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 | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Analyst | QB | WR | RB | TE | PK | D | Total |
Brandon Funston | 11 | 14 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 355,313 |
Jeff Ratcliffe | 6 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 12 | 355,092 |
Tony Holm | 1 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 354,204 |
Michael Nazarek | 8 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 15 | 353,928 |
Cory Bonini | 2 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 17 | 353,455 |
Bill Copestick | 10 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 353,179 |
Jason Wood | 16 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 5 | 353,112 |
Jody Smith | 5 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 18 | 352,298 |
Scott Pianowski | 4 | 10 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 352,026 |
David Dorey | 14 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 351,302 |
Bob Henry | 20 | 8 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 351,020 |
Sam Hendricks | 7 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 18 | 2 | 350,819 |
Ken Holizna | 9 | 4 | 19 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 350,788 |
Tom Brolley | 17 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 16 | 349,325 |
Bob Lung | 12 | 3 | 17 | 15 | 17 | 7 | 349,012 |
Aaron Bland | 15 | 9 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 19 | 348,226 |
Lenny Pappano | 18 | 15 | 4 | 16 | 20 | 6 | 347,854 |
Jeff Erickson | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 347,574 |
Jason Moore | 13 | 13 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 346,781 |
Paul Charchian | 3 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 345,051 |
EXPERTS POLL, SCORING BREAKDOWNS | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Analyst | QB | WR | RB | TE | PK | D | Total |
Funston | 91,476 | 79,252 | 65,615 | 45,923 | 37,398 | 35,650 | 355,313 |
Ratcliffe | 92,131 | 80,015 | 63,655 | 48,265 | 36,101 | 34,926 | 355,092 |
Holm | 94,156 | 81,220 | 60,986 | 46,136 | 36,698 | 35,009 | 354,204 |
Nazarek | 91,650 | 80,561 | 62,480 | 47,370 | 37,091 | 34,776 | 353,928 |
Bonini | 93,602 | 77,857 | 62,559 | 48,119 | 36,631 | 34,687 | 353,455 |
Copestick | 91,486 | 79,969 | 63,701 | 45,898 | 36,219 | 35,905 | 353,179 |
Wood | 89,766 | 78,174 | 65,791 | 47,631 | 36,203 | 35,546 | 353,112 |
Smith | 92,442 | 80,124 | 62,574 | 46,027 | 36,450 | 34,681 | 352,298 |
Pianowski | 92,468 | 79,639 | 59,807 | 47,669 | 37,172 | 35,272 | 352,026 |
Dorey | 90,292 | 77,373 | 64,283 | 47,984 | 36,571 | 34,800 | 351,302 |
Henry | 87,930 | 79,877 | 66,089 | 44,425 | 37,084 | 35,615 | 351,020 |
Hendricks | 92,103 | 79,591 | 63,124 | 44,780 | 35,362 | 35,859 | 350,819 |
Holizna | 91,599 | 80,175 | 60,627 | 46,667 | 36,789 | 34,931 | 350,788 |
Brolley | 89,280 | 78,553 | 62,246 | 47,396 | 37,105 | 34,745 | 349,325 |
Lung | 91,281 | 80,422 | 61,183 | 45,106 | 35,707 | 35,313 | 349,012 |
Bland | 89,957 | 79,872 | 61,896 | 46,030 | 35,814 | 34,658 | 348,226 |
Pappano | 89,193 | 78,919 | 65,197 | 45,050 | 34,121 | 35,373 | 347,854 |
Erickson | 89,072 | 79,446 | 62,126 | 45,423 | 36,248 | 35,260 | 347,574 |
Moore | 90,343 | 79,357 | 61,833 | 44,368 | 35,997 | 34,883 | 346,781 |
Charchian | 92,687 | 77,688 | 61,741 | 44,255 | 35,342 | 33,339 | 345,051 |
—Ian Allan