Guide · Waivers
Who to pick up,
who to drop.
Waivers ranks the free agents in your league by how much they would improve your best lineup over the next weeks, and suggests who to drop for each one.
Open WaiversWhat counts as an upgrade
Raw points are misleading on the waiver wire. A free agent projected for 12 points does nothing for you if he would sit behind three better players at his position. So First Down asks a different question: how much higher would my best possible lineup score if I added this player and dropped another?
For every candidate it re-solves your optimal lineup, with the same exact method used by the Lineup tool, week by week over the chosen horizon. The gain is the difference from your current best lineup.
Choosing the horizon
- This week: streaming, a fill-in for a bye or an injury.
- Next 4 weeks (default): the usual waiver decision.
- Rest of season: through the last week of your league’s playoffs.
Projections, blended or recent form
The Value control picks how each week’s points are estimated, like the modes of the Lineup tool:
- Projections: Sleeper’s projection for each week.
- Blended (default): 70% projection and 30% recent form, every week.
- Recent form: the player’s average over the last 5 weeks of actual results (a missed game counts as 0, a bye or a game not finished yet is skipped), scored with your league’s settings. Useful when a projection disagrees with what a player has actually done, which is common for defensive players. A player without recent games, for example back from injury, uses his projection instead.
Injury status only applies to the first week. A player on bye, or one Sleeper doesn’t expect to play (an empty projection, for example a backup quarterback), scores 0 that week; recent form never fills in for either.
Who to drop
With a full roster, every pickup comes with its own best drop: the player whose loss hurts your lineup the least. A drop is permanent, so First Down also subtracts what the dropped player would have given you after the horizon. Otherwise a “this week” pickup could cut a starter who is just on bye.
You control which drops are allowed:
- Any position: anyone on the roster can go.
- Same position: only a player at the pickup’s position.
- Same side: offense for offense (QB, RB, WR, TE), IDP for IDP (DL, LB, DB).
Kickers and team defenses only ever swap with their own position. You can also lock players you would never drop. Locks are saved in your browser, separately for each league.
Dynasty and keeper leagues
In dynasty and keeper leagues, a young player is worth more than his weekly points. When two drops cost the same, First Down keeps the younger player (up to his third NFL season). If it still suggests dropping a young player, it shows a warning.
Which free agents are checked
A free agent is a player with an NFL team who fits one of your starting slots and isn’t on any roster, taxi squad or IR in your league. The best 12 at each position, ranked by projected value over the horizon, are run through the lineup solver. A pickup that would never make your starting lineup is skipped, and changes smaller than 0.05 points are treated as noise.