Reads Listens Views 7/4/14

FantasyPros Accuracy Rankings, Matt will do fantasy rankings this year, Lester Young, George Adams, RSPWP3, and RSP Post-Draft 

Listens

What is Reads Listens Views?

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome.  I post links on Fridays to content I’m saving for later consumption or pieces that I found compelling. You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something.

Announcements

Have a question about football, fantasy football, or the draft? Later this summer, I will begin hosting a weekly, hour-long Q&A session on Twitter.

FantasyPros does an annual draft accuracy analysis that examines the preseason rankings of nearly 200 fantasy writers. Footballguys is well-represented at or near the top in a variety of categories:

•  Jason Wood placed No.6 overall in 2013 with a 63.4 percent rating.
• David Dodds overall ranking from 2010-2013 is No.3 overall at 63.8 percent.
  • Jeff Pasquino is No.7 (62.7 percent)
  • Bob Henry No.8 (62.4 percent)
  • Wood No.10 (62.2 percent)
  • Sigmund Bloom No.11 (62 percent)
  • Jeff Haseley is No.13 (60.6 percent)
• Dodds and Bloom are also No.2 and No.10 overall for in-season accuracy of player rankings from 2010-2013 with a score of 61.1 percent.

Not bad for Footballguys. What about me? Well, I can say that I wasn’t vigilant about updating my rankings in late August in 2010 and my rankings suffered for it. Since then, I’ve been more conscientious about rankings. Here’s how I’ve fared since 2011:

• My QB rankings from 2011-2013 are No.5 overall (67.4 percent)-and for the past two years I’m No.2 overall at 56 percent–despite a down year in 2013.
• My WR rankings from 2011-2013 are No.9 overall (65.1 percent) and I’m No.3 overall in this category for the past two years with a 66.7 percent score.
• My TE rankings are No.31 overall (55.9 percent) from 2011-2013. Not bad, but not as stellar.
• My RB rankings are No.35 overall at (57.8 percent) from 2011-2013.

Sad to say, I’m not happy with these rankings. I’m motivated to be in the top 10 at every position and angry that my RB and TE rankings aren’t as high as I’d like them to be. Still, top 40 in every position I rank with top 10 in half of them over the past three years is pretty good.

What I find fascinating is that my rankings dovetail well with the strategy I’m most known for writing about: Upside Down Drafting. The crux of this strategy is to focus on QB, WR, and a top TE early and take middle-round RBs. At least you know that if you’re opting for this strategy, that the accuracy of my takes on this strategy has been strong (a couple of high stakes winners have endorsed it).

Speaking of rankings, more than a few of you have asked whether I’m going to have rankings at Footballguys this year. Rankings need to be posted by May at the site and because in addition to the RSP, RSP-Post Draft, and an 88-page magazine due in June at my day job, I was in the middle of a move to a new town. There was no way I could do my projections in May and meet the deadline–and I don’t like to commit to deadlines unless I can own that commitment.

Now that I’ve finished moving, I completed my first set of projections and I will post my rankings on the Footballguys ranking pages within the next few weeks and I will maintain them through the preseason. I’ll also be writing a couple of tiers articles in the near future. Part of the motivation to post rankings? I like to compete in this FantaysPros accuracy analysis.

Views

If there was a “Jazz Draft,” to build the best sextet, landing Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, and Bobby Hutcherson would require at least six picks in the first two rounds.

Speaking of fantasy drafts, whether it’s dynasty or re-draft, my readers swear by the RSP and it’s available for download. See below.

Download the 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio + Post-Draft Update!

Friday’s are also my chance to thank you for reading my work, encourage you to follow the RSP blog, and download the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication.

The 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio Post-Draft Add-On is ready for download.  If you’re in a dynasty league, the combination of the 2014 RSP and the RSP Post-Draft will have you prepared for this year and beyond. Want details? Need details? I have ’em right here:

• 84 pages
• How to use the RSP and RSP-Post Draft together
• Overrated/Underrated
• Good/Bad post-draft fits
• UDFAs to watch
• Long-term dynasty waiver wire gems
• Strategic overview of 2014 rookie drafts
• Tiered Value Chart Cheat Sheet across all positions
• Post-Draft rankings analysis and commentary–including notes about impending contracts years of competition on the depth charts
• Average Draft Position (ADP) Data of 19 dynasty drafts
• RSP Ranking-to-ADP Value Data
• Raw Data Worksheets to continue calculating additional ADP data for future drafts

Hell, take a video tour of the 2013 post-draft to see what I mean:

Seriously, this analysis is worth the price of the 2014 RSP package alone, but you get this as a part of your purchase with the 2014 RSP. Remember 10 percent of each sale is donated to Darkness to Light to prevent sexual abuse in communities across the United States. While that alone should get you to download the RSP package, do it because you will be blown away with the detail and insight of the analysis and content. It’s why the RSP has grown so much in the past nine years.

