Stat Boy Saturday: Fantasy Points Per Touch

Another week with our honorary stat boy, Zach Fein of Fein Sports. A contributor with as much stat muscle as anyone in the business. You may not understand what he's says and use it for you fantasy leagues, but if you're in the mood to be baffled and confused, then boy does he have you covered. Because life is one big spreadsheet. This week he breaks down how efficient players are with the opportunities they get in their offenses. What's worse: A player who gets all the carries on a team, and underperforms massively; or one who gets the same stats with half the touches on the same team, but won't get any extra carries because the coach wants to stick with the first player? That's what happens every year in Carolina, but that's beside the point. The purpose of this article will be to find players who can become sleepers if they get an increase in touches, or players whose stats are only high due to high number of carries/receptions. I'll use the word "touches" throughout the article, although "touches" really only works for RBs. For running backs, touches is carries plus receptions; for QBs, completions plus carries; and for WRs and TEs, receptions. Here now are the players with the most fantasy points per touch for each position; I used the top 33 quarterbacks in fantasy points, RBs with ten touches, WRs with six touches, and TEs with three touches, so players with one catch for a touchdown were excluded.

Name	FPPT		Name	FPPT
QB			RB
Philip Rivers	1.07		Darren Sproles	1.47
JaMarcus Russell	0.91		Michael Pittman	1.47
Kurt Warner	0.87		Mike Tolbert	1.44
Aaron Rodgers	0.83		Felix Jones	1.43
Jay Cutler	0.82		Ronnie Brown	1.29
Eli Manning	0.75		T.J. Duckett	1.25
Tony Romo	0.73		Michael Turner	1.11
Kerry Collins	0.71		Jonathan Stewart	1.05
J.T. O'Sullivan	0.70		Pierre Thomas	1.04
Donovan McNabb	0.69		Brian Westbrook	1.01
Ben Roethlisberger	0.68		Rudi Johnson	0.99
Jason Campbell	0.66		Marion Barber	0.93
Brett Favre	0.64		Selvin Young	0.91
Drew Brees	0.61		Maurice Jones-Drew	0.90
Jon Kitna	0.61		Tim Hightower	0.86
Trent Edwards	0.60		Brandon Jackson	0.86
Matt Ryan	0.58		Reggie Bush	0.86
Chad Pennington	0.56		Willis McGahee	0.84
Matt Hasselbeck	0.54		Correll Buckhalter	0.84
Tarvaris Jackson	0.52		Jerious Norwood	0.83
Brian Griese	0.50		Frank Gore	0.81
Peyton Manning	0.49		LenDale White	0.79
Marc Bulger	0.48		Earnest Graham	0.79
Kyle Orton	0.48		Kevin Faulk	0.78
Matt Cassel	0.46		Le'Ron McClain	0.77
Tyler Thigpen	0.45		Marshawn Lynch	0.76
Jeff Garcia	0.44		Warrick Dunn	0.74
Jake Delhomme	0.44		Joseph Addai	0.74
Joe Flacco	0.42		Derrick Ward	0.73
Carson Palmer	0.38		Julius Jones	0.70
Matt Schaub	0.37		Darren McFadden	0.69
Derek Anderson	0.34		Sammy Morris	0.69
David Garrard	0.33		Chris Johnson	0.68
			Michael Bush	0.68
Name	FPPT		Willie Parker	0.67
WR			Clinton Portis	0.65
Chris Chambers	6.57		Adrian Peterson	0.62
Isaac Bruce	3.87		Matt Forte	0.62
Terrell Owens	3.73		Steve Slaton	0.61
Anquan Boldin	2.86		Brandon Jacobs	0.60
Roddy White	2.65		Kevin Smith	0.58
Larry Fitzgerald	2.58		Dominic Rhodes	0.58
Chansi Stuckey	2.52		Jamaal Charles	0.56
Santana Moss	2.40		Leon Washington	0.56
Calvin Johnson	2.33		LaDainian Tomlinson	0.55
Hines Ward	2.33		Fred Jackson	0.54
Roy Williams	2.16		Leonard Weaver	0.53
Hank Baskett	2.14		Justin Fargas	0.52
Brandon Lloyd	2.12		Thomas Jones	0.52
Laveranues Coles	2.12		Andre Hall	0.51
Vincent Jackson	2.12		Larry Johnson	0.49
Bryant Johnson	2.11		Chris Perry	0.49
David Patten	2.08		Ladell Betts	0.48
Reggie Wayne	2.07		LaMont Jordan	0.47
Justin Gage	2.06		Chester Taylor	0.45
Lee Evans	2.03		Steven Jackson	0.45
Dwayne Bowe	2.01		Jamal Lewis	0.43
Greg Jennings	1.96		Ricky Williams	0.43
Bernard Berrian	1.95		Ryan Grant	0.42
Randy Moss	1.86		Edgerrin James	0.40
Jabar Gaffney	1.85		Fred Taylor	0.40
Brandon Marshall	1.84		Laurence Maroney	0.37
Plaxico Burress	1.77		DeAngelo Williams	0.37
Billy McMullen	1.77		Rashard Mendenhall	0.35
Eddie Royal	1.74		Ray Rice	0.35
Roscoe Parrish	1.71		Kevin Jones	0.32
Jerricho Cotchery	1.69		Lorenzo Booker	0.24
Kevin Walter	1.66
Torry Holt	1.65		Name	FPPT
Justin McCareins	1.65		TE
Ike Hilliard	1.64		Kevin Boss	3.70
Greg Lewis	1.60		John Gilmore	3.47
Amani Toomer	1.56		Delanie Walker	3.47
T.J. Houshmandzadeh	1.53		Todd Yoder	3.20
Donald Driver	1.51		Martellus Bennett	2.85
DeSean Jackson	0.51		Antonio Gates	2.67
Domenik Hixon	1.48		Tony Scheffler	2.62
Marvin Harrison	1.48		Anthony Fasano	2.45
Santonio Holmes	1.45		Jerramy Stevens	2.42
Antonio Bryant	1.39		Dustin Keller	2.40
Anthony Gonzalez	1.39		Visanthe Shiancoe	2.37
Jason Avant	1.39		David Martin	2.08
D.J. Hackett	1.34		Bo Scaife	1.97
Greg Camarillo	1.33		L.J. Smith	1.82
Patrick Crayton	1.31		Dante Rosario	1.80
Bobby Wade	1.28		Nate Jackson	1.78
Brandon Stokley	1.26		Vernon Davis	1.70
Andre Johnson	1.18		Owen Daniels	1.49
Josh Reed	1.12		Garrett Mills	1.48
Chad Johnson	1.10		Robert Royal	1.46
Matt Jones	1.08		John Carlson	0.40
Antonio Chatman	1.08		Jason Witten	1.37
Derrick Mason	1.08		Heath Miller	1.36
Antwaan Randle El	1.06		Tony Gonzalez	1.26
Arnaz Battle	1.03		Kellen Winslow	1.26
Lance Moore	1.02		Randy McMichael	1.26
Muhsin Muhammad	1.00		Desmond Clark	1.25
Michael Clayton	1.00		Chris Baker	1.20
Ted Ginn Jr.	0.94		Chris Cooley	1.16
Wes Welker	0.94		Dallas Clark	1.10
Joey Galloway	0.93		Marcedes Lewis	1.05
Reggie Williams	0.91		Alex Smith	1.03
Braylon Edwards	0.91		Greg Olsen	0.98
Steve Smith	0.85		Zach Miller	0.97
Mike Furrey	0.73		Jeremy Shockey	0.94
Rashied Davis	0.73		Jeff King	0.92
Shaun McDonald	0.69		Reggie Kelly	0.64
Dante' Hall	0.57		Donald Lee	0.64

