Correlation Plays and Stacking Offenses
What is correlation and what on earth does it have to do with fantasy football?
Positive correlation is a relationship between two variables in which both variables move in tandem. A positive correlation exists when one variable decreases as the other variable decreases. Or when one increases, the other increases. For example, a wide receiver and his quarterback have a positive correlation. When a receiver makes a catch, he gets fantasy points for the catch, the receiving yards, and the potential touchdown. The quarterback also gets points for the passing yards and the potential touchdown.
Negative correlation is a relationship between two variables in which one variable increases as the other decreases, and vice versa. For example, my mood is negatively correlated with my wife’s spending habits. When one goes up, the other goes down. In fantasy football, a running back will get fantasy points for a touchdown that he scores, but the opposing defense will lose points for allowing the touchdown.
Correlation is an important concept to understand in all sports, especially if you like to play in GPPs. Correlation is the main reason why stacking is such a popular strategy in baseball. When someone gets a hit in baseball, it extends the game and provides more potential fantasy production for his teammates because you get fantasy points for both runs and runs batted in.
Conversely, there isn’t a lot of correlation in basketball. The only time two players get fantasy points on a play is through an assisted basket. For the most part, there is more of a negative correlation between players because there is a finite amount of points, rebounds, assists, etc., to go around. This is why stacking in basketball is generally a bad strategy, unless of course the game goes into overtime.
Here are some of the most correlated positions in fantasy football:
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