The Edge, Explained
Fantasy 9/1/22
The Edge is unlike any tool created before in the fantasy and betting industry. The inspiration for it was simple: empower anyone to do the type of research I’ve been doing the past few years but without the need for a rigorous coding and analytics background.
With less than a minute of training, new fantasy gamers and betting novices can derive expert insights on their own. When you land on the tool, you’ll notice the four main tabs on the top: Passing, Rushing, Receiving and Team Defense. All are fairly self-explanatory, and moving across the tabs will feel like an intuitive user experience.
Global Filters
Right below are the tabs we will call the global filters: Seasons & Weeks, Positions, Team & Field Filters, Scoring System and Player Search. Notice below how you have full control over the exact weekly range to view with player stats.
The Team & Field Filters are great ambassadors for the gorgeous UI that the Sports Info Solutions development team created.
Want to only view red zone stats? Open up the Field Position filter and select from the opposing 20 to the goal line (0). If you want to view non-red zone plays, filter from your own 20 to the opposing 20.
Tab-Specific Filters
Each of the four main tabs (Passing, Rushing, Receiving, Team Defense) also have their own tab-specific filters. Below, you can see the Receiving tab includes three tab-specific filters: Alignments, Routes and Defenses.
The alignment tab allows you to choose exactly where a receiver is lined up on a given play.
To view who led the NFL in receiving yards from the slot, we only need to click our mouse three times. First, we select “In Slot” ...
Notice that an “Apply Filters” blue button has appeared, and we get a message that “Recent changes are not reflected in the table below.” We make our second click (the blue button) to apply our slot-only filter. Finally, we click the receiving yards column to sort the data. Cooper Kupp had nearly 500 more receiving yards from the slot than any other player in 2021.
If you sort by fantasy points, you’ll see Kupp had more than 100 additional points from the slot than second-place finisher Davante Adams.
It gets better, though. If we then return to the QB tab, select 100 as the snaps minimum and filter for only man coverage, we see Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Garoppolo were all top-5 in yards per pass attempt against man coverage. This tool demonstrates the high correlation between a QB and his primary pass catcher. The Rams, 49ers and Packers surfacing in both the above and below graphics helps us understand the importance of stacking our QB with a WR in both DFS and season-long fantasy leagues.
Those who stacked Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase during that Ravens game (man-coverage defense) last season were rewarded with more than 400 passing yards from Burrow and 200-plus receiving yards from Chase.
Secondary Tabs
When using the Receiving tab, we are given two options for secondary tabs: Basic Receiving and Advanced Receiving. Anytime you switch main tabs, you’ll begin on the Basic tab. Here, we are going to do an example involving the Advanced Receiving secondary tab.
This is an “advanced” (but incredibly easy to replicate) example, where we measure route-running ability. I know receiver X is going to be shadowed by Pro Bowl cornerback Y in their upcoming game. So, I select man defense (which includes Cover 0, Cover 1, and Cover 2 Man — the three schemes directly below it) and create a snaps minimum of 100. I only want to look at receivers facing at least 100-man coverage snaps from 2021.
I’m curious which receivers had the highest targets per route run when facing man coverage. If a receiver is heavily targeted per route against man coverage, he is consistently getting open.
Now, we switch to the Advanced Receiving secondary tab to view targets per route run (TPRR). We can see which receivers are true route tacticians — Jakobi Meyers is a definite surprise compared to the other four names on this list from 2021. If we ever received word Meyers was going to be shadowed by a top cornerback, he would make a solid contrarian DFS play, as the stats below indicate Meyers is elite at getting open when facing man coverage.
Top Right Panel
If we were unsure what TPRR was from the previous example, we could click on the Quick Glossary to find out.
If you want to download the filtered data to an Excel file at any time, click Export to CSV. You can reset the filters by simply clicking Clear All Receiving Filters.
Totals vs. Per Game
For prop betting and many fantasy football decisions, you’ll want to look at per-game numbers. Say, Quenton Nelson, the All-Pro left guard on the Indianapolis Colts, is injured. Jonathan Taylor’s rushing line is set at 73.5 yards for this week, a hypothetical low total because of the known Nelson injury.
We see Taylor averages 106 yards per game. However, if we are afraid the Colts will favor runs to the right more with Nelson out, we may want to check Taylor’s rushing yards (and yards per carry) to the left compared to his runs up the middle and to the right.
We select Per Game in the Stat Format section and see while Taylor is incredibly efficient when running left (6.4 YPC), he actually only puts up 38 rushing yards per game in that direction.
Taylor averages nearly 70 yards per game when running up the middle or to the left. I’m inclined to lean over after some quick research, courtesy of The Edge, with a rushing yards prop of 73.5. Even if Taylor is less efficient, this run game has already leaned away from runs left throughout the season, and he will probably surpass this suppressed rush yards total.
Final Thoughts
This tool, which offers hours of stimulating research possibilities, is entirely free for the 2022 NFL season, and we are confident it will help you improve your knowledge of the game, along with your fantasy and prop betting ROI.