And then there was one. We are down to the finale in the NFL regular season which is hard to comprehend. Doesn’t seem that long ago that I was writing the Week 1 recap and talking about how things will shuffle all year. There isn’t much shuffling left to do as our experts have pretty much established whether it’s a good season or not. Our season champion will come down to the final week though. We have a .01 difference for the top spot in our season-long standings. With that, Week 17 is very, very important for a couple of experts hoping to take home that crown. Now let’s just hope that FantasyTeamAdvice submits some picks and doesn’t sit on their hands for the third week in a row. As always, you can see how all the experts are doing by checking out NFL Expert Standings.
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Be sure to come back each week for a review of the Industry Consensus picks highlighting the top (and bottom) grades for the week and season from the experts we are tracking. For Week 16 we tracked and graded 19 sets of expert picks including the Industry Consensus list.
On to the Week 16 grades, class is in session!
Consensus Recap – Week 16
The Consensus provided sixty-two total picks in Week 16 for a 8th place finish and a Daily Overlay score of 2.98. Twenty of those picks finished with a failing grade while ten had “A+” scores. A position-by-position breakdown is below.
QB (Score: 2.73 / Rank 5th out of 19) – Only two of the eleven plays finished with a grade of “A” or better. That goes to show how much the experts struggled at the position.
RB (Score: 3.00 / Rank T-6th out of 19) – Dion Lewis and Todd Gurley were the lone “A+” grades at the RB spot. Four of the 13 plays finished with failing grades.
WR (Score: 3.04 / Rank 8th out of 19) – A decent showing at the WR position even with nine of the 23 plays picking up failing grades. The “A+” grades from Chris Godwin, Keelan Cole, Larry Fitzgerald, Tyreek Hill and Julio Jones boosted the score.
TE (Score: 4.29 / Rank 13th out of 18) – This position was boom or bust for the Consensus. Four of the seven picked up “A” or better grades while the remaining three selections had failing grades. The “A+” scores came from Anotonio Gates and Eric Ebron.
D/ST (Score: 2.00 / Rank T-11th out of 17) – The struggle was real for the Consensus plays here. Half the eight selections scored “D” or worse. The lone bright spots were “A” grades from the Panthers and Bears.
Head of the Class – Week 16
Each week I will highlight a few of the top experts for the week. Here are the experts that deserve a “gold star” for Week 16 based on their cumulative grades for all players they touted this week. This might be the lowest scoring top-3 we’ve seen this season.
#1) FantasyLabs (Score: 3.76) had a significant dropoff from our winner’s score last week; however, they still came out atop the weekly leaderboard. Eight of the 17 plays finished “A” or better with “A+” grades from Fitzgerald and Gates.
#2) GoingFor2 (Score: 3.75) was eeked out for the top spot by the slimmest of margins. Three of their eight plays finished “A” or better with Chris Godwin and Gates pulling in “A+” scores.
#3) DailyRoto (Score: 3.63) picked up nine “A+” grades from their 43 selections. A nice finish for the week despite 19 selections finishing “D” or worse.
Top Value – DK Playbook (2.99 DK Pts/$1000) took the “Top Value” title this week.
Head of the Class – Week 16 (By Position)
Sometimes there is just that one class that you excel in. In this section, I will highlight who the top experts were at each position for Week 16.
QB – Daily Overlay – Hot Sheet (3.50) came out on top despite a sub-par score. The “A+” grade from Goff picked up the slack from the “C” and two “D’s” Brad got out of his other plays.
RB – Rotowire (7.50) scored an “A+” from Dion Lewis and an “A” from Melvin Gordon to score the top spot.
WR – FantasyLabs (6.50) made only two plays at the position but it was enough. An “A+” from Fitzgerald and a “B” from AJ Green were the scores.
TE – Rotoballer, GoingFor2, DailyFantasyNerd (10.00) all had “A+” scores with their one pick. Rotoballer used Ebron while the other two played Gates.
DST – Sportsline (5.00) played the Bears for an “A” and the top spot for the week.
Study Time – Week 16
If we are going to give a gold star to the top experts of the week, we also need to determine which experts might need to put in some extra study time to pull up those grades. Here are the Week 16 experts that didn’t make the grade this week.
- DailyFantasySportsRankings (Score: 1.71) scored a “D” or worse with half their 14 selections including five failing grades.
- Daily Overlay – Value Index (Score: 1.25) had a rough Week 16. Six of Stephen’s eight plays finished with a “D” or worse grade.
Extra Credit – Week 16
In this section, I will look to give some extra credit to experts that received an A+ grade for a player where they were the lone expert to recommend. Week 16 extra credit goes to the following:
A+ – Cardinals D/ST (FantasyPros)
Head of the Class – Season
Here are the top experts in the Overall Standings after Week 16 of the season, including which site has provided the top DraftKings points per $1000 of salary. We had a slight shakeup at the top this week.
#1) Rotowire (Score: 3.71) is in grave danger of losing the lead they’ve maintained for most of the season. The gap is down to .01 thanks to FTA not making any plays last week.
#2) FantasyTeamAdvice (Score: 3.70) once again did not make any selections this week. Would be kind of a crappy way to backdoor your way into 1st place if they did the same in Week 17.
#3) GoingFor2 (Score: 3.55) saw their score jump .01 to reclaim a spot back in the top-3. They’ve fluctuated right around the top-3 all year. Let’s see if they can close it out.
#4) ProFootballFocus (Score: 3.51) dipped a bit to slide back to 4th place. A strong finish next week would leapfrog them back into a top-3 spot.
#5) DailyRoto (Score: 3.45) is back in the top-5 after a bump of .02 in Week 16. The final spot in the top-5 is really close. Should be interesting to see who claims it after Week 17.
Top Value – DK Playbook (2.91 DK Pts/$1000)
The DailyOverlay Industry Consensus stayed in 18th place in the overall standings out of 21 experts.
Head of the Class – Season (By Position)
Sometimes there is just that one class that you excel in. Here are the top experts at each position through Week 16 of the season including which site has provided the top DraftKings points per $1000 of salary.
QB
#1) DailyFantasyNerd (5.25)
#2) GoingFor2 (5.07)
Top Value – GoingFor2 (3.54 DK Pts/$1000)
RB
#1) Rotowire (3.97)
#2) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (3.83)
Top Value – DK Playbook (3.08 DK Pts/$1000)
WR
#1) Daily Overlay – Value Index (3.02)
#2) Rotoballer (2.97)
Top Value – DK Playbook (2.54 DK Pts/$1000)
TE
#1) Rotowire (5.06)
#2) GoingFor2 (5.00)
Top Value – GoingFor2 (3.01 DK Pts/$1000)
DST
#1) Rotowire (4.63)
#2) RotoGrinders Lineup Builder (4.38)
Top Value – Rotowire (3.81 DK Pts/$1000)
Thanks once again for reading. Only one week left in the NFL regular season!
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