Weekly Twitter Observations

Kevin OBrien Posted On May 25, 2016

In this series of Twitter Observations, we will focus on some of the interesting tweets you may have missed. Twitter can be overwhelming with the amount of information that streams live, but it also proves to be one of the fastest and easiest ways to communicate. In 140 characters or less you can learn something about a player you may have never thought of from trends, stats or analysis. Let’s review some of the best tweets I’ve captured this week.

Jeff McLane, Eagles writer, Philly Inquirer

Byron Marshall chose the #Eagles for good reason. Rookie RBs potential to contribute at position. My story: https://t.co/v1qpnm0VyG

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) May 21, 2016

Jeff McLane of the Philly Inquirer highlights the Eagles backfield and their potential need for rookie running backs to have a role in 2016. Bryon Marshall had multiple offers as an undrafted free agent and chose the Eagles because of the scarcity at the position. In McLane’s article, he dives into the depth chart, which has injury (Ryan Matthews), and age (Darren Sproles) liabilities. An interesting note is that Marshall is getting work in the slot which can provide versatility if Sproles misses additional time. Running back Wendall Smallwood also is in the mix and getting plenty of repetitions with Sproles sitting out the organized team activities (OTAs). As far as new head coach Doug Pederson, in each of his three seasons with the Chiefs, he was ranked in top ten for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Of course, he had Jamaal Charles; however, he also was top ten (fewest) in both interceptions and giveaways. Pederson is going to emphasize running, and running well to help his quarterback as much as possible.

Pat Thorman, Writer, PFF

In year 2, Ebron noticeably improved his yds/rec, YAC, catch rate, drop rate, & scored 4 more TDs. DET has 210 unaccounted-for tgts from ’15

— Pat Thorman (@Pat_Thorman) May 20, 2016

As Pat Thorman points out, Eric Ebron increased his stats across the board. His numbers, on a per-game basis, saw an increase by a significant percentage albeit they were pretty low the season prior. If Ebron can progress at around the same rate in 2016, he could be in-line for a 110 targets, 90 receptions, and 1,200 yard season. This would be considered quite the break out for Ebron, but is certainly within reach in the Lions offense which had the fourth most pass attempts in 2015 and Calvin Johnson retiring.

J.J. Zachariason, Editor-In-Chief at @numberFire

This is from two articles I wrote earlier this offseason. RB (pink) and WR (green) over the last 5 years (PPR). pic.twitter.com/QTQgiwI6YZ

— JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) May 16, 2016

I really loved this tweet from JJ Zachariason. Not because it tells me what I should do, but because it gives me confidence to go outside of ADP and be comfortable with it. This likely is referencing seasonal data (ADP), with respect to the finish; however, it highlights how difficult it is to back correlate even when the window is one year, never mind dynasty where we are trying to project the next four years and beyond. In normal real world applications, we would like to see a correlation as close to 1.0000 as possible. Generally, 0.9000 can be loosely accepted. After discussing this with JJ, these correlation factors are in the 0.6-0.7 range. This is to say that we simply do not have correlation. Why do I love something that doesn’t correlate? Well, because it confirms to me ADP is simply a guide where your target players are going, not a statement of how good they will be.

Graham Barfield, Fantasy football writer at Rotoworld, FantasyLabs and DLF, fantasygametheory

Ezekiel Elliott is No. 1 in the 2016 RB class in all three Yards Created categories. More: https://t.co/ybsQ9K4G4f pic.twitter.com/IqGskS0CjO

— Graham Barfield (@GrahamBarfield) May 19, 2016

Graham Barfield has been evaluating running backs by looking at how well the back does after his offensive line have done their job. Highlighted in this tweet, we can see Ezekiel Elliot is above in each of Graham’s metric for yards per attempt, yards per attempt on inside runs, and also yards per attempt outside. For an in-depth explanation of Graham’s work on running backs, check out his blog site: fantasygametheory.

@FantasyDouche, Rotoviz editor

TY Hilton has averaged a 1300 yard, 7 touchdown pace in the last 22 games Andrew Luck has appeared in. pic.twitter.com/uhB0DBBMXv

— Fantasy Douche (@FantasyDouche) May 18, 2016

T.Y. Hilton has produced top 12 wide receiver numbers with Andrew Luck. As Fantasy Douche points out, Hilton has an incredible 22 games with Luck, which are over the past two seasons. His 265 PPR point pace would have just beat out Calvin Johnson for WR12 in 2015. The hype has been on Donte Moncrief, and certainly he is an exciting player, but Hilton isn’t taking a backseat either. Using Rotoviz’s game splits app, we can see just how well Hilton did with Luck at quarterback. Over the 22 games, his 16 game averages would be a line of 82-1377-7.

hilton splits

Ken Moody, Senior Partner / Chief Technology Officer of DLF

I’ve added @FFcouchcoach to our list of recommended fantasy websites. https://t.co/oTJfhrgWZP Check them out & keep up the good work guys!

— Ken Moody (@DLF_Kenm) May 22, 2016

I like to end with a news type of tweet, and this week, this bit of news caught my interest from Ken Moody. At DLF we of course like to promote ourselves, but as with the nature of Twitter Observations, we also like to promote the fantasy and dynasty community on the whole. The FFcouchcoach site has been added to our list of recommended fantasty sites. Go check them out on the site, www.ffcouchcoach.com, and all of the other great sites on our list of recommended sites.

With so much information on Twitter, there are so many great minds contributing great discussion, articles, and bits of data, truly a hot bed of fantasy goodness. I will be doing my best to capture the highlights of the week and mining it out in one place for you.

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Kevin OBrien

Honorary Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Kevin is a husband and dad of 4 kids ranging from 2 to 12 years old. By day he is an Electrical Engineer working in semiconductor test development, by night researching fantasy football. An active owner in many dynasty leagues across multiple formats; IDP, Superflex, 12-16 teams, Salary Cap, Devy, Best-ball, you name it. Kevin lives & breathes dynasty and loves having open discussions on any aspect of football, feel free to hit him up on Twitter.