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 2015 season, I decided to take the #24 WR for the year (T.Y. Hilton, 211.4 fantasy points) and take that fantasy total and divide it by 16 for a per game average. Now a case can be made to argue against doing this. I did not account for missed games or a per-start performance metric, but I believe that the numbers will get averaged out by doing this method. 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 9.9 |
Quality Start | 10.0 to 16.5 |
Excellent Start | 16.6+ |
Table 1: 2015 WR Quality Start and Fantasy Point Ranges - PPR Scoring
Table 2 shows us the breakdown of all the Top 75 WRs from 2015 and how many of each type of start resulted for each:
Wide Receiver | Team | Excellent | Quality | Bad | Total |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 11 | 4 | 1 | 16 |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 11 | 5 | 0 | 16 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 11 | 3 | 2 | 16 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 11 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 8 | 6 | 2 | 16 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 9 | 6 | 1 | 16 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 8 | 7 | 1 | 16 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
Calvin Johnson | DET | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 |
Eric Decker | NYJ | 8 | 7 | 0 | 15 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 7 | 3 | 6 | 16 |
Jeremy Maclin | KCC | 5 | 6 | 4 | 15 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 7 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
Allen Hurns | JAC | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
Sammy Watkins | BUF | 7 | 2 | 3 | 12 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 |
Golden Tate | DET | 3 | 8 | 5 | 16 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
John Brown | ARI | 4 | 7 | 3 | 14 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
Kamar Aiken | BAL | 3 | 10 | 2 | 15 |
Tavon Austin | STL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Travis Benjamin | CLE | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
James Jones | GBP | 4 | 5 | 5 | 14 |
Pierre Garcon | WAS | 2 | 10 | 4 | 16 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 |
Rueben Randle | NYG | 3 | 6 | 7 | 16 |
Ted Ginn Jr. | CAR | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
Marvin Jones | CIN | 2 | 7 | 7 | 16 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
Michael Floyd | ARI | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
Martavis Bryant | PIT | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
Anquan Boldin | SFO | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 |
Keenan Allen | SDC | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
Tyler Lockett | SEA | 4 | 1 | 9 | 14 |
Terrance Williams | DAL | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 |
Markus Wheaton | PIT | 2 | 5 | 9 | 16 |
Danny Amendola | NEP | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
Jermaine Kearse | SEA | 2 | 7 | 3 | 12 |
Nate Washington | HOU | 2 | 3 | 8 | 13 |
Cole Beasley | DAL | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
Jamison Crowder | WAS | 2 | 4 | 10 | 16 |
Rishard Matthews | MIA | 2 | 5 | 3 | 10 |
Steve Smith | BAL | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
Torrey Smith | SFO | 2 | 3 | 9 | 14 |
Kenny Britt | STL | 1 | 6 | 6 | 13 |
Marques Colston | NOS | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
Robert Woods | BUF | 1 | 2 | 10 | 13 |
Andre Johnson | IND | 2 | 1 | 10 | 13 |
Dorial Green-Beckham | TEN | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
Stevie Johnson | SDC | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
Cecil Shorts | HOU | 1 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
Seth Roberts | OAK | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 |
Brian Hartline | CLE | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 |
Devin Funchess | CAR | 1 | 3 | 10 | 14 |
Vincent Jackson | TBB | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
Jerricho Cotchery | CAR | 0 | 5 | 9 | 14 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
Davante Adams | GBP | 2 | 1 | 9 | 12 |
Corey Brown | CAR | 0 | 4 | 10 | 14 |
Malcom Floyd | SDC | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 |
Dontrelle Inman | SDC | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
Dwayne Harris | NYG | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
Roddy White | ATL | 0 | 4 | 10 | 14 |
Mike Wallace | MIN | 1 | 2 | 11 | 14 |
Kendall Wright | TEN | 2 | 1 | 7 | 10 |
310 | 305 | 412 |
Table 2: 2015 WR Start Types Sorted By Top 75 WRs - PPR Scoring
That's a lot of info to digest, so let me help. First, we see that there are slightly more Excellent Starts (310) than there are Quality Starts (305), which marks the fourth year in a row (2015 was 325 and 290, 2013 was 322 and 281 and 2012 was 355 and 319, respectively) that we had more Excellent than Quality Starts. That's a bit remarkable as the three prior seasons (2009-2011) did not show this trait - you have to go back to 2008 to have more Excellent than Quality Starts for a given year. The numbers were closer and favored Quality Starts those particular three seasons (315-340 in 2011, 332-381 in 2010 and 332-348 in 2009). Last year there were also a lot of Bad Starts (412), 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. The net results look like a good trend, which means that our distribution is close to normal and that our baseline point range does make sense.
