Alright, so I’ve been messing around with fantasy football stats lately, and I gotta say, it’s been a wild ride. I wanted to try to get better at predicting player performance, you know, get an edge in my league. So, I dove in headfirst.
Getting Started with the Data
First thing I did was figure out where to get the data. I needed player stats, game scores, all that good stuff. I did a bit of searching around and ended up with some historical data for the last few seasons.
Cleaning It Up
Of course, the data wasn’t perfect. There were missing values, weird formats, all sorts of messy stuff. So I spent a good chunk of time just cleaning things up. I made sure all the numbers were actually numbers, filled in some gaps using averages (don’t tell my league mates!), and generally just made the data usable.
Digging into the Stats
Once the data was clean, I started playing around. I looked at things like:
- Points per game: Pretty basic, but a good starting point.
- Rushing/receiving yards: How effective are they at moving the ball?
- Touchdowns: Obviously super important.
- Targets/carries: How often are they involved in the play?
Building Something Cool (Maybe?)
I was doing this for a while, making charts and graphs for my league mates. Made some fun charts to visualize it and to help see which players were playing better or worse. It was a lot of time messing around on the computer, but I think it got me better at picking players!
So, that’s my journey into the world of NFL fantasy stats. It’s been a lot of work, but I have a lot of fun with it. I’m no expert, but I’m definitely learning a lot. And hey, maybe next season I’ll finally win my league! (A guy can dream, right?)