Due to the explosion of fantasy sports, fantasy football-relevant content has never been easier to find for the casual fantasy player. The quantity and quality of available fantasy information push players further and further to find an edge. Managers looking for an advantage purchase subscriptions to websites, listen to hours of podcasts and read numerous articles. What do fantasy players do with this content? A lot of managers use this content to make their own rankings, develop draft strategies, and/or use it to identify fantasy-relevant stats. After consuming fantasy content, do you find yourself keeping fantasy notes on your phone? Do you bring your own personal rankings to your draft? Are you making spreadsheets for important stats as you prep for your rookie drafts? Do you fill-up notebooks analyzing your league mates’ tendencies? Are you taking pages of notes as you break down film on Odell Beckham Jr. or DJ Moore? If this sounds familiar, making your own database could give you the upper hand over your competition.
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“I Could Use a Database, But . . .”
The word “database” can be very intimidating to people. They believe they don’t have enough time to create one, they aren’t technologically savvy enough, they’re bad at math, and/or they’re not a numbers person.
First, depending on your goal, creating a database can be as simple as tracking your trades or as easy as organizing film notes into a spreadsheet. It could be as painless as finding free resources that need a slight adjustment and you have the database of your dreams. Next, if you know how to use YouTube, then you have the technical skills to build a database. A simple search for “quick beginner’s guide to Excel” will go a long way. Finally, you don’t have to be good at math or like numbers to build your database. A database like Leo Paciga’s (@Ciga_FF) notebook, where you track your league mate’s tendencies, wouldn’t involve any math or numbers at all. I personally haven’t taken a math class since high school. Honesty, if you’re doing math in a database then you’re doing unnecessary work. Formulas in Excel make life a breeze. If you can overcome these mental blocks, you can easily unlock the benefits of making your own database.
Untold Benefits of a Database
What are the benefits of having your own database? First, it can be used to help you win fantasy championships. Databases can be used to enhance your player evaluation, projection models, trades, waiver wire bids, lineup decisions, roster construction, and so much more. A boost from a database in any of these areas could increase the odds of getting that coveted championship. Maybe if I had learned my lesson after drafting Julius Jones early, I wouldn’t have fallen for the David Wilson hysteria a few years later. Moreover, a database increases your productivity and efficiency. Do you need to rewatch the All-22 tape for Ceedee Lamb’s 2018 game against Alabama? You might spend 15 minutes searching though highlight clips and low-quality videos before finding what you need. But, with a film database, Ceedee Lamb’s tape is neatly organized with your notes just a few mouse-clicks away.
Additionally, creating your own database creates opportunities for independence and forming your own fantasy insights. It doesn’t take much talent to read an article, listen to a podcast, and then regurgitate another analyst’s opinions on Twitter. Are you bringing any value to the conversation or are you just adding to the echo chamber? Your advice or opinions might be excellent. But, you can’t say, “That’s how I feel,” in all your arguments and expect to be taken seriously. A database decreases your reliance on others for information, promotes analytical thinking, and provides evidence for your opinions and analysis. Additional benefits include increased data accuracy, convenient methods for sharing data, and it provides opportunities for easy and effective data visualizations (graphs).
I can’t stress enough that creating a database can be as easy and quick or complex and challenging as you want it to be. But for me, after the 2019 Super Bowl, I spent a little more than a year creating my own college prospect database. I wanted to find an edge over my rivals in my home dynasty league. I also was looking for a way to generate fantasy content. I’ve heard analysts like JJ Zachariason (@LateRoundQB) and Peter Howard (@pahowdy) discuss phenomenal and actionable content with their databases. I hoped by creating a database, I might have been able to learn something that was worth sharing with others. At the very least, I could provide some insight to others looking to do the same thing. As a result, I decided to write this step by step guide to creating your own fantasy database. This article will clearly outline the steps needed to create your database. The process will maximize the benefits of your database while minimizing the time, effort, and obstacles typically associated with creating a database. I will also provide specific tips, tricks, avoidable mistakes, and shortcuts for you to follow along the way.
Step One: Establish a Purpose
It’s fairly obvious, but understanding the purpose of your database is a critical step before getting started. Ask yourself, “Is there something in my fantasy routine or process that could be improved by having a database?” The answer is most likely “Yes.” If your answer is “Yes” then you need to work on clarifying the potential benefits and how a database would achieve them.
Having a clear vision and purpose will provide you with the drive and motivation necessary to meet your goals and ultimately improve your fantasy teams. If you can’t find a reason for making a database then you probably should be investing your time and effort into other projects.
