A warm round of applause, please, for Adam Renzoni from Buffalo. He’s the winner of the kickers category in the Fantasy Index Open. This is the contest, recall, where you submit a top 20 at each position; all picks are scored – the higher you rank a player, the more his production counts towards your score.
We received 222 entries this year, with each contestant naming 20 players at each of the six positions. All 120 players for each of the entries will be scored, and we’ll be naming an overall winner at the end.
The winner takes home a really huge and really cool trophy from the team at Affordable Trophies. They’ve been partnering with us on this contest for years.
The winner and the runnerup also earn berths in the Experts Poll in the magazine, competing in a similar contest in a 20-man field composed mainly of industry experts.
To win in this kind of competition, you have to be right on some big-picture concepts that most others miss. For Renzoni at kicker, he benefited from being one of the highest on Matt Bryant, who scored a league-high 158 points. Renzoni ranked Bryant 8th, while the consensus on Bryant was just 16th – so relative to most of the other entries, Renzoni created a lot of value there.
In this kind of competition, it’s equally valuable to steer clear of the poison picks. Renzoni helped himself a ton by ranking Chandler Catanzaro only 9th. The Arizona kicker graded out as the No. 3 kicker overall – way up there on most boards – but had a lousy year, tying for 19th in scoring. Renzoni also didn’t include Josh Brown and Mike Nugent on his board, which was key. They came into the season as the top 10 and 14 kickers (on other ballots) but neither played a full season and ended up being liabilities.
Regardless: after we scored all 4,440 kicks (20 each on 222 entries), Renzoni came out No. 1. Allen Martirossian from Ashburn, Va., and Ben Weisner from Wausau, Wis., weren’t far behind. Overall, 10 players made it over 36,000 points (the median score at this position was 34,600 points).
The scoring in this competition is notoriously complex. If you ran a player #1 at a position, his fantasy points get multiplied by 25 points. Renzoni, for example, went with Chris Boswell as his No. 1 kicker (one of his few mistakes). Boswell scored 99 points, so Renzoni got 2,475 points for that selection (25 x 99 = 2,475). Had Boswell been ranked 2nd, we would have scored that pick at 2,376 (24 x 99 = 2,376). For those ranking Boswell 3rd, they received 2,277 (23 x 99 = 2,277).
A few years back, we used to score players on a descending scale of 20-1, but that scoring system doesn’t seem to give enough credit to finding good players in the teens. We have also tried a 30-11 scale, but that puts too much weight not on the top-5 players at each position but simply on getting as many warm bodies as possible in the top 20. So we’ve settled on 25-6 as our grading scale. (So if you ranked Boswell 20th, you would have received 594 points (6 x 99 = 594).
