I hear former ranked players better (6)
I believe the answer is:
exceed
'better' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i hear former ranked players' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'former' could be 'ex' (prefix meaning former or onetime) and 'ex' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for exceed that I've seen before include "Go beyond, surpass" , "Outstrip" , "Go beyond the prescribed limit" , "Outperform" , "Do more than is warranted by" .)