Congratulations to Brandon Funston of The Athletic. He’s the winner in our Experts Poll competition for the 2023 season.

Funston put together a 120-player draft board (20 players at six different positions) that outperformed those of 17 other industry professionals (as well as two at-large berths awarded to the highest finishers in our sister competition, the Fantasy Index Open).

Funston placed first at the kicker position and took 3rd in the running back and the defense (& special teams) categories. He was a middle-of-the-pack finishers at the other three positions: quarterback, tight end and wide receiver. But that was enough to hold off Jeremy Ratcliffe from FTN Fantasy.

Ratcliffe finished higher than Funston at tight end (1st), quarterback (6th) and wide receiver (6th) but not by enough to overcome the running back position. Ratcliffe (who also was the runner-up last year) finished about average in the kicker and defense categories.

Tony Holm of Fantasy Sharks was the top finisher at both quarterback and wide receiver, finished third overall. Michael Nazarek (Fantasy Football Mastermind) and Cory Bonini (The Huddle) rounded out the top 5.

The scoring in this competition is complex. It involves taking each player’s overall production (for the 18-week regular season) and multiplying it against where he was ranked. The higher you rank a player, the more he counts towards your score, with overall scores ranging from 345,000 to 355,000.

Ka’imi Fairbairn, as an example, scored 102 points. Had you ranked him as your No. 1 kicker, that would be worth 2,550 points (25 x 102). Had you ranked him 2nd, that would be worth 2,448 points (24 x 102). Ranking him 20 would earn 612 points (6 x 102).

Injuries play a key role in this style of a competition. There are no lineups or roster moves, so when a player misses a bunch of games, it’s a gut punch to your score. Aaron Rodgers, for example, generated zeros week after week. (Funston, however, didn’t benefit from the Rodgers injuries; he ranked him 13th – 13 other analysts ranked him lower.)

FANTASY INDEX EXPERTS POLL RESULTS
AnalystQBWRRBTEPKDTotal
Brandon Funston111431213355,313
Jeff Ratcliffe66711412355,092
Tony Holm11189710354,204
Michael Nazarek82117415353,928
Cory Bonini218102817353,455
Bill Copestick107613121353,179
Jason Wood161725135353,112
Jody Smith559111018352,298
Scott Pianowski41020428352,026
David Dorey142053914351,302
Bob Henry20811854351,020
Sam Hendricks711817182350,819
Ken Holizna94198611350,788
Tom Brolley1716126316349,325
Bob Lung1231715177349,012
Aaron Bland15914101619348,226
Lenny Pappano1815416206347,854
Jeff Erickson19121314119347,574
Jason Moore131315191513346,781
Paul Charchian31916201920345,051
EXPERTS POLL, SCORING BREAKDOWNS
AnalystQBWRRBTEPKDTotal
Funston91,47679,25265,61545,92337,39835,650355,313
Ratcliffe92,13180,01563,65548,26536,10134,926355,092
Holm94,15681,22060,98646,13636,69835,009354,204
Nazarek91,65080,56162,48047,37037,09134,776353,928
Bonini93,60277,85762,55948,11936,63134,687353,455
Copestick91,48679,96963,70145,89836,21935,905353,179
Wood89,76678,17465,79147,63136,20335,546353,112
Smith92,44280,12462,57446,02736,45034,681352,298
Pianowski92,46879,63959,80747,66937,17235,272352,026
Dorey90,29277,37364,28347,98436,57134,800351,302
Henry87,93079,87766,08944,42537,08435,615351,020
Hendricks92,10379,59163,12444,78035,36235,859350,819
Holizna91,59980,17560,62746,66736,78934,931350,788
Brolley89,28078,55362,24647,39637,10534,745349,325
Lung91,28180,42261,18345,10635,70735,313349,012
Bland89,95779,87261,89646,03035,81434,658348,226
Pappano89,19378,91965,19745,05034,12135,373347,854
Erickson89,07279,44662,12645,42336,24835,260347,574
Moore90,34379,35761,83344,36835,99734,883346,781
Charchian92,68777,68861,74144,25535,34233,339345,051

—Ian Allan