Does wild crime have an effect on Fantasy Football?

The Wildcat offense has taken the league by storm. When executed correctly, it is so effective that most teams try to include it in their weekly game plans. This article will explore what the Wildcat is, which teams run it, and the potential impact of use on an individual player’s performance from a fantasy football perspective.

If you’ve been living on a different planet and aren’t familiar with exactly what the Wildcat is, it’s essentially a formation where the ball is thrown directly at the running back rather than the quarterback. Since the quarterback does not normally have blocking responsibilities, the formation allows the offense to use an additional blocker. Also, there is often a moving receiver / running back from the slot that gives the offense the ability to run down the middle or out. Defenses must now take into account not only the additional blocker, but also whether the play will go in or out. To make things even tougher for defense, there are flavors of the wildcat that line up a quarterback on the outside, opening up the potential for a passing game outside of the wildcat!

All of that sounds great, but does it work? The answer is yes. In 2008, the Dolphins (who count on the Wildcat offense more than any other team) used the Wildcat in 11% of their plays. They averaged an impressive 6.5 yards per carry for the Wildcat versus 3.9 for the traditional lineups. This season, the Eagles have incorporated the Wildcat into their offense and are averaging 5.04 yards per carry versus 3.9 yards per carry for traditional offensive formations. Other teams have not been as successful. The Raiders have tried to get Darren McFadden out of the Wildcat, yet he’s only averaging 5 yards per carry versus 4.4 yards per carry for traditional offensive teams.

It appears that the combination of the right staff and experience in conducting training contributes to Wildcat’s success. For that reason, aside from the Dolphins and Eagles, the Wildcat will continue to be a trick formation for most NFL teams and will have little impact on individual player stats. Table 1 is a list we’ve compiled of the NFL teams running the Wildcat offense. This list may have changed to date as more and more coaches incorporate Wildcat schematics into their game plans. In any case, we have divided Wildcat teams into three categories: Heavy, Moderate, and Light. Categories differentiate teams by their use of the Wildcat. The table also highlights which players could see a potential impact on fantasy football from the use of the Wildcat package by their teams. Miami is the only team to fall into the Heavy category. This year they are using Wildcat about 13% of the time compared to 11% last year. So as you can see, even the gold standard Wildcat team isn’t using the pack as often. Teams in the Moderate category run about 5% of their snapshots outside of Wildcat, while teams in the Light category use it sparingly.

So what does the Wildcat mean to fantasy football? Basically, unless your player is in the Dolphins, don’t expect to change the way you value your players. However, given the correct weekly matchup, against a team with poor running defense, the use of Wildcat can be used to differentiate between two similarly ranked players. Wide receivers running wild cat may see a slight increase in value due to the extra rushing yards they likely wouldn’t get from traditional offensive sets. Players like DeSean Jackson, Devin Hester, and Anquan Boldin are the real names to watch. Most runners will see only a small benefit at best from running the bobcat. As previously stated, since the Dolphins use the scheme 13% of the time at most and more like 5% of the time than average NFL teams, Wildcat running backs should see only a small increase in value. Likewise, quarterbacks involved in Wildcat systems shouldn’t see a significant decrease in value. Since offense is only used on average for about 5% of a team’s plays, the issue of the quarterback leaving the field should be of little concern.

So there you have it. Hopefully this provided an in-depth look at what the Wildcat is and why it provides an advantage to the teams running it. Is the Wildcat a fad? Will the defensive coordinators find a way to shut it down? Only time will tell. For now, one thing is for sure: training should NOT have a huge impact on the rating of fantasy football players.

Heavy
Miami

Moderate
Philadelphia
Buffalo
Chicago
Dallas
Oakland
Denver

Light
Arizona
Atlanta
Baltimore
San Diego
San Francisco
St. Louis