Fantasy News
Jeffrey Kamys of Dr. Stats Fantasy Sports is the winner of the kickers portion of the 2008 Experts Poll hosted by Fantasy Football Index magazine.
After all 20 picks by all 20 experts were weighed and graded, Kamys earned enough points to edge Sam Hendricks (Fantasy Football Guidebook) and defending champion Dan Bakley (The Fantasy Point) for first place in this category.
Scott Endsley of FantasyDraftEdge.com, meanwhile, earned enough points to move to the top of the overall leaderboard. Endsley finished in 4th at kickers and was 3rd in the defense category. No other expert has finished in the top 8 in both categories so far. In 2007, Endsley won the Mock Auction competition hosted by this magazine.
Michael Nazarek (Fantasy Football Mastermind) and 2006 Scott Pianowski (Yahoo! Sports) currently sit at second and third place on the overall board, but it's still early. Yet to come are the results for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends, and those positions play a bigger role in determining the overall champion - we're just getting warmed up.
The poll, started in 1991, is different from other experts competition in that every expert has to take a stand on every significant player - every pick is scored. If an expert ranks a player No. 1 at a position, that player's actual fantasy production is multiplied by 20. If an expert ranks a player No. 2, the player's production is multiplied by 19. If the expert ranks a player No. 3, the multiplier number is 18, and so on.
The scoring system isn't necessarily ideal. An expert is severely punished, for example, if he lists a player who gets hurt. That's why the Fantasy Football Index picks fared so poorly this year when compared to the field of experts. We were high on the two New York kickers, Lawrence Tynes and Mike Nugent. Both of those teams put up lots of kicking points, but when Tynes and Nugent got hurt, it destroyed our draft board in that category.
But it’s one way to grade the picks(and the best one we can think of). We like the way that this scoring system attaches some kind of statistical measure to all of the picks – 2400 picks in all. And with that measurement of data, we see this experts poll as far more meaningful than a draft or auction league, with experts having only to assemble a single team, rather than weigh in on all of the significant players.
Kamys had a noteworthy boo-boo in this category when he ranked Shayne Graham 3rd overall, but most others also had the Cincinnati kicker in their top 10. Kamys separated himself from the field by ranking Matt Bryant (113 points) 13th - only four other experts listed Bryant at all - and by being lower than the others on Josh Scobee (not even listed) and Adam Vinatieri (just 7th).
The top 11 finishers in this poll earn spots in the magazine's 2009 Experts League, which will be published in the upcoming edition of the magazine. Whichever expert finishes first in the overall poll will get his choice of draft position; the 2nd-place finisher will get second choice of draft spots, and so on. The 12th and final draft spot will go to a Fantasy Football Index reader.
The final results for the tight ends position will be posted Friday.
FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL, KICKERS
Points
24,051 Jeffrey Kamys (docstats.com)
23,879 Sam Hendricks (ffguidebook.com)
23,736 Dan Bakley (thefantasypoint.com)
23,732 Scott Endsley (fantasydraftedge.com)
23,717 Greg Rosenthal (rotoworld.com)
23,643 David Dorey (thehuddle.com)
23,590 Lenny Pappano (draftsharks.com)
23,569 Ryan Houston (fanball.com)
23,564 Louis Tranquilli (bfdfantasyfootball.com)
23,539 Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports)
23,482 Christopher Liss (rotowire.com)
23,462 James Serra (footballsoftward.com)
23,395 Michael Nazarek (ffmastermind.com)
23,218 Tommy Stephens (fantasyfootballedge.net)
23,127 Bob Henry (footballguys.com)
23,121 Greg Alan (4for4.com)
22,753 Roland Wood (dynastyrogues.com)
22,488 Kevin Marshall (draftwizard.com)
21,733 Nathan Zegura (thefantasyconsultant.com)
20,935 Craig Davis (fantasyfootball.com)
22,161 Fantasy Football Index magazine picks (not officially included in poll).
FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL, CURRENT OVERALL
(includes kickers and defense/special teams)
Points
55,718 Scott Endsley (fantasydraftedge.com)
55,469 Michael Nazarek (ffmastermind.com)
55,399 Scott Pianowski (Yahoo Sports)
55,341 Jeffrey Kamys (docstats.com)
55,325 Sam Hendricks (ffguidebook.com)
55,201 Roland Wood (dynastyrogues.com)
55,064 Dan Bakley (thefantasypoint.com)
55,045 David Dorey (thehuddle.com)
54,956 Louis Tranquilli (bfdfantasyfootball.com)
54,906 James Serra (footballsoftward.com)
54,872 Christopher Liss (rotowire.com)
54,771 Bob Henry (footballguys.com)
54,737 Greg Alan (4for4.com)
54,467 Ryan Houston (fanball.com)
54,464 Lenny Pappano (draftsharks.com)
54,227 Greg Rosenthal (rotoworld.com)
53,950 Tommy Stephens (fantasyfootballedge.net)
53,480 Kevin Marshall (draftwizard.com)
52,861 Nathan Zegura (thefantasyconsultant.com)
51,661 Craig Davis (fantasyfootball.com)
53,557 Fantasy Football Index magazine picks (not officially included in poll).
Kickers were given 3 points for field goals and 1 point for extra point. No extra credit was awarded for kicks of 50-plus yards, which really hurt Jason Hanson (NFL-record 8 field goals of 50-plus).
Kicker points for the poll were as follows ...
148 Stephen Gostkowski
144 David Akers
131 Matt Bryant
130 John Kasay
129 Jason Elam
127 Mason Crosby
127 Nate Kaeding
127 Rob Bironas
127 Ryan Longwell
124 Kris Brown
124 Rian Lindell
122 Matt Stover
121 Joe Nedney
119 Neil Rackers
119 Robbie Gould
117 Jeff Reed
112 Josh Brown
111 Jay Feely
108 Phil Dawson
103 Adam Vinatieri
103 Shaun Suisham
102 Nick Folk
102 Olindo Mare
97 Sebastian Janikowski
90 Josh Scobee
88 Jason Hanson
78 Shayne Graham
34 Martin Gramatica
6 Lawrence Tynes
2 Mike Nugent
Note: On Wednesday, results were announced for Defenses and Special Teams.
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