In-depth film analysis of NFL Draft Prospects With a Fantasy Football Lens - by Matt Waldman ©2025
Just thought I’d drop everyone a line and give them the news that we’re about 99 percent finished with the changes we’re making to the player values, salary cap, and spreadsheet. I’d like to thank Donnie Smith for volunteering to make the Excel spreadsheet behave like something it’s capable of doing in the past five years rather than my knowledge that stopped in 2005. You’ll see what I mean sometime on Sunday.
Enjoy the weekend.
RSP Football Writers Project Update
I got some additional input from Football Outsiders columnist Ben Muth on players values this week. – Muth, a former college and NFL offensive lineman whose popular column grades offensive line performance, was gracious enough to make some tweaks along with me and Rotoworld’s Josh Norris to get the values of the linemen aligned with the rest of the player values.
This isn’t to detract from the excellent work Matt Bitonti did. There were more tweaks to the values in addition to the offensive line. And for the most part, the issue wasn’t the values of the players that Matt set, but the skeleton of how linemen should be valued versus other positions.
Simply put, we needed a trial run to see where to adjust. Matt did a fine job of putting everything together with the expectations I communicated to him and if he hadn’t, we would have been able to present the project this week for what I’m calling a “trial run.” And judging by the response, Continue reading
After looking at two rosters and consulting with a few more writers, I’m cutting the salary cap and asking the writers to start over. It’s not enough of a challenge. Even when I limit myself to prospects at skill positions, my offensive line and defensive line are too good. There’s no way I should have offensive and defensive lines this good or be able to field Victor Cruz, Miles Austin, and A.J. Green on the same squad with passable (or good) units in other phases of the game.
I don’t want this to be fantasy football in that sense.
I want to make the writers work at this and $160 million is just a fun time diversion for a few days. I’ve enjoyed it immensely, but I want to force everyone to really think about what they are submitting and agonize. I’m mean in that way.
So I’m dropping the cap from $160 million at least by $20 million, maybe more. I’ve informed the writers. They all groaned, but also laughed because many of them had teams they really liked and readily admitted it wasn’t realistic.
So if you still want to play the $160 million version, I’ll keep the spreadsheet up here. However, I’ll be out with a revised, writers version in a few days.
And I was so loving my Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse defensive line. I was dreaming up the poster of those guys riding Harley’s, dressed in black cloaks…
The Rookie Scouting Portfolio Football Writers Project is an all-star cast of football writers, former scouts, and draft analysts on the Internet. Their mission is to take a month to build a 53-man roster with a $160 million salary cap and present the team here. You can use the same information to build your own team (see the bottom of this post).
On Monday, I’m going to profile ESPN football analyst and former NFL scout Matt Williamson’s RSP Writers Project squad. Later next week, Joe Goodberry’s team will be next to debut. In the meantime, I’m sharing an initial pass at building a team. Two nights ago, I unveiled the skill positions of a first-draft team. Yesterday, I debuted my offensive line. Today, I’m unveiling my defensive line.
Remember, this is an initial draft and I will probably take a month to truly build my squad or build a second squad. However, I think it is valuable and entertaining to display a thought process behind building a team. Readers will hopefully gain this insight when I display other writer’s teams, but they won’t get the same process as I can offer leading to the final product. Continue reading
The Rookie Scouting Portfolio Football Writers Project is an all-star cast of football writers, former scouts, and draft analysts on the Internet. Their mission is to take a month to build a 53-man roster with a $160 million salary cap and present the team here. You can use the same information to build your own team (see the bottom of this post).
Last night, I unveiled the skill positions of a first-draft team. Today, I’m unveiling my offensive line. Remember, this is an initial draft and I will probably take a month to truly build my squad. However, I think it is valuable and entertaining to display a thought process behind building a team. Readers will hopefully gain this insight when I display other writer’s teams, but they won’t get the same process as I can offer leading to the final product.
I am already working on a second draft of the team I’m unveiling this week and there will be some major changes. However, I still think it is fun to show my initial version because it reveals a lot about building NFL teams. Why certain ideas are ingrained in the culture of coaches, general managers, scouts, and players.
If you didn’t read the skill position unveiling yesterday, Continue reading
The consensus opinion after 24 hours is that building a team for the Rookie Scouting Portfolio Football Writers Project is challenging and addictive (download the spreadsheet and instructions at the bottom of this post). By the way, there are more player value updates coming Tuesday afternoon for those asking about guys not listed on the original player spreadsheet.
I agree. I just finished my first complete roster and thought I’d share the starting lineup with commentary. This is an initial draft, Continue reading
The Mission
Each of you has been given complete control over an NFL franchise. Your mission is to do the following by 11:59 pm Eastern Time, Friday, July 20:
The premise is that you are taking an Al Davis-like role with an NFL team and building an organization according to a specific football philosophy. The questions in the Q&A document will require you to demonstrate how you applied this philosophy to your organization, players, coaches, and strategy on offense, defense, and special teams.
Scheme, Strategy, and Coaching
Some of the basic things and owner will need to know by the time he or she finishes building a team:
Every owner should look at the team once it is build and decide what organization they could see as a home for it based on whatever factors the owner can provide in a cogent and entertaining manner.