Best yet, 10 percent of each RSP sale is donated to Darkness to Light, a non-profit devoted to preventing and addressing sexual abuse through community training in schools, religious groups, and a variety of civic groups across the U.S.

Download the 2014 RSP and RSP Post-Draft here

In Case You Missed It/Coming Soon

• The Third Annual RSP Writers’ Project – Plenty of updated submissions this week.
• RSPWP GM Scenario No.12: With The Flow or Against The Grain? – Remember, you can play at home. Post a comment…
• RSPWP GM Scenario No.7: The Star or The Coach? 
• Michael Schottey’s GM Response to “The Freak Getting Freaky”
• Jason Wood’s GM Response to “Leveraging Dirt”
• The Gut Check No.299 – Drop Rates for TEs/RBs
• Reality Sports Online Auction Drafts + How to Create an Auction Value from VBD Projections.
• The One Trade Advice Article That You Need to Read + Trade Value Chart – Need to figure out values for trading players, here’s a good way to begin.

Reads/Views (Football)

• Steven Jackson and Running Back Records – Chase Stuart doing this thing at Football Perspective.
• After Its Exit, U.S. Identifies Opportunities for Its Future I like Jurgen Klinsmann as our team’s coach. I also enjoy the irony of it taking a German to show the U.S. how to play to its country’s identity.
• Top 100 NFL Players – One of my NFL contacts pointed me to this article for the commentary about Patrick Peterson and Richard Sherman. He has been telling me for months that several prominent writers have completely misdiagnosed the schemes that Sherman is playing in and cherry-picking photo/.gifs that make it look like their points are supported when in fact they are off base. He sent me here because of the commentary about Seattle’s coverage scheme as accurately described by the anonymous pro personnel guy in Pete Prisco/Pat Kirwan’s joint effort.
• Cowboys Players Hilariously Read Mean Tweets About Themselves – Yes, it’s a worthless football piece information-wise, but clever and worth a watch.

Listens

You may have no idea who Lester Young is, but he is one of the most influential musicians you’ve never heard of and a great blues player.

 Reads (Life In General)

• Good Samaritan Pulls Man From Burning Vehicle – What the headline doesn’t say is that this man in his 50s ripped the metal frame off the car to do it. Adrenaline.
• Winner in the Amazon War– Stephen Colbert boosts promising writer’s second novel. Good for Edan Lepucki.
• The Military Is Already Using Facebook to Track Your Mood – Defense One’s article about intelligence gathering. Less trash digging, more social media monitoring.
• The Secret History of The Jazz Greats Who Were Freemasons – My wife’s grandfather is a freemason–a reason I found this illuminating. H/T-Sigmund Bloom.
• 15 Charts That Prove We’re Far from Post-Racial [in America]– Sometimes loving a country means holding the mirror to its face. Happy Birthday, `Merica – you’re too old for this…
• Bee Portraits  – I’ve never heard of Colossal, but this site devoted to art, design, and visual culture is a new fave.
• Germany’s Perfect Aryan Baby Was Jewish– Beriln photographer Han Ballin purposely took the photo of Jewish child Hessy Taft that won a Nazi-sponsored contest for the most beautiful Aryan baby. Love it.
• The Surprisingly Strong Case for Colonizing Venus –  The article gives new meaning to ” backyard grilling,” too.
• Violence in Central America and The Child Refugee Crisis – Kids aren’t making the arduous trek to America by themselves because they want to live here. They don’t want to be raped, killed, and stuffed in trash bags .
• Elizabeth Gilbert: The 7 Books That Shaped Me As A Writer 
• Prisons Are Terrible And There Is Finally A Way to Get Rid of Them

Listens

As you might have discerned, I listen to a lot of tunes when I’m doing projections. Here’s another tune from Thelonius Monk that I love as performed by an unlikely duo.