The fantasy football finals are upon us, and with all the surprising performances the past couple of weeks -- good and bad -- some of you may be curious about which players are most commonly on the rosters of ESPN standard-league finalists.
Leading the way
There are nine players on the rosters of at least 30 percent of the teams that reached the championship round in ESPN standard leagues:
Most common players on finalists in ESPN standard leagues
As you see, the most common player also happens to be one of the bigger question marks in this critical week in fantasy, as DeMarco Murray is coming off hand surgery on Monday. That's why Joseph Randle tops the most-added list over the past seven days. What you'll also notice is that many players on the list above had strong games the past week or two. The 23 points the Ravens' defense/special-teams unit supplied in Week 15, for example, were five more than any other unit. Meanwhile, only one wide receiver came within 11 points of OBJ's Week 15-best 30-spot against Washington, making him a huge difference-maker in playoff matchups.
Bad timing for struggles
For every fantasy owner celebrating the efforts of a player listed above, there is likely an owner lamenting the disappointing efforts of a player who was instrumental in getting his/her fantasy squad into the playoffs in the first place. Here are the players with the worst differentials from the percentage of playoff teams on which they appeared to the number of ESPN standard-league finalists they are a part of:
Worst differentials from pct. of playoff teams to pct. of finalists
Currently active individual players only
The Buffalo Bills' defense can be thanked (or blamed) for five of the eight players who appear on this list. It's no surprise that Manning and his biggest weapons in the passing game are all over this list, since Manning's three worst fantasy games this season have come in the past three weeks (just 28 total points in that span), including a two-point effort in Week 14 against those Bills. Rodgers also fell prey to the Bills, tying his worst fantasy point total (not counting games he was forced to leave early due to injury). Jennings' inclusion on the list has everything to do with him being active but totaling just four touches and one fantasy point the past two weeks.
For those wondering how far down the list of quarterbacks Rodgers (20 percent of finalists) and Peyton (14 percent) reside? They are eighth and 14th, respectively, at the position, behind the recently benched Jay Cutler (21 percent). In all fairness to must-starts like Rodgers and Manning, Cutler was started in just 54 percent of leagues in Week 15, and his ownership rate on championship hopefuls is likely to drop considerably now.