Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning

Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - Printable Version

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Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - wetwilleh - 10-28-2024

I came up with this idea at some point in S48 and initially planned on releasing it then but eventually kept adding more and more to it. Now here we are going into S51 and I've collected and analyzed stats from S47 to S50 in both the DSFL and ISFL. From S48-S50 I began tracking the TPE for players in the ISFL (I didn't feel the DSFL was needed with the 250 cap) but wasn't able to get the TPE from positions in S47 so it's omitted. Another note is there is some disparity in the statistics from LBs in the DSFL due to waiver pickups being used midseason. The final lists were taken after the final sim file and who was listed where so it's possible some stats are minor with less games played which doesn't give the full story. I have also listed if players were rookies as well if they were a different position that was playing in the LB slot for their teams.

My prediction before starting is that ROLB will be the leader in most of the statistic headings with LOLB right behind. This is based on virtually everybody saying that ROLB is considered the best and the position you should strive for as a LB on your team. More luck based stats such as INTs, PDs, Fumbles, Safeties, and TDs are up in the air depending on if the sim likes you or not though. One of the key factors I'm trying to see is if position or TPE leads towards better stats or if it's a mix of both (or just sim luck).

To start, we're going to take a look at S47 statistics beginning with the DSFL then moving into the ASFC and NSFC in the ISFL.

Key:
® - Rookie Season
(GM) - DSFL GM Bot
(Bot) - DSFL Bot
ROLB - Right Outside Linebacker
LOLB - Left Outside Linebacker
MLB - Middle Linebacker
TFL - Tackle for Loss
FF - Forced Fumbles
FR - Fumble Recovery
INT - Interception
PD - Pass Deflection
TD - Touchdown
Green - Top Stat Earner
Yellow - 2nd Stat Earner

S47 DSFL

Our first (don't worry there's many more to come) set of statistics have a decent amount of disparity to them. For tackles, we see 4 ROLB's have the highest with one tied and 3 LOLB's have the highest amount. There are two instances of a MLB having the 2nd highest tackles in Chanos and Murphy who were both rookies. For TFL, we again have 4 ROLB's with the highest and 4 LOLB's with the highest. Chanos again breaks up the expectation that LOLB/ROLB will have the top 2 with a 2nd highest for their team. FF and FR are where we should first expect more randomness so this time we have ROLB: 6, LOLB: 1, MLB: 2 for FF and ROLB: 3, LOLB: 4, MLB: 1 for FR. The ROLB is normally associated with your "higher" TPE player so a higher competitiveness and strength attribute is expected but that doesn't stop LOLB and MLB from having some appearances as well. For INT we see ROLB: 2, LOLB: 3, MLB: 4 while PD has ROLB: 3, LOLB: 4, MLB: 2. From this statistic pool, it seems that LOLB and MLB are more likely to get INTs and PDs at least in the DSFL compared to ROLB. I included both safety and TD stats but there is so much luck involved that it doesn't appear enough to go into specifics. However, both a ROLB and LOLB had the lone TDs for LBs in S47.

So what can we take from this first batch? Not much. The DSFL has so much random factors such as bots playing in some positions as well as mid-season waivers that it's hard to get a read on it but just eyeballing the data, we see ROLBs lead in 29/56 potential statistic points with 14/56 2nd highest. LOLBs sit at 23/56 points with 20/5664 2nd highest. MLB1 has 8/5664 points and 10/56 2nds while MLB2 has 3/56 points with 3/56 2nds. In this batch ROLB leads the pack with LOLB close behind, then MLB1 and lastly is MLB2 but we're not done just yet.

I took the average of each statistic per position and included it in the table above. Again coded to see which positions have the highest two for each point. In terms of average, ROLB and LOLB have the highest of both from this season in the DSFL with ROLB having 4/7 points and 3/7 2nds and LOLB having 3/7 points and 4/7 2nds while the MLB positions sat below them both in every statistic.