Scoring system and the contest aren’t perfect, of course. But it’s one way to do it. And Renzoni wins at this position.
FANTASY INDEX OPEN, KICKERS (top 10 percent) | ||
---|---|---|
Points | Entry | Occupation |
36,419 | Adam Renzoni | Human Resources |
36,299 | Allen Martirossian | Finance Director |
36,281 | Ben Weisner | Production Supervisor |
36,229 | Patrick Wentz | Engineer |
36,215 | Rusty Stephens | Sales Manager |
36,213 | Adam Bergeron | Plasterer |
36,207 | Ed O'Hair | Retail Sales |
36,093 | Tom Deskovitz | Consultant |
36,031 | Chris Hertzberg | Attorney |
36,030 | Craig Barltrop | Project Engineer |
35,990 | Scott Sintkowski | Civil Engineer |
35,943 | Zach Leavitt | Accountant |
35,936 | Michael Kolton | Teacher |
35,866 | Drew Englebright | CFO |
35,826 | Scott Anderson | Account Manager |
35,806 | Matt Menghi | Emergency Shelter Director |
35,805 | Josh Shupien | Recreation |
35,787 | Rich Dooley | Community Energy Coordinator |
35,749 | Kevin Smith | Student |
35,673 | John Whitney | Pediatrician |
35,645 | Adam Holtz | Financial Analyst |
35,644 | John D. Smith | Warehouse Manager |
FANTASY INDEX OPEN, KICKERS (alphabetical listing) | |||
---|---|---|---|
Name | Hometown | Rank | Points |
Aaron Green | Maple Grove, Minn. | 204 | 33,471 |
Aaron Lance | Yakima, Wash. | 170 | 34,000 |
Adam Bergeron | Salem, N.H. | 6 | 36,213 |
Adam Holtz | Rochester, Minn. | 21 | 35,645 |
Adam Locke | Lynnwood, Wash. | 120 | 34,524 |
Adam Renzoni | Buffalo, N.Y. | 1 | 36,419 |
Adam Sheets | Santa Rosa, Calif. | 167 | 34,026 |
Adam Taylor | Media, Pa. | 190 | 33,843 |
Adam Thygeson | Oregon City, Ore. | 56 | 35,081 |
Allen Martirossian | Ashburn, Va. | 2 | 36,299 |
Andrew Leahy | Audubon, N.J. | 44 | 35,254 |
Andrew Southworth | Wilkes-Barre, Pa. | 48 | 35,223 |
Andy Richardson | Port Chester, N.Y. | 140 | 34,285 |
Anthony Difranceisco | Turnersville, N.J. | 187 | 33,875 |
Arden Vos | Edmonton, Canada | 163 | 34,069 |
Barry St Peter | Pittsfield, Mass. | 25 | 35,594 |
Ben Weisner | Wausau, Wis. | 3 | 36,281 |
Bill Dallesandro | Huntington, N.Y. | 160 | 34,098 |
Bill Rehor | Culver City, Calif. | 148 | 34,209 |
Bob Adelman | St. Louis, Mo. | 159 | 34,099 |
Brack Varnon | Houston, Texas | 112 | 34,590 |
Brandon Barnes | Portland , Ore. | 181 | 33,907 |
Brent Miles | Pasco, Wash. | 90 | 34,805 |
Brett Watts | Florence, S.C. | 64 | 35,016 |
Bruce Alwine | Havertown, Pa. | 151 | 34,188 |
Bruce Boase | Ogden, Utah | 146 | 34,217 |
Charles Raifman | Short Hills, N.J. | 69 | 34,966 |
Chris Brooke | San Diego, Calif. | 177 | 33,954 |
Chris Durham | Yuma, Ariz. | 149 | 34,206 |
Chris Erickson | Sparta, Wis. | 129 | 34,365 |
Chris Hertzberg | Austin, Texas | 9 | 36,031 |
Chris Sullivan | Ottawa, Canada | 126 | 34,414 |
Chris Weber | Appleton, Wis. | 70 | 34,964 |
Chris Winder | San Ramon, Calif. | 73 | 34,943 |
Chris Wright | Lynchburg, Va. | 162 | 34,074 |
Craig Barltrop | Adelaide, Australia | 10 | 36,030 |
Craig Leedy | Sacramento, Calif. | 67 | 34,999 |
Curt Goldgrabe | Boise, Idaho | 99 | 34,706 |