Observations

• Kerry Collins is a top-15 quarterback for the rest of the year if he keeps his job.
• J.T. O'Sullivan is top ten.
• I wouldn't touch David Garrard, Derek Anderson, or Matt Schaub at all until they prove they are worth owning in standard leagues.

• I wouldn't pay much attention to goal-line backs such as Michael Pittman and T.J. Duckett being so high up on the list; after all, they only get a couple carries a game and sometimes get a touchdown.
• Remember what I said about Carolina before? Jonathan Stewart is getting almost eight-tenths more fantasy points per touch than DeAngelo Williams.
• If Deuce McAllister is out any longer, keep an eye on Pierre Thomas. He may be a sleeper late in the year.
• Felix Jones is top-20 running back from here on out, and I wouldn't argue if you made him top 15. And Marion Barber might be a top-five RB for the rest of the year—Dallas has one heck of a backfield.

• Wes Welker is low on the WR list, but isn't that expected for a possession receiver?
• Justin Gage does quite well with Kerry Collins as his QB, and he's someone to pick up or buy low on as his health status improves.
• Don't get caught up in the Eddie Royal hype. I'm serious.
• Speaking of Denver WRs, it's amazing how high Brandon Marshall is, with his crazy-high reception numbers this year.
• Although Hank Baskett is getting more than two points per touch, I wouldn't touch him (no pun intended)—he's a deep threat only, which boosts his numbers significantly.

• Donald Lee isn't the sleeper we all thought he'd be, huh? I'd still buy low if you had a sketchy TE situation.
• I'm a big fan of John Carlson, but once Bobby Engram and Deion Branch come back, I don't see big things for him.