For the stat buffs out there I included a little bit more for this season in the DSFL as well (and more at the end) including the Mean, Standard Deviation, Maximum, and Minimum stats for each point. It's a bit easier to see that ROLB had the highest stat in tackles, TFL, and sacks while LOLB had the highest stat in FF, FR, INTs (tied with MLB1), and PDs. While this is nice to visualize, it still begs the question: Is it from position or TPE? As mentioned previously, I started this is S48 so I was not able to get the TPE from players at the end of the S47 season but being as I was in this class in the DSFL myself I can tell you that every ROLB that was not a rookie was capped at 250 with rookies getting close to the cap by end of the season. The MLB position is tough to tell with low TPE bots and waiver players joining midseason but rookies in the DSFL that earn will always make an impact, regardless of position. ROLB and LOLB are definitely the "higher tier" of the four so comparing them at the end should be interesting.

The best performing players of the S47 DSFL are Toller Retriever, Speed Hawk, and KrustyKrab Pizza while the best performing rookies were Willeh Strong, Adolin Collins, and Maco Mendonca Jr in my eyes.

Next we're going to the S47 ISFL ASFC division. I broke the two divisions up in order to not have a monster of a stat sheet and to save my sanity by making it seem like less work.

S47 ASFC (ISFL)

I won't go as in depth from here on out since you all have eyes (although lets be honest no-one is going to analyze every stat for every player) but in summary, ROLB had 30/49 points with 9/49 2nds, LOLB had 18/49 points with 22/49 2nds, MLB1 had 6/49 points with 7/49 2nds, and MLB2 had 1/49 points with 3/49 2nds. Clear difference from the DSFL right? ROLB seems to pull away more in terms of having the highest stat in statistical points but LOLB is still close and has more 2nds by far. Meanwhile MLB1 and MLB2 take some away but are still at the bottom of the barrel.

We can further see this with the positional averages in the ASFC. ROLBs lead in everything but PDs while LOLB's averages are 2nd in everything but leading in PDs. MLB1 makes a couple of 2nd appearances with INTs and PDs but they were gapped in most metrics. While ROLB is leading, LOLB is close behind in every point. I also should mention that only ROLBs and LOLBs were the only to get safeties and TDs here with 2 safeties a piece and a lone TD for ROLBs (I don't know why LOLB is at 0.29 and ROLB is at 0.31 when they both have 2 but I digress - google sheets gonna google sheets).

In terms of nerd stats, ROLB has the highest in tackles, TFL, FF, sacks, and INTs while LOLB only had the highest in FRs and MLB1 had the highest in PDs. It's a clear difference in the ISFL vs DSFL for what position comes out on top without true rookies and TPE caps but we won't know exactly until we see the TPE values in S48.

The best performing players of S47 ASFC would be Crasher Wake, Dub Redd, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman while the best performing rookies would be JJ What (sorry other rookies there were only 3 of you).

Moving on we have the S47 ISFL NSFC division.

S47 NSFC (ISFL)

For the S47 NSFC group, ROLB had 24/49 points with 13/49 2nds while LOLB had 24/49 points with 16/49 2nds. In the back crowd, MLB1 and MLB2 had 6/49 points with MLB1 having 11/49 2nds and MLB2 having 10/49 2nds. This is the first case of LOLB pulling ahead but only by a narrow margin. While the top stats were the same of ROLB and LOLB, LOLB had a slight edge in 2nds in this group.

The average per position chart tells a slightly different story for this group. LOLB leads in the tackle category for the first time as well as INTs, PDs, and TDs but ROLB leads in TFL, FF, FR, Sacks, and safeties while being 2nd in tackles and TDs. This shows there are some clear outliers for the position groups of LBs in the NSFC when comparing the group averages to raw stats which we can see better in the table below.

Here we see ROLB leads in TFL and sacks while tied in FF, FR, safeties, and TDs while LOLB leads in tackles, INTs and PDs while tied in FF, safeties, and TDs. This gives us our first look of LOLB truly being in the positional competition with this group.

The best performing players of the S47 NSFC group were Mike Gesicki, Cheecago Boucher, and Norman Smiley while the best performing rookies were unavailable due to all of them being out of position rookies Sad

. (NSFC do better)

We now move into S48 which was an exciting season to watch for me personally as it was my first ISFL season on the Yeti. Starting off we have the S48 DSFL LB grouping.

