Introduction
Like many, I was extremely curious about what the change in the sim would mean for me and my player. The S27 offseason was an interesting time because so many were unsure of where they would wind up. Sure there were bound to be some growing pains. Luckily, I experienced personal improvements this season, at least in terms of production, without much change in attributes. I think it is mainly due to the sim itself, and the introduction of traits. This being said, I was curious as to how other TEs or even FBs were affected by the shift, at least in receiving and offensive line production. So I decided to do some digging.
Individuals
As I write this, S27 is heading into its 15th game week. So, in order to make a more accurate comparison, S26 player stats will need to be adjusted. In order to do this, I simply subtracted any receptions, yards, touchdowns, pancakes, sacks allowed, or -in some cases- even long records, recorded in the last 2 weeks of the regular season from each player's end-of-season stat lines. The adjusted stats are as follows:
For comparison, here's S27:
Obviously, both lists do not have the same exact players. That being said, I cut the final list down to only those who appeared on both lists. This way, I could denote who specifically improved in which aspect of their game, or even who worsened. The final comparisons wound up like this:
Those left out include:
As Position Groups
As you may have noticed, that was a lot of people left out of the final comparison. In fact, the list of people who had stats for both seasons were only 15 in number, and 22 people were either rookies, retiring, or recategorized for the next season. So this information is likely useless to anyone other than those 15. So to them, I guess you're welcome? Or not. Up to you.
To be more general, and honestly more useful, here are the totals from both seasons in each category. Like above, they are eventually compared to discern whether or not that aspect of a TE or FB's game improved or worsened, this time taking the position group as a whole and seeing how the total changed, and how an player average changed:
Summarizing
These results can best be summarized as:
I think that anyone watching games or checking the index could tell how things were going, but I do think it was still worthwhile to calculate and prove the changes that the sim made for tight ends and fullbacks.
Obviously, fullbacks were crippled as receivers. Their production fell incredibly, and as a receiver they really don't fit. They still make for solid runners and blockers, but the day of the receiving fullback seems to have come and gone.
On the other hand, tight ends got better in every possible way. More receptions for more yards on average, more touchdowns, more pancakes on the line, and less sacks allowed.
I assume the next two weeks will make little difference to these findings, considering how far ahead of last season's totals the current totals are, at least for tight ends. I predict that it will only get worse for fullbacks over the next two weeks. Either way, this summary should hold true for the rest of this season. Let's see if more changes are to come in the offseason help fullbacks following this drop-off. They're going to need it.
Like many, I was extremely curious about what the change in the sim would mean for me and my player. The S27 offseason was an interesting time because so many were unsure of where they would wind up. Sure there were bound to be some growing pains. Luckily, I experienced personal improvements this season, at least in terms of production, without much change in attributes. I think it is mainly due to the sim itself, and the introduction of traits. This being said, I was curious as to how other TEs or even FBs were affected by the shift, at least in receiving and offensive line production. So I decided to do some digging.
Individuals
As I write this, S27 is heading into its 15th game week. So, in order to make a more accurate comparison, S26 player stats will need to be adjusted. In order to do this, I simply subtracted any receptions, yards, touchdowns, pancakes, sacks allowed, or -in some cases- even long records, recorded in the last 2 weeks of the regular season from each player's end-of-season stat lines. The adjusted stats are as follows:
For comparison, here's S27:
Obviously, both lists do not have the same exact players. That being said, I cut the final list down to only those who appeared on both lists. This way, I could denote who specifically improved in which aspect of their game, or even who worsened. The final comparisons wound up like this:
Those left out include:
- Jaja Ding Dong
- Cmon Skiuuup
- Daniel George
- Gronk Robertowski
- Keʻokeʻo Kane-Maikaʻi
- Mai Fukushu
- Joe Petrongolo
- Jeffrey Phillips
- Jameson Vermillion
- Gunnar Thorbjornsson
- Richard Gilbert
- Perry Tucker Jr.
- Freidrich Vequain
- Tom Teboat
- James Wilkinson
- Frank Michell
- Brian Mills
- Fuzzy Dotson
- Zed Keppler
- Kichwa Jones
- Forrest Gump
- Sigismund Sternenstaub
As Position Groups
As you may have noticed, that was a lot of people left out of the final comparison. In fact, the list of people who had stats for both seasons were only 15 in number, and 22 people were either rookies, retiring, or recategorized for the next season. So this information is likely useless to anyone other than those 15. So to them, I guess you're welcome? Or not. Up to you.
To be more general, and honestly more useful, here are the totals from both seasons in each category. Like above, they are eventually compared to discern whether or not that aspect of a TE or FB's game improved or worsened, this time taking the position group as a whole and seeing how the total changed, and how an player average changed:
Summarizing
These results can best be summarized as:
- Overall, total Receiving production for tight ends and fullbacks decreased from S26 to S27.
- Overall, total Offensive Line production and protection increased from S26 to S27.
- Overall, tight ends increased total receiving production and pancakes, with a slight decrease in protection.
- Overall, fullbacks decreased total receiving production and pancakes, with a slight increase in protection.
- On average, a S27 player at either TE or FB saw a decrease in receiving production, but saw an increase in pancakes and protection.
- On average, Tight Ends improved in every possible respect, from receiving to both offensive line stats.
- On average, Fullbacks saw significant decreases in receiving yards and touchdowns, despite a slight increase in receptions. Both offensive line stats saw increases
I think that anyone watching games or checking the index could tell how things were going, but I do think it was still worthwhile to calculate and prove the changes that the sim made for tight ends and fullbacks.
Obviously, fullbacks were crippled as receivers. Their production fell incredibly, and as a receiver they really don't fit. They still make for solid runners and blockers, but the day of the receiving fullback seems to have come and gone.
On the other hand, tight ends got better in every possible way. More receptions for more yards on average, more touchdowns, more pancakes on the line, and less sacks allowed.
I assume the next two weeks will make little difference to these findings, considering how far ahead of last season's totals the current totals are, at least for tight ends. I predict that it will only get worse for fullbacks over the next two weeks. Either way, this summary should hold true for the rest of this season. Let's see if more changes are to come in the offseason help fullbacks following this drop-off. They're going to need it.