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There are some fantasy football players that believe that the lineup you pick can lose you a game just as much as it can win a contest. Having a player give you a consistent performance week after week can be considered more valuable than a player who goes off every third week and then takes two weeks off between those fantastic performances. Consistency has a value, and it does not take much of a leap to understand that players that you can rely on for solid games when you need them (such as in your postseason) are a huge advantage.
Baseball has a term called "Quality Starts" for pitchers, which is a statistic that represents how often a starting pitcher will put up a good (not great, just good) performance in a given game. The bar is set neither high nor low (six innings pitched, three earned runs or fewer) so as to gauge a decent performance. The theory behind it is that if your pitcher gives you a Quality Start, your team has a fighting chance to win a given game.
So now we need to translate this to football. What is "quality" for each position? How do we define a "Quality Start" for quarterbacks or running backs or any other position? Looking back at the 2016 season, I decided to take the #24 WR for the year based on a points per game ranking, rather than based on total points as I had done in some previous years. The reason is simple - when stud wide receivers are available (like A.J. Green or Dez Bryant), you play them - but when they are hurt, you don't. So rather than exclude studs who get hurt for several games from the analysis, elite receivers with high averages are now included even though he missed time. That changes our outlook just slightly, as now our WR24 is Kenny Britt (129.2 fantasy points, or 13.3 per game over 15 games) instead of Marqise Lee (134.2, 8.4 per game). It is a subtle change, but I think a better one, so I will use that for receivers going forwards. Also, taking WR24 seems a bit arbitrary, but if you are looking for a bare minimum of quality, the 24th WR should be the "worst starter" in your fantasy league as a WR2 and a great WR3.
So now we move on to the next question - one of quantifying the quality. At what point do we decide whether or not a wide receiver has given us a quality performance? Here is where it gets a bit murky, but looking at the distribution of WR performances by starters over the season and it becomes evident that the using the 24th WR average and adding or subtracting a percentage gives us a good range for a WR Quality Start.
Using the WR Quality Start range, we can also define a bad performance or an excellent performance as either falling below or exceeding the Quality Start range. Table 1 gives us the fantasy points that it takes to fall in each of the three areas:
WR Start Type | Fantasy Points |
Bad Start | 0 to 6.4 |
Quality Start | 6.5 to 10.7 |
Excellent Start | 10.8+ |
Table 1: 2016 WR Quality Start and Fantasy Point Ranges - Standard Scoring
Table 2 shows us the breakdown of all the Top 75 WRs from 2016 and how many of each type of start resulted for each:
Wide Receiver | Team | Excellent | Quality | Bad | Total |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 2 | 3 | 15 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 9 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
Jordy Nelson | GBP | 9 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 9 | 0 | 5 | 14 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 9 | 3 | 4 | 16 |
Tyreek Hill | KCC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 16 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
Michael Thomas | NOS | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 |
Davante Adams | GBP | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Dez Bryant | DAL | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 |
Tyrell Williams | SDC | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 |
Jamison Crowder | WAS | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
Rishard Matthews | TEN | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 2 | 10 | 4 | 16 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
Terrelle Pryor | CLE | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 |
Kenny Britt | RAM | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Cameron Meredith | CHI | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 4 | 3 | 8 | 15 |
Marqise Lee | JAC | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 6 | 1 | 8 | 15 |
Steve Smith | FA | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
Mike Wallace | BAL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
Golden Tate | DET | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 |
Adam Thielen | MIN | 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
