Jonathan Brooks
Image By AP Photo/Eric Gay
Jonathan Brooks
Image By AP Photo/Eric Gay

Running Back Draft Capital: Does It Matter? A Comprehensive Analysis

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For the 28th installment of our “Does It Matter?” series, we set out to determine whether a Running Back’s draft capital can predict their NFL success. From this, we found an optimal threshold that correlates to NFL success. Here are all of our findings:

Methodology

To conduct our analysis, we examined the top 50 fantasy football running back finishers from each year since 2003 using PPR (points per reception) fantasy scoring. Since our data had undrafted free agents, we assigned them the highest draft pick in their respective draft year plus 1 in our dataset. In other words, “Mr. Irrelevant” plus 1.

The “bottom 10” term, which you will see throughout this study, refers to running backs who finished 41st-50th each season in fantasy rankings.

Why the top 50? The reason we chose the top 50 is to find a happy medium. We don’t want to go further than the top 50 and start getting close to the fringe roster members whom obviously are not going to score top 10. These players could therefore just weigh the data. On the other hand, We want to compare the worst to the best still. Comparing the top 10 to the 11th place finisher, or an average number that takes into account the 11th place finisher, doesn’t satisfy our personal itch to try to find trends.

Averages Chart Analysis

By separating all top 50 finishers since 2003 into 4 different groups and averaging each group, we hoped to unveil any correlations between draft capital and fantasy success. One of our tool to achieve this was our averages chart. This broke down the top 50 fantasy football finishers into four groups:

  • Top 5
  • Top 10
  • 11th-30th
  • 31st-50th

By comparing these groups in the chart, it quickly became evident that lower draft capital players are more prevalent among top-producing running backs. Specifically, in 20 out of 21 seasons (95.2%), the top 10 running backs had equal, or lower, draft capital compared to those finishing between 31st and 50th.

Average Fantasy football RB Results By Draft Capital Since 2003
Average Fantasy football RB Results By Draft Capital Since 2003

Segmented Top & Bottom 10 Finishers Since 2003

We next analyzed the draft capital of top 10 finishers since 2003, breaking it down into 10 overall pick increments. By charting this data, we observed that running backs drafted within the earlier rounds are more likely to appear in the top 10 fantasy producers, as we had expected. The top 10 and bottom 10 charts can be seen blow, with the top 10 coming first:

Top 10 NFL Running Back Draft Capital Since 2003
Top 10 NFL Running Back Draft Capital Since 2003
Bottom 10 NFL Running Back Draft Capital Since 2003
Bottom 10 NFL Running Back Draft Capital Since 2003

Differences Chart

To determine a draft position range, or threshold, which is the most advantageous for predicting high-performing running backs, we created our differences chart. This compares each overall pick plus the next 20 picks, and subtracting the bottom 10 results from the top 10. The chart’s desired outcome is a negative number for unique differences (Orange) and a positive number for non-unique differences (Blue). This would indicate the desired consistent top level performances we are hoping for. The insights we got from this chart indicated that the 70th overall pick and below appeared to be the highest performing threshold. Next, we will go through a process to verify whether this is our optimal range or not.

Comparison of the Top 10 and Bottom 10 RB Draft Capital (Plus the next 20 overall picks) since 2003
Comparison of the Top 10 and Bottom 10 RB Draft Capital (Plus the next 20 overall picks) since 2003

Verifying the Optimal RB Draft Capital Range: Bottom 10

To substantiate our differences chart findings, we compared this threshold to all RBs who finished in the bottom 10 since 2003. Upon doing this, we noted that of 208 RBs, 78 were picked 70th overall or lower, accounting for 37.5%. This figure established our baseline for comparison to the top 10, which we will compare next.

Verifying the Optimal RB Draft Capital Range: Top 10

We then examined RBs who finished in the top 10 from 2003-2023. Out of 210 top 10 finishers, 151 were drafted 70th overall or lower, representing 71.9% of the total. This reflects a significant 34.4% increase compared to our baseline. This suggested that the 70th overall pick or lower might indeed be the ideal threshold for predicting top-performing RBs.

Verifying the Optimal RB Draft Capital Range: Fine-Tuning

To ensure thorough validation, we upgraded our spreadsheet to quickly adjust and test various draft pick ranges. This allowed us to efficiently identify the threshold producing the highest percentage of top 10 finishes. By testing numbers close to the initially identified range, we discovered that extending the threshold to the 90th overall pick and below yielded a 35.3% higher top 10 appearance rate compared to the bottom 10. This fine-tuning process indicated that the 90th overall pick represented an even more optimal threshold for producing top-performing RBs. Therefore, the 90th overall pick (rounded to nearest 10) and below will be the subject of this research going forward.