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 |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 11 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 11 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 11 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 10 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 11 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 9 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 11 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 8 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 9 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 8 |
Eric Decker | NYJ | 8 | 7 | 0 | 14 | 8 |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 8 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 7 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 8 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 6 |
Sammy Watkins | BUF | 7 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 4 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 5 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 4 |
Keenan Allen | SDC | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 4 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 6 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 3 |
Calvin Johnson | DET | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 3 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 7 | 3 | 4 | 16 | 3 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 7 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 2 |
Allen Hurns | JAC | 6 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 2 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 2 |
Martavis Bryant | PIT | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 2 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 4 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 2 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 7 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 1 |
Jeremy Maclin | KCC | 5 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 1 |
John Brown | ARI | 4 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 1 |
Kamar Aiken | BAL | 3 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 1 |
Steve Smith | BAL | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 1 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
Michael Floyd | ARI | 5 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 0 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 4 | 7 | 5 | 15 | -1 |
Travis Benjamin | CLE | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 | -1 |
James Jones | GBP | 4 | 5 | 5 | 10 | -1 |
Jermaine Kearse | SEA | 2 | 7 | 3 | 16 | -1 |
Rishard Matthews | MIA | 2 | 5 | 3 | 14 | -1 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15 | -1 |
Golden Tate | DET | 3 | 8 | 5 | 15 | -2 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 | -2 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 4 | 6 | 6 | 13 | -2 |
Pierre Garcon | WAS | 2 | 10 | 4 | 10 | -2 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 6 | 15 | -2 |
Anquan Boldin | SFO | 5 | 2 | 7 | 14 | -2 |
Danny Amendola | NEP | 5 | 2 | 7 | 12 | -2 |
Stevie Johnson | SDC | 2 | 3 | 4 | 15 | -2 |
Brian Hartline | CLE | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 | -2 |
Ted Ginn Jr. | CAR | 3 | 5 | 6 | 14 | -3 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 4 | 2 | 7 | 16 | -3 |
Cecil Shorts | HOU | 1 | 5 | 4 | 15 | -3 |
Tavon Austin | STL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -4 |
Rueben Randle | NYG | 3 | 6 | 7 | 14 | -4 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -4 |
Dorial Green-Beckham | TEN | 2 | 3 | 6 | 16 | -4 |
Vincent Jackson | TBB | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 | -4 |
Dontrelle Inman | SDC | 2 | 3 | 6 | 14 | -4 |
Marvin Jones | CIN | 2 | 7 | 7 | 10 | -5 |
Tyler Lockett | SEA | 4 | 1 | 9 | 15 | -5 |
Terrance Williams | DAL | 3 | 4 | 8 | 15 | -5 |
Kenny Britt | STL | 1 | 6 | 6 | 14 | -5 |
Kendall Wright | TEN | 2 | 1 | 7 | 15 | -5 |
Nate Washington | HOU | 2 | 3 | 8 | 16 | -6 |
Markus Wheaton | PIT | 2 | 5 | 9 | 16 | -7 |
Cole Beasley | DAL | 2 | 2 | 9 | 15 | -7 |
Torrey Smith | SFO | 2 | 3 | 9 | 16 | -7 |
Marques Colston | NOS | 2 | 2 | 9 | 13 | -7 |
Davante Adams | GBP | 2 | 1 | 9 | 14 | -7 |
Dwayne Harris | NYG | 2 | 2 | 9 | 16 | -7 |
Jamison Crowder | WAS | 2 | 4 | 10 | 14 | -8 |
Andre Johnson | IND | 2 | 1 | 10 | 16 | -8 |
Seth Roberts | OAK | 1 | 3 | 9 | 15 | -8 |
Malcom Floyd | SDC | 1 | 3 | 9 | 13 | -8 |
Robert Woods | BUF | 1 | 2 | 10 | 12 | -9 |
Devin Funchess | CAR | 1 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -9 |
Jerricho Cotchery | CAR | 0 | 5 | 9 | 16 | -9 |
Corey Brown | CAR | 0 | 4 | 10 | 14 | -10 |
Roddy White | ATL | 0 | 4 | 10 | 15 | -10 |
Mike Wallace | MIN | 1 | 2 | 11 | 15 | -10 |
Table 3: 2015 WR Start Types Sorted By Value - PPR Scoring
This is a lot of information once again, but some names leap out at us. The first observation is that there are an extraordinary number of receivers with a positive Net Value that had fewer than three or less Bad Starts in all of 2015, including all of the Top 15 names on the list. Further, of the 26 wide receivers with a positive Net Value, only six of them had four or more bad starts. That tells you that if you had started any of the Top 26 wideouts on this list last year, you had an 80% or higher chance of them either helping your team get a fantasy victory or at worst providing a competitive point total. 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 2016 ADP list.
