December through mid-February is really my favorite part of the football calendar. The fantasy football playoffs are upon us with everything from big money to bragging rights on the line. The moment an owner is eliminated from the playoffs triggers open roster spots to snag an additional flyer or two into the offseason. Most of all, the projection model for the coming draft season really starts to take shape. Here is the current and upcoming status for the projection model:
Already the player pool is busting at the seams. For example, the 2015 eligible wide receivers include 106 names to-date – a mix of the well-known big school prospects and most-productive small schoolers that range from under the radar all the way to conjuring the ‘Who?!?’ response.
My goal is to do all the dirty work mining information about these small schoolers so UTH Insiders only need to sit back and soak in the information leading up to rookie and startup drafts. This is the only way I know to improve your odds of hitting on late-round rookie picks and have the best options down your dynasty roster depth chart. Corey Washington? He was from Newberry and the metrics loved him. Jeff Janis? Yep – Saginaw Valley State. Also, John Brown and Jerick McKinnon were metric favorites prior to being drafted in the top-100. All that is from the 2014 draft class alone.
If a dynasty owner had only used UTHDynasty.com to snag McKinnon, Brown, and Janis in every rookie draft from the third round on, life would be good. Oh, it also would have led owners to not own one share of Marqise Lee, and load up on the now-enviable 2014 rookie wide receiver crop where every pick in the top-15 of rookie drafts turned into gold EXCEPT Marqise Lee.
The Devy metrics will be updated in the coming weeks and the 2015 prospects will drop off those lists as they turn into current year NFL talents. Like last year, the prospect profiles will be detailed metric and tape evaluations, only this year we are hitting the ground running in December and January. The site did not even exist until mid-March in 2014. We did plenty of work prior to the NFL draft, but this year is going to take the 2014 version behind the school gym and take no prisoners.
As of today, here is the current tally of prospects in the projection model currently being updated:
333 Running Backs eligible from 2015 through 2018, including 95 for 2015.
342 Wide Receivers eligible from 2015 through 2018, including 106 for 2015.
40 Tight Ends eligible from 2015 through 2018, including 20 for 2015.
Now, let’s go build a dynasty.
