Not All WR Classes Are Created Equal (2014-2017)

[maxhyde]

There just aren't any Cooper's or Watkins/Evans/OBJ types I think so the rest are being unfairly compared. Still much better player for player imo than the Treadwell/Doctson/Coleman trio from last year and deeper.
However relative to the 2017 RB's it would be hard for me to take a WR before the 4th pick.

[broncohead]

Migs2k3

Through this analysis are we also seeing that Mike Williams didn't even make a dent in these rankings?

Wondering about this as well

[Dynasty DeLorean]

One question I have is, why is there a dissonance between your analysis and what everyone is saying about the 2017 WR class? I'm not sure if that has happened in previous years. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've consistently heard from people here or other places that this is a very weak WR class. Do we need to re evaluate that?

Pretty simple. Size. White, Perriman and DGB were very unrefined as WR's (and it seems Parker has a ways to go as well) but it didn't matter to the masses because they were big and fast. This year you don't really have those types of prototypical big/fast Wr's so people equate that to being bad. Makes no sense to me but I can guarantee you that's what most people are thinking when they say this class is weak.

[Kramer]

One question I have is, why is there a dissonance between your analysis and what everyone is saying about the 2017 WR class? I'm not sure if that has happened in previous years. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've consistently heard from people here or other places that this is a very weak WR class. Do we need to re evaluate that?

Pretty simple. Size. White, Perriman and DGB were very unrefined as WR's (and it seems Parker has a ways to go as well) but it didn't matter to the masses because they were big and fast. This year you don't really have those types of prototypical big/fast Wr's so people equate that to being bad. Makes no sense to me but I can guarantee you that's what most people are thinking when they say this class is weak.

Should the expectation then be that this is a very strong class, but in the end it'll produce a lot of WR2 type of WRs instead of the studs at the top? I feel like some of the WRs might drop based on the general feeling everyone has, but there could be amazing value in the late 2nd early 3rd area on some of these guys. Is that a fair assessment?

[M-Dub]

Another fascinating article. Nice work, sir. I really hope you're right about P-Rich. I'm a lifelong CU fan and I desperately want to own a fantasy relevant former Buff. We don't have kickers in our league, so Crosby isn't even an option. Haha.

[Dynasty DeLorean]

One question I have is, why is there a dissonance between your analysis and what everyone is saying about the 2017 WR class? I'm not sure if that has happened in previous years. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've consistently heard from people here or other places that this is a very weak WR class. Do we need to re evaluate that?

Pretty simple. Size. White, Perriman and DGB were very unrefined as WR's (and it seems Parker has a ways to go as well) but it didn't matter to the masses because they were big and fast. This year you don't really have those types of prototypical big/fast Wr's so people equate that to being bad. Makes no sense to me but I can guarantee you that's what most people are thinking when they say this class is weak.

Should the expectation then be that this is a very strong class, but in the end it'll produce a lot of WR2 type of WRs instead of the studs at the top?

That's pretty much my thoughts on the class, yes.

[Migs2k3]

Migs2k3

Through this analysis are we also seeing that Mike Williams didn't even make a dent in these rankings?

Yep, Mike Williams has a very low score but not one you can fully discount. If you read my MWIll article on blog he comps to Kelvin. But overall very very very few with his score do well. I could see MWIll flashing for a season or 2 but not long term like Dez Bryant

[Migs2k3]

Another fascinating article. Nice work, sir. I really hope you're right about P-Rich. I'm a lifelong CU fan and I desperately want to own a fantasy relevant former Buff. We don't have kickers in our league, so Crosby isn't even an option. Haha.

P-Rich is more talented than Lockett. Seattle offense doesn't really support 2 WR's but if I'm going to own a non-Baldwin WR it's going to be him.

[Migs2k3]

Migs2k3

Through this analysis are we also seeing that Mike Williams didn't even make a dent in these rankings?

Wondering about this as well

Here's a link (https://dynastyguruffblog.wordpress.com) to my blog you'll find a couple other articles that help answer your MWIll question

[Migs2k3]

Thanks for doing this. Great read.

One question I have is, why is there a dissonance between your analysis and what everyone is saying about the 2017 WR class? I'm not sure if that has happened in previous years. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've consistently heard from people here or other places that this is a very weak WR class. Do we need to re evaluate that?

As an analysts by trade my 9 to 5 requires me to look at things objectively and have the numbers tell the story. When I set out on this journey it was to create something different. Personally I think a lot of writers are too afraid to go out on a limb and therefore stick to reporting about the same top guys. But we all know that every year many of those guys bust, so why do we keep trusting the consensus rankings each year then? I felt I'd rather stick my neck out there and try to identify those first and give a different perspective than the one you can get on any other site. I always found it refreshing to hear a counter argument because when I didn't I felt I just fell for group think rather than allowing myself to make a better decision.

[Kramer]

Thanks for doing this. Great read.

One question I have is, why is there a dissonance between your analysis and what everyone is saying about the 2017 WR class? I'm not sure if that has happened in previous years. Perhaps someone else can comment on that. I've consistently heard from people here or other places that this is a very weak WR class. Do we need to re evaluate that?

As an analysts by trade my 9 to 5 requires me to look at things objectively and have the numbers tell the story. When I set out on this journey it was to create something different. Personally I think a lot of writers are too afraid to go out on a limb and therefore stick to reporting about the same top guys. But we all know that every year many of those guys bust, so why do we keep trusting the consensus rankings each year then? I felt I'd rather stick my neck out there and try to identify those first and give a different perspective than the one you can get on any other site. I always found it refreshing to hear a counter argument because when I didn't I felt I just fell for group think rather than allowing myself to make a better decision.

As someone who does something similar in my day job (and having been a numbers guy all my life), I definitely found this really interesting and appreciate all the work that you put in. I love seeing this and am excited to see where it goes and how predictive of success it will be in future years. Having said that, it is our job to ask questions and try to get some insight whenever someone does something like this. While I agree that the scouts get stuff wrong all the time, it felt a tad odd to hear stuff on completely opposite sides of the spectrum about the quality of this years WR class. My goal was to try to understand what may be the reason behind it all. As Dynasty DeLorean had said, it is most likely due to the size of the WRs in this class and that more of the WRs will be more WR2 types than potential high end WR1s that we usually associate with a strong WR class. That makes a lot of sense to me in the context of everything I've heard. It made me feel better about what you've done as well.

I apologize if this was covered elsewhere, but would you be able to expand this to the other positions? Or would that just require too much work? Thanks for everything again.