Kenny Stills | MIA | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 |
Taylor Gabriel | ATL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
Ted Ginn Jr | CAR | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 |
Marvin Jones | DET | 2 | 7 | 6 | 15 |
Brandon LaFell | CIN | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Pierre Garcon | WAS | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 |
Sterling Shepard | NYG | 7 | 2 | 7 | 16 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
Tyler Lockett | SEA | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 |
Tavon Austin | RAM | 4 | 2 | 9 | 15 |
J.J. Nelson | ARI | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 |
Cole Beasley | DAL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Ty Montgomery | GBP | 3 | 3 | 9 | 15 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 |
Quincy Enunwa | NYJ | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 |
Dontrelle Inman | SDC | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 |
Will Fuller | HOU | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14 |
DeVante Parker | MIA | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 |
Anquan Boldin | DET | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 |
Travis Benjamin | SDC | 5 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
Eli Rogers | PIT | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 |
Chris Hogan | NEP | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
Adam Humphries | TBB | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 |
Mohamed Sanu | ATL | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 |
Cordarrelle Patterson | MIN | 3 | 2 | 11 | 16 |
Jeremy Kerley | SFO | 3 | 3 | 10 | 16 |
Michael Floyd | NEP | 0 | 8 | 5 | 13 |
Robert Woods | BUF | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 |
Terrance Williams | DAL | 1 | 6 | 8 | 15 |
John Brown | ARI | 3 | 1 | 10 | 14 |
Robby Anderson | NYJ | 3 | 2 | 9 | 14 |
Brian Quick | RAM | 2 | 1 | 13 | 16 |
Seth Roberts | OAK | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 |
Tyler Boyd | CIN | 1 | 3 | 12 | 16 |
Breshad Perriman | BAL | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 |
332 | 272 | 507 |
Table 2: 2016 WR Start Types Sorted By Top 75 WRs - Standard Scoring
That's a lot of info to digest, so let me help. First, we see that there are far more Excellent Starts (332) than Quality Starts (272), a difference of 60 starts. That difference is comparable to 2015 (316-252, or 64 starts), but the spread has been even larger in several of the past seasons, with 2014 at 108 (331 Excellent, 223 Quality Starts), simiar to 2012 at 104 (355 Excellent, 251 Quality Starts), 2011 at 106 (346, 240) and 2010 at 112 (334, 222). The two categories separated by 60-64 is also comparable to 2013, another year with a difference under 100, when it was 318 Excellent Starts versus 240 Quality Starts - a testament to how low the "Excellence" was that season. It also should be noted that the Excellent threshold score was much higher in 2013 (11.0+) and 2015 (11.5+) than in 2014 (10.6) or 2016 (10.8), which certainly makes Excellence harder to attain. The disparity between the two metrics of Excellent and Quality Starts does start to rise since there is no PPR in the equation now - touchdowns for six big points are a much larger factor. The scoring range is also smaller and the range of a Quality Start is small due to lower scores, so more touchdowns would lead to bigger "Excellent Starts". There were a lot of Bad Starts in 2016 (507), but we are only looking for the best here, plus a "start" is not as definitive for a positional player that may just see partial playing time. Table 3 below gives a quick summary of the data from the past seasons:
Year | Excellent Starts | Quality Starts | Excellent Starts Threshold |
2016 | 332 | 272 | 10.8 |
2015 | 316 | 252 | 11.5 |
2014 | 331 | 223 | 10.6 |
2013 | 318 | 240 | 11 |
2012 | 355 | 251 | 10.6 |
2011 | 346 | 240 | 10.7 |
2010 | 334 | 222 | 10.5 |
Table 3: Excellent and Quality Starts - 2009 to 2016 - PPR Scoring
Now, to dig deeper, let's look at the numbers distributed in two different ways. First, I need to define a valuable starting wide receiver in this system. We want a WR that will win more fantasy games than lose them, so we want either "Quality" or "Excellent" starts. Using a simple formula of scoring each type of start, we can define the value of a given NFL wide receiver. Here is the formula:
STARTING FANTASY WR VALUE = EXCELLENT STARTS - BAD STARTS
We neglect to look at Quality Starts because they neither win games nor lose them on average - they are just average WR performances. We only really care about how often he helps our team vs. how often he hurts it. Giving a "-1" value to bad starts and "+1" to excellent ones does this for us.
