Football Player Evaluation Principles

How FSCollective evaluates fantasy players and rankings

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Football Player Evaluation Principles

The Eye Test — The most important part of the evaluation is seeing the actor in its natural habitat. Watching “film” is crucial to forming a decisive opinion; preferably not just highlights but from across the spectrum of game situations.

Measurables — This is inclusive of physical size, athletic ability, work ethic and advanced performance analytics that project probability of long-term production. Influencers include the Rookie Scouting Report, Football Prospectus, Rotoviz, Rotoworld and Football Guys.

Production — Understanding the productivity relative to the offensive system and surrounding talent is important. Typically players who make it in the NFL had very productive college numbers, however there are exceptions when a school has a glut of talent at the same time (eg. USC w/ Leinart & Cassel; Miami w/ C. Portis/McGahee/Gore). Georgia’s Keith Marshall is interesting with his eye test & measurables falling in this category. Another exception is when a player has a falling out with a coaching staff (eg. Tenn w/ Arian Foster or Georgia w/ ICrowel).

Situation — You can make an argument that this is the most important category but that’s putting the cart before the horse in my opinion. Players that pass the eye test, measurable and production boxes are high probability to succeed regardless of their situation. The exceptions to this are where a high score prospect is blocked by an all pro performer (eg. Aaron Rodgers sitting behind Brett Favre; or Terrell Owens playing 2nd fiddle to Jerry Rice). Situation comes into play mostly when a player only checks two boxes, then one that goes to questions of competitive set, offensive system & performance and team investment (draft capital and/or salary commitment).

The final rating isn’t scientific, it’s grounded in as much data I can consume based on the above criteria listed in order of importance.