Wide Receiver | Team | Excellent | Quality | Bad | Total | Net Val | ADP |
Brandon Marshall | NYJ | 11 | 5 | 0 | 16 | 11 | 23 |
Julio Jones | ATL | 11 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 3 |
DeAndre Hopkins | HOU | 11 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 6 |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 11 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 8 | 2 |
Demaryius Thomas | DEN | 9 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 8 | 25 |
Eric Decker | NYJ | 8 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 58 |
Antonio Brown | PIT | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 | 1 |
Jarvis Landry | MIA | 8 | 7 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 33 |
Larry Fitzgerald | ARI | 10 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 7 | 51 |
Allen Robinson | JAC | 8 | 6 | 2 | 16 | 6 | 13 |
Keenan Allen | SDC | 5 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 21 |
Sammy Watkins | BUF | 7 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 29 |
Julian Edelman | NEP | 5 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 37 |
A.J. Green | CIN | 6 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 8 |
Emmanuel Sanders | DEN | 7 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 56 |
Alshon Jeffery | CHI | 4 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 17 |
Mike Evans | TBB | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 20 |
Doug Baldwin | SEA | 7 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 47 |
Allen Hurns | JAC | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 2 | 62 |
Brandin Cooks | NOS | 7 | 3 | 6 | 16 | 1 | 22 |
Jeremy Maclin | KCC | 5 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 42 |
John Brown | ARI | 4 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 71 |
Steve Smith | BAL | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 111 |
Amari Cooper | OAK | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 19 |
Michael Floyd | ARI | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 50 |
Jordan Matthews | PHI | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 52 |
DeVante Parker | MIA | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -1 | 63 |
Michael Crabtree | OAK | 4 | 7 | 5 | 16 | -1 | 79 |
DeSean Jackson | WAS | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | -1 | 86 |
Travis Benjamin | CLE | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 | -1 | 103 |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 | -2 | 27 |
Randall Cobb | GBP | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 | -2 | 32 |
Golden Tate | DET | 3 | 8 | 5 | 16 | -2 | 44 |
Willie Snead | NOS | 4 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -2 | 110 |
Stefon Diggs | MIN | 4 | 2 | 7 | 13 | -3 | 102 |
Donte Moncrief | IND | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 | 70 |
Dorial Green-Beckham | TEN | 2 | 3 | 6 | 11 | -4 | 90 |
Tavon Austin | STL | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | -4 | 109 |
Dez Bryant | DAL | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 | -5 | 12 |
Tyler Lockett | SEA | 4 | 1 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 80 |
Marvin Jones | CIN | 2 | 7 | 7 | 16 | -5 | 85 |
Markus Wheaton | PIT | 2 | 5 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 108 |
Jordy Nelson | GBP | INJURED | 14 | ||||
Kelvin Benjamin | CAR | INJURED | 31 | ||||
Kevin White | CHI | INJURED | 76 | ||||
Corey Coleman | CLE | ROOKIE | 83 | ||||
Laquon Treadwell | MIN | ROOKIE | 93 | ||||
Sterling Shepard | NYG | ROOKIE | 95 |
Table 4: 2016 Top Drafted WRs Sorted By 2015 Value - PPR Scoring
Note that three rookies (Corey Coleman, Laquon Treadwell and Sterling Shepard) are listed at the bottom of this list along with three receivers (Jordy Nelson, Kelvin Benjamin and Kevin White) that were injured most or all of 2015. This year I expanded the list to a Top 48 to provide more detail for fantasy drafts this season.
Judging form 2015, there are some definite values at the top of the chart. If you believe that Ryan Fitzpatrick will return to the Jets, or that the passing game will be competitive even if he does not, both Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are tremendous values. Larry Fitzgerald's return to WR1 status (and nose for the end zone) also presents solid value for this season. Secondary targets on solid passing games such as John Brown or Allen Hurns are also strong value plays. 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. Much is expected of Dez Bryant this year, but his numbers were not good in 2015. Was it related to the Cowboys struggles without Tony Romo, or the loss of balance on offense, or Dez Bryant's injury woes? Perhaps it wall all of the above, but given his high ADP and the likelihood of Dallas getting back to running the ball more has me looking elsewhere at the end of Round 1 or in Round 2 for a top notch receiver. Golden Tate is another receiver with concerns, both on the chart (-2 Net Value) and the loss of Calvin Johnson (retired) in Detroit. Could Tate become an elite receiver this year? Possibly - but last year's statistics for Tate should give you some doubt. That reminds me to provide the annual warning with this data - there is no reason to believe in these numbers as 100% indicationsof 2016 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.