Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Better Than Average (BTA) shows which players were better than their peers when the advantage of the schedule was removed. This is a true 1:1 measurement because it only considers how well players did against the others who faced that defense. It counts three occurrences:
“Top 8” – Scored in the Top-8 fantasy points allowed by a defense
“Top 4” – Scored in the Top-4 fantasy points allowed by a defense
“Highest Score” – Scored the most fantasy points allowed by a defense.
BTA – The combination of the three categories. Since a #1 performance also falls into a top 4 and top 8, it gets weighted three times more than a top 8. A Top 4 is counted twice since it is also a Top 8.
| Wide Receiver | Highest Score |
|---|---|
| Antonio Brown | 6 |
| Keenan Allen | 3 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 2 |
| Tyreek Hill | 2 |
With three wideouts usually productive for every offense, turning in the most fantasy points allowed by any defense is impressive even once, let alone more than once. Keenan Allen’s amazing season when he finally stayed healthy shows up even more impressive with three top efforts. Antonio Brown may be the receiver who is most schemed against by defenses and yet it doesn’t often matter. He doubled the next best with six instances of scoring more on a defense than anyone else.
Michael Thomas also impressed with most of his games producing a better than average score versus the opposing defense. Adam Thielen and Davante Adams also showed well when the effects of a schedule were removed. Thielen gets a new quarterback and offensive scheme this year. But Adams showed up very well in this metric and only had Aaron Rodgers around for seven games in 2017. That bodes well for the Packers and Adams.
| Wide Receiver | BTA | Highest Score | Top 4 | Top 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antonio Brown | 25 | 6 | 9 | 10 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 18 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| Michael Thomas | 15 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Keenan Allen | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Adam Thielen | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Davante Adams | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | 12 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Tyreek Hill | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| A.J. Green | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Doug Baldwin | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Jarvis Landry | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Julio Jones | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Stefon Diggs | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Alshon Jeffery | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Golden Tate | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Marvin Jones Jr. | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Mike Evans | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Nelson Agholor | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Devin Funchess | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Robby Anderson | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Sterling Shepard | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| T.Y. Hilton | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Brandin Cooks | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Demaryius Thomas | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Jamison Crowder | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Jermaine Kearse | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Kenny Stills | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Michael Crabtree | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Robert Woods | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Amari Cooper | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Danny Amendola | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Jordy Nelson | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Marqise Lee | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Odell Beckham Jr | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Rishard Matthews | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Ted Ginn Jr. | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