S48 DSFL

This group returns to what we've seen with ROLB leading the pack with 25/56 points and 18/56 2nds while LOLB had 20/56 points and 15/56 2nds. MLB1 still had a slight edge on MLB2 with 7 more points and 2 more 2nds to help their case. This group seemed more split with some GM bots having better stats compared to players even in MLB positions but in the end, ROLB faired better especially in the key stat department of tackles, sacks, and TFL.

ROLB dominated for the averages in the S48 DSFL grouping, especially in the stats where it mattered. While there were a few rookies at the ROLB position, they were all max earners (with the exception of the DAL GM bot) but another thing that stuck out was the lack of actual players this season. Out of the 32 eligible players, 13 were bots which is almost half. While the rookies performed well, many of the S47 players were called up leading to a lack of players which is a possible reasoning of why the stats were so one-sided.

With our nerd stats we have ROLB leading in... PDs and TDs while tied in tackles, INTs, and safeties. A first for sure, again potentially due to the amount of bots playing in this season. LOLB faired better by leading in TFL, FF, FR and sacks while tied in INTs. MLB1 made a shocking appearance being tied at the top in tackles as well as INTs while MLB2 was tied at the top for INTs and safeties. A better all around showing from the tops of each position group but looking at the standard deviation and minimum stats for each point we can see that it was very volatile. A few waiver pickups contributed to the lower numbers of course but in the large scheme of things, the stats were a lot lower this season compared to pasts.

The top players of the S48 DSFL grouping were Joe Blaze, Robot Sunfish, and D'Glester Hardunkichud while the top rookies were Joe Blaze, Slam Dunkinson, and Tua Domine. A far better showing for rookies this season, even being up for DPotY and MVP debate.

S48 ASFC (ISFL)

In the S48 ASFC grouping of the ISFL we return back to what we know. ROLB led the pack with 28/49 points and 12/49 2nds with LOLB right behind with 19/49 points and 21/49 2nds. MLB2 faired a bit better with 9/49 2nds but the MLB position fell behind a bit this season.

This is the first season where I was able to get players TPE total at the end of the season so we are able to look there as well. In the S48 ASFC grouping 4/7 teams had their higher TPE player at ROLB and 5/7 teams had 1k+ TPE players at ROLB. Of these, there were 2 teams with a 1k+ player at both ROLB and LOLB in AZ and NOLA. We are able to clearly see that teams with a sole 1k+ player and multiple sub 1k players had the 1k+ player perform much better and maintain the lead in stats. This is seen in AUS, HON, and SJS with Crasher Wake, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and DJ Maclean with much better statlines while teams with a 1k+ player at ROLB and LOLB in Sutha/Redd and Adebam/Gibson for AZ and NOLA have a much comparable statline by position.

When looking at the averages we see a slightly different story. ROLB led in tackles, FF, FR, and sacks while LOLB led in TFL, INTs, and PDs which seems to be a similar base for other seasons as well. As always, ROLB and LOLB led the way in safeties and TDs but it's not as big of a comparison. MLB1 made enough noise with PDs to get 2nd in averages there as well.

Overall, ROLB had the highest in tackles, FF, FR, sacks, and INTs while tied in TFL with LOLB who also led in PDs. The ROLB and LOLB standard deviation is much closer than the MLB position which makes sense as their TPE count is higher and the position itself has shown to have access to better stats.

The best players of the S48 ASFC grouping in the ISFL were Crasher Wake, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and DJ Maclean while the best rookie of the three would be Bull Dozier at the MLB1 position.

S48 NSFC (ISFL)

In the S48 NSFC grouping ROLB keeps a slight lead over LOLB with 22/49 points and 18/49 2nds while LOLB had 19/49 points and 18/49 2nds. MLB1 was 9/49 on both and MLB2 had 6/49 points and 4/49 2nds. This grouping was a bit mixed due to rookies (myself included) being at the key ROLB and LOLB positions for some teams.

