Make Sure I Don't Do Anything Stupid - 2024 Decision Disasters: RB Version
Which RBs are fantasy GMs botching thru 13 weeks of the season? Are we getting any right?
This is a continuation of our “Make Sure I Don't Do Anything Stupid” series. The people spoke and wanted another post diving into RBs. I am a man* of my word so here you go!
We dove into the first thirteen weeks for over 120,000 teams on our Fantasy Genius platform, calculating the optimal lineup for every team each week. We can then see a RBs actual start percentage and compare it to how often they should have been started.
Couple housekeeping items before we dive in:
We only limited to players with a decent amount of data. It’s proprietary and way too complex to explain. Just know players like Zamir White & MJD got nixed from this analysis for brevity sake.
Players can be in 4 main clusters:
Studs - just absolute studs. Nothing very noteworthy here.
Disrespected - we don’t start them enough
Over Respected - we start them too much
THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE or Porridge cluster - we start them just right
Here is a plot comparing RBs actual fantasy start percentage against their fantasy PPG. This can give you a sense of the outliers. Saquon in a class of his own. Etienne also in a class of his own. CMC with a very disappointing, injury plagued season.
Disrespected
Here are all the RBs currently getting disrespected by all of us.
Bucky is a beast and the most disrespected RB thus far.
Chase Brown also been very solid this year and not getting his due from the fantasy community at large.
Over Respected
Here are all the running backs getting more respect than they deserve. The higher up on the list, the more overrated they are. Also known as The Panera Bread cluster. God has any company put out shittier food than Panera? If I was the head of the FDA I’d shut the whole operation down.
Zaxby’s also sucks pretty hard. Especially when Raising Canes exists. Zaxby’s vs. Canes is like comparing Derrick Henry to a decent JV RB#1 out of Hampton Roads. Sure they are technically both playing football but we are talking about 2 leagues here miles apart, folks.
Raising Canes - simply, delicious chicken!*
Breece Hall getting started like a Saquon but having the performance of a James Conner.
Etienne has been a disaster this year. No surprise at all, especially for those GMs who drafted him. His mid-year report is roughly the same one I got at my job. “Does not meet expectations”. We’ll turn it around though, Travis! Or more than likely we won’t.
If you saw Achane & JT on here and you reacted with:
Fair criticism. But they’ve had some dud games and got beat by some bench players. If I had either of them, I’d pound them into my lineup and not think twice.
THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE
These RBs we are getting just right. Like that one bowl of porridge in the big bad wolf. Nobody under 50 has had porridge, right? Seems like some shit my Nan definitely had during the Great Depression.
This woman was a legend. She would make the absolute best biscuits & gravy you’ve ever had and, with the thickest southern accent, would say “these biskeeettts are haaarhhhd as rawwwwksssss” and “noowwww this here is depresshhuuuunnnnn gravy”. Ostensibly a watered down version of real gravy they ate during the GD because that’s all they could afford. But it was always so good. It’d be like if Saquon finished the backwards hurdle play and acted like it wasn’t his best run. Yes it was. Great play. Great biscuits. Great gravy.
Not much to say on these guys. We are getting ‘em right for the most part.
And finally the studs:
That move to Philly has got Saquon fantasy GMs feeling NICEY this year.
Want to see this for other positions? Throw a like on this post. If it gets more than 6 likes we’ll do WRs! Or TEs! You decide.
This data was gathered from leagues synced with Fantasy Genius, which provides automated weekly recaps, previews, and other unnecessarily detailed stats tailored specifically to your league. We support Sleeper, ESPN, and Yahoo right now with more platforms to come!