Fantasy News

Craig Davis of FantasyFootball.Com has had a rough round in this year’s Experts Poll competition – last or next-to-last in Defenses, Kickers and Wide Receivers. But he rebounded nicely in the Running Backs section, finishing as the highest scoring of the 20-expert field.

Roland Wood (Dynasty Rogues) and Greg Rosenthal (Roto World) were the other medalists in this category.

The overall race, meanwhile, is neck-and-neck as we prepare to score the final position. Defending champion Dan Bakley (The Fantasy Point) is the current leader, but Michael Nazarek (Fantasy Football Mastermind) and Wood are both fewer than 100 points behind, and a host of other experts remain in striking range.

In this competition, which dates back 1991, every pick is scored in various degrees. And scores after five of the six positions are hovering around 140,000 points – so 100 points represents less than a tenth of a percent.

Unlike the various experts “leagues” that you see around, this competition forces every expert to weigh in on every significant player. The higher you rate a player, the most his production counts towards your score. Michael Turner, for example, was the 2nd-highest scoring running back in this scoring format, scoring 276 points. If you ranked Turner No. 1 on your board, that would be worth 5,520 points – 20 multiplied by 276. If you ranked Turner 2nd, you would get 5,244 points (19 x 276). If you had Turner 19th, you would have gotten 252 points (2 x 276).

Follow that process for every pick by every expert, and Davis is the winner in the Running Backs category. He had a couple of goofs on his board. He was too high on Larry Johnson (5th), and he put Steven Jackson ahead of Adrian Peterson. But Davis earned huge points relative to the field by ranking Ronnie Brown 6th and by not including Jamal Lewis or Laurence Maroney in his top 20.

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.


FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL, RUNNING BACKS

Points
39,796  Craig Davis  (fantasyfootball.com)
39,541  Roland Wood  (dynastyrogues.com)
39,296  Greg Rosenthal  (rotoworld.com)
39,270  Dan Bakley  (thefantasypoint.com)
39,234  Lenny Pappano  (draftsharks.com)
38,973  Scott Pianowski  (Yahoo Sports)
38,962  David Dorey  (thehuddle.com)
38,941  Bob Henry  (footballguys.com)
38,768  Michael Nazarek  (ffmastermind.com)
38,760  Tommy Stephens  (fantasyfootballedge.net)
38,473  Louis Tranquilli  (bfdfantasyfootball.com)
38,371  Nathan Zegura  (thefantasyconsultant.com)
38,046  Sam Hendricks  (ffguidebook.com)
37,978  James Serra  (footballsoftward.com)
37,961  Christopher Liss  (rotowire.com)
37,257  Scott Endsley  (fantasydraftedge.com)
37,098  Ryan Houston  (fanball.com)
37,017  Greg Alan  (4for4.com)
36,809  Kevin Marshall  (draftwizard.com)
35,285  Jeffrey Kamys  (docstats.com)

38,556  * Fantasy Football Index magazine picks

* -- magazine score is for exhibition purposes only; Fantasy Football Index is not eligible to win the poll.


FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL, CURRENT OVERALL
(includes RB, WR, TE, PK and D/ST)

Points
143,400  Dan Bakley  (thefantasypoint.com)
143,348  Michael Nazarek  (ffmastermind.com)
143,306  Roland Wood  (dynastyrogues.com)
143,286  Scott Pianowski  (Yahoo Sports)
142,541  Lenny Pappano  (draftsharks.com)
142,513  David Dorey  (thehuddle.com)
142,215  Scott Endsley  (fantasydraftedge.com)
142,165  Greg Rosenthal  (rotoworld.com)
142,092  Bob Henry  (footballguys.com)
141,746  Christopher Liss  (rotowire.com)
141,664  James Serra  (footballsoftward.com)
141,442  Sam Hendricks  (ffguidebook.com)
141,198  Tommy Stephens  (fantasyfootballedge.net)
140,862  Louis Tranquilli  (bfdfantasyfootball.com)
140,709  Greg Alan  (4for4.com)
139,593  Ryan Houston  (fanball.com)
139,176  Jeffrey Kamys  (docstats.com)
139,096  Craig Davis  (fantasyfootball.com)
139,096  Nathan Zegura  (thefantasyconsultant.com)
134,386  Kevin Marshall  (draftwizard.com)

140,825  * Fantasy Football Index magazine picks

* -- magazine score is for exhibition purposes only; Fantasy Football Index is not eligible to win the poll.