Dale Gander | Sun Prairie, Wis. | 152 | 34,181 |
Dan Martinez | Yuba City, Calif. | 192 | 33,814 |
Dana Duffield | Rochester, Minn. | 80 | 34,904 |
Daniel Bowman | Liberty, Mo. | 123 | 34,472 |
Daniel MacDonald | Torrance, Calif. | 157 | 34,127 |
Darrell Sooy | West Chester, Pa. | 214 | 33,104 |
Dave Cohen | Brooklyn, N.Y. | 119 | 34,544 |
Dave Pizzica | Springfield, Pa. | 47 | 35,239 |
Dave Renstrom | Apple Valley, Minn. | 135 | 34,325 |
Dave Sjogren | Vienna, Va. | 65 | 35,014 |
Dave Wilde | Mukwonago, Wis. | 94 | 34,753 |
David Battersby | Bellevue, Wash. | 210 | 33,249 |
Dennis Thomas | Watsonville, Calif. | 40 | 35,273 |
Dominic Romeo | Sacramento, Calif. | 58 | 35,060 |
Don P McKendry | Orland Park, Ill. | 193 | 33,783 |
Don Pavelka | Plainview, Minn. | 216 | 33,018 |
Doug Brown | Fort Gratiot, Mich. | 102 | 34,684 |
Dr. Billy Friedrich | Raleigh, N.C. | 130 | 34,354 |
Drew Englebright | London, U.K. | 14 | 35,866 |
Ed O'Hair | Katy, Texas | 7 | 36,207 |
Edward Burke | Philadelphia, Pa. | 121 | 34,489 |
Ellis Kilgore | Von Ormy, Texas | 158 | 34,112 |
Eric Gustitus | Exeter, Pa. | 136 | 34,320 |
Eric Titus | Port St. Lucie, Fla. | 197 | 33,706 |
Fabrizio Danova | Los Angeles, Calif. | 36 | 35,368 |
Frank Read | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 138 | 34,293 |
Frank Rotella | Sewell, N.J. | 30 | 35,462 |
Frank Shinnick | Milford, Mass. | 45 | 35,254 |
Gary Allen | Charleston, S.C. | 184 | 33,902 |
Gary Borges | Toronto, Canada | 124 | 34,447 |
Gary Fortier | Marietta, Ga. | 169 | 34,008 |
Geoff Greggs | Roy, Wash. | 75 | 34,934 |
George Taylor | Moosup, Conn. | 172 | 33,983 |
Gerald M. Hoehn | West Liberty, Iowa | 63 | 35,019 |
Grant Hubbard | Rochester Hills, Mich. | 180 | 33,928 |
Greg Heminway | Sacramento, Calif. | 155 | 34,156 |
Greg Resin | Hermosa Beach, Calif. | 87 | 34,826 |
Henry Goers | Bartlett, Ill. | 165 | 34,041 |
Ian Allan | Seattle, Wash. | 132 | 34,342 |
Ian MacEwen | Akron, Ohio | 50 | 35,207 |
Jacob Floriolli | Chico, Calif. | 215 | 33,055 |
Jacob Wilson | Crandall, Texas | 218 | 32,889 |
Jacques Dugger | Westland, Mich. | 189 | 33,859 |
James Carvin | Mt. Laurel, N.J. | 79 | 34,905 |
James Frauel | Walworth, N.Y. | 150 | 34,195 |
Jamie Alberts | Sturgeon Bay, Wis. | 139 | 34,290 |
Jared Smola | Rochester, N.Y. | 46 | 35,245 |
Jason Flatley | Cohoes, N.Y. | 23 | 35,630 |
Jason Mattern | Wintersville, Ohio | 217 | 32,965 |
Jason Pilon | Roseville, Minn. | 212 | 33,172 |
Jay Harding | Portland, Ore. | 42 | 35,267 |
Jay Wimmers | Lincolnton, N.C. | 191 | 33,835 |
Jeff Friedrich | Greenville, N.C. | 89 | 34,810 |
Jeff Zwiers | Bellingham, Wash. | 153 | 34,176 |
Jeremy Marzofka | Seattle, Wash. | 175 | 33,962 |
Jeremy Schwartz | Edison, N.J. | 72 | 34,944 |
Jesse McGuigan | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 202 | 33,549 |
Jim Costello | Portland, Maine | 133 | 34,342 |
Jim Coventry | Chicago, Ill. | 203 | 33,521 |
Jim Kovac | Tucson, Ariz. | 183 | 33,903 |
Joe Loeb | Aloha, Ore. | 55 | 35,082 |
Joe Pizzica | Wynnewood, Pa. | 26 | 35,576 |
John D. Smith | Willow Grove, Pa. | 22 | 35,644 |
John Dent | Ann Arbor, Mich. | 171 | 33,999 |
John Duggins | Greenville, S.C. | 43 | 35,267 |
John M. Smyczynski | Buffalo, N.Y. | 88 | 34,823 |
John Moore | Sea Isle City, N.J. | 74 | 34,943 |
John Ruppe | Fort Myers, Fla. | 68 | 34,983 |
John Whitney | San Jose, Calif. | 20 | 35,673 |
John Yarsinsky | Marlton, N.J. | 111 | 34,610 |
Johnny Bazzano | Santa Rosa, Calif. | 31 | 35,462 |
Jon Hansen | Reno, Nev. | 93 | 34,774 |
Jonathan Mora | Chicago, Fla. | 144 | 34,255 |
Josh Shupien | Tacoma, Wash. | 17 | 35,805 |
Ken Norman | Chanhassen, Minn. | 61 | 35,039 |
Ken Valis | Gaithersburg, Md. | 107 | 34,630 |
Kenneth Jones | New Orleans, La. | 96 | 34,719 |
Kenneth Yuen | Arlington Heights, Ill. | 164 | 34,052 |
Kent Stewart | Poplar Bluff, Mo. | 222 | 30,614 |
Kenzie MacNeil | Halifax, Canada | 54 | 35,115 |
Kevin Cuozzo | Concord , Mass. | 174 | 33,976 |
Kevin Smith | Philadelphia, Pa. | 19 | 35,749 |
Kirk Kennedy | Beulaville, N.C. | 206 | 33,437 |
Kyle Soppe | Bristol, Conn. | 127 | 34,392 |
Kyle Wells | Lynnwood, Wash. | 60 | 35,051 |
Larry Weinhauer | Andover, N.Y. | 117 | 34,551 |
Marc Mayfield | Longview, Texas | 108 | 34,621 |
Mark Becker | Los Angeles, Calif. | 141 | 34,282 |
Mark Burns | Runnemede, N.J. | 28 | 35,509 |
Mark Christie | Fairport, N.Y. | 106 | 34,643 |
Mark Maloney | Andover, Minn. | 34 | 35,401 |
Mark Stoecker | Mansfield, Texas | 145 | 34,226 |
Matt Menghi | Niantic, Conn. | 16 | 35,806 |
Matty Strothman-Evans | Winston-Salem, N.C. | 166 | 34,035 |
Michael Crow | Orion, Ill. | 220 | 32,655 |
Michael Kolton | Green Bay, Wis. | 13 | 35,936 |
Michael McAninch | Naperville, Ill. | 205 | 33,456 |
Michael Menke | New Berlin, Wis. | 76 | 34,933 |
Michael O'Brien | Lakewood, Colo. | 176 | 33,957 |
Michael S. Livengood | Ward, Ark. | 62 | 35,028 |
Miguel Tames | Miami, Fla. | 104 | 34,663 |
Mike Balliet | Milton, Pa. | 33 | 35,420 |
Mike Clark | Las Vegas, Nev. | 122 | 34,483 |
Mike Clay | Cheshire, Conn. | 100 | 34,704 |
Mike Freeman | Hamilton, Canada | 101 | 34,688 |
Mike Lenett | Silver Spring, Md. | 161 | 34,094 |
Mike McIlraith | Fort Worth, Texas | 198 | 33,686 |
Mike Nease | West Chicago, Ill. | 221 | 32,146 |
Mike Taylor | Meridian, Idaho | 83 | 34,879 |
Mike Whitla | Ottawa, Canada | 98 | 34,709 |
Moishe Steigmann | Milwaukee, Wis. | 137 | 34,315 |
Monte McDonald | Las Vegas, Nev. | 118 | 34,545 |
Nathan Bileck | San Diego, Calif. | 219 | 32,781 |
Nathan Priest | Waynesboro, Pa. | 39 | 35,306 |
Nick Heuton | Carroll, Iowa | 134 | 34,337 |
Nick Petrevski | Los Angeles, Calif. | 156 | 34,136 |
Patrick Wentz | Columbus, Ohio | 4 | 36,229 |
Paul McCann | Hopewell, Pa. | 207 | 33,432 |
Pete Collins | Orland Park, Ill. | 92 | 34,787 |
Pete Gould | Nottingham, U.K. | 84 | 34,877 |
Pete Richmond | Alexandria, Va. | 143 | 34,274 |
Phil Mazurowski | Huntingdon, Pa. | 85 | 34,876 |
Phil Montalbano | Napa, Calif. | 41 | 35,271 |
Ponce Hatch | Haddon Township, N.J. | 27 | 35,529 |