On with the results, sorted by value:
Wide Receiver | Team | Excellent | Quality | Bad | Total | Net Val |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 7 |
Jordy Nelson | GBP | 9 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 7 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 9 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 6 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 9 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 5 |
Tyreek Hill | KCC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 5 |
Michael Thomas | NOS | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 5 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 9 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 4 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3 |
Dez Bryant | DAL | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 3 |
Tyrell Williams | SDC | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 3 |
Jamison Crowder | WAS | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 3 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 2 |
Davante Adams | GBP | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 2 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 1 |
Rishard Matthews | TEN | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 1 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 |
Kenny Britt | RAM | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 |
Cameron Meredith | CHI | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 |
Marqise Lee | JAC | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 |
Kenny Stills | MIA | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 |
Taylor Gabriel | ATL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 |
Sterling Shepard | NYG | 7 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 0 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 | -1 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -1 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 | -1 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | -1 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -2 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 2 | 10 | 4 | 16 | -2 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 6 | 1 | 8 | 15 | -2 |
Steve Smith | FA | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -2 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 | -2 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -2 |
Travis Benjamin | SDC | 5 | 1 | 7 | 13 | -2 |
Terrelle Pryor | CLE | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 | -3 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -3 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 | -3 |
Pierre Garcon | WAS | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 | -3 |
J.J. Nelson | ARI | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 | -3 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | -3 |
Anquan Boldin | DET | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 | -3 |
Chris Hogan | NEP | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 | -3 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 | -4 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 4 | 3 | 8 | 15 | -4 |
Mike Wallace | BAL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 |
Golden Tate | DET | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 | -4 |
Adam Thielen | MIN | 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 | -4 |
Ted Ginn Jr | CAR | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 |
Marvin Jones | DET | 2 | 7 | 6 | 15 | -4 |
Brandon LaFell | CIN | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 |
Cole Beasley | DAL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 |
Tavon Austin | RAM | 4 | 2 | 9 | 15 | -5 |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -5 |
DeVante Parker | MIA | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -5 |
Eli Rogers | PIT | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 | -5 |
Michael Floyd | NEP | 0 | 8 | 5 | 13 | -5 |
Ty Montgomery | GBP | 3 | 3 | 9 | 15 | -6 |
Quincy Enunwa | NYJ | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 | -6 |
Dontrelle Inman | SDC | 4 | 2 | 10 | 16 | -6 |
Will Fuller | HOU | 2 | 4 | 8 | 14 | -6 |
Robby Anderson | NYJ | 3 | 2 | 9 | 14 | -6 |
Tyler Lockett | SEA | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | -7 |
Mohamed Sanu | ATL | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 | -7 |
Jeremy Kerley | SFO | 3 | 3 | 10 | 16 | -7 |
Terrance Williams | DAL | 1 | 6 | 8 | 15 | -7 |
John Brown | ARI | 3 | 1 | 10 | 14 | -7 |
Adam Humphries | TBB | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 | -8 |
Cordarrelle Patterson | MIN | 3 | 2 | 11 | 16 | -8 |
Robert Woods | BUF | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 | -8 |
Seth Roberts | OAK | 2 | 3 | 10 | 15 | -8 |
Breshad Perriman | BAL | 2 | 1 | 11 | 14 | -9 |
Brian Quick | RAM | 2 | 1 | 13 | 16 | -11 |
Tyler Boyd | CIN | 1 | 3 | 12 | 16 | -11 |
Table 4: 2016 WR Start Types Sorted By Value - Standard Scoring
This is a lot of information once again, but some names leap out at us. The first observation is that there was just one receiver on the entire list with just one Bad Start (Donte Moncrief) and only three more with just two (Jordy Nelson, A.J. Green and Dez Bryant), with a total of only eight players overall with three or less - all of which happen to appear on the Top 15 list of Table 4 below. That's a stark contrast to 2015, where 11 of the Top 15 names on the list had three or fewer Bad Starts. Further, only 16 receivers had a positive Net Value last year, and even if you had a fantasy roster completely comprised of this short and elite list, your wide receivers would still underperform roughly 25% of the time. That shows how difficult it was to find reliable, quality receivers last season. Once again it is decidedly clear that getting 2-4 top notch receivers on your fantasy team is critical to success in today's pass-happy NFL.
Lastly I will sift through it for you and get right to the heart of the matter with our final table. Here we have the results sorted by value for the Top 48 WRs on the 2017 ADP list.
