Paul Charchian of LeagueSafe.com used a well-rounded entry to win the 29th annual Fantasy Index Experts Poll, outperforming 19 other industry analysts.
We grade the forecasts of the experts at six different positions, and Charchian ranked in the top third in all of them. He won the most valuable position (running backs) and finished between 4th and 6th in the other five categories.
Charchian made a bunch of aggressive selections and hit on most of them. He was the only expert to rank Lamar Jackson as a top-10 quarterback and was higher than everyone else on Dalvin Cook and Nick Chubb, while he was the lowest on Todd Gurley and James Conner.
It was enough to lift him past Michael Nease of Big Guy Fantasy Sports, who finished 2nd. Tony Holm of Fantasy Sharks edged Brack Varnon for the bronze.
Charchian was the senior member of the field. He first entered the industry in the ‘80s with the “Fantasy Football Weekly” publication – printed in the Minneapolis area and sent out via U.S. mail. He is the President of the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association. He is a member of the Fantasy Sports Hall of Fame.
Charchian has participated in our poll six times previously. He has never before placed higher than 9th, but his win here was more decisive than how this competition typically plays out. We score this competition two different ways, and he won both formats by a wide margin – he had the best picks this year.
The top 11 finishers in this competition earn berths in the “Mock Draft” league that will appear in the 2020 version of the magazine. As the 11th-place finisher, Bob Henry just snuck into that league, with 12th-place David Dorey (TheHuddle.com) just missing the cut.
As the first-place finisher, Charchian wins the right to choose where he’ll draft in that league. If there’s a player that he has his heart set on, he can take the No. 1 spot and be sure to get him.
| EXPERTS POLL, OVERALL (official scoring) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analyst | QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | Def | Points |
| Paul Charchian | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 336,631 |
| Michael Nease | 2 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 335,999 |
| Tony Holm | 5 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 11 | 333,911 |
| Brack Varnon | 3 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 333,348 |
| Chris Liss | 11 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 331,706 |
| Alan Satterlee | 8 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 12 | 330,883 |
| Bryan Teegardin | 6 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 330,667 |
| Lenny Pappano | 9 | 9 | 7 | 19 | 2 | 13 | 330,192 |
| Michael Nazarek | 12 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 329,649 |
| Sam Hendricks | 7 | 19 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 18 | 329,087 |
| Bob Henry | 1 | 16 | 17 | 5 | 19 | 19 | 328,470 |
| David Dorey | 15 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 18 | 10 | 328,406 |
| Scott Pianowski | 10 | 4 | 19 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 328,395 |
| Mike Clay | 18 | 2 | 18 | 11 | 14 | 5 | 327,202 |
| Aaron Bland | 13 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 20 | 8 | 326,247 |
| Cory Bonini | 14 | 18 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 325,881 |
| John Hansen | 17 | 15 | 8 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 325,862 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 16 | 5 | 20 | 16 | 9 | 6 | 325,498 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 20 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 15 | 324,913 |
| Jody Smith | 19 | 20 | 3 | 20 | 8 | 7 | 323,142 |
For entertainment purposes, we also grade the picks using an alternate scoring grid. In this one, we place a floor at each position. In this one, we assume that you can’t do worse than the best backup player at each position (in a 12-team league). So that’s the 13th-best QB, TE, K and Defense, and the 25th-best RB and WR. The players at those position get credit for only how much better they are than those baseline players.
In this alternative scoring system, Charchian still comes out on top. Chris Liss (Rotowire.com) and Lenny Pappano (DraftSharks.com) move up from 5th and 8th into the top 3.
Two experts who did well in the official scoring plummet in the revised format. Michael Nease drops from 2nd all the way down to 15th, and Alan Satterlee falls from 6th to 12th.
The two biggest upward moves in this system were a pair of analyst who’ve won this competition multiple times in the past. Bob Henry (Footballguys) and Scott Pianowski (Yahoo) each moved up 6 spots.
| EXPERTS POLL, OVERALL (alternate scoring) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Analyst | QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | Def | Points |
| Paul Charchian | 2 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 60,194 |
| Chris Liss | 4 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 18 | 11 | 58,936 |
| Lenny Pappano | 6 | 8 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 12 | 57,618 |
| Brack Varnon | 13 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 57,339 |
| Bob Henry | 1 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 57,224 |
| Tony Holm | 8 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 4 | 57,170 |
| Scott Pianowski | 7 | 4 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 56,819 |
| Michael Nazarek | 9 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 56,658 |
| David Dorey | 15 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 12 | 13 | 56,370 |
| Bryan Teegardin | 3 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 19 | 56,334 |
| Mike Clay | 11 | 3 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 6 | 56,247 |
| Alan Satterlee | 12 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 21 | 10 | 55,987 |
| Sam Hendricks | 5 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 17 | 55,504 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 10 | 6 | 20 | 19 | 11 | 9 | 55,188 |
| Michael Nease | 16 | 19 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 3 | 54,999 |
| John Hansen | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 54,882 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 18 | 7 | 18 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 53,775 |
| Aaron Bland | 20 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 20 | 14 | 53,167 |
| Cory Bonini | 17 | 17 | 8 | 14 | 9 | 20 | 53,053 |
| Jody Smith | 19 | 20 | 6 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 52,885 |
—Ian Allan