Skip to content
Sports
Link copied to clipboard

Behind the Numbers (Draft Edition)

Yesterday, I posted on my Fantasy Island Football League draft, which took place on Tuesday night.

Today, I decided to take a look at some of the numbers behind the numbers of my two fantasy drafts this week. One league has 14 teams and the other has 12, so that will skew the results slightly, but the effect is the same.

Each draft is unique, but there are some themes that run consistent throughout. One of those things is where players are taken from. What team's players are the most popular? How does that correlate to a team's success?

It shouldn't surprise you that the teams with the most players were the Packers, Saints, Eagles, and Patriots. However there are plenty of shocking numbers, such as this: The Chargers and the LIONS had the same number of players taken.

Take a look for yourself...

Players taken, including kickers and defense, by team/division/conference:

*There were 3 players taken that are not currently on rosters

What I take away from this is simple: I expected there to be a much heavier premium on players on winning teams.

While my preseason rankings are nearly identical order above, I expected there to be a much greater disparity between the top teams in the NFL and the basement dwellers.

Either way, I though these were good numbers to look at, and I plan on reexamining them after the season to see if the number of fantasy players drafted has any correlation to a teams winning percentage.

Another strange thing happened to me last night: I feel more confident in my roster in a 14-team league than I do in a 12-team league. I'm not even talking about comparing them to the competition.

Just compare my two drafts to each other and see for yourself (Keep in mind there are no TE's in the Fantasy Island league):

Now take a look at the two projected starting lineups. Am I crazy, or does it seem like the 14-team roster is actually better?

- Don't forget to sign up for next week's free game on FanDuel. There is $300 in guaranteed prize money, plus a bonus if you can beat my score. And like I said, it's FREE to join.

- You can also sign up for a chance to win a grand prize of $75,000 playing fantasy baseball. That's right, $75K, plus tons of other payouts (over $200,000) in FanDuel's Fantasy Football Championship.

- Don't forget about fantasy baseball. There's still time to play, and you can actually still earn a seat in FanDuel's Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship, with a chance to play for $25,000.

Matt Mullin is a sports producer at philly.com. You can reach him by e-mail at mmullin@philly.com. Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin