and 2 of ITFFL drafts have always skewed running back — 74 RB picks against 57 WR picks — the same instinct that makes early-down backs like Pacheco and Dobbins go earlier than their PPR profile deserves. Round 3 flips hard every year: 38 receivers taken against just 19 backs, and receivers stay the plurality position through most of the draft that follows. Across all 1,080 picks in league history, receivers outnumber running backs 408 to 338.
That's the same signal this gainers-and-losers list is sending, just measured a different way. The market corrects for receiving value somewhere in the process — this league's version of that correction has consistently landed right around round 3, year after year, regardless of who's on the board. If you're using these PPR deltas to plan your draft, round 3 is exactly where history says to expect the room to start agreeing with you.
The pick'em angle: know which stat actually moves the number
This same discipline — knowing which underlying stat is actually driving the number in front of you — carries straight over to how you fill out your weekly picks. A running back's raw rushing total looks impressive on a highlight reel and means very little for a spread if his team is playing from behind and abandoning the run entirely. A receiving back who stays on the field on third down tells you more about his offense's game plan — and, by extension, about how that team is likely to be favored — than a box score full of empty carries. The instinct that makes you a sharper full-PPR drafter is the same instinct that makes you a sharper picker: find the stat that's actually paying, and stop trusting the one that just looks good.
Building your board around the deltas
Practically, here's how to use this list on draft day. Move the gainers up a round or so from wherever a generic ranking has them — not to the top of your board, just enough that you're not letting the room take them at a discount. Move the losers down by roughly the same margin, understanding that a workhorse back like Jacobs is still a fine roster piece at the right price, just not at his standard-format price. And when two names are close on your board and one of them catches passes, let full PPR be the tiebreaker. It usually is one anyway; this list just tells you which fights are worth having.
None of these deltas are destiny. ADP is a crowd, and crowds are wrong often enough to make a living off of. But when a signal this consistent shows up across a board this size, betting against it costs you more than it saves you. Build around the gainers, buy the losers a round later than the room expects to, and let the receiving numbers do the talking once the games start. For the names that didn't make this list but are still quietly underpriced, the 2026 Fantasy Football Late-Round Draft Targets Coming Soon piece — and the full tight end tier breakdown behind Ferguson and Pitts' rise — pick up right where this one leaves off.