Tight end is a position that has created some challenges in recent years if forecasting via Similarity Scores is what we want to do.  There are fewer tight ends than wide receivers or running backs, and the emergence of guys like Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham has meant that we have multiple tight ends per year that we’re trying to match up with historical seasons…...

If it weren’t for the infamous Fail Mary debacle on Monday Night Football, Golden Tate would have gone completely under the radar in 2012 despite logging a very solid season of production. Tate finished 34th in total fantasy points among wide receivers with 688 yards and 7 TDs (six if you’re not counting the charity he received from the replacement refs)…....

In the first part of this series Shawn Siegele articulated why he has a negative view of Randall Cobb going into the 2013 season.  In this installment Frank DuPont/The Fantasy Douche will share his thoughts on Cobb. Shawn and I probably agree on the big broad strokes that are relevant to whether you want to own Cobb in 2013.  But before I get to the…...

As you read in part 1 of this article, Pac-12 wide receivers are going extinct. Now it’s time to examine some similarities among failed Pac-12 prospects and see if we can find a trend. Hopefully we can get a read on California WR Keenan Allen…....

Rap Battle will be a running series that originated out of emails that Money in the Banana Stand’s Shawn Siegele and Frank DuPont/The Fantasy Douche exchange from time to time where they share their thoughts on players.  It’s probably worth noting that the very first time Shawn and Frank ever exchanged emails, it was Shawn telling Frank that Frank was wildly underrating Rob Gronkowski… that…...

Jon Moore’s article from earlier today, which discussed the lack of impact that Pac-12 wide receivers are having in the NFL, has had me thinking about possible explanations.  One reason that may seem obvious to you, but which wasn’t immediately obvious to me is that the Pac-12 suffers from both a time zone and a geography problem. Most of the population of the U.S. lives…...

Let’s play a word association game. If I say ‘Peanut Butter,’ you say ______. If I say ‘Salt,’ you say _______. If I say ‘Pac 12 wide receivers,’ you say ______…....

One of the great things you can do with the Similarity Score apps is that you can create custom adjustments with very little effort.  I primarily use Similarity Scores when I project players for the coming fantasy season.  But one thing I’ve struggled with in the past is how to treat players that will see usage changes.  The custom features on the app make quick…...

Using the ADP Arbitrage app we can look at a receiver and then see what the Average Draft Position of similar receivers is.  This is a way of checking market value.  I figured I would bang out a quick article illustrating how I would use the app in making decisions for my fantasy team…....

Calvin Johnson is the greatest. 2012 saw the Georgia Tech alum set the NFL single season record for receiving yards, solidifying himself as the best receiver in the game…....

According to this article on ESPN.com, Kiper’s top 5 wideouts are Cordarrelle Patterson, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Hopkins, Quinton Patton and Tavon Austin.  Using the career graph comparison app that I posted here, we can pretty quickly compare the receivers based on their body of work in college.  NFL evaluators probably don’t give enough credence to a theory of evaluating wideouts that says basically “If he…...

Using the app I posted yesterday which allows you to compare the college careers of receivers, I decided I would take a look at a group of receivers that sort of fit into a group insofar as they have some similarities, but where we can look at their college careers as a way to set expectations for the future…....

The play by play database published by cfbstats.com makes it possible to look at college receivers in terms of efficiency stats, rather than just viewing them in terms of pure counting stats.  I thought that maybe one interesting application would be to compare graphs of receivers based on efficiency stats.  The app below will let you compare as many receivers as you want based on…...

This is just for fun, but I coded up a quick similar games finder for purposes of looking at the Super Bowl point spread.  The app lets you do a few cool things.  First, you could look at matchups between any two teams from the 2012 season.  If you’re a bummed out Pats fan and you want to see what a point spread might have…...

One of the things I’m always looking for during a fantasy draft is the ability to pick up a player that I think is 90% of another player, but for a much reduced price.  Last year I thought that it was realistic to expect that Marques Colston could put up most of Larry Fitzgerald’s production, but for a much lower price (WR16 for Colston, compared…...

Forecasting running back results is an incredibly difficult business.  They’re extremely usage dependent, which means that they are subject to the changes in game plan that a team might have either on the season level or at the individual game level.  Running backs take a beating, which means that they’re sensitive to injuries.  To make matters even more difficult, the NFL is moving steadily towards…...