Players, Depth Charts, and Rosters
The Player Values spreadsheet lists as much of the players in the NFL and assigns a value in millions according to their current position. We did the best we could to develop values that will hopefully make it improbable to build a team that, at least on paper, doesn’t have clear weaknesses in some phase of the game. Player values are based on these factors:
The values are far from perfect, but that’s what should hopefully make this project fertile ground for intellectual debate.
FAQ on Building Rosters
How do I use the spreadsheet?
The spreadsheet is separated into positional tabs. Each tab lists players at those positions and his value (in millions). To the right the player value list is a depth chart table.
The tables are set up to accommodate the maximum number of players an owner can possibly have at each position. Copy and paste (or write) the players into that table and the name will automatically appear on the Final Roster Tab. The spreadsheet will tally the salaries to keep each owner at the $160 million limit.
Matt Waldman will crosscheck the accuracy of your roster upon submission and send it back if a team is over the limit.
In the Final Roster Tab, write some analysis about the players you’re choosing. It can be as specific and detailed as the owner wants, but should at its most basic level explain the player’s skills, talents, and fit with the system.
What if there is a player I want who is not listed on the spreadsheet? You need to contact Matt Waldman about that player and a designated committee of Sigmund Bloom, Jene Bramel, Matt Waldman, and/or Matt Bitonti will determine that value for that player. If one of us is the actual owner petitioning for a player value, another writer will be asked help with that decision rather than the petitioner help with the decision.
What about Special Teams?
The tables below the positional depth chart in each tab are for special teams duty. If an owner wants a player to contribute to the punt team and/or kickoff team, he copies and pastes the player name in both the position tab and the Final Roster Tab. This is the only time owners have to paste or type a player in that Final Roster Tab and the owners do not enter a salary a second time for players working special teams. Players are already given a salary when entered in the depth chart.
What is the minimum number of players required for each positional depth chart?
| Depth Chart Minimums | |
| Offense |
22 |
| Quarterback |
3 |
| Running Back |
3 |
| Fullback and Tight End |
3 |
| Wide Receiver |
5 |
| Tackle |
3 |
| Guard |
3 |
| Center |
2 |
| Defense |
19 |
| Defensive Line |
6 |
| Linebackers |
5 |
| Defensive Backs |
8 |
| Punter |
1 |
| Kicker |
1 |
| Remaining Players (any position) |
10 |
| Total Roster Size |
53 |
Can an owner place a player at a position where he’s not current used? Yes, but be prepared to defend that point with strong logic and his salary will remain the same regardless of the position he plays. Owners will need to copy and paste the player name and salary into the appropriate table for that position.
For instance, if an owner decides to use Mike Vick as a running back instead of quarterback, then he or she must copy Vick’s name and salary from the QB tab and paste it into the RB Depth Chart table on the RB Tab.
Can an owner have the same player work at multiple positions? Yes. Let’s continue the Michael Vick example. Say I decide I want to use Vick like Darren Sproles, but I also want Vick to be my backup QB.
In my offense, Vick will be my starting running back. And in three and four-receiver packages in my offense he’ll be the slot receiver and I’ll have Mewelde Moore as my back in these personnel packages.
What I would do is list Vick on my running back depth chart, my wide receiver depth chart, and my quarterback depth chart, but only paste his salary in one of those tables.
While this strategy might provide the team more personnel flexibility at other positions, if Vick is listed as the No.2 QB on the depth chart but works as the starting RB and sub package slot receiver then the I need to have a good explanation for what kind of depth I’ll have at RB and QB if the No.1 QB gets hurt or Vick gets hurt playing RB/slot receiver.
What if an owner wants to run an experimental/non-traditional system?
If an owner wants to be an innovator and try a 1-6-4 defensive system as its base unit, that’s okay, but the minimums for each positional depth chart will still need to apply and the owner will need to explain:
Essentially, the owner needs to be prepared to show why it will work.
Who to contact with questions?
Matt Waldman at mattwaldmanrsp@gmail.com.
Wanna Play? The tools I’ve given our writers are below, you will also have until July 20th to submit a team to me. There is no guarantee that I’ll publish or evaluator your team in depth. However, I will post details of a contest or two within the week.
RSP Writers Project Player Values
Film Study is a Dangerous Job
My life has been a whirlwind these past two months. In addition to writing the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio here’s the rest of the past eight weeks:
Of course this list doesn’t include the more personal elements of my life that make life a fun (sometimes) challenge. Continue reading
This is one of my favorite posts in a while, because it is two very different angles of one play. The first angle will leave you shaking your head at the wide receiver. The second angle will provide a more sympathetic feeling towards him and less so for the quarterback. Continue reading
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Welcome to Reads Listens Views. It’s my Friday space where, in contrast to the rest of the week, I write less about football and share a little more about life in general. I’d like to thank my avid readers for your patronage during the quiet months of late spring-early summer. I’m growing more attached to this blog with each passing month. Hopefully, everyone has been getting good use of the 2012 RSP and 2012 RSP Post-Draft addendum.
If you have a dynasty draft coming up and haven’t downloaded it, you’ll love it. I have a lot of first-timers this year that have told me how pleased they are with it. I’m also days away from cutting my second donation to Darkness to Light, thanks to my readers. Every $10 I’ve been able to donate on behalf of the RSP pays for training of an adult to understand how to combat and prevent sexual abuse in the community.
Football Reads Continue reading