Ultimate Strength of Schedule, Running Backs

Photo: USA Today Sports

Links to similar discussions on other positions:

The advantages offered by Ultimate Strength of Schedule (USOS) when compared to traditional SOS displays are numerous and include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Fantasy Points Driven
  Fantasy football is all about scoring fantasy points, so USOS is based on fantasy points.
• Removed Bias Of Schedule
  Consider the following scenario: Defense A faced the 16 best offenses while Defense B faced the 16 worst offenses. If both defenses allowed opposing quarterbacks to average 300 fantasy points last season, are they equally strong? Of course not; Defense A is far superior as they faced much better offenses. This bias of schedule has been removed from USOS.
• Positional Breakdown
  If you are looking for a running back, it's much more relevant to see SOS data for running backs (rather than simply rushing data).

Explanation of USOS Tables

Below, you will see tables for each position's USOS. Here is a brief explanation of the make-up of these tables.

The "Team" Column

This is simply the NFL team.

The Values

Each value in the table is the expected number of fantasy points on average or on a per-game basis (depending on the column).

The "2021" Column

This is the average expected fantasy points allowed by each team's opponents for this season.

The "EZ" Column

This is the number of easy opponents each team will face this season. An easy opponent is defined as one of the eight (seven during the bye weeks) worst defenses. Obviously, it is preferred to have players with as many easy games as possible.

The "TF" Column

This is the number of tough opponents each team will face this season. A tough opponent is defined as one of the eight (seven during the bye weeks) best defenses. Obviously, it is preferred to have players with as few tough games as possible.

The "1st3" Column

This is the SOS for the first three weeks of the NFL season. This value can be used to determine how players should be expected to open the season. Players with low values could easily stumble out of the gate.

The "1st5" Column

This is similar to "1st3" except that it covers the first five weeks of the NFL season (note that some teams only play four games in this time frame).

The "Byes" Column

This is the SOS covering the bye weeks. This value can be used to find a complementary player during the byes as you'll need to shuffle players in and out of your starting lineup. A player with an easy schedule during this time would be nice to have.

The "15to17" Column

This is similar to "1st3" except that it specifically covers Week 15 through Week 17.

The "16to18" Column

This is similar to "15to17" except that it specifically covers Week 16 through Week 18.

The "W01" through "W18" Columns

These values are the expected strength of each team's opponent for that particular week (W05 is Week 5, etc). This is very useful when searching for backups for your elite starters. The key is to locate players with easy opponents when your star is on a bye.

The Coloring of the Values

The blue values indicate that the team has one of the eight (seven during the bye weeks) best values in that column. The red values indicate that the team has one of the eight (seven during the bye weeks) worst values in that column.

(Note: a green/red combo was considered but some people are color blind between those two colors.)

In short:

• Blue is a team with a good schedule
• Red is a team with a bad schedule

Ultimate Strength of Schedule - Running Backs

Week-By-Week Look