On Friday, the RotoViz team worked through many Day 2 reactions with live fantasy insights. While Day 1 and Day 2 are when the fantasy superstars tend to get drafted, there were still some intriguing running back prospects in the final few rounds. Three running backs in particular joined teams with potentially valuable roles available. We’ll look at the college data and underlying metrics to…...

The Lions traded D’Andre Swift to the Philadelphia Eagles for a meaningless move in Round 7 and a fourth-round pick a million years from now (or 2025). Even for a one-year rental that feels a bit . . . light. At one point late last season, Jerry Jones was criticizing the Eagles for going all-in on the 2022 season. This was one of the weirder…...

RotoViz writers have been keeping busy over the last two days with up-to-minute reactions for all the fantasy-relevant draft picks in the first three rounds. Be sure to check out our previous draft coverage and pre-draft research. Day 1 Instant Fantasy Reactions: Where the Stars Belong Now Superflex Rookie Draft Projections Following Round 1 Day 2 Instant Reactions: Rising Studs and Super Sleepers on a…...

Israel Abanikanda goes to the New York Jets with the 143rd pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Even if the Breece Hall injury provides a small window at the beginning of the season, this is a disaster for Abanikanda. Well, this one hurts. Abanikanda was pretty easily the most exciting running back in this draft not named Bijan Robinson or Jahmyr Gibbs. You don’t normally…...

RotoViz writers have been keeping busy over the last two days with up-to-minute reactions for all the fantasy-relevant draft picks in the first three rounds. Be sure to check out our previous draft coverage and pre-draft research. Day 1 Instant Fantasy Reactions: Where the Stars Belong Now Superflex Rookie Draft Projections Following Round 1 Day 2 Instant Reactions: Rising Studs and Super Sleepers on a…...

The gang did a fantastic job on Day 2, rising to the occasion when a run on tight ends had the NFL fighting to grab elderly players who look more like UDFAs. But also, relevant players! Ben Gretch and I had a blast breaking down the draft live on Stealing Bananas. Today will be more relaxed, but we’ll be bringing you some notes throughout the…...

Day 2 of the 2023 NFL draft is here! We covered all the skill position picks from Day 1 last night, and are back to bring you up-to-the minute fantasy reactions for Rounds 2 and 3. Follow along with our live reactions and catch up with our pre-draft research. Is the NFL Draft Efficient? RB Metrics to Help You Predict (and Beat) the Draft –…...

Shawn Siegele breaks down the battle between two controversial RB prospects who could go on Day 2 and explains why it’s easy to get caught up in a specific aspect of their profiles when the full picture is both more interesting and more complicated. There’s more than one way to be a good NFL running back. That’s the fun part of evaluating prospects. It’s not…...

Last night, Blair Andrews, Dave Caban, and I put together our live fantasy reactions. The full writing team will be involved on Day 2, and I’ll be doing a live Stealing Bananas show with Ben Gretch. That’s a good place to start in our draft breakdowns, but I also wanted to add my initial projection for Round 1 of rookie drafts next week. Before the…...

Day 1 of the 2023 NFL draft is here! Follow along with our live reactions and catch up with our pre-draft research. Is the NFL Draft Efficient? RB Metrics to Help You Predict (and Beat) the Draft – Blair Andrews How to Smash the NFL Draft: These RBs Benefit from a Key Loophole – Blair Andrews Breakaway Rush Score: Including Breakaway Receptions to Make BRS…...

The NFL Draft is only hours away, and when it comes we will get our most telling indication of how our favorite prospects’ NFL careers might go. Nothing predicts NFL success better than draft position, in part because nothing determines early NFL opportunity quite like draft position. But just because draft position is the most predictive metric, that doesn’t mean it’s entirely efficient. . …....

The NFL Draft is only hours away, and when it comes we will get our most telling indication of how our favorite prospect’s NFL careers might go. Nothing predicts NFL success better than draft position, in part because nothing determines early NFL opportunity quite like draft position. But just because draft position is the most predictive metric, that doesn’t mean it’s entirely efficient. What do…...

Since releasing Breakaway Rush Score (BRS) in 2020, it’s been one of our favorite metrics to use for evaluating running back prospects. Not only does it have one of the stronger relationships with fantasy points earned by a player in their first three seasons of all the metrics we look at, but it also helps us to confirm if a player truly is “explosive” or…...

With the draft now less than a week away, Shawn Siegele provides advanced stats for every rookie ranked No. 25 to 36 in his dynasty superflex rankings. This series has been even more fun than I anticipated, which is exactly what you’re hoping for when you set out (and definitely not always the case). In Part 1 of the Rookie Rankings Series, I debated the value…...

In Part 1 of the Rookie Rankings Series, I broke down my current top 12 with the draft just a week away. Although several surprises popped up in the first round, I saved the biggest riser to kick off Round 2. In this series, I’m using the first three rounds of a hypothetical rookie draft as a framework for ranking players and dividing them into…...

In The Wrong Read, No. 76, Blair Andrews dives into the definition of a breakout season for collegiate WR prospects and suggests a path for improving the metric. We’ve long defined a wide receiver breakout as a player’s first season in which they achieve a 30% dominator rating. While that has proven to be among the most accurate and discerning measures of college breakouts, it’s…...

Shawn Siegele breaks down the 2023 rookie landscape ahead of the NFL draft and explains why he’s departing from the mainstream with three of his early selections. If you’ve been listening to our NFL draft series on RotoViz Overtime with fantastic guests like Travis May and Patrick Kerrane (with more heavy hitters to come), you know I’ve been teasing this series where I dive into…...

Stefan Lako looks at one of the most controversial NFL draft prospects and explains why Will Levis has dire red flags you must consider before grabbing him in rookie drafts. The NFL draft is just weeks away and people are calling their shots on who will be the next Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley, and Justin Jefferson. And on the other side of that equation we…...

Heading into the 2021 draft, Ja’Marr Chase was lauded by many as one of the best wide receiver prospects to enter the NFL in a decade. He was the highest-ranked prospect in our Rookie Guide that season and sat inside our top 20 dynasty rankings prior to the NFL Draft. Why were we, and many others, so optimistic about his future? It was pretty simple…....

Draft age is one of the most important metrics when evaluating prospects, at all positions. Across the board we see that players who are drafted at a younger age are more successful at nearly every stage of their careers, and are successful for longer than their peers that were drafted at an older age. There are few prospect metrics that have more predictive power than…...