In the 2014 SiriusXM Hosts League (a PPR setup), LeSean McCoy had 187.0 points while Matt Asiata finished with 181.4 points through 16 weeks (most leagues don’t play Week 17). Which player would you rather have had last season amongst the two of them? A 5.6 point difference over 16 weeks equals 0.35 points a week. There does not appear to be a difference between the two runners, but let’s look at each player’s per game scoring.

 

Under 5 pts

Under 10 pts

10-15 pts

15-20 pts

20+ pts

McCoy

three

five

four

three

three

Asiata

four

eight

one

one

four

 
After looking at that table most people would prefer McCoy because of the consistency factor. McCoy “hurt” you five times last season, which amounts to one-third of the 15 weeks of fantasy under discussion (each team has a bye week and we are only considering the first 16 weeks of the season, which means each team played 15 games). Asiata “hurt” you eight times which was literally half the season despite the similarity in total points.

Speaking of which, in fantasy we often think we understand who a player is by looking at a player’s overall point total. Points tell part of the story, but the context of the points is what matters most since fantasy football is a weekly contest. Getting a 20-point game is huge and helps you win leagues. On the flipside, getting single digit points from your lead runner is a crushing blow.

Here are some players that were extremely inconsistent that had successful seasons but simply didn’t post strong numbers consistently week after week.

Scoring Format under discussion: PPR, four points passing touchdown, six points rushing/receiving touchdown, one point for twenty yards passing, one point for ten rushing/receiving yards.

QUARTERBACK

Aaron Rodgers had three games under 12.5 points in 2014. That’s the same amount of poor games as Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson had collectively. Compare this to Philip Rivers, who finished 10th in points but only had one game under 12.5 points.

RUNNING BACK

Le’Veon Bell led all runners in points. He had three games under 15 points but not one under 14 points, which was remarkable. Matt Forte was second in points but he had five games under 14 points. DeMarco Murray was third in points and had two games under 14 points.

Eddie Lacy was sixth in points but it was a back loaded effort. He failed to record nine points each of the first three weeks and four times in his first six games. In fact, Lacy was only 21st in fantasy points through Week 6 of last year. Trent Richardson was 19th.

Jamaal Charles was seventh in points at the position but he failed to hit double-digits in his first two games and three of four. He had one other poor effort in Week 15 giving him four single point efforts in 14 games.

WIDE RECEIVER

Antonio Brown never had fewer than 13.4 points in any game. The number two receiver, Demaryius Thomas, was under that mark three times.

T.Y. Hilton scored 35 or more points twice while he averaged just 14.3 points during his other 13 games. Mike Wallace averaged 14.2 points a game last season.

Mike Evans is the best example of a wide receiver that lived off only a few games. Evans recorded 228.7 points through Week 16, which was the 13th most at the position. However, he amassed 96.8 points during Weeks 9-11, which amounts to forty-two percent of his season’s point total. He only recorded 11.0 points during the other 12 games while Larry Fitzgerald averaged 11.3 points per game last season.