Fantasy Football Auction Values To Avoid In 2026: Ashton Jeanty's Price Is Too High

Auction drafts are the fairest way to settle a fantasy football contest. There is no draft order, so each team has a shot at every single player. You don’t have to get lucky with the No. 1 pick in order to land Bijan Robinson; you simply have to be willing to pay more than your leaguemates.

Of course, with that much freedom also comes responsibility. If you’re shelling out money for the wrong players, it will allow the rest of your league to scoop up tons of value. The goal is to be aggressive without being irresponsible, which means knowing when to pass when the bidding gets too high.

With that in mind, let’s dive into five players who currently stand out as overpriced in auction leagues. We’ll do this by comparing our fantasy football auction values with the average price tags for these players across the marketplace. We’ll be looking at the average price on both Yahoo leagues and in the high-stakes NFFC format. There are only 16 auction drafts currently completed on the NFFC, but that’s a sufficient sample size to give us a good idea of where players are going.

Overpriced Auction Fantasy Football Values To Avoid In 2026

Ashton Jeanty | RB | Raiders

Fantasy Life Auction Value: $30
NFFC Average Price: $43
Yahoo Average Price: $48.3

There is a pretty massive disconnect between how we see Jeanty and how he’s being viewed in drafts. We currently have him as RB8, which puts him right at the bottom of the second tier at the position. However, he’s being priced like RB4 in NFFC leagues, and he’s RB6 on Yahoo.

It’s easy to see why folks are interested in Jeanty. He was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, and he should be locked into a huge role for the second straight season. He’s currently projected for the eighth-most carries at running back in our fantasy football projections, while he’s seventh at the position in terms of targets.

The Raiders should also be significantly better than they were this offseason. Not only did they land a potential QB of the future in Fernando Mendoza, but they also spent heavily in free agency. Specifically, they gave Tyler Linderbaum a record-setting contract at center, which should help bolster their offensive line.

That said, Jeanty was far from a stud as a rookie. He definitely had to overcome a poor set of circumstances, but he still averaged just 3.7 yards per attempt. His advanced metrics aren’t particularly rosy, either. Among 49 RBs with at least 100 attempts last season, Jeanty finished 44th in yards after contact per attempt and dead last in EPA per rush and Success Rate.

Perhaps Jeanty will turn things around after a subpar rookie season, but he wouldn’t be the first “can’t miss” running back to not live up to expectations. In fact, his rookie metrics look eerily similar to one of the biggest RB busts of all time:

I’m not calling Jeanty a bust yet, but I’m also not willing to pay a huge premium for him in auctions. I’m more than happy to let my leaguemates add him at his current price tags.

Justin Jefferson | WR | Vikings

Fantasy Life Auction Value: $36
NFFC Average Price: $45
Yahoo Average Price: $48.9

Unlike Jeanty, there is no real concern about Justin Jefferson, the player. No receiver in NFL history has had a start to their career as he has, tallying more than 7,400 receiving yards in his first five seasons.

However, Jefferson took a clear step back last year. He appeared in all 17 games for the Vikings, but his numbers were down across the board. He managed “only” 84 catches for 1,048 yards, and he scored just two touchdowns.

The Vikings addressed the quarterback position this offseason, bringing in Kyler Murray to compete with the incumbent J.J. McCarthy. But do either of those guys make you feel warm and fuzzy in your tummy? Jefferson could be facing another year of uncatchable targets, which makes him a bit risky at his current price tags.

Jefferson is currently being valued somewhere between $45 and $50 in most auctions, which is well above our projected price tag of $36. There’s a clear gap between Jefferson and the top four at receiver—Ja’Marr Chase, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Amon-Ra St. Brown—so I’d much rather find the extra salary for one of those players.

Brock Bowers | TE | Raiders

Fantasy Life Auction Value: $28
NFFC Average Price: $35
Yahoo Average Price: $37

Bowers is an absolute stud, and I blame no one for wanting to have him on their roster this season. We currently have him as the No. 1 TE in our fantasy football rankings, just edging out Trey McBride.

The problem with Bowers is that the tight end position is crazy deep this season. You can get someone with top-10 upside for basically free, and those who wait at the position are securing excellent values.

Using the Yahoo and NFFC databases, only four tight ends are currently going for more than $10 on average (Bowers, McBride, Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren). That means that every other TE is coming at a serious discount. Look at some of the options compared to their Fantasy Life value:

Tucker Kraft: $17 FL Value, $6.3 Yahoo, $8 NFFC
Harold Fannin: $16 FL Value, $4.1 Yahoo, $8 NFFC
Sam LaPorta: $14 FL Value, $4.0 Yahoo, $7 NFFC

Again, this is not a shot at Bowers or the rest of the top options at the position. I would be more than happy to add them to my squad at the right price tag. But overpaying for someone like Bowers or McBride looks like a no-no at this point.

Malik Nabers | WR | Giants

Fantasy Life Auction Value: $23
NFFC Average Price: $23
Yahoo Average Price: $28.8

Nabers' price tag continues to drop in redraft and Best Ball formats, and his price in high-stakes NFFC leagues is in line with our $23 valuation. However, he’s still a bit overpriced on Yahoo, which means that the general public has yet to fully catch up.

There is certainly a scenario where Nabers returns from injury and puts together another huge season for the Giants. He’s been nothing short of a target hog when on the field the past two seasons, posting a 35% target share as a rookie and a 29% mark in his three full games last year.

Unfortunately, it’s looking less and less likely that he’ll be ready for the start of the year. It’s possible that he opens the season on the PUP list, and the most pessimistic reports could see him out until the team’s Week 7 bye. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a high-priced option rotting away on your bench, so I’m happy to let the other teams in my leagues deal with that headache.

Chase Brown | RB | Bengals

Fantasy Life Auction Value: $27
NFFC Average Price: $40
Yahoo Average Price: $44.5

Can Brown put it together for a full year in 2026-27? That is the big question. In each of the past two seasons, he’s been one of the best running backs in fantasy down the stretch. He was RB5 in 0.5-PPR scoring from Week 11 on last year, and he was RB6 on a per-game basis over the same time frame in 2024-25. That gives him plenty of upside heading into the upcoming season, especially with the Bengals not adding much in terms of competition this offseason.

Still, there’s a solid gap between our valuation and his current price tags. We have him as a Tier 3 option and No. 12 at the position overall. He’s currently priced as RB9 on Yahoo, and the high-stakes auction players at the NFFC are even more bullish. He’s priced as RB5 on that site, going between $37 and $49 in all 16 drafts. It’s possible that Brown lives up to that billing, but I’d personally rather go big for Robinson or Gibbs or try to search for a better value.