Okay, so I’ve been messing around with fantasy football stuff again, and this time I wanted to really dig into running back rankings. It’s always a headache figuring out who to draft, so I thought, “Why not try to make my own rankings?” So, here’s how it went down.
First, I grabbed a bunch of stats. I looked at everything – rushing yards, touchdowns, receptions, fumbles… you name it. I mainly used a couple of websites, I think they’re pretty popular for fantasy stats.
Gathering the Data
- Rushing Yards: Obviously, the more yards a back gets, the better.
- Rushing Touchdowns: Six points a pop! These are gold.
- Receptions: Especially in PPR leagues, these add up quick.
- Receiving Yards & Touchdowns: Bonus points if a back can catch.
- Fumbles: These hurt, gotta factor them in.
- Projected workload from news.
Then, I dumped all this data into a spreadsheet. It looked like a total mess at first, a giant wall of numbers. My eyes almost started to bleed a little bit.
Next, I tried to make sense of it all. I started by sorting by rushing yards, then by touchdowns. I figured those were the two biggest things to look at first. The guys at the top of both lists? Those were my early-round picks, no question.
After that, I started looking at the receiving stats. Some guys, even if they don’t rush for a ton of yards, they catch a lot of passes. Those guys get a boost, especially in PPR (points per reception) leagues. They get more value.
Then came the tricky part: weighing everything. How much more important is a rushing touchdown than a reception? Is a 1,000-yard rusher who never catches a pass better than a 700-yard rusher who catches 50 balls? I played around with different formulas, moving guys up and down my list based on how I thought things should be valued.
Finally, I factored in some “gut feeling” stuff. Like, is a player coming back from an injury? Is he on a new team? Is he in a contract year (those guys tend to ball out)? I read a lot of news.
It took a while, and honestly, my spreadsheet is still a work in progress. But I ended up with a list of running backs that I feel pretty good about. It’s not perfect, but it’s my list, based on my research and my gut. And that’s kind of cool, I think.