Establishing the Critical Draft Capital Threshold for Running Backs

We next aimed to identify our critical value for Running Back draft capital. The critical value is simply the threshold at which an outcome change could occur. Here is the breakdown of different thresholds and the maximum draft capital seen in each threshold since 2003:

  • Top 10 Max: 260 (UDFA)
  • Top 20 Max: 260 (UDFA)
  • Top 30 Max: 260 (UDFA)
  • Top 40 Max: 260 (UDFA)
  • Top 50 Max: 260 (UDFA)

Due to these findings, there essentially is not a critical value when it comes to draft capital for Running Backs. These thresholds could be a crucial part for producing our StarPredictor Score (SPS) model, which will focus on predicting successes and busts. We are hoping to have this model fully functional by the beginning of the 2025 NFL season. You can subscribe to our mailing list to get updates on this model when it begins coming out here:

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RB Draft Capital Regression Testing

Our statistical analysis revealed great insights into the relationship between RB’s draft capital and their fantasy production:

  • P-Value: 1.54E-14
  • R²: 0.0551

These results show a correlation between a running back’s draft capital and their fantasy performance:

  • P-Value: Any value below 0.05 indicates a strong correlation, which suggests that a RB’s draft capital significantly impacts fantasy production.
  • R² Value: Our value of 0.0551 suggests that 5.5% of the variance in fantasy production can be explained by a RB’s draft capital, meaning that 94.5% of the variance is due to other factors.

When studying world-class athletes as we are, an R² value of 0.01 (1.0%) and above is what we are hoping for. The trend line in our regression chart also shows that lower draft capital correlates with higher fantasy production.

RB Draft Capital To Future Fantasy Points Linear Regression
RB Draft Capital To Future Fantasy Points Linear Regression

Decadal Differences

To spot calandar trends in draft capital, we compared decades. We particularly focused on these following groups for this breakdown:

  • Top 10 finishers
  • 11-40th place finishers
  • Bottom 10 finishers

Our findings showed no trend differences between the most recent decade and the earlier one. The occurrence rate of our identified optimal draft capital threshold was similar in both periods, with only a 1.0% difference in the rate where the optimal range appeared in the top 10 more frequently than in the bottom 10.

2004-2013
Top 1011 through 40Bottom 10
All count10029998
All 95 overall and below8518148
% (Optimal Range/all)85.0%60.5%49.0%
2014-2023
Top 1011 through 40Bottom 10
All count100300100
All 95 overall and below7014535
% (Optimal Range/all)70.0%48.3%35.0%

Application to 2024 Rookie RB NFL Class

Next, we examined the 2024 Rookie RB NFL class by matching their draft capital to our identified optimal range. Here is that breakdown:

2024 NFL Rookies drafted in our optimal range (95 overall and below):
Jonathon Brooks46 OVR
Trey Benson66 OVR
Blake Corum83 OVR
MarShawn Lloyd88 OVR
2024 NFL Rookies drafted outside our optimal range:
Jaylen Wright120 OVR
Bucky Irving125 OVR
Will Shipley127 OVR
Ray Davis128 OVR
Isaac Guerendo129 OVR
Braelon Allen134 OVR
Audric Estime147 OVR
Rasheen Ali165 OVR
Tyrone Tracy166 OVR
Keilan Robinson167 OVR
Isaiah Davis173 OVR
Kimani Vidal181 OVR
Jase McClellan186 OVR
Jawhar Jordan205 OVR
Dylan Laube208 OVR

Conclusion

From our number-crunching, one thing is clear: draft capital does indeed matter when predicting NFL success for running backs. Higher draft picks correlate with better fantasy football performances. Our analysis revealed that drafting RBs within the 95th overall pick and below substantially increases the likelihood of achieving top 10 finishes.

More Data Next Week!

Our series has always sought to push the boundaries of sports analytics. This latest installment reaffirms our commitment to uncovering the hidden dynamics that define the game. Every Saturday, we’ll dive into intriguing questions, bust myths, and settle debates with thorough analysis. We welcome your input. Therefore, please leave comments or reach out with topics you’re eager to see dissected. All of our research can be found on our Analytics Page. Up next on our agenda for Part 29 of “Does It Matter?” is an examination of Defensive Backs Height: Does it matter? If so, what’s the height threshold necessary for NFL success? Mark your calendars; every Saturday we shed light on the topics that matter to you. All it takes is a quick question being asked and we will go to work for you!

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