Wide Receiver | Team | Excellent | Quality | Bad | Total | Net Val | ADP |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 4 |
Jordy Nelson | GBP | 9 | 5 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 12 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 9 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 6 | 7 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 9 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 5 | 5 |
Michael Thomas | NOS | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 5 | 14 |
Tyreek Hill | KCC | 8 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 5 | 50 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 9 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 4 | 6 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 10 |
Dez Bryant | DAL | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 20 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 74 |
Jamison Crowder | WAS | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 3 | 79 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 16 |
Davante Adams | GBP | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 43 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 46 |
Rishard Matthews | TEN | 6 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 108 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 27 |
Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 | 66 |
Cameron Meredith | CHI | 6 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 111 |
Kenny Britt | RAM | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 0 | WR50 |
Marqise Lee | JAC | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 | WR72 |
Kenny Stills | MIA | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 | WR66 |
Taylor Gabriel | ATL | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 | WR61 |
Sterling Shepard | NYG | 7 | 2 | 7 | 16 | 0 | WR56 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 | -1 | 22 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 6 | 3 | 7 | 16 | -1 | 33 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 5 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -1 | 38 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | -1 | 97 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -2 | 28 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -2 | 30 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 | -2 | 31 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 2 | 10 | 4 | 16 | -2 | 56 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 6 | 1 | 8 | 15 | -2 | 85 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 5 | 3 | 8 | 16 | -3 | 25 |
Terrelle Pryor | CLE | 4 | 5 | 7 | 16 | -3 | 51 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 | -3 | 81 |
Pierre Garcon | WAS | 3 | 7 | 6 | 16 | -3 | 94 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | -3 | 114 |
Golden Tate | DET | 5 | 2 | 9 | 16 | -4 | 52 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 | 60 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 4 | 3 | 8 | 15 | -4 | 63 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 | -4 | 65 |
Adam Thielen | MIN | 3 | 5 | 7 | 15 | -4 | 117 |
Mike Wallace | BAL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 | 122 |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -5 | 71 |
DeVante Parker | MIA | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -5 | 98 |
Jeremy Maclin | KCC | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 124 |
John Brown | ARI | 3 | 1 | 10 | 14 | -7 | 113 |
Sammy Watkins | BUF | injured | 37 | ||||
Keenan Allen | SDC | injured | 41 | ||||
Martavis Bryant | PIT | suspended | 70 | ||||
Corey Davis | TEN | rookie | 92 | ||||
Eric Decker | NYJ | injured | 104 | ||||
Corey Coleman | CLE | injured | 107 |
Table 5: 2017 Top Drafted WRs Sorted By 2016 Value - Standard Scoring
Note that rookie Corey Davis is listed at the bottom of this list along with four receivers (Keenan Allen, Sammy Watkins, Eric Decker and Corey Coleman) that were injured most or all of 2016. This year I expanded the list to a Top 48 to provide more detail for fantasy drafts this season.
Judging form 2016, there appears to be a few values at the top end of fantasy drafts at the wide receiver position. Tyreek Hill, Donte Moncrief and Jamison Crowder all reside in the Top 11 of the chart and have ADPs that are between 50 and 80, making them potential steals in drafts this summer. Both Cameron Meredith and Rishard Matthews appear to be reasonable values as well, while five more receivers are at even Net Values and have ADPs beyond the Top 48 wide receivers. Lastly, players coming off of disappointing or injury-related seasons (such as Steve Smith of the Ravens) can also provide value.
On the flip side, we have to take a long look at the wide receivers in the Top 36 that are hard to justify their place here based on Quality Starts from last season. DeAndre Hopkins is expected to climb back up on the wide receiver performance charts, but the quarterback situation in Houston could be quite fluid with Deshaun Watson possibly getting work as a first year player. Alshon Jeffery also had quarterback issues last year while in Chicago, but his numbers could be way better with the Eagles and Carson Wentz. That reminds me to provide the annual warning with this data - there is no reason to believe in these numbers as 100% indications of 2017 performance, but having this information available should give you more to think about when deciding who you will have leading your fantasy team this year.
Questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.