Only 2 teams in CHI and technically YKW had their highest earners at the ROLB position while 4 teams had a 1k+ player at the ROLB position. Similar to the ASFC we see the trend of the sole 1k+ player dominating such as Mike Gesicki at LOLB on BER while teams with multiple 1k+ TPE players were more even. This is the first time we see a 1k+ player at the MLB position with John Stark VIII and Narl Hecklenburg for CTC and BAL and their stats didn't really compete with their fellow 1k+ players at the ROLB and LOLB position which gives us a good idea on the positional value there. BER had their rookie LB Maurice Gunner at the ROLB position and they kept level with Gesicki in some areas but fell behind in tackles and sacks. COL on the other hand had both their rookies at ROLB and LOLB while the 800+ TPE player RE #38 played MLB1. #38 led the team in tackles and FFs due to the TPE difference but the positional value of ROLB and LOLB kept Willeh Strong and Adolin Collins in the mix for stats anyways.

We're given a changeup in the averages with LOLB leading 4/7 in tackles, TFL, FFs, and PDs while ROLB leads FR and sacks. MLB2 makes an appearance with the highest INT average which is new as well. In the expanded stats table below we can see a better idea of what caused this.

In our nerd stats we can see ROLB narrowly leading in tackles as well as TFL, FR, and sacks while tied in FFs. LOLB shares the FF tie but MLB2 had the highest max INTs at 3 and PDs at 15! This was due to YKW having Sergei Nunkanblock, a CB, being at the MLB2 position. While tackles, TFL, and sacks were low, the INTs and PDs were skyhigh compared to other LB positions. It brings up an interesting point on if having a CB or S in the MLB2 slot is worth it for getting a better chance at INTs and PDs while in the MLB slot. Something to consider for anyone looking at breaking any all-time records.

The best players of the S48 NSFC grouping were Justin Willis, Mike Gesicki, and Cheecago Boucher while the best rookies were Willeh Strong, Maurice Gunner, and Adolin Collins.

S49 DSFL

Moving onto the S49 season in the DSFL, we see a dominating performance by the ROLB group with 32/56 points and 12/56 2nds. LOLB is still next up but only barely with 17/56 points and 20/56 2nds while MLB2 had a surprising 14/56 points and 7/56 2nds. MLB1 brought up the rear with 5 and 12 this time. Funnily enough the top performing MLB player was a GM bot but the DSFL filled out a bit more due to a reddit class thankfully.

As expected, the averages for ROLBs were fairly dominant leading in 5 as well as safeties. This is the first time we haven't seen LOLB have a top average in anything but they were 2nd in almost every stat except INTs. MLB1 had the highest average of PDs while MLB2 had the highest average of INTs which again is telling for the position groupings.

The full picture shows LOLB having their worst season so far in the DSFL while ROLB led in tackles, TFL, FF, and FR while being tied in sacks, INTs, and PDs. The standard deviation in every position grouping in the DSFL is always large due to the variety in TPE and the larger amount of rookies so it's to be expected but this is the first time we've seen MLB1 and MLB2 stay in the positional fight with some decent overall stats in the DSFL.

The best players of the S49 DSFL grouping were Slam Dunkinson, Joe Blaze, and FTBLLCMR4D RUS-KCKR-001 while the best rookies were Alexander Hordle Jr., Ted Marshall, and Holden Affart, a good combination of both LOLB and ROLB in the top players for once.

S49 ASFC (ISFL)

For our S49 ASFC grouping in the ISFL, LOLB led the pack with 27/49 points and 15/49 2nds with ROLB right on their tail with 25/49 points and 15/49 2nds. MLB2 came in third with 10/49 points and 5/49 2nds while MLB1 only had 8/49 points and 10/49 2nds.

In terms of TPE, not much changed in the ASFC grouping. Most players got higher while some of the older players hit regression and a whopping 5 rookies entered the group but all playing MLB. Similar to S48, we see the trend of the sole 1k+ TPE player having much better stats than their counterparts while multiple 1k+ players led to a more evenly distributed statline. PDs and INTs were maintained as an LOLB/MLB statline while sacks were mostly ROLB and occassionally LOLB depending on TPE, similar to tackles and TFL. Before I suggested that TPE did have an impact on stats but even middling TPE players at LOLB or ROLB can have decent TFL and sack stats depending on sim luck (which is another point to think about).

