Questions Regarding The Nerd Rankings

Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 at 12:00 pm ET

I got a great question from one of our regular users regarding some of the rankings and I think it's a great time to share my answer not only to Hart but also to everyone else. The Nerd goes to great lengths to correct bad data from the various sources it searches and it remains an evolutionary process. The more sites we aggregate...the more challenging the process. None of the sites adhere to any sort of standards. Some sites list the Packers as GBP, some as GB. Marion Barber vs Marion Barber III. LaDainian Tomlinson vs L Tomlinson.

Here are two great examples encountered by the Nerd today. This is not meant to slight these two fantastic sites, but rather to point out some of the difficulties in aggregation from a programmatic point of view.

NFL.com on Aug 14, 2008

Lists Jake Delhomme as a RB for Carolina. (Yes, I'm being serious)

FoxSports.com on Aug 14, 2008

Incorrectly lists Brett Favre as a GB Packer but correctly lists Chad Pennington in Miami. (Again...Yes, I'm being serious)

The Nerd takes into account these errors and a host of others, and overall, it works pretty slick. Thanks to Hart for pointing out a few we missed and I encourage others to Contact Us with any others and/or your thoughts.

Thanks everyone!

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skenderbo CommentedAug 20, 2008 11:00 am

I am assuming Jeremi Johnson is Rudi Johnson, yes?

Nerd CommentedAug 20, 2008 11:00 am

Thanks skenderbo - the display for these two were reversed. Should be showing correctly now. Rudi is currently at #26 among RB's.

Nerd CommentedAug 21, 2008 11:00 am

Looks like FoxSports.com turned back time and now both Favre and Pennington are back with their old teams. There are a few sites out there that are simply ridiculous with their errors, but I won't name them here. Some of the better sites in terms of accuracy: ESPN, MyFantasyLeague.com, and FantasyFootballCalculator.com.