O-Line: The Fantasy Football Key to Winning

Ever stop to think that a draft strategy should center around an
O-Line?
The Big Uglies looked at the Top 10 QBs, RBs, TEs, and WRs from the past 5 years. Then we sliced the data and grouped the players into 3 tiers of O-Lines (1-10, 11-20, 21-32) based on the O-line’s overall rank.
Here is a summary breakdown of what we found (percentages are based on a total of 50 players in each position—ie Top 10 QBs from each of the last 5 years=50):
O-lines 1-10 Top 10 QBs= 38 (76%) Top 10 RBs= 27 (54%) Top 10 TEs= 20 (40%) Top 10 WRs= 30 (60%) O-lines 11-20 Top 10 QBs= 10 (20%) Top 10 RBs= 14 (28%) Top 10 TEs= 20 (40%) Top 10 WRs= 12 (24%) O-lines 21-32 Top 10 QBs= 2 (.5%) Top 10 RBs= 9 (18%) Top 10 TEs= 10 (20%) Top 10 WRs= 8 (16%)
Surprising? For you guru’s out there probably not, but this information definitely can make you reconsider your war room strategy. In general, the argument for fielding the best fantasy team ‘on screen’ is to draft the best players. Whether you are drafting first or last, you should fill your roster spots with as many top 10 players as possible. How do you find them? The data above suggests that using the O-line as an indicator of future performance of a top skill player is a good bet. For one of our leagues this year, the Uglies will be trying something different and will be picking our first 10 guys (staying with the top 10 theme) based on whether or not their preseason O-Line rankings are in the top 10. As we get later in the draft and there are no players left (who are any good) from the top 10 O-Lines, we will start drafting guys from teams that have preseason O-Line Rankings in the top 20. Check back with the Uglies the last weekend of August to see how the team turned out and for further analysis of the picks.

Washington Redskins "Hogs" - Where our theory gave birth