LOLB took over in the averages for the S49 ASFC grouping with 6/7 and safeties while ROLB only had the lead in sacks. There were a few swap arounds for positioning in the ASFC leading to higher TPE/more experienced players being at LOLB but when looking at the TPE results for players it doesn't show too much due to regression. It's a good step for LOLB but puts us in a weird spot for determining positional value.

When looking at the overall stats, LOLB led in tackles, TFL, FF, FR, and PDs while tied in INTs. Domination from the previous 2nd place position. ROLB only led in sacks but by a pretty high margin when looking at top performances which again is something to look at. For the MLB positions, MLB2 tied LOLB in INTs but also had 0 for multiple stat points as well so it's not something that's common for the position.

The best players of the S49 ASFC grouping were DJ Maclean, Thomas Sutha, and Allister Adebam while the best rookies were Cleetus Beauregard Jr, Ryan Joseph, and Robot Sunfish. We're getting to the point where we're seeing common names each season from players at their peak, most of which play ROLB as well. While LOLB players like Crazy Tomato had great performances as well, looking at stats like sacks and TFL in my opinion give the best look for best performances. Tackles are nice and all but turnovers and sacks are the bread and butter of the LB position.

S49 NSFC (ISFL)

In our S49 NSFC grouping, LOLB stayed at the top yet again with 27/49 points and 14/49 2nds while ROLB was just behind with 24/49 points and 12/49 2nds. MLB1 and MLB2 had a combined 11/49 points and 16/49 2nds staying as usual.

The TPE distribution is much more interesting for the NSFC as we have BAL, SAR, and YKW with multiple 1k+ TPE players and teams like COL, CTC, and BER who had a higher TPE player at LOLB instead of ROLB. This choice was a mix of contract requirements and player activities so it makes sense but it does impact the stats that we have. The higher TPE players on those teams mostly had higher stats aside from CTC where Onyxgut had a career season even with slightly lower TPE than Willis. What we're beginning to see from all these statlines is that ROLB is the place to be for sacks, it's the most consistent stat for the position while tackles, TFL, FF/FR, INTs, and PDs are slightly more up in the air. I'll have a more in depth look of what position is better at what at the end however.

The averages tell the same story with LOLB having 5/7 as well as safeties and TDs while ROLB only had 2/7. LOLB did lead in sacks for once which is new in terms of averages though. How the averages were this screwed I'm honestly not sure but the LOLB position definitely had a season in S49 with pretty small standard deviations in basically every stat point as seen below.

Yeah. The overall stats show it. LOLB dominated in tackles, FF, sacks, INTs, and PDs while ROLB only took the lead in TFL and FR. The standard deviation for the positions tell the story as some LOLB had very high stats leading to differing standard deviations but all in all, they were closer together leading to LOLB having the higher average scores as well, but also the minimums weren't as low as they could be.

The best players of the S49 NSFC grouping were Ignatious Cleetington, Cheecago Boucher, and Thor Dangerson while the best rookies were Tua Domine and Mac Mannheim (the only two rookies smh). The YKW LB core dominated in S49 which explains their playoff run, similar to BAL.

S50 DSFL

The final season we look at is S50 starting with the DSFL grouping. LOLB continues their streak with 29/56 points and 15/56 2nds while ROLB had 23/56 points and 18/56 2nds. MLB1 had a good season in the DSFL with 15/56 points and 2nds while MLB2 took up the rear with 7/56 points and 4/56 2nds. Joe Blaze led the way for the ROLBs while Alexander Hordle Jr. and rookie Ethan Shadow Jr. led the way for the LOLBs. The MLB1 spike mostly came from POR star LB JC Tomlinson playing MLB1 and TIJ star LB Holden Affart at MLB1 (funnily enough the rest of the TIJ LB core was bots, TIJ GMs???). As there weren't as many callups and waiver LBs were lower, there weren't as many low game played performances to skew the data like before. Great for stats but not so great for getting more players.

