Comparison Tool for the 2017 NFL Player Draft

Value is the Name of the Game

A regular reader of this blog will know that value, or getting more for less, is a common theme.  After the 2016 draft, I put together a spreadsheet to compare players' relative values given their slotted draft salary. The thought being, if a franchise is going to pay X time more for a player, he should provide X more value.  Below I provide the link to this years Comparison tool that I hope you will use.

Well, What is Value?

According to Merriam-Webster, Value is "relative worth, utility or importance".  Whether that is measured in term of actual overall wins achieved with that player on board, that player providing a long term solution at a particular position, actual stats, star power to drive attendance and merchandise sales or a combination of those (or other) factors, value means different things to different people.  We have no greater example of the subjectivity of value than the Chicago Bears trade up one spot with SF to go get Mitchell Trubisky.


So in assessing value for this exercise, the standard is comparing projected contract values which reflect the draft spot of each player.  Because the rookie contracts are set based on selection, this is a fairly pure way to ascertain comparative value.  While it can get kind of crazy at times, such as the aforementioned Trubisky being over 11x more valuable than Brad Kaaya, when you consider the position of the former compared to the latter to make a huge impact on his new team simply by the fact that they will live and die by his success may support that valuation.   That Kaaya will sit for a while does not mean he will inevitably be as, if not more, valuable than Mitchell, his value to the franchise is not as high right now because they are not so tied to his success. 


From another, less esoteric standpoint, if value means "head-to-head" who is the better player, than being 11x better than anyone is tough to rationalize especially when we're talking about rookie QBs.  But time will tell.

Using the Comparison Tool

The "Cap" tab lists the draftees and certain information included their projected rookie contract value (thanks to Spotrac.com for the information).


The Comparison Tool asks you to pick two players to compare in which Player A will be judged in terms of Player B.  The players are accessible through the drop down list for each cell which is in alphabetical order by first name.  The resultant value represents their relative value by way of their draft position contract value.


Here are a couple of my favorites:

• Buffalo WR Zay Jones is nearly twice as valuable as Tampa Bay's Chris Godwin.
• Injured Eagle Sidney Jones is also nearly twice as valuable as fellow CB Cordrea Tankersley of MIA who was previously seen as a likely top draft pick.
• CAR's drafting of fullback Alex Armah at #192 overall made him more valuable by 1% than highly touted MIN TE Bucky Hodges. 

The Link

Here is the link to the Boombearjr 2017 NFL Draft Comparision Tool:  please explore, have fun and @Boombearjr on Twitter with your favorite comparisons.


Thank you and feel free to follow me on Twitter and  Facebook