Ray Calisto | Fishers, Ind. | 125 | 34,416 |
Rey Diaz | Miami, Fla. | 114 | 34,581 |
Rich Dooley | Arlington, Va. | 18 | 35,787 |
Richard Fechter | Coral Gables, Fla. | 178 | 33,940 |
Richard Jackson | Berkeley, Calif. | 142 | 34,279 |
Richard Loppnow | Ephrata, Wash. | 91 | 34,795 |
Richard Spinella | North Providence, R.I. | 32 | 35,440 |
Rick Stark | Manchester Center, Vt. | 66 | 35,001 |
Rick Wiegan | Chesapeake, Va. | 78 | 34,918 |
Riley May | Denver, Colo. | 71 | 34,946 |
Rob Milelli | Cherry Hill, N.J. | 77 | 34,926 |
Rob Reiber | Randolph, N.J. | 52 | 35,156 |
Robert Yang | Simi Valley, Calif. | 201 | 33,563 |
Rocky Petrella | Philadelphia, Pa. | 81 | 34,891 |
Roy Sherman | Columbia, Tenn. | 95 | 34,746 |
Russell Dawson | El Dorado Hills, Calif. | 194 | 33,780 |
Rusty Stephens | Atlanta, Ga. | 5 | 36,215 |
Ryan Deal | West Mifflin, Pa. | 131 | 34,350 |
Ryan Murphy | East Berlin, Pa. | 24 | 35,605 |
Sam Dugan | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 182 | 33,905 |
Sam Hendricks | Lynchburg , Va. | 110 | 34,618 |
Scott Anderson | Lakewood, Colo. | 15 | 35,826 |
Scott Kopischke | Menomonee Falls, Wis. | 154 | 34,167 |
Scott Liles | Mountain Home, Ark. | 173 | 33,977 |
Scott Sachs | Huron, Ohio | 185 | 33,890 |
Scott Sintkowski | Waterford, Mich. | 11 | 35,990 |
Scott Wilkinson | Portland , Ore. | 199 | 33,644 |
Seamus McGuigan | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 35 | 35,398 |
Sean Chi | New York, N.Y. | 128 | 34,367 |
Shane Scott | Toronto, Canada | 49 | 35,222 |
Shelby Teagardner | Pittsburgh, Pa. | 116 | 34,564 |
Steve Blenker | Cheektowaga, N.Y. | 82 | 34,883 |
Steve Math | Austin, Texas | 51 | 35,182 |
Steve Moyer | Oakland, Calif. | 208 | 33,425 |
Steve Tortora | Wallingford , Conn. | 115 | 34,581 |
Steve Weber | Paso Robles, Calif. | 53 | 35,146 |
Steven Alessandrini | Flanders, N.J. | 168 | 34,016 |
Steven Schindhelm | Milwaukee, Wis. | 213 | 33,159 |
Steven Torres | Nipomo, Calif. | 196 | 33,709 |
Stewart Kuehne | Redmond, Wash. | 186 | 33,884 |
Terence Larro | Woodland Hills, Calif. | 195 | 33,777 |
Thomas Oliver | Silver Spring, Md. | 103 | 34,679 |
Tim Wandling | Rohnert Park, Calif. | 29 | 35,473 |
Todd Voorhees | Chula Vista, Calif. | 109 | 34,619 |
Tom Deskovitz | South Lyon, Mich. | 8 | 36,093 |
Tom Groome | Duncannon, Pa. | 105 | 34,651 |
Tom Morande | Tinley Park, Ill. | 147 | 34,214 |
Tom Overberger | Bedminster, Pa. | 37 | 35,326 |
Tommy Libretti | Malverne, N.Y. | 59 | 35,056 |
Tony Mavreles | Reading, Pa. | 209 | 33,299 |
Trevor Ross | Edmonton, Canada | 57 | 35,064 |
Trey Quinn | Annapolis, Md. | 113 | 34,587 |
Troy McGovern | Melbourne, Fla. | 97 | 34,711 |
Tyson Traveller | McKinney, Texas | 38 | 35,326 |
Victor Kitzes | Maple Valley, Wash. | 179 | 33,939 |
Vince Corbin | Naperville, Ill. | 86 | 34,846 |
Wade Booth | Tulsa, Okla. | 211 | 33,244 |
William Trostle | Fort Rucker, Ala. | 200 | 33,593 |
Zach Leavitt | Highlands Ranch, Colo. | 12 | 35,943 |
Zach Nizolek | Kansas City, Mo. | 188 | 33,874 |