The averages were slightly different with LOLB leading 3/7, ROLB leading 3/7, and both MLB1 and MLB2 leading 1/7 in INTs and PDs. We had a 3 way tie for safeties while LOLBs pulled ahead in TDs. The stats were overall a lot lower in S50 to be honest so the averages weren't as "up there" as we'd expect from prior seasons. LOLB was right in there in sacks with ROLB but ROLB did pull away in tackles this go round.

ROLB leads the way with max stat points in tackles and sacks while tied for FF and FR. LOLB leads TFL by a large margin and is also tied for FF while MLB1 and MLB2 only lead in INTs and PDs. The MLB1 position group had a decent high stat group due to the players mentioned but it still wasn't enough to take the top spot. The standard deviations for these groups in the DSFL are once again all over the place which is to be expected with rookie users and lower TPE players compared to the capped 250 TPE players in the DSFL.

The best players in the S50 DSFL grouping were Joe Blaze, Alexander Hordle Jr, and Roy Rivers ® while the best rookies were Roy Rivers, Miguel Caballero Rojo, and Abstract Geometry. A good variation in LOLB and ROLB this go around for the DSFL as it's usually just the ROLB players that shine.

S50 ASFC (ISFL)

In the S50 ASFC grouping the fall off was real for the LOLB grouping from the S49 group. ROLB led the pack with 32/49 points and 9/49 2nds while LOLB was behind with 13/49 points and 24/49 2nds. MLB2 finally wasn't last with 11/49 points and 8/49 2nds and MLB1 took up the rear with an underwhelming 3/49 points only made up by 15/49 2nds. ROLBs led the way in highest TPE for every team but HON (MLB1), OCO (LOLB), and NOLA (LOLB) so if we look on the TPE standing it makes sense. Many of the dominant ROLBs in S47 and S48 are now in regression and close to retirement so new faces are showing up at the top and in the ASFC only NOLA and SJS have duel 1k+ TPE players, once again showed by their comparison of stats being very close in basically every point. OCO had arguably the worst LB core of the season but their defense did surprisingly well with MJF leading the way at ROLB and 550 TPE, only sacks being the lacking point for them.

This showed in averages as ROLB led everything but INTs and PDs which were taken by the MLB2 grouping. LOLB was 2nd in virtually everything but FF and FR for once as MLB1 had the next highest rate in both surprisingly. Only ROLB made an appearance with a safety but LOLB and MLB2 had the focus on TDs in this season for the S50 ASFC grouping.

In terms of the nerd stats, ROLB had the highest in tackles, FF, and FR while LB had the highest in TFL and sacks, an interesting turn around. MLB1 led nothing but MLB2 had a dominating lead in INTs and PDs for the highest stats of the season. ROLB and LOLB had the lowest standard deviation seen with fairly high minimum values of their stats (aside from the sim based stats such as FF, FR, INTs, and PDs - those are always a little weird).

The top players of the S50 ASFC grouping were Allister Adebam, Thomas Sutha, and DJ Maclean while the top rookies were...only two of them at the MLB2 position but technically just Xavier Buckley and Frosty Steele.

S50 NSFC (ISFL)

The final grouping we'll look at is the S50 NSFC grouping where ROLB led once again with 28/49 points and 9/49 2nds while LOLB had 19/49 points and 20/49 2nds up next. MLB1 had 2/49 points and 12/49 2nds with MLB2 leveled out at 6/49 points and 5/49 2nds. BER and COL were the only teams without their highest TPE player at ROLB and were also the only teams without a 1k+ TPE player in their LB core at all. This didn't change players from getting decent stats but it meant the LOLB position was better in some aspects. Beanman III on BAL had a surprisingly good season despite being LOLB at sub 1k TPE but Bazooka still won the sack battle in the end. Nothing really stood out from this grouping aside from Domine on COL with 664 TPE at ROLB got more sacks than Strong with 828 TPE at LOLB - again pointing ROLB to be a strong sack heavy position.