Other important questions to ask are, “Will other people find this helpful?” “If someone else created this would I use it myself?” Mind you, value is in the eye of the beholder. If you enjoy researching stats, watching game tape, or learning more about fantasy football then that is valuable in itself and is a great reason to start your project. But if you believe you’re providing value to others as well, that’s a good litmus test to see if your database is worth starting. Plus, if you think others would benefit from your project, it will organically generate meaningful interactions with others and lead to more opportunities within the fantasy community.
If your database passes this simple litmus test, you should feel confident you have a worthwhile project moving forward.
Step Two: Reach Out to Others
After you define the purpose, it is important to talk to people in the fantasy industry to see what they think about your potential project.
I don’t recommend asking everyone. I’d ask certain people you trust, people with opinions you respect, and/or have expertise in the subject matter. They might have some helpful input to get you started, let you know if they think it’s a worthwhile project, and/or help you avoid some common mistakes. They might also know of other analysts who have done something similar and who are willing to share. The fantasy community is filled with helpful people that could end up saving you a ton of time. Many times I’ve seen people brainstorming on Twitter and others come in and provide valuable advice. I’ve often seen someone say, “So and so attempted that exact project but they had a problem with . . .”
Sending out feelers is something I highly recommend before getting started because you could learn some valuable information and/or save yourself a lot of time and effort.
Step Three: Define the Scope
Defining the scope means that you need to determine what is required to complete your database.
It’s essential to ask yourself, “What do I need to complete this project and is it realistic?” If you want to create a database of All-22 film for Juco Transfers you’re not being practical because there isn’t a lot of junior college film available. This is a clear sign that an All-22 Juco film database wouldn’t be the best project to start. Make sure the data you want exists. My knees get weak just thinking about having player tracking data for college prospects going back to 2003, but that information doesn’t exist. However, other subjects like tracking your opponents’ tendencies and gathering NFL Combine data are realistic projects because the data is readily available.
When considering what you will need to create your database you should ask, “Is your project simple enough for Google Sheets?” Google Sheets is a great free tool offered by Google that can handle the majority of your needs. It is great for creating rankings, small to medium size databases, organizing your notes, and simple data visualizations. However, Google Sheets can’t handle over 5,000,000 cells. I didn’t know this and had close to 4,000,000 cells created in Google Sheets. My formulas started to lag and my entire project came to a halt. I didn’t want to give up so I had to buy Microsoft Excel for $120. I also spent a significant amount of time moving things from Google Sheets to Excel. Plus, I needed to re-learn the differences between the two programs and that slowed me down for a while. A big mess that cost me money, time, and sanity that could have been prevented if I had asked this question before getting started.
Next, ask yourself, “Will this cost you money?” A lot of advanced stats are placed behind paywalls. You need to make sure you do your due diligence and if you’re prepared for the cost. I personally decided to go the free data route but not on purpose. I wanted to use data from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions but the data that was available via subscription only went back a couple of years. I didn’t have enough of a sample size despite their data being phenomenal. Yet another example where if I had considered the scope of my database, I wouldn’t have lost time and money.
Another essential question in regards to the scope is, “Do you need to learn any additional skills to complete your database?” If you don’t have the required skills, you need to be prepared to invest time learning the basics. If you need to learn a new skill and you’re not ready to invest the time and energy into it then you need to rethink your goals and the scope of your database.
Knowing your commitments prior to starting helps you avoid unexpected delays or problems that could prevent you from achieving your goal. YouTube is a great place to find both beginner level and advanced skills for Excel and Google Sheets. If you’re looking to increase your scouting skills I’ve heard The Scouting Academy is a great resource. If you’re looking to learn how to code, Josh Hersmeyer (@friscojosh) can definitely point you in the right direction.
A valuable piece to determining the scope of your project is establishing a time frame. In the past, I would get really excited about an idea and spend several nights working on it. I often realized that I had barely scratched the surface of my project and it would slowly fizzle out. I have several incomplete projects in my Google Drive because I found out the hard way that the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. When considering a time frame you need to factor in the time necessary for planning, data entry, skill acquisition, quality control, writing formulas, and formatting. I’d also budget some time for at least one or two unexpected problems to occur during your project. Developing a time frame doesn’t need to be an exact science either. I would approach the time frame from a days, weeks, and months’ point of view.
Ultimately, setting a time frame prepares you for the amount of time and effort needed to create your database. It makes you consider if you’re willing to put in the required time into your project. Additionally, when you create a deadline, it naturally increases productivity as you attempt to meet it. I really wanted to get my college prospect database out before draft season started. This made me push myself countless times along the way with my deadline in mind. Deadlines increase productivity but also prepare you to make the commitment necessary to be successful.
Step Four: Operationally Define your Targets
Operationally defining a target simply means that you need to create a working definition for what you will be measuring or assessing in your database.
