The Strength of Schedule method used on this website was developed by The Fantasy Point as a tool that will help to simplify the impact of a player's schedule upon his fantasy value. To develop this tool, we rated the difficulty of each team's defense, giving each team 4 grades, one each for pass defense (Passing), rush defense (Rushing), the liklihood to give up fantasy points to opposing defenses (Defense), and the liklihood to give up fantasy points to opposing kickers (Kicking). Strength of Schedule(SOS) grades were based upon a relative scale of 1 to 8, such that the teams least likely to give up fantasy points in the league are 8's and the teams that we expect to give the most fantasy points are 1's. Therefore, the teams who face opponents who have lower SOS grades will have more favorable fantasy schedules.
These SOS grades are then used in many different areas of the website. Some the key places are listed below:
1) The Strength of Schedule Grid.
This grid lays out the each team's schedule and displays the defensive grade for a team's opponent each week. The grid was then color-coded, so that the most favorable fantasy match-ups (those versus teams with a grade of 1 or 2) are displayed in green, and the most unfavorable match-ups (those versus the 7's or 8's) are in red.
You may view a team's strength of schedule for either of the 4 categories. The team's average defensive score appears at the far right. By default, teh grid is sorted from the easiest SOS schedule to the most difficult.
2) QBBC or DEFBC Analyzer.
The QBBC Analyzer uses the SOS grades for pass defense that were given to a quarterback's opponent in order to identify favorable versus unfavorable fantasy match-ups for quarterbacks. Since lower grades reflect easier schedule match-ups, the lower the Average SOS, the more favorable your QBBC's schedule will be. Similarly, the DEFBC Analyzer uses the SOS grades for the Defense category to idenitfy favorable verses unfavorable fantasy match-ups for Team Defenses.
3) Match-Up Analyzer
Because we understand the importance of playing the match-ups in fantasy football, we have hard-wired our strength of schedule method into much of the content that is available on our site. The Match-up Analyzer gives you a clear idea of how a player's value can fluctuate over the course of the season based upon the way his schedule is laid out.
3) Player Rankings and Projections
Our strength of schedule grades are also taken into consideration when calculating our player rankings and point projections. Though the use of these factors is less apparent, they are no less important, and they are a large reason why we think we can offer some of the best fantasy analysis in the industry.