Looking at the averages it seems more even with ROLB leading 4/7 (tied in FR) as well as safety and LOLB leading in 4/7 (tied in FR). The MLB position didn't have much going on aside from MLB2 having the 2nd highest FR average due to the tie of ROLB and LOLB. We'll get a better comparison looking at the overall stats below.

Our final small version of the nerd stats (hehe) have ROLB with the highest stat points in tackles (barely), TFL, sacks, and INTs while being tied with LOLB in FFs. LOLB led in PDs and the MLB position led in FRs, not meaning as much overall.

The best players of the S50 NSFC group were Joe Bazooka, Joey Battle, and Ignatious Cleetington while the best rookies were FTBLLCMR4D RUS-KCKR-001, Slam Dunkinson, and Nathan Claflin Jr.

After seeing each season and division raw stats, averages, and expanded stats, we can now look at how position groups compare by season in all 3 main groupings. With this, I also have the expanded nerd stats for this comparisons as well.

Starting out with the DSFL grouping, we can see the averages of each compared. There's a lot of data to get out and I want to submit this for 2.5x so I'm not going to go in depth but it's something for you to look at if you're interested!

The main takeaways are what positions did the best at what stat points in what seasons. In the DSFL, the ROLB position tends to lead in tackles, TFL, and sacks while LOLB tends to lead in FFs, INTs, and PDs.

The extended stats for the DSFL LB groups show a more specific view of the prior table. Here ROLB and LOLB look pretty close in every stat but again ROLB takes a primary lead in tackles, TFL, and sacks which in my opinion are the big 3. LOLB takes the lead for FFs and FRs while INTs and PDs fall to the MLB position in the DSFL.

Above we have the overview for the ASFC grouping in the ISFL. Again ROLB leads the way in tackles, TFL, and sacks and this time adding FF and FR to their resume. LOLB leads in INTs and PDs throughout the seasons so the hypothesis continues.

The stats mentioned previously apply to the extended averages as well so there really isn't much to say here. The ROLB position was fairly commanding in the ASFC division of the ISFL as well in both the max stat points as well as the averages.

The final big boy stats are for the NSFC grouping in the ISFL. The trend continues yet again with ROLB leading in tackles, TFL, FF, FR, and sacks while LOLB leads in INTs and PDs throughout the seasons. The NSFC grouping is a bit closer but some lower numbers from older seasons puts them more out of reach.

The same applies in the extended stats although it does look a bit closer for the LOLB group. But again there's not much more to add on unfortunately.

So what does this all mean?

Below are the stat point totals accumulated for each position in each grouping throughout the 4 seasons. In every grouping, ROLB has the best overall stats, followed by LOLB, then MLB1, then MLB2. Expected of course.

DSFL:

ROLB - 109/224, 62/224

LOLB - 89/224, 70/224

MLB1 - 41/224, 45/224

MLB2 - 30/224, 20/224

ASFC:

ROLB - 116/196, 45/196

LOLB - 77/196, 82/196

MLB1 - 23/196, 36/196

MLB2 - 24/196, 25/196

NSFC:

ROLB - 98/196, 52/196

LOLB - 89/196, 68/196

MLB1 - 25/196, 42/196

MLB2 - 21/196, 25/196

While this shows the ROLB position being the overall better position for an LB, there are many factors that go into it. Most teams prioritize their highest TPE and more experienced player at ROLB but not all the time. In cases of the lower TPE player, they tend to lead in sacks while the higher TPE player will lead in the other important stat points. If there are multiple high TPE players on a team, the stats are more likely to be evenly distributed while only slightly leaning in favor of ROLB while if a team only has one high TPE player then they will have a much better stat line than the other lower TPE players. I apologize for how many times you had to read ROLB, LOLB, and MLB but it had to be done. I also apologize if the article was somewhat repetitive but that's how stats work!

ROLB is definitely seen as the true LB stat position for tackles, TFL, and sacks while LOLB is better for INTs and PDs when comparing evenly distributed TPE players. Teams looking to put mid-low earners at LB should prioritize them at MLB but if a higher TPE player is at MLB then you can expect higher INTs/PDs/tackles in comparison. Another interesting point mentioned earlier is a CB or S playing at MLB2 can further increase the INT and PD count due to their differing builds.