You might have a general idea of what a good wide receiver route looks like, but establishing a standard definition for a particular route is important. This reduces subjectivity, bias, data drift, increases accuracy and repeatability, and strengthens the validity of your database and analysis. The definitions need to be clear, concise, and complete. A solid test to see if you have a good operational definition is to ask yourself, “Would someone unfamiliar with my topic read my definition, observe the target, and then categorize it correctly?” If not then you need to be more clear and complete in your definition. This ensures the same standard of measurement is being applied equally across your sample. For more complex definitions, it can be useful to provide examples and non-examples to help clarify the target you are measuring or tracking. In the end, the repeatability and consistency of your data collection are what helps support and strengthen your conclusions.
At the beginning of my database project, I failed to define anything I was measuring and just started gathering data. I ran into several problems. An issue I faced was when I was about halfway through entering games played for my college prospects, I was noticing inconsistencies in my data. I went back to double-check my manual entries for accuracy and the data I had spent days on was all wrong. Come to find out “Game Logs” and “Player Overview” tabs at College Sports Reference define games played differently. I had to go back and decide how I would define “games played” and re-enter data for over 800 prospects. A perfect example of how taking a little before starting your project to define your targets can save you significant time long term.
Step Five: Create Incremental Goals as You Go
Establishing incremental goals is pretty self-explanatory regardless of the size and scope of your project.
Setting achievable goals keeps you focused, on-task, and provides opportunities for reinforcement when you achieve them throughout the process. In the beginning, if you bite off more than you can handle, your project might flame out.
Keeping things realistic and planning to take breaks along the way prevents burnout. Additionally, if you find yourself procrastinating you may need to take a break or adjust your goals.
Step Six: Quality Control
Everyone makes mistakes.
You want to make sure you are catching your mistakes as you go by following a simple, easy process to check for errors. You don’t want to be making decisions on inaccurate data. Plus, it’s a little embarrassing when you release a graph, metric, or opinion to the public and someone calls you out on it.
Taking the time to make sure you’re doing things right along the way will help you significantly when things are all said and done.
Step Seven: Cite Sources as You Go
It’s critical you cite your sources along the way for several reasons.
First, people just like you who put the work in deserve credit for their time and effort. Second, it shows people you share the database with that your work meets a certain standard of excellence and has properly vetted research. Also, if someone is using your database it allows them to go and find the stats or work you’ve cited for their own purposes. Lastly, properly citing your sources saves time whenever you need to go back to re-access data for one reason or another.
It only took a couple of times of me pulling my hair out trying to remember where I had found a certain statistic before I started citing my sources as I went.
Additional Tips, Tricks, and Shortcuts
- Establish reliable methods for backing up your database. Back it up often. This will only save you inevitable heartbreak.
- Have a notes section where you can record questions, new ideas, and miscellaneous information. An organized note section will help you throughout the process.
- If you are going to be using formulas that query information from a general dataset, take the time to learn the “Index Match” formula in Excel or Google Sheets. I haven’t done this yet and it’s causing me a lot of problems and will take me a long time to fix. Learning Index Match will make your life a lot easier.
- If you find yourself doing math in Excel or you’re doing something that is taking a long time ask yourself, “Is there an easier way to do this?” The answer is most likely “Yes.” There are hundreds of formulas in Excel and Google Sheets. Google what you are trying to do and nine times out of ten there is a formula to do what you’re spending all of this time to do.
- When it’s time to start entering data into spreadsheets, just enter the data first. Don’t worry about formatting or writing formulas until later on, when you have a clearer picture of what you want to do with the data. You will get into a rhythm quicker this way. If you don’t wait to format until the end then you will find yourself reformatting your spreadsheet several different times and this will slow down your efficiency.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions from people on Twitter. The fantasy community is filled with smart and helpful people. If you have questions about stats, metrics, or databases Peter Howard (@pahowdy) is one of the most helpful people in the community. Peter has helped me solve many error messages along the way. If you need advice involving film, reach out to Zac Reed (@tacitassassin) or John Michael (@JMicCheck). They both have a detail-oriented process of watching film. The fantasy community is truly a community and asking for help will save you time, headaches, and you will make important connections when asking for help.
Conclusion
Looking for a way to win your fantasy matchups will lead fantasy managers to interesting places. For me, I ended up creating my own database to try and improve my rookie evaluations. For you, there are countless databases that could give you the edge you’ve been seeking. If you find yourself taking notes, collecting stats, and bookmarking links to game tape then creating a database might be a way for you to gain an advantage. Ask these questions and follow these steps and you will be able to create a fantasy database to help you achieve your goals. By following these steps you will end up saving yourself time in the long run, have better data and research, and you will become more independent when creating and developing your fantasy opinions and analysis. Good luck and please contact me if you have any additional questions.
Follow me, @ff_spaceman on Twitter, to the moon and back in my quest into unexplored spreadsheets and dynasty football analysis.
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