Running backs were given 6 points for each touchdown and 1 point for every 10 yards (rushing/receiving). Some running backs also received 2 points for two-point conversions or 4 points for throwing touchdowns on gadget plays. The stats are shown below, with fantasy points, rushing yards, receiving yards and touchdowns).

  
Points              (Run Yds – Rec Yds – TD)
285.6  DeAngelo Williams  (1515-121-20)
276.0  Michael Turner  (1699-41-17)
248.5  Adrian Peterson  (1760-125-10)
243.5  Matt Forte  (1238-477-12)
241.9  Thomas Jones  (1312-207-15)
225.9  Steve Slaton  (1282-377-10)
225.6  LaDainian Tomlinson  (1110-426-12)
224.5  Clinton Portis  (1487-218-9)
222.9  Maurice Jones-Drew  (824-565-14)
217.8  Brian Westbrook  (936-402-14)
208.8  Chris Johnson  (1228-260-10)
202.5  Brandon Jacobs  (1089-36-15)
190.9  Frank Gore  (1036-373-8)
190.1  Steven Jackson  (1042-379-8)
187.6  Marshawn Lynch  (1036-300-9)
184.2  Marion Barber  (885-417-9)
181.0  Ronnie Brown  (916-254-10)
174.2  Kevin Smith  (976-286-8)
168.9  LenDale White  (773-16-15)
168.5  LeRon McClain  (902-123-11)
162.9  Pierre Thomas  (625-284-12)
161.9  Ryan Grant  (1203-116-5)
152.9  Derrick Ward  (1025-384-2)
148.3  Jonathan Stewart  (836-47-10)
142.0  Jamal Lewis  (1002-178-4)
140.0  Dominic Rhodes  (538-302-9)
138.4  Reggie Bush  (404-440-9)
136.3  Leon Washington  (448-355-9)
135.3  Kevin Faulk  (507-486-6)
130.8  Sammy Morris  (727-161-7)
128.8  Larry Johnson  (874-74-5)
126.8  Mewelde Moore  (588-320-6)
126.4  Willis McGahee  (671-173-7)
123.6  Tim Hightower  (399-237-10)
123.6  Warrick Dunn  (786-330-2)
119.8  Chester Taylor  (399-399-6)
118.7  Jerious Norwood  (489-338-6)
117.8  Ricky Williams  (659-219-5)
117.0  Joseph Addai  (544-206-7)
111.2  Darren Sproles  (330-342-7)
110.4  Willie Parker  (791-13-5)
106.8  Fred Jackson  (571-317-3)
105.2  Cedric Benson  (747-185-2)
102.4  Darren McFadden  (499-285-4)
101.7  Earnest Graham  (563-174-4)
 96.5  Justin Fargas  (853-52-1)
 93.3  Correll Buckhalter  (369-324-4)
 90.6  Deuce McAllister  (418-128-6)
 88.4  Julius Jones  (698-66-2)
 79.9  Edgerrin James  (514-85-3)
 51.6  Cadillac Williams  (233-43-4)
 44.5  Rudi Johnson  (237-88-2)
 37.9  Selvin Young  (303-16-1)
  9.3  Laurence Maroney  (93-0-0)
  0.0  Travis Henry  (0-0-0)



Previously in Experts Poll scoring ...

Jeffrey Kamys of Doctor Stats won the Kickers section.

Roland Woods of Dynasty Rogues won the defense and special teams category.

Tommy Stephens of Fantasy Football Edge won the Tight ends secton.

Dan Bakey of The Fantasy Points won the Wide Receivers competition.

• Comments [0]

Readers' Comments

Add a Comment

Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.

To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.