My prediction in the beginning was mostly right with ROLB ahead in most stat points and LOLB right behind. The only difference was I assumed that more "sim reliant" stats such as FF/FR and INTs and PDs would be more spread out but when looking at the stats throughout the season, LOLB almost always led the way in INTs and PDs while FF went to the higher TPE player with the best Comp attribute. FR is still a sim stat so it's up in the air.

I enjoyed getting to compile these stats and look through how my player personally compared to other top players as well. I started out as ROLB but recently moved to LOLB so it's honestly something I was interested in looking at and my guess is my player will continue leading in stats for COL until the point that Domine matches me in TPE whenever that time may come.

If you read this far then you a real one and if this article showed you that you were playing in a different position than you thought you were, then take it up with your GMs lmao.

Also shoutout to @lemonoppy for making me remember to add standard deviations for the fellow stat nerds out there.

Anyone that wants to see my sheets for the stats and the lack of formulas I used can here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O7Q_TfTxmdM0MYci-e_pz-95-ccupck0_sEtHTEmMt0/edit?gid=702186941#gid=702186941). I hand copied all the stats from the index so there really wasn't anything special used (I'm dumb I know).

RE: Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - lemonoppy - 10-29-2024

Sutha goated???

RE: Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - juniped - 10-29-2024

[Image: qA4c5PD.png]

RE: Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - Megsychan - 10-29-2024

I wonder how archetypes would play into this data. I was talking to darkness last night about underloved archetypes, and he volunteered coverage LB as one of them that he was confused why it was so unpopular.* Obviously, the fact that practically no one chooses that archetype means you probably don't have much data on in it, so you wouldn't really be able to draw much information on it. But I assume there's enough Pass Rushers and Versitile LBs to look at that you might be able to see if one archetype leads to having better stats in a certain category vs the other, or if the position you play really is the only major factor. Like, my immediate thought just looking at the data is that you'd want to stick your pass rusher in ROLB and coverage LB in LOLB, all else being equal. Play up each archetype's respective strengths to elevate both of them. At least that's my hunch.

*My working theory for why Coverage LB is so unpopular, as an aside, is that people who play LB want the fantasy of being an elite edge rusher like TJ Watt or Myles Garrett, so being a linebacker that is more specialized in dropping back in coverage seems comparatively boring.

RE: Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - wetwilleh - 10-29-2024

(10-29-2024, 12:13 PM)Megsychan Wrote: I wonder how archetypes would play into this data. I was talking to darkness last night about underloved archetypes, and he volunteered coverage LB as one of them that he was confused why it was so unpopular.* Obviously, the fact that practically no one chooses that archetype means you probably don't have much data on in it, so you wouldn't really be able to draw much information on it. But I assume there's enough Pass Rushers and Versitile LBs to look at that you might be able to see if one archetype leads to having better stats in a certain category vs the other, or if the position you play really is the only major factor. Like, my immediate thought just looking at the data is that you'd want to stick your pass rusher in ROLB and coverage LB in LOLB, all else being equal. Play up each archetype's respective strengths to elevate both of them. At least that's my hunch.

*My working theory for why Coverage LB is so unpopular, as an aside, is that people who play LB want the fantasy of being an elite edge rusher like TJ Watt or Myles Garrett, so being a linebacker that is more specialized in dropping back in coverage seems comparatively boring.

Yeah that was something I thought about towards the end of writing this. Obviously Pass Rusher would benefit the most from ROLB and LOLB while Coverage would benefit the most from positions with increased INTs/PDs already like LOLB and MLB. I'd assume Versatile would work for any as well. It would definitely be skewed since the majority of players are Pass Rushers or Versatile but I think it definitely benefits each position groups "stronger" stat grouping. From what I've been told Versatile is for a safe floor for stats while Pass Rusher is your high ceiling and boom games.

RE: Linebacker - What is the Importance of Positioning - Baron1898 - 10-29-2024

this is so crunchy and I love it